Housesteads

The best-preserved fort along Hadrian's Wall in Britain; one of the best examples of a permanent military camp there, with its defenses, street plan, administrative buildings, and barrack blocks. There was also a small civil settlement for traders, etc., at its gates. It is roughly midway along the Wall's length, in Northumberland. At Housesteads, archaeologists have uncovered a market where northern natives exchanged cattle and hides for Roman products. This allowed Roman wares and Roman cultural influences to make their way north.

[Roman Vercovicium or, less properly, Dorcovicus]. Wall-fort on Hadrian’s Wall, dramatically sited roughly mid-way along its length in Northumberland, England. Substantial remains are to be seen of the stone buildings, gateways and ramparts, especially from the 3rd century onward, when the garrison was made up of 1000 Tungrian soldiers from Belgium. The site includes a commandant’s house, headquarters building, barrack blocks, granaries, storerooms and the only good example of a Romano-British hospital. There is also a fine military latrine; probably originally equipped with wooden seats, it could accommodate some twenty users. The installation features basins, gutters for the washing of (toilet) sponges, and efficient sewer channels. Outside the fort proper, there is evidence for the shops and houses of the civilian community ( vicus), and for cultivation terraces.