Binchester Roman Fort
Encyclopedia
Binchester Roman Fort is situated just over 1 miles (1.6 km) to the north of the town of Bishop Auckland
on the banks of the River Wear
in County Durham
, England
. The fort was the site of a hamlet until the late middle-ages, but the modern-day village of Binchester
is about 2 miles (3 km) to the east, near Spennymoor
.
by Dere Street
, the main Roman road between York
, Hadrian's Wall
and Scotland
, and also the fort's via principalis. Sitting atop a hill 80 feet above the Wear, Binchester was the largest Roman fort in County Durham. The land was cleared of trees and brush and a huge leveling fill laid down on the plateau before construction of the fort began. Archaeologists found four coins of Vespasian
that seem to corroborate that initial building was related to Agricola's
march northward into Brigantes
territory. Two phases of timber structures, most likely barracks blocks, were constructed atop the leveling deposit. Much later, perhaps centuries later, buildings inside the fort were leveled and reconstructed in stone. These included a commandant's house at the heart of the fort and a well-appointed baths building, both that went through several phases of development (see below under the archaeological history).
) existed to the north and west of the fort, the remains of which are buried under the pastures of Binchester Hall Farm. The southern part of the fort is now beneath Binchester Hall, while some of the defenses were destroyed in a landslip in the 19th century. Part of the stone bridge used by Dere Street
to cross the River Wear
can still be seen when the river is low. In 2007, several mausolea were found to the north of the vicus.
., the area around Binchester seems to have remained occupied by the local population. By the early 6th century, a small Anglo-Saxon
cemetery had been founded, and the demolition of the fort's buildings for reclamation of the materials had started, some of which were eventually used in the construction of the nearby 7th-century Escomb
Church. A hamlet and manor house
survived at Binchester until the late Middle Ages
. The site of the manor house
is now occupied by the 17th-century Binchester Hall.
had been uncovered in nearby ploughed fields, while William Camden
, in 1586, mentioned the remains of some walls could still then be seen. A bath-house
was found in 1815 when a farm cart accidentally fell into part of a hypocaust
. The ruins did not fare well under the early nineteenth century occupants of Binchester Hall. In 1828, "altars, urns, and other relics" were robbed out and taken away to be used as props inside coal pits in the area. The fort and surrounding land passed from private ownership to that of the Anglican Church in 1836.
and the Reverend Robert Eli Hooppell of Byers Green
, investigating the bath-house
, some of the fort's defences, and parts of the surrounding settlement. However, Hooppell claimed that "(virtually) everything of note found at Binchester before 1879 has perished, or been scattered beyond hope of recovery." Hooppell had workmen excavate the eastern rampart of the fort where they uncovered a portion of Dere Street which functioned as the fort's Via Principalis
. They also explored the vicus, uncovering several plain buildings. In 1891, the installation of modern water pipes in the area caused destruction to the northeast corner of the fort, particularly the rampart, Dere Street, and a few vicus houses, but did uncover a large Roman altar dedicated by Pomponius Donatus "beneficiarius of the governor" to Jupiter and the Matres Ollototae (three Celtic mother goddesses originally from the continent).
fort under a later one dating to about the third century. Further work continued in 1955 and between 1964 and 1972 when the bath suite was re-excavated and mostly cleared. The 1960s were also the period that the archaeological site came under the guardianship of the Durham County Council. In 1971, rescue excavation at the north-western end of Binchester Hall found around six successive layers of timber barracks.
A long term program of excavation begun by the Bowes Museum
for Durham County Council ran from 1976–1980, and then again from 1986-1988. It focused primarily upon the baths suite and the attached commandant's house, uncovering several phases of activity. The first was the construction of the original courtyard house presumably used by the commandant of the fort, built sometime after the middle of the fourth century atop two previous smaller stone buildings, also presumably praetoria
. It had attractive decor and was meant for a single occupant. Later, but also perhaps in the fourth century, a detached bath suite was built adjoining the house, necessitating the demolition of part of the earlier building. It had three rooms: a warm room, a hot room, and a hot room with two plunge baths. The excavators understood this bath building to be for the use of the commandant only. Still later, the house seems to have lost its singular occupant. Rooms were subdivided and several self-contained units were created in what was originally a large house. The baths receive a flagstone court, a triple arched gateway, and a small anteroom, and it is suggested that the reorganization of both structures meant the baths were opened to the entire regiment at the fort. A coin of the usurper Magnentius
, minted between 350 and 360, may provide a terminus post quem
for these renovations. The baths and house then fall on rough times. Lack of maintenance of the baths can be seen archaeologically in the next period, and in the house, the rooms come to be used for industry, including blacksmithing, lime slaking, and animal butchery. A midden dug in a channel around most of the building held a great deal of animal bones and debris. Finally, the collapse of a few walls and part of the roof of the baths seems to have heralded the end for the complex some time in the post-Roman period. However, the entire fort seems to have been used as a cemetery from the mid-sixth to the eleventh centuries. A Saxon woman was found buried in the rubble caused by the roof collapse.
in 2004. Along with previous surveys, a picture began to emerge of a quite extensive civilian settlement laying under the fields to the east of the fort, where Hooppell had done his early test trenches. This led to David Mason, the County Archaeologist
, suggesting to the Channel 4
television show Time Team
that Binchester could provide a fertile ground for investigation. In April 2007, the production company came and spent three days excavating and extending the area surveyed by geophysical means. Apart from discovering more remains of the larger, earlier fort, they also found a row of three military mausolea, "the first to have been found in Britain for 150 years." They also identified that the vicus also extended to the north of the fort. The Binchester programme was broadcast on Channel 4 on January 13, 2008, ending Time Team's involvement with the site.
In 2009, David Mason and professors from Durham University in the UK and Stanford University in the US, began talks for a multi-year archaeological investigation of the fort and vicus at Binchester, building upon previous work done in the area. A test season was conducted in July 2009 where the team opened a trench at the north-east corner of the fort. The first full season of these new excavations in 2010, with the team opening trenches both inside the fort and outside in the vicus. At Durham University, the principal investigators of the project are Richard Hingley and David Petts. At Stanford University, the principal investigators are Michael Shanks
, Gary Devore
, Melissa Chatfield, and David Platt.
, and kept relatively clean during their life. A few coins have been found under floor deposits, but these often only give a terminus post quem
, and coins stop becoming reliable diagnostic items in the fifth century, although settlement in and around Binchester surely lasted into the early Medieval period. Modern investigation of the vicus has been non-existent or fruitless in the search for datable finds. It is hoped that the current excavations undertaken by Durham University
and Stanford University
might inform more about the chronology of the site.
Videos
Articles
Bishop Auckland
Bishop Auckland is a market town and civil parish in County Durham in north east England. It is located about northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham at the confluence of the River Wear with its tributary the River Gaunless...
on the banks of the River Wear
River Wear
The River Wear is located in North East England, rising in the Pennines and flowing eastwards, mostly through County Durham, to the North Sea at Sunderland.-Geology and history:...
in County Durham
County Durham
County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The fort was the site of a hamlet until the late middle-ages, but the modern-day village of Binchester
Binchester
Binchester is a small village in County Durham, England. It has a population of 271. It is situated between Bishop Auckland, which is to the south, and a short distance to the west of Spennymoor. It has a community centre, swing park and football field and is surrounded by countryside.Nearby is...
is about 2 miles (3 km) to the east, near Spennymoor
Spennymoor
Spennymoor is a town in County Durham, England. It stands above the Wear Valley approximately seven miles south of Durham. The town was founded over 160 years ago...
.
The fort
Not much is yet known about pre-Roman settlement in the immediate area. The fort was probably established around 79 CE to guard the crossing of the River WearRiver Wear
The River Wear is located in North East England, rising in the Pennines and flowing eastwards, mostly through County Durham, to the North Sea at Sunderland.-Geology and history:...
by Dere Street
Dere Street
Dere Street or Deere Street, was a Roman road between Eboracum and Veluniate, in what is now Scotland. It still exists in the form of the route of many major roads, including the A1 and A68 just north of Corbridge.Its name corresponds with the post Roman Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Deira, through...
, the main Roman road between York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
, Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall was a defensive fortification in Roman Britain. Begun in AD 122, during the rule of emperor Hadrian, it was the first of two fortifications built across Great Britain, the second being the Antonine Wall, lesser known of the two because its physical remains are less evident today.The...
and Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, and also the fort's via principalis. Sitting atop a hill 80 feet above the Wear, Binchester was the largest Roman fort in County Durham. The land was cleared of trees and brush and a huge leveling fill laid down on the plateau before construction of the fort began. Archaeologists found four coins of Vespasian
Vespasian
Vespasian , was Roman Emperor from 69 AD to 79 AD. Vespasian was the founder of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for a quarter century. Vespasian was descended from a family of equestrians, who rose into the senatorial rank under the Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty...
that seem to corroborate that initial building was related to Agricola's
Gnaeus Julius Agricola
Gnaeus Julius Agricola was a Roman general responsible for much of the Roman conquest of Britain. His biography, the De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae, was the first published work of his son-in-law, the historian Tacitus, and is the source for most of what is known about him.Born to a noted...
march northward into Brigantes
Brigantes
The Brigantes were a Celtic tribe who in pre-Roman times controlled the largest section of what would become Northern England, and a significant part of the Midlands. Their kingdom is sometimes called Brigantia, and it was centred in what was later known as Yorkshire...
territory. Two phases of timber structures, most likely barracks blocks, were constructed atop the leveling deposit. Much later, perhaps centuries later, buildings inside the fort were leveled and reconstructed in stone. These included a commandant's house at the heart of the fort and a well-appointed baths building, both that went through several phases of development (see below under the archaeological history).
The garrison
It is not entirely clear which garrison units would have called Binchester home. The cuneus Frisorum Vinoviensium and the equites catafractariorum have been mentioned in inscriptions from the site. The cavalry units of the ala Vettonum, a cohort of Frisian soldiers, and part of the Sixth Legion might also have stayed here at some point in its history. In fact, it may have been men from the Sixth Legion Victrix who built the original fort.The vicus
An extensive civilian settlement (vicusVicus (Rome)
In ancient Rome, the vicus was a neighborhood. During the Republican era, the four regiones of the city of Rome were subdivided into vici. In the 1st century BC, Augustus reorganized the city for administrative purposes into 14 regions, comprising 265 vici. Each vicus had its own board of...
) existed to the north and west of the fort, the remains of which are buried under the pastures of Binchester Hall Farm. The southern part of the fort is now beneath Binchester Hall, while some of the defenses were destroyed in a landslip in the 19th century. Part of the stone bridge used by Dere Street
Dere Street
Dere Street or Deere Street, was a Roman road between Eboracum and Veluniate, in what is now Scotland. It still exists in the form of the route of many major roads, including the A1 and A68 just north of Corbridge.Its name corresponds with the post Roman Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Deira, through...
to cross the River Wear
River Wear
The River Wear is located in North East England, rising in the Pennines and flowing eastwards, mostly through County Durham, to the North Sea at Sunderland.-Geology and history:...
can still be seen when the river is low. In 2007, several mausolea were found to the north of the vicus.
Later history
Although the Roman occupation of Britain ended officially around 410 CE410
Year 410 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year after the Consulship of Honorius and Theodosius...
., the area around Binchester seems to have remained occupied by the local population. By the early 6th century, a small Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...
cemetery had been founded, and the demolition of the fort's buildings for reclamation of the materials had started, some of which were eventually used in the construction of the nearby 7th-century Escomb
Escomb
Escomb is a village on the River Wear about west of Bishop Auckland, County Durham, England. Escomb was a civil parish until 1960, when it and a number of other civil parishes in the area were dissolved.-Parish church:...
Church. A hamlet and manor house
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
survived at Binchester until the late Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. The site of the manor house
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
is now occupied by the 17th-century Binchester Hall.
Early discoveries
The remains of the fort have been known to antiquarians and historians since the 16th century. In 1552, John Leland wrote that Roman coinsRoman currency
The Roman currency during most of the Roman Republic and the western half of the Roman Empire consisted of coins including the aureus , the denarius , the sestertius , the dupondius , and the as...
had been uncovered in nearby ploughed fields, while William Camden
William Camden
William Camden was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and officer of arms. He wrote the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and the first detailed historical account of the reign of Elizabeth I of England.- Early years :Camden was born in London...
, in 1586, mentioned the remains of some walls could still then be seen. A bath-house
Public bathing
Public baths originated from a communal need for cleanliness. The term public may confuse some people, as some types of public baths are restricted depending on membership, gender, religious affiliation, or other reasons. As societies have changed, public baths have been replaced as private bathing...
was found in 1815 when a farm cart accidentally fell into part of a hypocaust
Hypocaust
A hypocaust was an ancient Roman system of underfloor heating, used to heat houses with hot air. The word derives from the Ancient Greek hypo meaning "under" and caust-, meaning "burnt"...
. The ruins did not fare well under the early nineteenth century occupants of Binchester Hall. In 1828, "altars, urns, and other relics" were robbed out and taken away to be used as props inside coal pits in the area. The fort and surrounding land passed from private ownership to that of the Anglican Church in 1836.
Victorian excavations
The first archaeological excavations took place between 1878 and 1880, under the auspices of John Proud of Bishop AucklandBishop Auckland
Bishop Auckland is a market town and civil parish in County Durham in north east England. It is located about northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham at the confluence of the River Wear with its tributary the River Gaunless...
and the Reverend Robert Eli Hooppell of Byers Green
Byers Green
Byers Green is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated to the north of Bishop Auckland, between Willington and Spennymoor, and a short distance from the River Wear....
, investigating the bath-house
Public bathing
Public baths originated from a communal need for cleanliness. The term public may confuse some people, as some types of public baths are restricted depending on membership, gender, religious affiliation, or other reasons. As societies have changed, public baths have been replaced as private bathing...
, some of the fort's defences, and parts of the surrounding settlement. However, Hooppell claimed that "(virtually) everything of note found at Binchester before 1879 has perished, or been scattered beyond hope of recovery." Hooppell had workmen excavate the eastern rampart of the fort where they uncovered a portion of Dere Street which functioned as the fort's Via Principalis
Castra
The Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. The word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian as well as in Latin. It may have descended from Indo-European to Italic...
. They also explored the vicus, uncovering several plain buildings. In 1891, the installation of modern water pipes in the area caused destruction to the northeast corner of the fort, particularly the rampart, Dere Street, and a few vicus houses, but did uncover a large Roman altar dedicated by Pomponius Donatus "beneficiarius of the governor" to Jupiter and the Matres Ollototae (three Celtic mother goddesses originally from the continent).
Twentieth century excavations
In 1937, Kenneth Steer undertook some excavations around the fort's defenses as part of his archaeology degree at Durham University. There he found evidence for post-Roman buildings overlying these ditches, suggesting that the vicus continued as a small settlement after the fort was actively occupied. He was also able to identify an early AgricolanGnaeus Julius Agricola
Gnaeus Julius Agricola was a Roman general responsible for much of the Roman conquest of Britain. His biography, the De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae, was the first published work of his son-in-law, the historian Tacitus, and is the source for most of what is known about him.Born to a noted...
fort under a later one dating to about the third century. Further work continued in 1955 and between 1964 and 1972 when the bath suite was re-excavated and mostly cleared. The 1960s were also the period that the archaeological site came under the guardianship of the Durham County Council. In 1971, rescue excavation at the north-western end of Binchester Hall found around six successive layers of timber barracks.
A long term program of excavation begun by the Bowes Museum
Bowes Museum
The Bowes Museum has a nationally renowned art collection and is situated in the town of Barnard Castle, Teesdale, County Durham, England.The museum contains an El Greco, paintings by Francisco Goya, Canaletto, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, François Boucher and a sizable collection of decorative art,...
for Durham County Council ran from 1976–1980, and then again from 1986-1988. It focused primarily upon the baths suite and the attached commandant's house, uncovering several phases of activity. The first was the construction of the original courtyard house presumably used by the commandant of the fort, built sometime after the middle of the fourth century atop two previous smaller stone buildings, also presumably praetoria
Praetorium
- Etemology :The praetorium, also spelled prœtorium or pretorium, was originally used to identify the general’s tent within a Roman Castra, Castellum, or encampment. The word originates from the name of the chief Roman magistrate, known as Praetor...
. It had attractive decor and was meant for a single occupant. Later, but also perhaps in the fourth century, a detached bath suite was built adjoining the house, necessitating the demolition of part of the earlier building. It had three rooms: a warm room, a hot room, and a hot room with two plunge baths. The excavators understood this bath building to be for the use of the commandant only. Still later, the house seems to have lost its singular occupant. Rooms were subdivided and several self-contained units were created in what was originally a large house. The baths receive a flagstone court, a triple arched gateway, and a small anteroom, and it is suggested that the reorganization of both structures meant the baths were opened to the entire regiment at the fort. A coin of the usurper Magnentius
Magnentius
Flavius Magnus Magnentius was a usurper of the Roman Empire .-Early life and career:...
, minted between 350 and 360, may provide a terminus post quem
Terminus post quem
Terminus post quem and terminus ante quem specify approximate dates for events...
for these renovations. The baths and house then fall on rough times. Lack of maintenance of the baths can be seen archaeologically in the next period, and in the house, the rooms come to be used for industry, including blacksmithing, lime slaking, and animal butchery. A midden dug in a channel around most of the building held a great deal of animal bones and debris. Finally, the collapse of a few walls and part of the roof of the baths seems to have heralded the end for the complex some time in the post-Roman period. However, the entire fort seems to have been used as a cemetery from the mid-sixth to the eleventh centuries. A Saxon woman was found buried in the rubble caused by the roof collapse.
Recent excavations
Around 4.7 hectares of the vicus were mapped with a geophysical surveyGeophysical survey
Geophysical survey is the systematic collection of geophysical data for spatial studies. Geophysical surveys may use a great variety of sensing instruments, and data may be collected from above or below the Earth's surface or from aerial or marine platforms. Geophysical surveys have many...
in 2004. Along with previous surveys, a picture began to emerge of a quite extensive civilian settlement laying under the fields to the east of the fort, where Hooppell had done his early test trenches. This led to David Mason, the County Archaeologist
County Archaeologist
A County Archaeologist is a local government employee in the United Kingdom with responsibility for overseeing development-led archaeological investigations required by PPG16...
, suggesting to the Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
television show Time Team
Time Team
Time Team is a British television series which has been aired on Channel 4 since 1994. Created by television producer Tim Taylor and presented by actor Tony Robinson, each episode features a team of specialists carrying out an archaeological dig over a period of three days, with Robinson explaining...
that Binchester could provide a fertile ground for investigation. In April 2007, the production company came and spent three days excavating and extending the area surveyed by geophysical means. Apart from discovering more remains of the larger, earlier fort, they also found a row of three military mausolea, "the first to have been found in Britain for 150 years." They also identified that the vicus also extended to the north of the fort. The Binchester programme was broadcast on Channel 4 on January 13, 2008, ending Time Team's involvement with the site.
In 2009, David Mason and professors from Durham University in the UK and Stanford University in the US, began talks for a multi-year archaeological investigation of the fort and vicus at Binchester, building upon previous work done in the area. A test season was conducted in July 2009 where the team opened a trench at the north-east corner of the fort. The first full season of these new excavations in 2010, with the team opening trenches both inside the fort and outside in the vicus. At Durham University, the principal investigators of the project are Richard Hingley and David Petts. At Stanford University, the principal investigators are Michael Shanks
Michael Shanks (archaeologist)
Michael Shanks is a British archaeologist who has specialized in Classical archaeology and archaeological theory. He received his BA and PhD from Cambridge University, and was a lecturer at the University of Wales, Lampeter before moving to the United States of America in 1999 to take up a Chair...
, Gary Devore
Gary Devore (archaeologist)
Gary Devore is an archaeologist currently affiliated with Stanford University.He is a director and principal investigator of the Binchester Project excavating the Binchester Roman Fort in the UK....
, Melissa Chatfield, and David Platt.
Problems in interpretation of the site
Dating aspects of the fort and vicus of Binchester is quite difficult given the limited modern archaeological exploration that has occurred on the site. Most of the floors investigated inside the fort have been of opus signinumOpus signinum
Opus signinum is a building material occasionally used in ancient Rome. It is made of tiles broken up into very small pieces, mixed with mortar, and then beaten down with a rammer...
, and kept relatively clean during their life. A few coins have been found under floor deposits, but these often only give a terminus post quem
Terminus post quem
Terminus post quem and terminus ante quem specify approximate dates for events...
, and coins stop becoming reliable diagnostic items in the fifth century, although settlement in and around Binchester surely lasted into the early Medieval period. Modern investigation of the vicus has been non-existent or fruitless in the search for datable finds. It is hoped that the current excavations undertaken by Durham University
Durham University
The University of Durham, commonly known as Durham University, is a university in Durham, England. It was founded by Act of Parliament in 1832 and granted a Royal Charter in 1837...
and Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
might inform more about the chronology of the site.
External links
History- www.vinovium.org (Stanford Binchester Excavations site)
- Binchester Blog (Durham University Excavations blog)
- Binchester Roman Fort: Investigation History (Pastscape - English Heritage)
- Durham County Council: Binchester Roman Fort
- The Northguard: Binchester Fort
- Roman Britain - Vinovium
- Time Team - Binchester programme pages
Videos
- A video visit to Binchester Roman Fort (YouTube - "ovationceleb")
Articles
- "Church Commissioners tune in to Time Team’s ‘Street of the Dead’" (The Church of England - January 8, 2008)
- "Roman Excavations lead to new farm opportunity" (Jennifer MacKenzie - June 2, 2007)