Concangis was an auxiliary

castra ''Castra'' () is a Latin language, Latin term used during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire for a military 'camp', and ''castrum'' () for a 'Fortification, fort'. Either could refer to a building or plot of land, used as a fortified milita ...

in the

Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

of Lower Britain (''Britannia Inferior''). Its ruins are located in

Chester-le-Street Chester-le-Street () is a market town in County Durham, England. It is located around north of Durham and is close to Newcastle. The town holds markets on Saturdays. In 2021, the town had a population of 23,555. The town's history is ancient; ...

, County Durham, in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and are now known as Chester-le-Street Roman Fort. It is situated north of the city of Durham and south of

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 ''Concangis'' is Brittonic but of uncertain meaning; it is possibly derived from a root meaning ‘horse’.

History

The Roman fort of Concangis is located east of the forts of Longovicium ( Lanchester) and Vindomora ( Ebchester) and south of Pons Aelius (Newcastle upon Tyne). It is east of the main Roman road of

Dere Street Dere Street or Deere Street is a modern designation of a Roman roads, Roman road which ran north from Eboracum (York), crossing the Stanegate at Corbridge (Hadrian's Wall was crossed at the Portgate, just to the north) and continuing beyond int ...

, which connected other forts near

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 ...

and beyond to

Eboracum Eboracum () was a castra, fort and later a coloniae, city in the Roman province of Roman Britain, Britannia. In its prime it was the largest town in northern Britain and a provincial capital. The site remained occupied after the decline of the ...

(

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

), and is close to Cade's Road, which is thought to have run from Eboracum to Pons Aelius. It is also speculated that Concangis may have been linked to Dere Street via a branch road heading west connecting to Longovicium (on Dere Street), but this has yet to be confirmed. The discovery by Raymond Selkirk of an abutment on the Cong Burn suggests that a bridge had been built there and had connected this fort with the one at Vindomora (Ebchester) to the west. Concangis is listed on both the 4th/5th-century ''

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 ...

'' and the 7th-century ''

Ravenna Cosmography The ''Ravenna Cosmography'' (, "The Cosmography of the Unknown Ravennese") is a work describing the Ecumene, known world from India to Ireland, compiled by an anonymous cleric in Ravenna around 700 AD. It consists of five books describing ...

''. The fort is on a high bluff, overlooking the valleys of the Wear to the east and the Cong Burn to the north, hence the fort is in the sort of position frequently favoured by Roman military surveyors. The road north to Pons Aelius passed west of the fort and made monitoring traffic easy. The fort covered roughly six and a half acres and was built first in turf and timber probably in the 70s AD by the Legio IX Hispana (Ninth Hispanic Legion) and later in stone by the

Legio II Augusta Legio II Augusta ( Second Legion "Augustus'") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army that was founded during the late Roman Republic. Its emblems were the Capricornus, Pegasus, and Mars. It may have taken the name "''Augusta''" from a victory ...

(the Second Augustan Legion), probably during the early 2nd century, coinciding with the construction of Hadrian's Wall, which was also built in part by Legio II. Excavations were carried out in 1978 and in 1990/1991. Unfortunately much of the fort is beneath the town of Chester-le-Street so little remains to be seen except for a portion of the excavated officers’ quarters left on display. Finds included pottery, fine table wares, coins, animal bones, a cheese press and curiously even a tile with a dog's footprint on it.Concangis: the Excavations in Church Chare
Altars found range from ones dedicated to the war god

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

and the sun god

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

to ones to Celtic and German gods such as Digenis and Vitiris. The large (3 out of 8) number of altars dedicated to patron deities concerned with the wellbeing of veteran soldiers would seem to suggest the inhabitants of Concangis included a high proportion of ex-military men. Two large stones in a

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

of the parish church of St Mary and St Cuthbert have lewis holes for lifting, which strongly suggest they were recycled from the Roman fort.

Garrison

A construction inscription attests the Legio II Augusta as having built/rebuilt the fort, but as is usual this gives no evidence of who occupied it since

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 ...

built only the fortifications and it was the

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 ...

who garrisoned it. An incomplete inscription mentions an Alae Antoninae (Antonine Wing), possibly on routine patrols and on restoration work on an aqueduct and latrines. The poor state of the inscription makes it impossible to identify the unit accurately, but based on finds nearby and units with similar names it can be deduced the unit present was the Ala Secundae Asturum Antoniniana (Second Wing of Antonine Asturians). This unit was present for emperor

Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; ; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through cursus honorum, the ...

's campaigns in

Caledonia Caledonia (; ) was the Latin name used by the Roman Empire to refer to the forested region in the central and western Scottish Highlands, particularly stretching through parts of what are now Lochaber, Badenoch, Strathspey, and possibly as ...

and was also present at other forts such as Lindum ( Lincoln) and Cilurnum. A tile with the initials NV seems to suggest the Numeri Vigilum was present here during the 4th century AD. It was also listed as Praefectus Numeri Vigilum Concangios (The Prefect of the Company of Watchmen from Concangis) under the Duke of the Britains.

Gallery

image:Latrine.jpg, View of latrine - this is not in chester le street, doing an image search shows it is in piazza armerina - siciliy Image:Nwall4.jpg, Stone remains of north wall File:LewisHoles StMaryandStCuthbert.jpg, Re-used Roman stones with lewis holes – central lifting slots below left and above right, now filled with mortar File:Concangis Paw tile.jpg, Tile with dog's paw-print on it File:Officers Quarters Concangis.jpg, Officers' quarters reconstruction

References

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External links