Segontium, along the Eleventh Iter to Deva, and connected down the south by Uriconium with Caerleon, on the Severn, Wales, in course of time, had little chance of serious resistance. Ten or fifteen years later, it was occupied by the second legion, and after that by the twentieth. Chester (and Caerleon) had all the characteristic features of a distant borderland, the province was purely of a military order and, in reality, a military frontier.
On the eastern flanks they had to reckon with the troublesome and powerful people included under the generic name of the Brigantes, a confederation of minor clans that dominated practically the backbone of England, comprising practically Lancashire, Yorkshire, Westmorland, and the Midlands, from sea to sea, and from the Mersey to the Solway Firth on the west side, to the Humber and the Tees on the east side. To master them it was necessary to strike from the two sides, with Deva and Lindum as a base line.
The first serious attempt on the west was probably made by Cerealis in 71–74, to effect which he had to traverse the territory of the Cornavii, who dwelt in Wirrall and along the southern banks of the Mersey, and camps and fortifications were placed through the forests and heathery plains of North Cheshire. Condate is on this line; from thence they tracked to Mancunium to enter South Yorkshire for an attack on their capital. Our station was of no little strategical importance in this large scheme, and thus became one of the original links of a great base, which required a firm and powerful hand. The double road from Hunt's Bank and the eastern gate led direct to Cambodunum and Isurium, and must have been amongst the first constructed. Cerealis reduced a great part of the district without, however, having settled the country. The final reduction was reserved for Agri-
