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SOUTH SHIELDS ROMAN FORT

ALTERNATIVE NAME:

ARBEIA ROMAN FORT

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The site of the Roman fort was first occupied by a Middle Iron Age round house, this was overlain by late Iron Age plough marks. There may have been a fort near the known site from the Flavian period, though this is only conjectural. The visible stone fort was built circa AD 163, though there appears to have been reduced occupation in the late 2nd century. Around AD 205-7 the fort was extended and converted into a supply base; the principia was also rebuilt and a dividing wall separates the base. The garrison is the Fifth Cohort of Gauls. From AD 222-35 the dividing wall was demolished, the supply base enlarged, and a new principia built on a different site. In the late 3rd/early 4th century AD the fort was destroyed by fire; a new principia was built, some of the granaries were converted into barracks, and a new courtyard house was built, the garrison was the Numerus of Tigris Bargemen. From the mid-4th century AD there are widespread minor alterations, the fort's supply base function may have ended and a church may have been built in the forecourt of the principia, this is indicated by the discovery of a table altar. In the post-Roman period the southwest gate was isolated after circa AD 400 with a ditch, then restored to use when a wooden arch was inserted into the gateway. Occupation appears to have continued into the fifth century AD, though the removal of the upper stratigraphy by ploughing and Victorian archaeologists makes any definite interpretation impossible. The fort may have been recorded in Anglo-Saxon records as Caer Urfa and been a royal residence, though how much Roman fabric survived is debateable. A gate and part of the wall have now been rebuilt.

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NZ 3667. Arbeia - South Shields (Roman Fort) (1)

(NZ 36506794) At the Lawe, South Shields, excavations have completed the plan of the Severan supply-base (see plan). Sixteen granaries and two barracks have been located and a total of four barracks and twenty-two granaries can be inferred. Conversion of the granaries into living quarters is now dated to early in the 3rd century. Hadrianic and Antonine barrack blocks were found underlying the granaries, with their fabric partly incorporated in the later buildings. The SW gate had a single portal between projecting towers and was of one build with the wall of Hadrianic date. Pottery of the latter half of the 4th century or early years of the 5th was most abundant, although no contemporary structure was encountered. There was no trace of pre-Hadrianic occupation of the site, nor of violent destruction at any period. (2)

Name 'ARBEIA' accepted for 4th. edition R.B.Map.

The Roman Fort at South Shields (probably built around AD 128 to guard the mouth of the River Tyne) is of similar dimensions to Housesteads Fort and measures 186m (620ft) by 108m (360ft) enclosing an area of 2 ha (5.1 acres). The defensive system consisted of a stone wall (2.4m (8ft) wide) with a gateway in each of its four sides, backed by a turf rampart and fronted by two V-shaped ditches. Remains of barracks or stables, storehouses, headquarters buildings and granaries have been found. In AD 208 the frontage of the fort (which had previously faced north was changed, a new headquarters building facing south was built, and the north gate partly blocked. After Severan's Scottish campaigns the fort reverted to something like its former use and many of the granaries were turned into living quarters. In AD 222 a new water supply was installed. The fort, probably deserted from the end of the 3rd century until sometime in the 4th century, was occupied by Tigris Bargemen at the end of the 4th century and it probably went out of use soon after this. (3)

NZ 36476792. The fort is mainly as described and planned by authorities 2 and 3 though excavations have now revealed the north tower of the west gate; the north west angle tower, the north gate and part of the east wall and south east angle tower (see illustration). Excavations in 1977-8 have also exposed part of the south east corner and angle tower and several buildings of a southern extension of the fort which has been provisionally dated (a) to about 160 AD. The earlier fort measured 143m north west /south east by 112m transversely and the later extended fort was 186m north west - south east by 112m. This extension was only fronted by a single V-shaped ditch. There is no visible evidence of any of the ditches to be seen now. Published Survey (1/1250) revised. (4)

A full account of the excavations between 1875 and 1975 was published in 1979. A summary of the chronological conclusions was as follows:-
Period I - First half of Hadrian's reign, small cohort fort facing south; reduced garrison during Roman occupation of Scotland.
Period II - Early in the reign of Marcus Aurelius; fort reoccupied and possibly enlarged, axially, southwards. Internal buildings largely rebuilt.
Period III - Latter part of the reign of Septimus Severus possible enlargement now if not before; fort largely rebuilt internally as supply-base for Severan campaigns in Scotland.
Period IV - Severus Alexander; fort reoccupied by a cohort; headquarters building rebuilt facing south; many granaries converted to living quarters.
Later Third Century - Evidence for non-military activity within the defended area and neglect of defences; cohort probably removed and place taken by occupants of now abandoned vicus.
Mid-Fourth to Early-Fifth Century - Evidence for increased use of site though little of new structures; garrison: Numerus Barcariorum Tigrisiensium (5).
Further excavations on the defences between 1977 and 1981 have been described in detail by Miket (6).
A Bronze object 14.8cm in length, with a domed head supported by a flanged cup with ridging at the neck, from excavations at the fort in 1977, has been identified as a Roman surgical instrument (4). Arbeia - Roman fort at South Shields (7). (5-8)

NZ 365679. South Shields. Roman fort listed under Roman remains. Scheduled no. 2. (9)

NZ 365 679 South Shields Fort
A second phase of excavation began in the 1980s and has continued each year since. A short interim report of each years' excavation can be found in `Britannia', details of which are listed.
Additional references. (10-20)

The excavated remains of the fort were mapped from air photographs from 1984, 1989, 1993 and 2001. Much of the fort wall with towers and gates was recorded along with granaries and the possible headquarters building (principia). Several different phases of construction have been recorded, with features overlapping each other. Vertical air photographs from the 1940s show a few indistinct parch marks and earthworks in an area of open ground over the fort but the rest of the fort is covered with a landscaped park and housing in the 1940s. (22)

A discussion of the 1999-2009 excavations results. (23)

Located on the English Heritage map of Hadrian's Wall 2010. (24)

SOURCE TEXT

(1) Ordnance Survey, RCHME, RCAHM Wales and RCAHM Scotland 1991 Roman Britain : historical map and guide

Ordnance Survey Map of Roman Britain 3rd Edn 1956

( 2) Society for Promotion of Roman Studies The journal of Roman studies

(J P Gillam) 57, 1967 Page(s)177

( 3) by Nicholas Hodgson 1993 Arbeia Roman fort, South Shields

Current archaeologyvol 1 no 1 (March 1967) - Arbeia Roman Fort (pamphlet) Tyne and Wear Council Council Plans

( 4) Field Investigators Comments

F1 ISS 10-OCT-78

( 4a) Externally held archive reference

R Miket (Keeper) Arbeia Roman Fort and Museum, South Shields, Plan

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

(L Allason-Jones) 7, 1979 Page(s)239-41

( 6) by J N Dore and J P Gillam 1979 The Roman fort at South Shields : excavations 1875-1975

Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne monograph series1 (1979) - no.1

( 7) by Roger Miket et al 1983 The Roman fort at South Shields: excavation of the defences 1977-1981

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

Page(s)256

( 9) by Ancient Monuments Board for England 1979 Ancient Monuments Board for England, 25th Annual Report 1978

Page(s)72

(10) Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies Britannia : a journal of Romano-British and kindred studies

15, 1984 Page(s)277

(11) Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies Britannia : a journal of Romano-British and kindred studies

16, 1985 Page(s)268

(12) Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies Britannia : a journal of Romano-British and kindred studies

17, 1986 Page(s)332

(13) Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies Britannia : a journal of Romano-British and kindred studies

18, 1987 Page(s)315

(14) Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies Britannia : a journal of Romano-British and kindred studies

19, 1988 Page(s)431-3

(15) Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies Britannia : a journal of Romano-British and kindred studies

20, 1989 Page(s)272-3

(16) Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies Britannia : a journal of Romano-British and kindred studies

21, 1990 Page(s)315

(17) Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies Britannia : a journal of Romano-British and kindred studies

22, 1991 Page(s)232

(18) Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies Britannia : a journal of Romano-British and kindred studies

23, 1992 Page(s)267-9

(18a) by Lindsay Allason-Jones and Roger Miket 1984 The catalogue of small finds from South Shields Roman fort

Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne monograph series1 (1979) - no.2

(19) edited by Peter Clack and Susanne Haselgrove 1982 Rural settlement in the Roman north

Page(s)125

(19a) by Anne Johnson 1983 Roman forts of the 1st and 2nd centuries AD in Britain and the German provinces

Page(s)93, 288, 289

(20) Current archaeology

'The Tigris Boatmen Lived in Luxury' (P Bidwell and S Speak) 116, 1989 Page(s)283-7

(21) Paul Bidwell and Stephen Speak 1994 Excavations at South Shields Roman fort, volume 1

Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne monograph series1 (1979) -

(22) Vertical aerial photograph reference number

NMR NZ 3667/31 (4900/23) 22-DEC-1989

(23) N Hodgson 2009 Hadrian's Wall 1999-2009

Page(s)61-72

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

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