Vindobala
| Vindobala | |
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Site of Vindobala at Rudchester Farm
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| Coordinates | 55°00′04″N 1°49′34″W / 55.001°N 1.826°W |
| Place name | Rudchester |
| County | Northumberland |
| Country | England |
| UK-OSNG reference | NZ112675 |
Vindobala (Brytonnic Celtic : windo- fair, white, bala ?) was a Roman fort at the modern-day hamlet of Rudchester, Northumberland. It was the fourth fort on Hadrian's Wall, after Segedunum (Wallsend), Pons Aelius (Newcastle) and Condercum (Benwell). It was situated about 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) to the west of Condercum. The name Vindobala means “White Strength”. The site of the fort is bisected by the B6318 Military Road, which runs along the route of the wall at that point.
The fort guards the valley of the March Burn to the west, an ancient route leading to the south towards the Tyne ford at Newburn. To the east the ground drops away to the Rudchester Burn. The fort is oblong, measuring 157 metres (515 ft) north to south by 117 metres (384 ft) east to west, and covers about 4.5 acres (1.8 ha). There were four main gates with double portals and two smaller, single-portal gates. There was one main gate on the north wall of the fort, and the east and west main gates opened on the north side of the Roman Wall. This left a single main gate on the south wall of the fort, and two smaller gates which probably gave access to a military way running along the south side of the Wall. There were towers at each corner of the fort, and also on either side of the main gates.
The Vallum passed about 220 metres (720 ft) south of the fort, and there was a vicus south and south west of the fort. South of the fort, on the brow of a hill, is a cistern, twelve feet long, four and a half feet broad and two feet deep. It was popularly known as the “Giant’s Grave”.
Now there is little to be seen on the surface, apart from mounds to the south of the Military Road marking the west and south ramparts. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries stones were systematically removed from the site for local agricultural buildings, and also for the building of the Military Road.
The fort was garrisoned in the fourth century by the First Cohort of Frisiavones. These were troops recruited from a coastal tribe of Lower Germany. It is thought that the fort was built for a cohort, 500 strong and part-mounted.
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