Editing Caratacus (section)

===Resistance to Rome===
{{Main|Caratacus' last battle}}
[[File:Caradog (5227657).jpg|left|thumb|Caradog watercolour painting by Thomas Prydderch.]]
We next hear of Caratacus in [[Tacitus]]'s ''[[Annals (Tacitus)|Annals]]'', leading the [[Silures]] and [[Ordovices]] of [[Wales in the Roman Era|Wales]] against Plautius' successor as [[Roman governors of Britain|governor]], [[Publius Ostorius Scapula]].<ref>[[Tacitus]], ''[[Annals (Tacitus)|Annals]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Tac.+Ann.+12.33 12:33–38]</ref> Finally, in 50, Scapula managed to [[Caratacus' last battle|defeat Caratacus]] in a set-piece battle somewhere in Ordovician territory, capturing Caratacus' wife and daughter and receiving the surrender of his brothers. Caratacus himself escaped and fled north to the lands of the [[Brigantes]] (modern [[Yorkshire]]), where the Brigantian queen, [[Cartimandua]], handed him over to the Romans in chains. This was one of the factors that led to two Brigantian revolts against Cartimandua and her Roman allies, once later in the 50s and once in 69, led by [[Venutius]], who had once been Cartimandua's husband. With the capture of Caratacus, much of southern Britain from the [[Humber]] to the [[Severn]] was pacified and garrisoned throughout the 50s.<ref>A History of Britain, Richard Dargie (2007), p. 21</ref>

Legends place Caratacus' last stand at either [[Caer Caradoc]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Caer Caradoc Hill Fort |url=https://churchstretton.co.uk/directory/caer-caradoc-hill-fort/ |access-date=2022-04-22 |website=Church Stretton |language=en-GB}}</ref> near [[Church Stretton]] or [[British Camp]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=BBC |title=Malvern Hills - the story of British Camp |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/herefordandworcester/content/articles/2004/07/21/malvern_british_camp_feature.shtml |access-date=2022-04-22 |website=www.bbc.co.uk |language=en-gb}}</ref> in the [[Malvern Hills]], but the description of [[Tacitus]] makes either unlikely:

{{blockquote|[Caratacus] resorted to the ultimate hazard, adopting a place for battle so that entry, exit, everything would be unfavourable to us and for the better to his own men, with steep mountains all around, and, wherever a gentle access was possible, he strewed rocks in front in the manner of a rampart. And in front too there flowed a stream with an unsure ford, and companies of armed men had taken up position along the defences.<ref>Tacitus, ''The Annals'', translated by A. J. Woodman, 2004; see also [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Tac.+Ann.+12.33 Church & Brodribb's translation]</ref>}}

Although the [[Severn]] is visible from British Camp, it is nowhere near it, so this battle must have taken place elsewhere. A number of locations have been suggested, including a site near [[Brampton Bryan]]. Bari Jones, in ''[[Archaeology Today]]'' in 1998, identified Blodwel Rocks at [[Llanymynech]] in [[Powys]] as representing a close fit with Tacitus' account.{{full citation needed|date=December 2012}}