Rudchester Roman Fort is situated on a flat ridge a mile west of Heddon on the Wall on the Military Rd. It is 6.75 miles west of the Roman fort at Benwell and 7.5 miles east of Halton Chester.
The military road goes straight through the fort. As you walk around the site you notice a raised platform south of the Military Rd. On the north side, there is nothing to be seen. The destruction of the wall on this part of the wall is down to General Wade in the 1750s. He was criticised for not stopping Bonny Prince Charles in 1745 and his excuse was there was no east west road to transfer his army west. He was later commissioned to build the road and literally flatted the Wall to build his road.
Rudcester Roman Fort guarded and stood immediately east of the valley of the March Burn, an ancient route to a Tyne ford at Newburn. The land falls away to the March Burn on the west and to the Rudchester Burn on the south and east. The size of the fort is 4.5 acres. Cohorts I Frisiavonum constituted the garrison, in both the 3rd and the 4th centuries, was a mixed infantry cavalry unit of about 500.
Little of the fort plan is known apart from the headquarters building and a granary to its west revealed in the 1924 campaign and a barrack block found in the south-east quarter during the 1972 excavations. Destroyed by fire, this had been rebuilt to the same plan in the late 2nd or early 3rd century. By the last quarter of the 3rd century, this had fallen into disuse; its ruined walls were covered by a layer of humus. This part of the fort was re-commissioned c. 370 AD when a series of timber-framed buildings set on stone foundations were erected. The floor of the commander’s house was identified east of the HQ building.
Rudchester Roman Fort Artist Impression
The Vallum passes 240ft south of the fort. Several shrines have been found outside the fort including a large statue of Hercules (now in Hancock Museum) and a Mithraeum which had been deliberately destroyed.
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