Idle Thoughts of a Retired Dominie: Vindolanda

Vindolanda is a privately owned site close to Hadrian's Wall.
It is the site of a ,castrum a Roman Auxiliary fort. It was there to guard the Stanegate ,he Roman road which ran from Newcastle to the Solway Firth at the border with Scotland.

The first records of the site go back to the 1580s, and it gives us a view of the site before the large scale destruction of the fort for the building of homes and farms and churches. Like Hadrian's Wall, it became like a quarry.
It is interesting to note that as late as the 1700s, the Bath house was still roofed.

There are 5 timber forts on this site. Each was demolished to make way for the new. Auxiliaries were soldiers who had been recruited locally, although it is clear there were soldiers from Gaul ( France ) here too.
These forts pre dated Hadrian's Wall, and when the Wall was completed, the fort was abandoned and the troops moved to nearby Housesteads Fort, which was on the route of the wall.
It would appear that shortly after this, the Auxiliaries were moved to duties on the Antonine Wall in Scotland.

A vicus, self goverening village grew up beside the fort, and was a source of shops, bars and entertainment for the soldiers.

In 208AD major rebellion against the Romans took place, and the Emperor Septimus Severus came to Britian to deal with the problem. A large stone fort was then built on the site.
It remained in use until 285AD.

The site is very interesting. There is a live dig going on, excavating part of the fort. There is a replica of Hadrian's Wall in turf, wood and stone which gives the viewer a better understanding of the dimensions of the real thing, since the exisiting wall has lost most of its height.
The museum on site displays many fascinating artefacts including the Vindolanda Tablets.

A few miles away, a second site, the Roman Army Museum gives a glimpse of the life of a Roman Soldier. There is an interesting 3D Film, The Edge of the Empire, though I think it could have been done much better. It was hard to keep track of where the places shown actaully were in relation to the Wall.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vindolanda

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vindolanda_tablets