There is also evidence of more specialist commercial activities in Carlisle,as an important social, political and economic centre, a wider range of goods were available in comparison to smaller Roman settlements. For example there is evidence of the existence of a gem cutting workshop that produced intaglii for finger rings. There is also evidence of gold working from a letter found in Castle Street; it is addressed to a goldsmith named Tertius who was clearly working in Carlisle at the time. Furthermore, the discovery of kilns on both Fisher Street and English damside, even attest to the local production of pottery which would have been sold and traded.
These imports were made possible by the creation of a network of roads, built by the army, linking Carlisle to the rest of the province. Before the arrival of the Romans, roads were simple track ways, which would have made the long distance movement of goods a difficult process. However, the evidence from the Vindolanda writing tablets suggests that even Roman roads were difficult to travel on in winter, as one person writes that he would have collected his hides but the roads were bad and he didn’t want to injure his pack animals. An extremely well preserved wooden cart-wheel discovered in the Lanes is evidence of the movement and transportation of goods in around the town.
An inscription by a man named Antonianus, has also been found at Bowness-on-Solway and it gives us a fascinating snapshot into the life of one of these traders. The stone states that if his trading venture was successful, he would return and guild the letters of the inscription in gold.