Archaeology Fieldtrip to Hadrian’s Wall and Corbridge

On Tuesday, 7 October, the Archaeology Department at the University of Durham took it’s taught postgraduates on a day-long field trip to Hadrian’s Wall and Corbridge. As a new postgraduate, I was on this trip and enjoyed it thoroughly, despite the rain.

Our first stop was Housesteads, an impressive Roman fort located right on Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland. Known in Roman times as Vercovicium, Housesteads is probably the Wall’s best-known fort. It was built shortly after construction of Hadrian’s wall in the early 2nd century AD, and was occupied for nearly 300 years. It has a fantastic array of standing remains, including the commanding officer’s house, headquarter’s building, granary, world-famous latrine, and several more. Just outside the fort itself sits the Vicus, or civilian settlement. Strangely, there are remains of a building with magnificent stone masonry within this vicus. It has been called a residence for an imperial official, but who this was, and why he lived at Housesteads is entirely unclear. Traci and I visited this site last year, and loved it. I’ve now been here twice, but need to return at least another thousand times!

After leaving Housesteads, we headed to Corbridge, an ancient town that dates back to at least the early 1st century AD, when the Romans built a military fort here years before the construction of Hadrian’s Wall. According to Dr. Pam Graves, a medieval archaeologist with the department at Durham, the town likely got its name from its old Roman period bridge. We did not get to see this bridge, or any of the Roman remains in the town. Instead, we visited St. Andrews Parish Church and the medieval bridge. The church is quite impressive and very informative when it comes to the local history of the town. As we walked around the church, we were asked to look and think carefully about the construction of the walls and tower, and were then told some of this building’s history. The tower it seems is quite old, dating back perhaps as early as the 8th century (700’s, that is) AD, and represents Saxon construction. But, it’s not that simple, as the church saw repeated additions, reconstructions and modifications up until recent years, not to mention the obvious inclusion of building stones that were originally part of even older Roman period structures. In all, the visit to Corbridge was quite nice, and I want to go back soon.

I’ll leave you here with some photos (As always, though, be sure to check out our Flickr page for even more and higher quality photos). Enjoy!

Southern wall of Housesteads Roman Fort.

Remains of the barracks at Housesteads Roman fort.

The latrine, or toilet, of the Roman fort at Housesteads.

Window/Doorway of Saxon tower of St. Andrews Parish Church, Corbridge. Note the rebuildings.

Ceiling and Arch inside St. Andrews Parish Church, Corbridge

Arch and ceiling in St. Andrews Parish Church, Corbridge

Town of Corbridge as seen from the Medieval bridge.

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