Housesteads Roman Fort was an

auxilia The (; ) were introduced as non-citizen troops attached to the citizen Roman legion, legions by Augustus after his reorganisation of the Imperial Roman army from 27 BC. By the 2nd century, the contained the same number of infantry as the ...

fort A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...

Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall (, also known as the ''Roman Wall'', Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Aelium'' in Latin) is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Roman Britain, Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...

, at Housesteads, Northumberland, England. It is dramatically positioned on the end of the -long crag of the Whin Sill over which the Wall runs, overlooking sparsely populated hills. It was called the "grandest station" on the Wall and is one of the best-preserved and extensively displayed forts. It was occupied for almost 300 years. It was located west from Carrawburgh fort, east of Great Chesters fort and about north east of the existing fort at

Vindolanda Vindolanda was a Roman auxiliary fort ('' castrum'') just south of Hadrian's Wall in northern England, which it pre-dated. Archaeological excavations of the site show it was under Roman occupation from roughly 85 AD to 370 AD. Located near th ...

on the Stanegate road. The site is now owned by the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

and is currently in the care of

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

. Finds from the fort can be seen in the site museum, in the museum at Chesters, and in the Great North Museum: Hancock in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

Name

The name of the fort has been given as Vercovicium, Borcovicus, Borcovicium, and Velurtion. An inscription found at Housesteads with the letters VER, is believed to be short for Ver(covicianorum), the letters ver being interchangeable with bor in later Latin. The 18th-century farmhouse of Housesteads provides the modern name.

History

was begun in AD 122 and included no forts but smaller milecastles but before it was finished there was a change of plan to include forts. Turret 36B on the site was therefore demolished to make way for the fort built in stone around AD 124 with its northern wall overlying the original Broad Wall foundation. The fort was repaired and rebuilt several times. A major rebuilding in the late 3rd/early 4th century included interval towers on the walls, a huge '' horreum'' (warehouse) and new barracks. A substantial civil settlement (

vicus In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (plural ) designated a village within a rural area () or the neighbourhood of a larger settlement. During the Republican era, the four of the city of Rome were subdivided into . In the 1st century BC, Augustus ...

) existed to the south, outside the fort, and some of the stone foundations can still be seen, including the so-called "Murder House", where two skeletons were found beneath an apparently newly-laid floor when excavated. The vicus was abandoned in about 270 before the rebuilding of the fort. It is unusual for Britain in that it had no running water supply and was dependent upon rainwater collection, for which purpose there is a series of large stone-lined cisterns around the periphery of the defences. It also has one of the best-preserved stone

latrine A latrine is a toilet or an even simpler facility that is used as a toilet within a sanitation system. For example, it can be a communal trench in the earth in a camp to be used as emergency sanitation, a hole in the ground ( pit latrine), or ...

s in

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of ''Britannia'' after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. Julius Caes ...

Garrison

In the 2nd century AD, the garrison consisted of an unknown double-sized auxiliary infantry cohort and a detachment of

legionaries The ancient Rome, Roman legionary (in Latin ''legionarius''; : ''legionarii'') was a citizen soldier of the Roman army. These soldiers would conquer and defend the territories of ancient Rome during the Crisis of the Roman Republic, Republic and ...

from '' Legio II Augusta''. From 205/208 it comprised ''Cohors I Tungrorum'' (nominally 1000 strong) augmented by the ''numerus Hnaudifridi'' and the '' Cuneus Frisionum'', a Frisian cavalry unit, ''cuneus'' referring to a wedge formation. The Tungrians were still there in the 4th century, according to the ''

Notitia Dignitatum The (Latin for 'List of all dignities and administrations both civil and military') is a document of the Late Roman Empire that details the administrative organization of the Western and the Eastern Roman Empire. It is unique as one of very ...

''. By 409 AD the Romans had withdrawn.Thomas Brown (2006) ''Celtic Roots'', Trafford Publishing

Housesteads farm

Housesteads is a former farm whose ruins remain built up against the south gate of the Roman fort. The farm was purchased by the amateur historian John Clayton in 1838, to add to his collection of Roman Wall farms. The Roman site was cleared of later buildings by Clayton, and the present farmhouse built about 1860. John Maurice Clayton attempted to auction the fort in 1929. It did not reach its reserve and was donated to the

in 1930. The farm was later owned by the Trevelyans who gave the land for the site museum.

References

;Sources * Crow, J. ''Housesteads Roman Fort and its Environs'', Univ. of Newcastle 1994 * Crow, J. ''Housesteads'', London: Batsford (1995) (second edition, Stroud: Tempus 2004)

External links

Hadrian's Wall and Housesteads Fort – National Trust

History and visitor information: English Heritage
{{Authority control Roman fortifications in England Roman sites in Northumberland Forts of Hadrian's Wall History of Northumberland Former populated places in Northumberland National Trust properties in Northumberland Museums in Northumberland Museums of ancient Rome in the United Kingdom Archaeological museums in England