#Vinovia Fort - A special road!

Roman Roads 3

This time I'm writing about the road we now name as Dere Street, although what the Ancient Romans named it themselves is a mystery. And I'm particularly writing about the stretch of Dere Street which, quite unusually, ran right through a Roman Cavalry Fort.

Vinovia/ Binchester Roman Fort
Wikimedia Commons

Vinovia (Vinovium) Roman Fort is also known by the modern name of Binchester Roman Fort. Not far from Bishop Auckland and close to the River Wear, the fort was situated on higher ground which commanded a great view of the surrounding area. It was the largest Roman fort in County Durham. The plateau was cleared of trees and brush vegetation and the soil substantially levelled before the construction began. There’s evidence of two phases of wooden barrack-building during the earliest fort phase which could be attributed to deterioration and replacement, or perhaps to a change of garrison which often seemed to entail a complete rebuild on the same site as the previous occupants had used.

It’s estimated that the first fort was constructed in approx. AD 75-80. If constructed during the earlier of those parameters, it would have been built during the Britannic governorship of S. J. Frontinus (Governor approx. AD 74-77). However, Frontinus’ troops are not attested (yet?) to have been active in the area, so it’s more likely that the first fort was built a little earlier by his predecessor P. Cerialis (Governor approx. AD 71-74), or later by Frontinus’ successor Gn. I. Agricola (Governor approx. AD 77-85). During his northern campaigns, Cerialis was known to have engaged the enemy on the eastern side of Brigante territories with mainly the Legio IX, whilst Agricola (in post as Commander of the Legio XX) marched his troops up the western areas.

During his tenure as Governor of Britannia, Agricola had troops all over the north over the course of perhaps six, or maybe all of his (probably) seven summer campaign seasons. Archaeologist findings of 4 coins of Emperor Vespasian - who ruled from AD 69-79 - in the Vinovia Fort area have given some bias to it having been constructed as part of Agricola’s campaigning, though coin evidence can only do so much to corroborate a definite time by defining the earliest possible deposit of the coin, according to a known mint.

Part of a map created for 
Beathan The Brigante c. Nancy Jardine

At around 17 acres, Vinovia was a sizeable fort and around 3 times larger than most of the forts that were built in what was to become the Hadrian’s Wall area. It was constructed of turf and timber and was possibly initially garrisoned by an auxiliary cavalry detachment associated with the Legio IX, which was around 1000 strong. For housing that amount of men, the Vinovia site was surprisingly large.

Vinovia was one of the forts which lay along the line of Dere Street. This was the main Roman conduit to the far north, from Eboracum (York) northwards to Corstopitum (Corbridge) and it then carried on into Caledonia. As well as the size of Vinovia being of note, it’s also highly unusual in that Dere Street carried on straight through the Vinovia Fort.

The map below post-dates the initial fort at Vinovia, but the map indicates the importance that Dere Street  held for hundreds of years worth of Roman transport of goods and personnel to the north.  

Cropped from a map from Wikimedia Commons (~Frere)

I have named Dere Street as its via principalis in my imaginary fort of Vinovia. The actual plan for the original wooden Vinovia fort has been hard for archaeologists to establish, due to the reuse of the area for subsequent wooden and stone forts. The line of Dere Street, that’s been established archaeologically, veers off to the north-west after skirting a deep bend of the River Wear. 

My WIP copy River Position of Vinovia
for Beathan The Brigante c. Nancy Jardine 

After traversing the fort, Dere Street heads on to cross the river further north-west. Because of these details, I’ve oriented my fictitious fort to have a less important via praetoria closer to the eastern end of the fort and put the via principalis as the main street through from east to west. 

My working copy of Vinovia Fort for 
Beathan The Brigante c. Nancy Jardine 

I haven’t yet found out what would have made the Ancient Roman engineers route their main thoroughfare right through the centre of the fort, but it was such an interesting concept that I had to write about it. Few other Roman forts or fortresses across the empire had what was effectively a public street running right through a fort.

I imagine that this would have meant a different sort of monitoring system needed to be in place. Access to a fort was highly controlled, the sentries at each gateway monitoring all movement into and out of the establishment. That routine monitoring aspect would have been similar at Vinovia but the process of people and wagons, many of whom intended to continue on northwards, would have meant (I think) much more observation along the via principalis. Security must surely have been much tighter than in a ‘usual’ fort?

I’ve opted to add in a fabrica building near the east gate on my plan, next to the praetorium, but I wondered about adding a sort of very early ‘mansio’ type building for travelling personnel who were maybe not military though were using the main Roman route, and who could not be housed overnight in official military quarters.

Subsequent Roman forts were built at Vinovia using the same site over the ensuing centuries, with additional and considerable settlement (vicus) buildings established nearby. It’s thought that Vinovia continued to remain a cavalry fort for much of its Roman existence. The wooden buildings were eventually replaced by stone ones and there’s substantial evidence uncovered now for tourists and keen historical amateurs (like me) to visit. Remains of the extensive commander’s house and the close by bathhouse of a later period of Roman occupation are now kept under cover of a wooden building (s). The remains of the hypocaust system and flooring of the bathhouse are arguably the best to be seen across Britain. The warm room floor of Roman concrete is still well-preserved considering it’s around 1700 years old.

Bathhouse - Vinovia Fort
Wikimedia Commons

The bathhouse remains were uncovered during the early 19^th century when a cart and horse disappeared down into a hole in the middle of the ruins. Part of the hypocaust system had collapsed leaving a gap big enough for the discovery. I’ve yet to find out what happened to the poor horse, but it doesn’t sound like it would have been very good for the unfortunate beast. 

Regrettably, some of the fort stonework was appropriated during more recent centuries for re-use in local buildings, some of which may have given us more clues about the conclusive identity of those garrisoning the fort. 

Stone inscriptions which mention the site refer to Frisorum Vinoviensium and equites catafractariorum. Cavalry units of the ala Vettonum (Frisian soldiers) are also cited and there’s a possibility that the  Legio IX may have garrisoned the fort at some point. The site has provided a couple of wonderful stone altars and the small head of a god thought to be named Antenocitus since it’s similar to another local Celtic god statue with that name which was found at Benwell Fort (not so far distant). Since the Vinovia god head is dated to the 2^nd century, it is possibly a Roman god which has been conflated with that of a local Celtic god.

Antenocitus (? ) -
FutureLearn Hadrian's Wall Course material

Since this post is already quite long, please pop back for the next blog post where you'll find an extract from Beathan The Brigante, #5 Celtic Fervour Series. In the short excerpt, Beathan works out why Vinovia Fort is different from other forts he has already encountered during his periods of captivity. 

Thank you for reading.

Slàinte! 

ps I thoroughly recommend the Futurelearn Hadrian's Wall course. I did it a couple of years ago but, in some form, it may be available again in the future. 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Binchester_Roman_road.jpg

https://vici.org/vici/3831/

https://www.u3ahadrianswall.co.uk/wordpress/binchester-roman-fort-vinovia-a-guide/