The city of Birmingham, in England, has a long military history and has been for several centuries a major manufacturer of weapons. It may have been between Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Roman Britain At Metchley Park, near Harborne, there are the remains of two large 1st century Roman forts, it is believed that they were used as a base during the invasion of Britain and could have been used in the first north-western advance into Cheshire and Wales. Much of the site is now gone; the construction of the banks of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal resulted in part destruction of the southern extremity of the camp, including most of its fort. The most recent excavation took place in 1999 and it was established that the main fort probably housed a cohors equitata milliaria, this comprised a minimum mixed force of 1,000 men who were heavily armoured foot-soldiers with a complement of a lightly armed cavalry unit. In the 19th century people theorized that the camp was built by the ancient Britons (a theory supported by its being adjacent to the line of Ryknild Street) which runs through the area, others proposed that it was built by the Danes although no factual evidence supports this theory. Some few pieces of ancient weapons, such as swords and battle axes, and portions of bucklers have been found at the site. Excavations have uncovered Roman granaries, storehouses, barracks, a rampart with timber towers, a guard chamber, various smaller buildings, pottery and tools. These have dated the fort to a few years after the Romans first landed in Kent. It is now thought that the site was abandoned by the end of the 1st century. Roman discovery In June 2006 new Roman artefacts were discovered next to a McDonald's in Kings Norton. Local archaeologist Peter Osborn has suggested that there is a strong possibility that the battle between ancient Briton warrior queen Boadicea and the Romans took place in or around the area now called Birmingham sometime during 61 AD. "We know for certain that the battle between the 200,000 ancient Britons and the Romans happened somewhere in the Midlands." "This spot is on the route to Metchley, the Roman fort in Birmingham and it's for this reason, if no other, that we think this could be where the battle took place". However Dr Simon Esmonde Cleary, an archaeology expert at the University of Birmingham,