Vindobala
Encyclopedia
Vindobala was a Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 fort
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...

 at the modern-day hamlet of Rudchester, Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...

. It was the fourth fort on 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...

, after Segedunum (Wallsend
Wallsend
Wallsend is an area in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. Wallsend derives its name as the location of the end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 42,842.-Romans:...

), Pons Aelius
Pons Aelius
Pons Aelius or Newcastle Roman Fort was an auxiliary castra and small Roman settlement on Hadrian's Wall in the Roman province of Britannia Inferior...

 (Newcastle) and Condercum
Condercum
Condercum was a Roman fort at modern-day Benwell, a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It was the third fort on Hadrian's Wall, after Segedunum and Pons Aelius , and was situated to the west of the city. Today, nothing can be seen of the fort or its adjoining wall, as the site is covered by...

. It was situated about 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) to the west of Condercum. The name Vindobala means “White Strength”. The site of the fort is bisected by the B6318 Military Road, which runs along the route of the wall at that point.

Description

The fort guards the valley of the March Burn to the west, an ancient route leading to the south towards the Tyne ford at Newburn
Newburn
Newburn is a semi rural village, parish, electoral ward and former urban district in western Tyne and Wear, North East England. Situated on the banks of the River Tyne, it is built rising up the valley from the river...

. To the east the ground drops away to the Rudchester Burn. The fort is oblong, measuring 157 metres (515.1 ft) north to south by 117 metres (383.9 ft) east to west, and covers about 4.5 acres (1.8 ha). There were four main gates with double portals and two smaller, single-portal gates. There was one main gate on the north wall of the fort, and the east and west main gates opened on the north side of the Roman Wall. This left a single main gate on the south wall of the fort, and two smaller gates which probably gave access to a military way running along the south side of the Wall. There were towers at each corner of the fort, and also on either side of the main gates.

The Vallum
Vallum
Vallum is a term applied either to the whole or a portion of the fortifications of a Roman camp. The vallum usually comprised an earthen or turf rampart with a wooden palisade on top, with a deep outer ditch...

 passed about 220 metres (721.8 ft) south of the fort, and there was a vicus
Vicus (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...

 south and south west of the fort. South of the fort, on the brow of a hill, is a cistern
Cistern
A cistern is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by their waterproof linings...

, twelve feet long, four and a half feet broad and two feet deep. It was popularly known as the “Giant’s Grave”.

Now there is little to be seen on the surface, apart from mounds to the south of the Military Road marking the west and south ramparts. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries stones were systematically removed from the site for local agricultural buildings, and also for the building of the Military Road.

Garrison

The fort was garrisoned in the fourth century by the First Cohort of Frisiavones
Frisiavones
The Frisiavones were a Germanic tribe sometimes considered as a subdivision of the Frisii, who in turn are traditionally considered to be ancestors of modern Frisians. Pliny the Elder, however, appeared to distinguish them from the Frisii. They also appear in inscriptions found in Roman Britain...

. These were troops recruited from a coastal tribe of Lower Germany
Germania Inferior
Germania Inferior was a Roman province located on the left bank of the Rhine, in today's Luxembourg, southern Netherlands, parts of Belgium, and North Rhine-Westphalia left of the Rhine....

. It is thought that the fort was built for a cohort, 500 strong and part-mounted.

Excavations

In 1760 a life-size statue of Hercules was found at the site.
Excavations of the site were carried out in 1924 and 1962. Two of the main gateways were excavated, as well as a large granary and part of the headquarters. In addition, 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"...

 belonging to the Commandant’s house was discovered.

Mithraeum
Mithraeum
A Mithraeum is a place of worship for the followers of the mystery religion of Mithraism.The Mithraeum was either an adapted natural cave or cavern or an artificial building imitating a cavern. Mithraea were dark and windowless, even if they were not actually in a subterranean space or in a natural...

In 1844, five altars, dedicated to Mithras, were discovered near the site, now known as the Rudchester Mithraeum
Rudchester Mithraeum
Rudchester Mithraeum is a Roman Temple to the Roman god Mithras at Rudchester , an auxiliary fort on Hadrian's Wall, the northern frontier of Roman Britain. The temple was located 137m to the west of the castra.- Discovery :...

. It is believed that these come from a temple to Mithras, situated to the south east of the fort. It appears that this was built in the third century and was deliberately destroyed in the fourth century. The building was 43 feet (13.1 m) long and 22 feet (6.7 m) wide with a narthex
Narthex
The narthex of a church is the entrance or lobby area, located at the end of the nave, at the far end from the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex was a part of the church building, but was not considered part of the church proper...

, or vestibule, attached to the front.

Curtain Wall

In 1924, an excavation took place on the wall line 1924 at a point 3 metres (9.8 ft) west of the fort. The north face was erected on a foundation course
Course (architecture)
A course is a continuous horizontal layer of similarly-sized building material one unit high, usually in a wall. The term is almost always used in conjunction with unit masonry such as brick, cut stone, or concrete masonry units .-Styles:...

of coarse white stones. The first course was topped by an elaborately moulded plinth (unknown elsewhere). It has been speculated that this was the location of a special inscription stone marking work on the wall.

External Links

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