Housesteads Roman Fort facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Housesteads Roman Fort |
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 Location in Northumberland
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| Alternative name(s) | Vercovicium, Borcovicium |
| Abandoned | c. 400 AD |
| Attested by | Notitia Dignitatum |
| Place in the Roman world | |
| Province | Britannia |
| Structure | |
| — Stone structure — | |
| Built | c. 124 AD |
| Stationed military units | |
| — Legions — | |
| Legio II Augusta | |
| — Cohorts — | |
| Cohors I Tungrorum | |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 55°00′47″N 2°19′52″W / 55.013°N 2.331°W |
| Town | Hexham |
| County | Northumberland |
| Country | England |
| Reference | |
| UK-OSNG reference | NY789687 |
| Website | Housesteads Roman Fort |
Housesteads Roman Fort is an ancient Roman fort located on Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, England. It's a really old military base that was part of the Roman Empire's defenses. The fort was built from stone around 124 AD, just a couple of years after the famous Hadrian's Wall started being built in 122 AD.
This area was once part of Britannia, a Roman province. The fort has had several names over time, like Vercovicium and Borcovicium. Its modern name comes from an 18th-century farmhouse called Housesteads. Today, the site is looked after by the National Trust and English Heritage. You can see amazing Roman objects found here at the site museum, at the museum in Chesters, and at the Great North Museum: Hancock in Newcastle upon Tyne.
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History of Housesteads Fort
Hadrian's Wall was a huge defensive barrier built by the Romans. Construction began in 122 AD. The fort at Housesteads was built in stone around 124 AD. It was placed right over an earlier part of the wall's foundation and a small watchtower.
Over the years, the fort was repaired and rebuilt many times. Its northern walls, especially, often needed fixing because they were prone to falling down. Outside the fort, to the south, there was a large civilian settlement called a vicus. This was like a small town where families of soldiers and traders lived. You can still see some of the stone foundations of these buildings today. One building, sometimes called the "Murder House," was where two skeletons were found under a newly laid floor during excavations.
Who Lived at the Fort?
In the 2nd century AD, the fort was home to an unknown double-sized group of auxiliary infantry. These were soldiers who were not full Roman citizens but fought for the Roman army. There was also a small group of legionaries from the Legio II Augusta, who were elite Roman soldiers.
By the 3rd century, the main group of soldiers was the Cohors I Tungrorum. This was a unit of soldiers from a place called Tungria (modern-day Belgium). They were joined by other units, including the numerus Hnaudifridi and the Cuneus Frisiorum. The Cuneus Frisiorum was a cavalry unit from Frisia (modern-day Netherlands). The word cuneus means "wedge," which might refer to their battle formation. The Tungrian soldiers were still at Housesteads in the 4th century, according to an ancient Roman document called the Notitia Dignitatum. By 409 AD, the Romans had left Britain.
Unique Features of the Fort
Housesteads is special because most other early forts on Hadrian's Wall were built right across the wall. This meant they stuck out into the territory of the "barbarians" (as the Romans called them). Housesteads is also unusual because it didn't have a running water supply. Instead, the soldiers collected rainwater in large stone-lined tanks around the fort's edges.
The fort also has one of the best-preserved stone latrines (toilets) in all of Roman Britain. These were carefully placed at the lowest part of the fort to help with hygiene and drainage.
The Fort's Names
The fort's name has been recorded as Borcovicus, Borcovicium, and Velurtion. An inscription found at Housesteads has the letters VER, which historians believe is short for Ver(covicianorum). The letters 'ver' and 'bor' were sometimes used interchangeably in later Latin. The modern name, Housesteads, comes from an 18th-century farmhouse built nearby.
Housesteads Farm Story
Housesteads is also the name of a former farm whose land includes the ruins of the Roman fort. For many years, the farm had a fascinating history.
The Armstrong Family
From 1663, Housesteads was home to the Armstrongs, a well-known family of Border Reivers. These were groups of people who lived near the border between England and Scotland and often stole cattle and horses. The Armstrongs were famous for being horse thieves and cattle rustlers. They even used the old Roman fort as a place to hide their stolen animals! They traded stolen goods as far away as Aberdeen in Scotland and the south of England.
The Armstrongs lived in a special type of defensive house called a bastle house. This was a strong, two-story building. The ground floor was used for livestock, and the family lived on the upper level. You can still see the ruins of their bastle house built right against the south gate of the Roman fort. It had outside stone steps and narrow windows for defense. In the 17th century, they even put a corn-drying oven inside the fort's guard chamber!
Changes at the Farm
In 1698, the farm was sold to Thomas Gibson. He started using the land around the fort for farming. This meant that many Roman artifacts were accidentally dug up by plows. The 17th-century bastle house was later replaced by a new farmhouse built over what was once the Roman hospital.
Interest in the Roman fort grew in the 19th century. In 1838, an amateur historian named John Clayton bought the farm. He was collecting Roman Wall farms. Clayton cleared away the later farm buildings from the Roman site. The current farmhouse was built around 1860. In 1929, John Maurice Clayton tried to sell the fort, but it didn't reach the price he wanted. So, he donated it to the National Trust in 1930. Later, the Trevelyan family owned the farm and gave the land for the site museum that you can visit today.
