<< Our Photo Pages >> Carrawburgh Roman Fort - Stone Fort or Dun in England in Northumberland
Submitted by Anne T on Tuesday, 12 September 2023 Page Views: 2805
Multi-periodSite Name: Carrawburgh Roman Fort Alternative Name: Brocolitia; ProcolitiaCountry: England County: Northumberland Type: Stone Fort or Dun
Nearest Town: Hexham Nearest Village: Chollerford / Simonburn
Map Ref: NY85917117
Latitude: 55.034847N Longitude: 2.221984W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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Anne T visited on 23rd Jun 2019 - their rating: Cond: 2 Access: 4 Carrawburgh Roman Fort/Brocolitia: When I last came here in 2014 there was a £4 charge for the car park which allowed you to also park at Housesteads and at other car parks at locations along the wall. Today, the machine has been upgraded and it is £1 for up to one hour. Other charges apply beyond that time. Having been to the Sill and paid to park there, we thought that charge covered this car park as well, but we had no receipt to leave in the car, so we paid our £1 again.
The sign at the entrance to the fort reads: “Carrawburgh (Procolitia) AD 134-383.
Garrisoned successively by the Aquitani, Cugerni and, in the third century, the Batavi; infantry units 500 strong. This was the last fort to be added to Hadrian’s Wall and obliterates the vallum. / Permissable access to the fort. No access to the trail. Please do not leave litter or disturb the cattle and sheep. Dogs to be kept on a lead. J. du Cane. Freeholder.”
The earthworks are nowhere near as impressive as the remains of Great Chesters Rman fort, further to the west, but it is a sizeable fort. We walked around the eastern, southern and western sides of the earthworks; some remains of the ramparts on the western side remains. We needed to walk back to the south eastern corner to go through the gate to the path down to the Temple of Mithras.
On our way back, Andrew went off the track to try and find a tumulus nearby. This had all but disappeared and we were unable to locate it, but we came across a spring, marked by a wooden post (as Robin Hood’s Well in Chollerton), with large stones and boulders piled up around a drinking trough. The spring is marked on the HE map of the area but no formal records of it (for photos see my separate entry below).
J. Collingwood Bruce, in his book 1863 "The Roman Wall" (reprinted 1947, page 100) tells us that "the site of this fort is all desolation, but its herbage, especially in winter, has the usual richness of a Roman site. It is about three miles and a half from Chesters …. It's ancient name was Procolitia and it was garrisoned by the First cohort of Batavians in the third and fourth centuries and earlier by the First cohort of Cugernians and the First cohort of Aquitanians".
"The fort stands out boldly from the surrounding turf as a platform outlined by its ramparts … the positions of the east, south and west gateways are clearly discernible, with the south guard chamber of the last". The northern part of the fort lies underneath the modern road.
To the west of the fort is a vicus, recorded as Pastscape Monument No. 1013365. A 1984 survey reported: "On the Western side, six terraces with scarps up to 2.1m high have been cut into the slope parallel to the fort defences, and apparently overlying the Northern halves of all but one of the ditches. Like the fort itself, the stone buildings of the vicus have been badly robbed". The vicus extended some 60m from the outer rampart. Some buildings had also previously been noted on the southern side.
Recorded as Pastscape Monument No. 16704. It is also scheduled as Historic England List ID 1015914 (Carrawburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall and vallum between the field boundary east of the fort and the field boundary west of Coventina's Well in wall mile 31).
Note: The Mystery of Mithraism; The Temple at Carrawburgh Fort, Saturday 16th Sept 2023
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