[1] Dating to the 1st or 2nd century AD,[2] its ruins are located on the northern shore of Windermere at Waterhead, near Ambleside,[3] in the English county of Cumbria,[4] within the boundaries of the Lake District National Park.

[7] The site is a scheduled monument with list entry numbers of 1009348 and 1244785 (formerly RSM 13567 and RBS 450573)[6][8] Ambleside Roman Fort is situated approximately 0.8 kilometres (0.5 mi) south of Ambleside town centre, at the north end of Windermere,[9] upon the eastern banks of the Brathay and Rothay rivers.

[9] The remains of the fort are situated upon a sand and gravel platform in Borrans Fields, which gently rises from the lakeshore.

The fort is bordered to the south and west by marsh, and an outcrop of rock dominates the northern section of Borrans Field.

Rivet and Smith proposed in 1979 that the route ran from the securely identified Bremetonnaci (modern Ribchester) to Ravenglass on the Cumbrian coast, and that the Ambleside fort was Galava of the Itinerary; this was generally accepted at the time and was adopted by the Ordnance Survey.

[13] Ian Smith has suggested a resolution to the problem by equating Alone with Lancaster on etymological grounds,[14] and placed Galava on the River Bela, probably at Beetham in Cumbria.

[15] More recent publications, such as those of archaeologist David Shotter, have tentatively supported the interpretation of Ambleside Roman Fort as Clanoventa.

[17] The fort appears to have had a large extramural settlement, and was apparently a significant centre for local storage and commerce.

[11] This included investigations of the gates, ramparts, towers, the principal structures in the centre of the fort, and the barracks.

[19] During these excavations, the remains of an earlier version of the fort were discovered near the central buildings; these included ditches and walls.

[21] The fort consisted of a rectangular enclosure measuring approximately 91 by 128 metres (300 by 420 ft), and covering an area of almost 1.2 hectares (3 acres).

[22] The granaries themselves each measured 20 metres (66 ft) long (east-west) and were of a standard Roman plan, with external buttressing and with windows for ventilation.

[24] Finds from the early 20th century excavations included some coins of Faustina Iunior (161-175), Iulia Domna (193-217), and Valens (364-378).

[17] During investigations associated with a road-building project in 1982, a bracelet of twisted gold wire was recovered from contractors' spoil near the fort.

Differences in appearance of the shot backed up when a 2021 project by the Trimontium Trust working with the University of Edinburgh carried out isotopic analysis of the bullets.