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RUDCHESTER ROMAN FORT

ALTERNATIVE NAME:

VINDOVALA, VINDOBALA

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The earthwork remains of Rudchester (VINDOBALA) Roman fort straddling Hadrian's Wall consisting of a turf covered platform, up to 1.6 metres high and covering an area of 1.8 hectares. It survived well until the 18th century when stone-robbing and ploughing have since reduced it. The best preserved scarps of the fort rampart are to the south of the Military Road where the fort platform is up to 1.4 metres high. In the south-east corner a slight hollow probably marks the position of the robbed-out corner tower. There are breaks in the scarps where the south and minor west gates have been excavated. The spina of the main west gate is in situ but turf-covered. The north part of the fort, which is under the plough, is defined only by a broad shallow scarp but the platform is nevertheless up to 1.6 metres high. The fort ditch survives as an earthwork only on the west side, 0.7 metres deep. However it was visible on air photographs taken in the 1930s on the north and south sides too. To the north of the Military Road the interior of the fort is devoid of features. To the south it is dominated by slight but distinct ridge-and-furrow cultivation. Other visible features are mainly the result of stone-robbing and excavations. Geophysical surveys within the fort were undertaken in 1987, revealing the fort wall on either side of the north-west corner, confused remains of buildings in the north-west quarter and more coherent traces of buildings, aligned east/west, in the south-east corner.

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NZ 1127 6755. Vindovala Roman Fort (G.S.C.) (1)

Vindovala survives as little more than a reduced platform with the ditch discernible on the west side only. It is under pasture and the southern half is obscured by rig and furrow ploughing.
Published survey (25") revised. (2)

Rudchester, the Roman Vindobala, is a fort on Hadrian's Wall 6 3/4 miles from Benwell. The fort guards the valley of the March Burn to the west, while to the east the ground drops away to the Rudchester Burn. It measured 515 by 385 ft. over its rampart, enclosing approximately 4.5 acres. Excavations in 1924 examined the gates and principal buildings. Four gates were of the normal double portal type and two were single portals. Inside the fort, the principia with its underground strongroom, a granary and a hypocaust in the praetorium were uncovered. In 1972 an area was excavated partly on and partly south of the via quintana, in the S.E. of the fort. It yielded the northern end of a stone barrack block of Hadrianic date, which had been burnt down, to be replaced in the late second or early third century by another barrack of similar design. This had eventually fallen into ruin and had never been rebuilt. In the late fourth century a final period of occupation occurred, attested by Crambeck and Huntcliffe pottery and a stone sill-beam with socket-holes for wooden uprights cut into its upper surface. Pre-Hadrianic plough marks were noticed in the clay sub-soil beneath the fort. Immediately above the clay sub-soil was a layer of dark earth rich in humus identified as the plough-soil. Although the surface of the subsoil was virtually flat, the upper surface of the plough-soil formed a series of undulations, similar to medieval rig and furrow. (3-6)

The fort was surveyed by RCHME at 1:1000 in 1990.
The best preserved scarps of the fort rampart are to the S of the Military Road where the fort platform is up to 1.4m high. In the SE corner a slight hollow probably marks the position of the robbed-out corner tower. There are breaks in the scarps where the S and minor W gates have been excavated. The spina of the main W gate is in situ but turf-covered. The N part of the fort, which is under the plough, is defined only by a broad shallow scarp but the platform is nevertheless up to 1.6m high. The fort ditch is visible only on the W side where it survives as an earthwork, 0.7m deep, for a short distance. To the N of the Military Road the interior of the fort is devoid of features. To the S it is dominated by slight but distinct ridge-and-furrow cultivation. Other visible features are mainly the result of stone-robbing and excavations. Geophysical surveys within the fort were undertaken in 1987, revealing the fort wall on either side of the NW corner, confused remains of buildings in the NW quarter and more coherent traces of buildings, aligned E-W, in the SE corner (7a and b). Full RCHME survey information, including a detailed report, is available in the NMR Archive. (7)

A plan and brief description was published in 1991. (8)

Scheduled (9)

The fort was visible as earthworks on air photographs in 1930. The fort platform and ditch was visible on three sides, the N, W and S. Medieval ridge and furrow (See NZ16NW 124) and post medieval ridge and furrow (see NZ16NW 126) lie within the fort and the latter overlies and has slighted the northern ditch. (10)

There are several depictions in the James Irwin Coates Archive (1877-1896). (11)

Located on the English Heritage map of Hadrian's Wall 2010. (12)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

1:2500 1961

( 2) Field Investigators Comments

F1 RWE 03-MAR-1966

( 3) Archaeologia Aeliana : or miscellaneous tracts relating to antiquity

(Brewis, P) 1, 1924 Page(s)93-120

( 4) Archaeologia Aeliana : or miscellaneous tracts relating to antiquity

(Gillam, J) 1, 1972 Page(s)81-5

( 5) by J Collingwood Bruce; edited and enlarged by Charles Daniels 1978 Handbook to the Roman Wall with the Cumbrian coast and outpost forts

Page(s)76-81

( 6) by A L F Rivet and Colin Smith 1979 The place-names of Roman Britain

Page(s)500

( 7) Field Investigators Comments

Mark Bowden and Keith Blood/18-OCT-1990/RCHME: Rudchester Survey.

( 7a) Externally held archive reference

Gibson, J 1988 A Geophysical Investigation of the Roman Fort and Vallum at Rudchester (Vindovala). Unpublished MSc dissertation, Durham University.

( 7b) Externally held archive reference

Moore, J 1988 Resistivity and S-Wave Seismic Refraction Surveys at Hadrians Wall, Rudchester, Northumberland. Unpublished MSc dissertation, Durham University.

( 8) by M C B Bowden and K Blood 1991 The Roman fort at Rudchester : an analytical field survey

Archaeologia Aeliana : or miscellaneous tracts relating to antiquityNew series vol 1 (1857) - 25 (1904) 19 Page(s)25-31

( 9) Scheduled Monument Notification

14-JUL-1997

(10) Vertical aerial photograph reference number

RAF/26/AC 5 22-OCT-1930

(11) Tony Wilmott (Ed) 2009 Hadrian's Wall: archaeological research by English Heritage 1976-2000

Page(s)14-15

(12) English Heritage 2010 An Archaeological Map of Hadrian's Wall, 1:25,000 scale

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