Housesteads is an idea rather than reality, it’s just a pile of plain stones but creates the image of Roman soldiers watching over a barbarian frontier from this fort. The wall and fort are an incredible testament to human perseverance and even after two thousand years of looting they still dominate this part of Northumberland.
Visiting Housesteads Roman Fort
Housesteads is a major tourist attraction and has coach trips regularly visiting. As such it has a decent car park, a cafe and shop and plenty of information boards. It is jointly run by English Heritage and the National Trust and has an onsite museum which recreates the fort in its heyday as well as showing what life was like for the soldiers posted there.
My Experience
Houseteads Roman Fort was a stop for us on our way up to Scotland, as detailed in my travel blog here. It was our first trip with Frey dog and as such it did limit what we could do. I went into the museum on my own while Deb walked outside and then we explored the fort.
It really is just a pile of stones and could just be dry stone walling around a sheep field other than a few details such as the hypocaust and toilet benches. The information boards do help bring it to life but it relies on the imagination to transform this into a bustling garrison fort on the frontier. Our visit was in August 2012 and as such it was very busy!
Housesteads Roman Fort Photo Gallery
History
By the early second century AD Roman forces had been in Britain for almost sixty years but, although successful campaigns had been waged in the far north of Scotland, military cutbacks had meant the northern extremity of their occupation had settled upon the Stanegate Road which ran between the River Tyne and the Solway Firth. For many Romans continued expansion north would have seemed inevitable but all that changed with the accession of Emperor Hadrian in AD 117. He embarked upon a radical policy of entrenchment and consolidation creating physical borders across the Empire, a concept previously alien to Roman ideology. In Britannia, which he visited in AD 122, he ordered the construction of Hadrian’s Wall – a substantial frontier system constructed to the north of the Stanegate Road along the Whin Sill, a series of rocky cliffs that formed a strong natural barrier. Work started almost immediately and the original plan was for a continuous wall with two turrets and a fortified gateway, now known as a Milecastle, every Roman mile. One of the turrets, today classified as number 36B, was built on the site of the Housestead Fort. The original intent had been for the garrison of the frontier to remain in the existing forts upon the Stanegate Road but instead the decision was taken to build new forts upon the Wall itself at intervals of around seven miles. Housesteads Fort was one of seventeen such installations on the line of the Wall.
Housesteads was known to the Romans as Vercovicium meaning ‘place of the effective fighters’. It was laid out in the traditional ‘playing card’ shape and covered an area of around five acres. In the centre was the Headquarters building which held the administrative centre and the strong room. This was flanked by a Commanding Officer’s house, granaries and a hospital. The remainder of the fort was occupied by barracks and workshops. It was designed to garrison an Auxiliary infantry regiment of around 800 men. The first unit to be stationed there may have been part of the First Cohort of Tungrians (cohors I Tungrorum milliaria peditata), a regiment recruited from the area occupied by modern day Belgium. A civilian settlement, known as a vicus, became established outside the walls of the fort.
Emperor Hadrian died in AD 138 and was followed by Antoninus Pius. He sought an easy military victory and ordered his British Legions to advance north and establish a new frontier, the Antonine Wall, along the Clyde/Forth isthmus. Hadrian’s Wall was abandoned although not all outposts were decommissioned. Housestead’s garrison of Tungrians were re-assigned to Castlecary whilst a detachment of soldiers from the Second Augustan Legion (Legio II Augusta) was moved into the fort to replace them. The new frontier only lasted a few decades before Hadrian’s Wall was re-established and by AD 160 the Tungrians were back at Housesteads.
Housesteads Fort was enlarged in the early third century AD during the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus. During this period the Caledones and the Maetae north of the Wall were causing trouble for the Romans and it is likely the modifications made to Housesteads were a reflection of an expanded military presence on the frontier at this time. The Tungarians were still the garrison during this period and the enhanced fort meant it was now big enough to garrison the entire unit. Furthermore other units may have been based at Housesteads possibly including members of the First Cohort of Hamian Bowmen (Cohors Primae Hamiorum Saggitariorum), a regiment of archers recruited from Syria.
The fourth century saw substantial changes to Housesteads Fort. The vicus was abandoned around AD 320 and elements of it seem to have moved within the fort’s perimeter. Some of the barrack blocks were adapted into ‘chalets’ and probably served as accommodation for soldier’s families. The defences of the fort were also substantially enhanced suggesting a deterioration in the security situation enjoyed during much of the third century AD.
Housesteads was occupied until the end of Roman Britain in the early fifth century AD. However, once the connections with Rome were severed it is likely the population departed soon after as the fort’s remote location made it unsuitable for supporting large settlements. There is no evidence of the site remaining occupied during the Dark Ages or Medieval period with the nearest manors being Sewingshields Castle and Bradley Hall. The abandoned fort became a shelter for the thieves and raiders who plagued the lawless border region – the so-called Border Reivers. This continued into the seventeenth century when the notorious Armstrongs occupied the site. However, following the Union of the Crowns in 1603 efforts were made to suppress lawless activity and it ended completely following the construction of the military roads in the early eighteenth century effectively making the site easily accessible to the authorities.
References
The history above is copied from the excellent castles forts battles site here.
Full visitor information is on the English Heritage site here.
There is a fantastic photography and walking guide to the site here, on the hiking photographer.