[3] The fort was situated between Vindomora (Ebchester), and Vinovia (Binchester) on Dere Street, the main Roman road linking Eboracum (York) with Hadrian's Wall.

Some archaeologists have postulated that a road may have existed connecting the fort at Longovicium to the one at Concangis (modern-day Chester-le-Street), but this has yet to be proven.

In 88 AD, the Emperor Domitian had ordered the Legio XX abandon the fort they had been building in Scotland at Inchtuthil and redeploy to garrison the legionary fortress Deva Victrix (Chester).

[8] The fact that the fort is located on fields that have not been ploughed means its condition is remarkable, although stone robbing has taken its toll.

A column, probably from the colonnade of the Commandant's House, can be found in the nearby All Saints' Parish Church, as can an altar dedicated to the goddess Garmangabis.

The dam harnessed the water of 21 springs and was 20 feet (6 m) high and 110 yards (100 m) in length, being stone faced and clay lined on the inside.

Large-scale smithing or smelting is assumed to have been carried out within the fort or the associated vicus judging by the large quantities of slag and cinders found at the site.

Gods worshipped include traditional Roman deities such as Jupiter, Mars, Mercury and Silvanus and Celtic and Germanic ones such as Garmangabis.

During the first century AD, two stones (an altar and an inscription) attest that the Cohors Primae Fida Vardulorum Milliaria Equitata Civium Romanorum (The First Cohort of Faithful Varduli, one-thousand strong, part-mounted, citizens of Rome) were present at Longovicium.

The Tarraconensis region of Spain was the most important source of gold, tin, copper and other metals and minerals in the entire Roman Empire, and the Romans applied water power on a large scale for hydraulic mining using aqueducts to tap the local rivers.