Lavatrae , also known as Lavatris, was a Roman fort in the modern-day village of Bowes, County Durham, England.
The Romans built a fort with wooden ramparts at Lavatrae in the early AD 70s, after an invasion of the region by Governor Petilius Cerealis.
[1] It was intended as a waypoint on the northern leg of the Roman equivalent of Watling Street in the section connecting Luguvalium (Carlisle) to Eboracum (York) and points south.
It guarded the eastern entrance to the Stainmore Pass through the Pennines, overlooking the River Greta.
[2] Stone walls were built around the site in the 130s, and an external settlement called a vicus was constructed to the north of the fort, with a bathhouse to the south-east.