Old Cumbria Gazetteer - roman fort, High Rochester


	roman fort, High Rochester
	Bremenium
locality:-	High Rochester
locality:-	Watling Street
county:-	Northumberland
locality type:-	roman fort
coordinates:-	NY83279862
1Km square:-	NY8398
10Km square:-	NY89

evidence:-	old text:- Gents Mag 1853
source data:-	goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1853 part 1 p.128 "There is an opening at the bottom, in one corner of the building, having much the appearance of a conduit: it is arched by a single stone, roughly marked with diamond tooling. The course of this channel has not been examined. The whole vault has evidently been provided with a covering. In its western wall is a projecting ledge, which is shewn in the woodcut; on this one or two courses of stones have probably rested, stretching inwards. The top by this means would be soon contracted that it might be covered over by long flat stones; one suitable for the purpose, though broken in two, lies on the spot." "On the western side of the central block of buildings is a double range of barracks (B, C); each compartment is sixty feet long and fifteen broad. The masonry is exceedingly good, and evidently belongs to the first period. In the centre of the range between the apartments a deep passage runs (K), flagged at the bottom, and apparently communicating with flues (N) beneath the rooms. This passage shows five courses of masonry in situ. The outer walls of these buildings have erections resembling buttresses placed against them (I, I), and the same number, eight, is appended to each. It is probable, however, that they were not intended to strengthen the walls, but were connected with the heating of the apartments, for a flue goes under the floor from the centre of each bay. The floors of the rooms consist of a doubleset of flagstones with an intervening layer of clay between them. The floors are not supported on pillars as is usually the case in hypocausts, but upon dwarf walls; by this means the heated air would be carried along the passages with some of the precision we see manifested in the galleries of a coal mine. In one of the bays formed by the projecting buttresses of this building the cranium and several other bones of a man were found. The remains of an archway (M) leading into one of the dwellings (C) were discovered; it is probable that the other was similarly provided." "There are indications that a range of houses (D), of the same character as that which has now been described, stood upon the eastern side of the central square." "In the via principalis, is another vault (H in the plan), incroaching on" click to enlarge G853E05.jpg "the line of the street. It is thirty feet long, eight broad, and six deep. At the bottom of it was discovered a piece of sculpture representing three nymphs bathing. Mr. Bruce asks what can have been the object of so many pit-like chambers, and pauses in deciding them to have been baths. But it is difficult to conceive them constructed for any other purpose, and this piece of sculpture, as well as the inscription containing the word ballis (p.125), seem to support this opinion." "..."

evidence:-	old text:- Gents Mag
source data:-	Magazine, The Gentleman's Magazine or Monthly Intelligencer or Historical Chronicle, published by Edward Cave under the pseudonym Sylvanus Urban, and by other publishers, London, monthly from 1731 to 1922. goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1853 part 1 p.127 click to enlarge G853E03.jpg "is nearly of the same size as the former, but its masonry is evidently that of the earliest period. The woodcut represents it as it appears to one standing on its southern edge. Three of its sides consist of strong masonry, the fourth has been formed by three flags of large dimensions, backed up with clay; two of the flags remain in their position; but the third (the middle one) has been laid prostrate by the pressure from behind. A flight of steps leads to the bottom of the vault, and the entrance is closed by a stone slab moving in a groove upon two pairs of small iron wheels. A slit in the neighbouring wall allows of this door being pushed back into it. In many modern railway stations we see doors of similar construction." click to enlarge G853E04.jpg

evidence:-	old text:- Gents Mag 1853
source data:-	goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1853 part 1 p.126 "but exhibits an average width of about eleven feet. The north jamb of this gateway is crowned with a rudely-moulded capital, above which is the springer of an arch. Underneath the threshold is a regularly-built drain, which has brought the waste water from the station; several other sewers have been observed between the south-west and north-east angles of the station, the inclination of the ground being towards the north. A succession of grooved stones, covered with flags, lie in the threshold of the south gateway; by this channel clean water has probably been brought into the station from the mossy ground, on the south-east of it. This ground is above the level of the station, and, before being drained, yielded water in abundance. In those parts where the station is naturally strongest a single fosse has environed the walls; in those which are less strong the moat has been double; but at the south-east angle, which is the weakest point, it has been quadruple. A portion of this four-fold entrenchment has been levelled, for the purposes of cultivation. Last year (1851) the field was in wheat; after the crop had been cut it was pleasing to observe, in the comparative rankness and strength of the stubble on the "made ground," the precise lines of the ditches." "The stations on the line of the Wall were for the most part abandoned after the Romans quitted Britain. Some of them, especially those to the north, were probably given up anterior to that event. In the course of time they fell into ruins, over which earth and herbage gradually accumulated, and up to the present day many of them have remained unmolested, with the exception of parts of the outer walls and more exposed portions of the buildings within, which have served for building materials through many centuries. Still the foundations were untouched. In the south of England, on the contrary, where the population was denser, and the land of greater value for agricultural purposes, the interior of the Roman stations and castles have been almost denuded of the remains of buildings. It is therefore in those of the north that we may expect the more interesting results from well-directed excavations, such as those now being made at Bremenium and one or two other places. It is to be hoped that what has been brought to light will induce the Duke of Northumberland to proceed with the researches which form so interesting a part of the new edition of Mr. Bruce's volume, as an abstract will demonstrate." "On entering the station the spectator is struck with the mass of buildings it contains. They are not, Mr. Bruce decides, of the same character or age. Some, from their superior masonry, indicate that they belong to the original plan; others are referable to later periods. Two distinct layers of flag-stones, both much worn, with a mass of rubbish between them, are to be noticed in some of the houses and streets. The chief street, twenty feet wide, runs through the station from east to west. Another street, to the south, runs in the direction of those points of the rampart where the second lateral gateways are supposed to be; this is eight feet wide." "Precisely in the centre of the camp is a square plot of building (A, in the following plan), which subsequent investigation may prove to be the praetorium. The portal (E) leading into it from the via principalis has been crowned by an arch; many of the wedge shaped stones which composed it were found upon the ground. Advancing a few feet inwards, we meet with what appears to be a second portal, the basement course of two strong pillars of masonry (P.P.) remaining in position; these too may have been spanned by an arch, or they may have been surmounted by statues of Victory. The latter supposition is suggested by the discovery, already referred to, of a nearly complete figure of the favourite goddess of the Romans, and a small fragment of a second, within the eastern gateway of BORCOVICUS. In the chamber which is entered after passing these pediments the most striking object is an underground tank (F) about eight feet square, and six feet deep. The masonry of its walls bears the character of the second, rather than of the first period. Two narrow apertures on its south side near the top seem intended for the admission of water, and a shallow trough and gutter on the edge of one of the opposite corners, having apparently been intended to carry off the superfluous liquid. There is now lying at the bottom of it the stone lintel of a doorway, upwards of six feet long; before being precipitated into the tank, it would seem to have long lain upon the ground of the station, for it is much worn, as if by the sharpening of knives upon it. Proceeding in a straight line onwards, and at the southern extremity of this range of buildings, another underground receptacle (G) is seen. It"

evidence:-	old text:- Gents Mag
source data:-	Magazine, The Gentleman's Magazine or Monthly Intelligencer or Historical Chronicle, published by Edward Cave under the pseudonym Sylvanus Urban, and by other publishers, London, monthly from 1731 to 1922. goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1853 part 1 p.125 "The station Bremenium, now High Rochester, where the precited inscriptions have been found, lies about twenty-two miles north of the wall, upon Watling Street. As it is now being excavated a fuller account of the discoveries cannot be unacceptable to our readers, especially as many of them, on a late occasion, visited the site. Mr. Bruce thus describes it:-" "It (the station) has evidently been placed here for the protection of the road. When viewed in relation to the ground in its immediate vicinity, the station seems to stand high, and to be very much exposed to the weather; but, if it be looked upon from the hills to the east of it, it will be seen to occupy a defile in the mountain chain, through which the Military Way is very skilfully taken in its progress to the north. Watling Street passes the station on its eastern side, and shoots boldly forward towards Chew Green. The pavement of the road may be traced in a very complete state for miles together, though there are portions of it which seem never to have been paved at all. South of the station the road may in most places be distinguished, until, on the southern rim of the basin of the Rede Water, the modern turnpike coalesces with it. Several pieces of black oak, perfectly sound, have been got out of the river near to the place where the road crossed it, and some portions are imbedded in the bank in such a way as to encourage the belief that the road was here supported on timbers." "In a military point of view the site of the station is very strong. On all sides, excepting near the south-east corner, the ground slopes from it; and on the north side, it sinks so rapidly as to give the camp the protection of a bold breast-work. The walls of the station are stronger than those of the forts on the line of the Wall; they are not only thicker, but are composed of larger stones. In one place the station wall measures seventeen feet in thickness; the interior of it seems to have been filled with clay. The wall, at the north-west corner, has been laid bare; seven courses of stones are standing in position. Here some repairs have evidently been effected after the original erection of the station, the newer part being composed of stones of a larger size than the rest of the wall. Between the walls of the station and the moat a space of ground, of twelve or fifteen feet in width, has been levelled and bedded over with clay and gravel, as if to form a platform for military operations. The position of the gateways in the north and south ramparts may easily be discerned; some portions of their masonry remain. There have probably been two gateways on the eastern and western sides of the station. One gate, on the western side, has recently been cleared. It stands upwards of six feet high. The entrance is a single one; it is wider on the outer than the inner margin,"

evidence:-	old text:- Gents Mag placename:- Bremenium item:- inscription, roman; roman inscription
source data:-	Magazine, The Gentleman's Magazine or Monthly Intelligencer or Historical Chronicle, published by Edward Cave under the pseudonym Sylvanus Urban, and by other publishers, London, monthly from 1731 to 1922. goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1853 part 1 p.124 "..." "An inscription very recently discovered at High Rochester confirms that place to have been the Bremenium of the Itinerary of Antoninus. It is represent in the cut below." click to enlarge G853E01.jpg "It may be read -" "G[ENIO] D[OMINI] N[OSTRI] ET SIGNORVM COH[ORTIS] PRIMAE VARDVL[ORVM] ET N[VMERI] EXPLORA TOR[VM] BREM[ENII] COR[NELIVS] EGNATIVS LVCILI ANVS LEG[ATVS] AVG[VSTALIS] PR[O]PR[AETOR] CVRANTE CASSIO SABINIANO TRIB[VNO] aram posuit." "To the genius of our Emperor and of the Standards of the first cohort of the Varduli and of a Numerus of the Explora- tores of Bremenium, Cornelius Egnatius Lucili- anus, the imperial Legate, propraetor, under the superintendance of Cassius Sabinianus, the Tribune, erected this altar." "Two inscriptions had been found at this station many years since. In one the first cohort of the Varduli is mentioned; in the other the duplares of a detachment of the Exploratores, and the fact of their being stationed at Bremenium. The former is of the time of Elagabalus (not of Caracalla as inferred by Horsley). From that recently found we learn that these two bodies of soldiers were quartered together at this station in the time of Gordian, for it is elsewhere shewn that Egnatius Lucilianus was legate of this emperor. The Varduli, as appears by the Sydenham rescript, were in Britain in the time of Trajan; the second cohort of them is mentioned in it as surnamed Fida, a title which is also shared by the first cohort, as is proved by another inscription also very recently excavated at Bremenium, and a copy of which we here introduce from Mr. Bruce's second edition of his volume. (See the next page.)" "We think with Mr. Bruce that the erased name is most probably that of Elagabalus. The word ballis we may read balneis, signifying that the public baths were restored from their foundations by the first cohort of the Varduli. Another inscription has been lately afforded by excavations. It is a votive tablet to Antoninus Pius, erected by the first cohort of the Lingones, under Lollius Urbicus, on the occasion apparently of the completion of some building. This is the Lollius Urbicus who,"

evidence:-	old text:- Gents Mag 1853
source data:-	goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1853 part 1 p.125 click to enlarge G853E02.jpg "IMP[ERATORI] CAE[SARI] P[IO F[ELICI] C[O]H[ORS] I F[IDA] VARD[VLORVM] BALLIS A SOLO REST[ITVIT] SVB C[AIO] CL[AVDIO] APELLINI[O] LEG[ATO] AVG[VSTALI] INSTANTE AVR[ELIO] QVINTO TR[IBVNO]." "In honour of the Emperor Caesar, Pious, happy, The first Cohort of the Varduli, styled the Faithful, --- from the ground restored, under Claudius Apellinus, imperial legate; Aurelius Quintus, the Tribune, superintending the work." "Capitolinus says, built the upper barrier or Antonine Wall." "B..."

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