Location
Catterick Roman Town and Fort
Catterick Roman Town and Fort is located on Dere Street, but close to the junction with the road to Carlisle. These are the most important Roman roads in the North of England. It is about 50 miles from Hadrian’s Wall, 70 miles from Carlisle and 40 miles from York.
The site is bisected by A1 M just south of Catterick Bridge
CATTERICK-ROMAN-TOWN AND FORT-LOCATION
The fort controlled the crossing of the River Swale; the designated area may omit part of the Roman town to the East.
Excavation
Catterick Roman Town and Fort has been extensively excavated starting in the 19th century and more recently for A1 Catterick bye-pass in 1958/9 and the A1M road upgrade after 2000.The remains were identified by excavation and a whole range of non-destructive surveys. The reason for the recent examination can be seen below. The new road destroyed a large section of the western civil settlement.
ROMAN-CATTERICK-UNDER-THE-SURFACE
The Fort
CATTERICK-ROMAN-FORT-SITE
There has been a military occupation in this area from 71/72 AD and would have been built into a timber turf fort within 10 years,south of the River Swales shown above.. This was part of the conquest and occupation of the Brigantes in 70’s AD. It was between Stanwick (the pre Roman capital) and Aldborough (the post Roman Regional capital), the two most important Brigantes centres.
ROMAN-TIMBER-TURF-FORT
The fort seems to have been abandon about 120AD. The fort was re-established about 160AD when more cohorts were available with the withdrawal from was became Scotland. Again it was built south of the river on the location marked above in stone. It was occupied until 200AD. The size of the fort varied between 5 and 6 acres
On the same site, the fort was re-established at the end of the 3rd century.
Garrisons
First Cohort of Thracians, a part mounted cohort, occupied the new fort at Catterick. The size of the fort and finds found, indicate that Legionnaires and part of a Cavalry formation would probably also been stationed here. There is no further information.
The Town
The civil settlement started with the building of the first fort It developed east of the fort, south of the river, appeared to have a major leather working industry. With the number of troops stationed on the frontier, it is not surprising, as leather was a major part of the uniform. It probably for this reason that the settlement continued to flourish after the fort was abandoned.
North of the River
From the beginning of the settlement, the site extended north of the River Swale
In about 140 AD a defended enclosure was built on the north bank of the river. It was possibly a military site with docking facilities, in fact, a small port close to Dere St. The Rive Swale would have been tidal as far as Catterick. Before the 4th century, the purpose of the defensive enclosure was redundant as it had been built over. This area of the site appears to have been abandoned in the 4th century.
Roman-Strip-House
Development continued along Dere st and it was never included within the walls. The strip houses as shown above would have narrow frontages along the road.
The Mansio
The town continued to build; a Mansio was rebuilt in stone. This provided accommodation for officials traveling around the frontier. Catterick Roman Town and Fort was just south of the most important road junction in the north where the roads from Carlisle and Corbridge joined on route to Aldborough and York. It was excavated in advance of the Catterick A1 bye pass in 1958/59 and found high status building complex, similar to a large fort commander’s house.
CATTERICK ROMAN-MANSIO
The Mansio was demolished about 200 AD at the time when the fort was again abandoned; it is felt that it was rebuilt where the excavations have not been undertaken. The settlement continued to expand with additional timber building added on the surround and new stone buildings continue to be added beyond 250AD. Industry continued to be developed including pewter and ceramic manufacture. It was not a centre of regional government, rather a centre of manufacturing and trading. It probably was a large self-governing Vicus.
Later Period
By the late 3rd century the settlement was walled, to counter increased incursions from sea based invasion, development continued outside the walls in spite of the fact that about this time the fort was rebuilt to cope with this threat.
In the fourth century, the community was becoming wealthier, this is indicated smaller properties were being combined to established larger town properties.
ROMAN-TOWN-HOUSE
.Most of the town had stone buildings.
Growth continued in the 4th century, which was probably the most prosperous time during Roman control. The town continued after the British severance from Rome in the early fifth century. This must have had a serious effect on the town with no effective currency and no army silver to encourage trade.