Overall Impact **** 4 stars – Housesteads has ‘star quality’, given its position atop the crags and on a slope that faces you as you approach.

Access ** 2 stars – it’s a long trudge up from the National Trust carpark, although it provides spectacular views of the fort in its context (although disabled parking at the top of the hill can be arranged at the information centre for those who require it). It can be windy and uneven underfoot.

Atmosphere ***** 5 stars – it’s not difficult to imagine you are a one of the Tungrian soldiers stationed there, gazing out into the drizzle to spot raiders or smugglers!

Other ** 2 stars – the famous latrine provides a good source of lavatorial humour for children of all ages!

For many people, Housesteads is the quintessential Roman auxiliary fort and it is definitely ‘the fort to see’ on Hadrian’s Wall. However, as always, when you dig into things with the Roman Army, it’s not quite that simple…

Housesteads was one of the forts built as a result of the ‘Fort Decision’ in around AD124 when the Roman High Command decided that – instead of a thinly-held ‘curtain’ along the new frontier with turrets and milecastles communicating with forts in the rear along the Stanegate Road – it was necessary to man the border with troops of all kinds, ready to be deployed forward aggressively. At the same time, probably, the decision was taken to narrow the wall from a massive 10ft to 6ft. Wall expert David Breeze estimates that troops on the front line increased from c3,750 to c11,000.

Part of that deployment was the deployment of a thousand-strong infantry cohort (Cohors Peditata Milliaria) to Housesteads. This involved the knocking down of a part-constructed turret which can be seen in the northern part of the fort, outside the granaries and just inside the fort wall which was then pushed as far towards the edge of the cliffs as possible, making the North Gate meaningless and purely decorative. But they still built it – after all, this is the Roman Army!

Since it contained 10 centuries of 80 men each (800 in total), the fort is larger than normal at 2.2 hectares. There were 10 infantry barrack blocks: 5 west of the central range and 5 east, each row containing an additional workshop building. In the central range, stood the usual HQ (Principia), this time facing east along the long axis, with two substantial granaries to the north, and a magnificent house (Praetorium) for the Commander and his family, with a Hospital behind. All of these were built on a steeply sloping site, exposed to the frequent wind and rain of the Northumberland weather. So the ‘poor bloody infantry’ got Housesteads Crags, whilst the better-paid elite cavalry got the bucolic pleasures of Chesters in the North Tyne Valley.

We don’t know which unit was lucky enough to get this windy posting: clearly being ready at short notice to deploy aggressively north of the Wall was vital – why else put them here? However, along with the rest of the Wall, all this site was dismantled or moth-balled after Hadrian’s death in AD138, and Antoninus Pius’ decision to move the frontier forward to the Clyde-Forth Isthmus and to what become the Antonine Wall. So could we look on the 50 years of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus from AD117 to 167 – far from being the Golden Age of the Roman Army – as being instead an era at least of indecision and waste of effort, or even of failure?

When the Army came back to the Wall in the early AD160s, the Housesterads garrison was the Cohors I Tungrorum which by now had a complement of 800 infantry. Originally recruited as auxiliaries from the native Tungri of Belgica, they had been stationed at Vindolanda in the late 1st Century, and by the AD180s would have become thoroughly local on the Wall. They were augmented by barbarian irregular infantry from ‘free’ Germany (Numerus Hnaudfridi) and cavalry from Frisia (Cuneus Frisiorum), presumably recruited to provide a certain ‘barbaric’ edge to the Tungrians’ regular tactics.

Amazingly, the Tungrians were still there at Housesteads by the time of the Notitia Dignitatum in the late 4th Century. However, by then the neat barrack blocks had been divided up into what have been somewhat weirdly named ‘chalets’, one replacing each previous set of contubernia rooms. Some people think this reflects the decline of the Roman Army, with families moving into the ‘chalets’ along with the soldiers. But at Housesteads there is very little evidence for this happening (unlike at Vindolanda), so the reason for the rebuild remains unclear.

Visiting the Site

You stand a good chance at Housesteads of being blown away, drenched or at best slightly dampened by the Gods of the Northumbrian Weather. However, there is plenty exposed on the site from different periods which is well worth seeing.

The best plan is to visit the Museum (housed in the old farm buildings) on your way onto the site. Here are some key finds from the fort plus a really good model of the fort as it was built in the AD120s and some excellent pictorial reconstructions of the whole fort and its key buildings. What is most striking is how the Roman architects did not let the sloping nature of the site get in the way of laying out the regulation plan; and how much effort was put into constructing a multi-storey Commander’s House with a central courtyard – great in the Mediterranean but probably a source of flooding up here.

It is worth then visiting the (pointless) North Gate to look over into the Barbarian lands and a view for miles north, and to gaze west and east along the Wall that bestrides the crags. And in the north-east quadrant you can see the ‘chalets’ laid out in their irregular plans.

As a final treat, everyone visits the south-east corner to marvel at the Roman latrines, which were flushed by the plentiful rainfall at Housesteads. Apparently, though, the plumbing is not so clever and effective as it looks…

Overall Impact **** 4 stars – One of the most unusual Roman forts to be found in Britain. Started off quite normal but then became the supply base for Septimius Severus’ campaigns in Scotland and thereafter for the garrison of Hadrian’s Wall – unique!

Access *** 3 stars – One of Tyne and Wear Museum Service flagship sites, Arbeia is well branded and signed. There is parking outside plus extensive beach-side car parks. (It takes some time to drive to South Shields from Newcastle, however, either through the Tyne Tunnel or by heading south down the A1 and then back up.)

Atmosphere ***** 5 stars – The Fort feels special: it has been a “People’s Roman Park” since the 1870s when the central area was exposed, and the 3 amazing reconstructions (the West Gate from AD160s, 3rd century barracks and 4th century Commander’s House) are very evocative.

Other **** 4 stars – Don’t miss the two high-quality tombstones of Regina and Victor probably carved by a Syrian craftsman in the small Museum. (The Bookshop sadly did not, however, seem to include a current Guidebook to the site when we were there.)

One of the most unusual forts – well worth making the effort to visit, in the Hadrian’s Wall Region or Complex but definitely not ‘on the Wall’, is South Shields or ‘Arbeia’ as it is branded at the site and on signposts.

It was built as part of the Antonine re-occupation of the Tyne-Solway line in the early 160s and is a ‘bog standard’ auxiliary fort for a Cohors Equitata Quingenaria). In the middle range stands the Headquarters (Principia), facing north, with a pair of granaries to the west and the Commander’s House (Praetorium) to the east. In front of them there appear to be 6 barrack blocks (6 x 80 men = 480 infantry) and behind there are 4 cavalry barracks with urine pits for the horses in the front rooms of the conturbernia (4 x 30 = 120 troopers), housing a total of 600 troops. It feels like the twin of Wallsend built in the late AD130s and reoccupied at the same time as South Shields in the AD160s.

South Shields gets really interesting in AD207 when the fort is converted into a supply base for Septimius Severus’ campaigns in Caledonia. The fort is extended to the south and a dividing wall erected across the middle. The old Principia is demolished and a new smaller one, now facing south, is built. The barracks are removed and an amazing 13 new granaries are built which, with the two existing ones, gives 15. The poor old garrison unit Cohors V Gallorum is therefore jammed into the southern half of the site in shortened barrack blocks.

This scheme is never finished and the dividing wall is knocked down, still more granaries built, bringing the total to 22, and some more barracks are crammed into the south-east corner.

South Shields continued as a Supply Base for the Army on Hadrian’s Wall after the departure of Septimius Severus and his son (and fellow Augustus) Caracalla. Another new Principia was built and some short barracks replaced the previous ones. This role continued during the 3rd Century with grain imported from northern Gaul. Interestingly in the Notitia Dignitatum from the late 4th Century the garrison is a unit of Tigris Boatmen or Bargemen from present-day Iraq). It is an attractive theory to see these troops arriving with Septimius to transport grain and supplies up the coast to the Army in the north and staying to distribute supplies up the Tyne to the Wall garrison afterwards. Severus had previously been campaigning in the East and had created the new Province of Mesopotamia with its frontier on the Tigris. The name Arbeia is thought to be a version of ‘Arabia’ relating to this deployment. The freedwoman Regina, whose tombstone was found in the civilian settlement (vicus) here, was the wife of Barates from Palymra. Barates himself is thought to be buried at Corbridge (Coria) behind the Wall.

A disastrous fire around AD300 destroyed the fort, cause unknown. In the resultant rebuilding, eight of the granaries in the south were converted into barrack blocks, each with space for 5 conturbernia (5 x 8 men = 40), housing a total of around 320 men. The Commanding Officer of this unit – and this may be when the Tigris Bargemen were in fact deployed here – had a large, even palatial, Praetorium complete with integral bath suite and both summer and winter dining rooms. Arbeia seems to have functioned as the supply base for the Wall through the 4th Century until the breakdown of the imperial pay- and supply-chains in the early 5th century. It may well have become a centre of royal Northumbrian power thereafter.

Reconstructions

So, for everyone interested in Roman forts, this complex evolution is ridiculously interesting. And now you can add to that the three – yes, three – unique reconstructions that Paul Bidwell and the Tyne and Wear Museums Team have built.

Fort Gateway

The West Gateway has been reconstructed on its foundations to its full imposing height, something which is quite common along the German Limes but scarcely ever happens in Britain. Opened in 1988, faithfully reflecting the stone fragments found on site and using Northumbrian stone externally, it brings home to visitors and school parties just how imposing a Roman fort was in the landscape. The new version has weathered its 30 years in the Tyneside climate very well.

Barrack Block

The reconstructed barrack block is one of the new types of the 3rd Century with 5 contubernia plus officers’ quarters at one end. Unlike the robust Gate, the barracks building brings home to modern eyes what a rotten, cold and often soaking wet life a Roman auxiliary led. It is built of clay-bonded stone and mud plaster coated with limewash, with internal partitions of wattle and daub. If the unit was up to strength then these rooms would have been crowded with up to 8 men and all their kit, and smoke-filled from cooking and heating. The reproductions – probably like the originals – are not surviving well in the Tyneside weather, with plaster flaking off.

Commander’s House from the 4th Century

Next door to the crumbling barracks is a recreation (on the original foundations) of the unique Commander’s House from the 4th Century. It is decorated with tremendous panache and joie de vivre in bright colours with what to modern eyes look like naive fake painted marble and portraits of the Emperor. This suggests at what you could achieve even in the the far north-west of the Empire with local craftsmen.

There are store rooms, the Commander’s study, two bedrooms, a vast summer dining room and a painted courtyard. Yet this still leaves the winter dining room, with extra heating, and the bath suite not reconstructed! Only the top man and his family lived in such luxury…

The Commander’s House is showing some wear and tear, but its impact is still like no other reconstruction we have seen. Interestingly, the reproduction Roman tiles (tegulae et imbrices), manufactured specially in Italy, let in the rain – given how they were first fitted – leading to the collapse of the painted ceiling in the dining room!

Museum

In the small but good Museum there are two high-quality tombstones probably carved by a Syrian craftsman. They are both rightly famous and provoke so many questions about the nature of society and relationships in Roman Britain. One is to Regina, a freedwoman and the wife of Barates – he was from Palmyra, she was from the Catuvellauni living around St Albans. The second is to Victor who died at 20, a former Moorish slave freed by Numerianus of the Ala I Asturum who arranged his funeral ‘with all devotion’. There is also a good range of other finds from the site.

Overall Impact:                **** 4 stars – One of the best ways to get a feel for a ‘standard’ Roman auxiliary fort: you can examine the gates, Principia and baths and understand how they worked.

Access                                ***** 5 stars – As a prime English Heritage Hadrian’s Wall site, it is well signposted from both directions, with the AD122 bus stop plus ample car parking space, and good visitor facilities. Most areas of the site are easily walkable.

Atmosphere                      ** 2 stars – In the absence of anything other than walls and information signs, you need to use your imagination to recreate the fort. But there are good children’s activities which help with that.

Other                                  *** 3 stars – Clayton Museum at the site has been beautifully restored to its nineteenth-century splendour. As a bonus, across the River North Tyne is the surviving bridge abutment.

Chesters (Roman Cilurnum) was one of the forts built on the line of Hadrian’s Wall when the original conception of a wall composed of milecastles and turrets was abandoned and the decision was taken to move forts from the Tyne Valley forward to the line of the Wall itself. Given that the Wall was begun in AD122, Chesters therefore dates from a few years thereafter: English Heritage plump for a date of AD124. The ditch in front of the Wall was filled in and a turret that had just been built (or at least started) on the site was demolished.

The original Hadrianic garrison was Ala Augusta ob virtutem appellata, that is, the Cavalry Wing or Regiment Awarded the Title Augusta for its Valour. As a cavalry regiment it was one of the most prestigious units on the Wall, and had landed a delightful billet beside the River North Tyne in what was probably, then as now, a fertile and attractive spot. A cavalry ala had 16 squadrons (turmae) of 32 men and their horses.

Probably abandoned or mothballed during the move forward in the Antonine period, by AD178-84 the fort garrison was Ala II Asturum, a cavalry wing originally raised in Northwest Spain who were there throughout the remaining lifetime of the fort into the 4th Century. At this period the buildings inside the fort were completely rebuilt. Interestingly, there seems not to have been space inside the fort for the 16 barracks needed for the 16 Squadrons of an ala: either the Ala II Asturum only had 12, or perhaps the remainder were on detached duties elsewhere in the Province and only rotated through Chesters?

The late 2nd and early 3rd Century were the heyday of Chesters with a large civil settlement (vicus) to the South and many inscriptions raised. However, the nature of the fort would have completely changed over the period AD250 to 350 with the vicus largely disappearing and the civilians moving into the Fort. The garrison would have been drawn from the sons of serving soldiers as was compulsory in the Late Empire. An inscription from AD286 refers to irregular troops (symmacharii) also being present at Chesters.

Principal Visible Remains

Excavations were carried out by landowner John Clayton in the 19th Century, so what we have are the surviving walls plus the inscriptions and sculptures now displayed in the charming Museum. Four Hadrianic gates excavated by Clayton (out of the total of six) are exposed: the original double entrances were not needed, or were too insecure, and one of them was blocked early in all cases. Was this to facilitate security checks on those passing through, or due to a realisation that the ability to deploy horsemen quickly through three double gateways north of the Wall was not in fact needed?

The Hadrianic headquarters building (Principia) is large, as befits an elite Ala, and gives a good impression of what a fort HQ was like, with the vault of the strongroom, opening off the central Shrine of the Standards, still surviving. The layout of the Commander’s House (Praetorium) defeats explanation and will continue to do so, given when and how it was excavated. However, the Commander clearly enjoyed his own bath suite.

Most of the rest of the interior is unexcavated. The key visible remains are the two opposing barrack blocks. Based on comparison with German forts and excavations at Wallsend, these are now seen as two-storey buildings. The current view is that there were 10 contubernia which each housed 3 horses in the front room and their riders in the back room (although we prefer the idea that the men slept upstairs, leaving equipment and possibly grooms in the back room). This would allow for 30 men and riders in a squadron (turma), with their commander (optio) and the Standard Bearer in the larger end rooms.

The star surviving remains are the garrison Baths, between the fort and the river. They are Hadrianic but heavily modified They famously have niches (possibly for clothes) in the large changing room, plus a surviving base of a window, stone channels with lead seals still remaining, and a latrine on the riverside. These bath would have been a welcome luxury for the elite soldiers stationed at Chesters.