Stanegate
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The Stanegate , or Stangate, was an important Limes road and border zone in what is now England . Its name, which comes from Old Norse , means "stone road". It ran west-east, roughly from Carlisle to Corbridge , always staying close to Hadrian's Wall . The road also crossed the river valleys of the Tyne , Irthing and Eden , the heartland of the brigands allied with Rome . It marked the northern border of the empire in Britain at the transition from the 1st to the 2nd century AD . The most famous Roman archaeological site in this region is the Vindolanda Castle .
development
Scheduled and paved roads were first laid out in Britain by the Roman army from around 43 AD. They made it easier for the occupiers to conquer the island and manage it. In addition, they functioned as important trade routes and, in favorable locations, became hot spots for civilian settlements and crafts. For Roman provincial research, they allow conclusions to be drawn about Roman engineering and provide an insight into the processes of conquering and colonizing a new province. The foundations for a permanent Roman border security system in northern Britain were laid at Stanegate. The road was laid out in the course of the campaigns of Gnaeus Iulius Agricola and secured by wood and earth forts. It served as a starting point and supply route for his further conquests in Caledonia . The first forts founded by Agricola on Stanegate were still a day's march apart. This was sufficient in the early days of the occupation of the British north. The forts of Vindolanda (Chesterholm) and Nether Denton may have been built at the same time as Coriosopitum / Coria (Corbridge) and Luguvalium (Carlisle), between the 1970s and 1980s. In Tacitus ' report on the actions of his father Agricola in Britain states:
“ The fourth summer he [Agricola] spent keeping what he had rushed through, and had the valor of the armies and the glory of the Roman name permitted, Britain itself might have found a limit to our conquests. The Clota (Firth of Clyde) and Bodotria (Firth of Forth) , estuaries that run a tremendous distance through the tides of opposite seas, are only separated by a narrow strip of land. Since this was then fortified with forts and everything closer to the bays was occupied, the enemies were, as it were, displaced to another island . "
When Domitian withdrew the Legio II Augusta and most of the auxiliary units for his Dacian War from the Scottish Lowlands in AD 87 , the northern border was established on the Tyne - Solway Firth line , along which Stanegate Street ran. All of the Lowlands castles, such as B. the legionary camp Inchtuthil , were gradually abandoned and apparently destroyed by their own garrisons as planned. The proven fire layers in these fortifications all come from this time period. Only the great forts of Newstead and Ardoch were to be reoccupied during the reign of Antoninus Pius .
The withdrawal was completed in AD 105. In the same year, Emperor Trajan moved additional contingents of auxiliary troops to Stanegatestrasse. Between Chesterholm, Carlisle and Corbridge, new forts were built in Brampton / Old Church, Nether Denton, Carvoran (?), Castlesteads (?) And Newbrough. This shortened the distance between the individual camps to about half a day's march. Also newly established small forts, such as those of High Crosby, Castle Hill, Boothby, Throp and Haltwhistle Burn, as well as advanced watchtowers at Pike Hill and Walltown Crags (both were later incorporated into Hadrian's Wall as WT 45a and WT 52b ), on both banks of the Irthing condensed the fortress line even further. Above all, these watchtowers facilitated the transmission of light and smoke signals. In its western section, the Stanegate was protected by the military camps at Burgh and Kirkbride. Opposite them was the settlement area of the Selgovii, who were hostile to Rome . In order to prevent their constant raids on the province, an earth wall was possibly built as early as the Trajan period, which was later replaced by Hadrian's Wall.
The land north of the border was considered largely uninhabited; Nevertheless, a powerful military protection force was indispensable here. At the same time, the Roman army finally established itself in this region. When completed, the Stanegate ran from Kirkbride on the west coast of Cumbria to the washing Well camp on the south bank of the Tyne. According to the wooden tablets (“Vindolanda Tablets”) found by Robin Birley in Vindolanda from 1973 to 1993 , which gave a glimpse into daily camp life at Stanegate, it is noticeable that at that time two thirds of the soldiers (and five out of six centurions) were mostly not even present in the fort (Tab. Vind.154). Apparently the military threat to the northern border was not particularly high at the time. After the completion of Hadrian's Wall in the middle of the 2nd century, the Stanegate line lost its border security function, but was still of great importance for supplying the wall fort. It was also the main link between the east and west coasts during the construction and occupation of Hadrian's Wall. The subsequent development of the street and its forts, including their function for the rampart protection system, has not been well researched. However, its strategic importance has certainly continued to decline during this period. The military road near Hadrian's Wall, further north, did not meet the specification of the Stanegate as it was much wider. As a result, the Stanegate and some of the associated fortresses were not simply abandoned after the wall was built, as was previously assumed, but remained as an important supply route.
The forts at Stanegate were still best suited to monitor east-west traffic along the newly established ramparts. The entrances from the north and south also had to be manned and secured. The forts were now used primarily as supply depots for army convoys. Presumably the traffic at Stanegate was still so dense that there were serious concerns about the availability of enough food for the draft animals. It was also much easier to supply a column on the march at its destination rather than from its point of departure. The Stanegate fortresses were certainly also used to supply the soldiers who had been mobilized for the construction of Hadrian's Wall. Fortresses like Vindolanda and Magnis were occupied by soldiers during the entire Roman occupation of the north.
During the excavations in Vindolanda , a post-Roman settlement and thus a probable further use of the Stanegate could be proven. It exists u. a. a report that the missionary and Bishop of Hexham , Cuthbert of Lindisfarne (634–687) used the Stanegate on a trip to Carlisle. Over the centuries, however, the road deteriorated more and more. After the Jacobite revolt and the subsequent sacking of Carlisle in 1745, it was replaced by a military road, today's B6318. Some sections of the ancient road can still be seen and driven, such as the section that runs north and west of the Vindolanda excavation site.
Road structure
The Stanegate differed from other Roman roads in that the latter were laid out in a relatively straight line; this was not possible on the northern border of Britain, as it sometimes leads through very difficult and hilly terrain. The course of the road initially took little account of the topography of the country; only later changes did it adapt to the terrain a little better. The examined section at Corbridge is 6.7 m wide. There were drains covered with stone slabs on both sides. The substructure here consisted of a 150 mm thick layer of larger stones, the actual road surface of a 250 mm thick layer of gravel. At Haltwhistle Burn, the road was also examined more closely. It was found that the road surface there also consisted of a stone surface and several layers of gravel on top. Without the ditches, it is about 8 meters wide on this section. The Roman troops were able to move relatively quickly from east to west on the Stanegate after it was fully expanded; it is assumed that the route from Coriosopitum to Luguvalium - under favorable weather conditions - could be covered on foot in three days.
course
The Stanegate begins east of Coriosopitum / Coria (Corbridge) and crosses here with Dere Street , which in antiquity was the main road from Eburacum to Scotland. It may have led from Coriosopitum further east to Newcastle , but so far no archaeological evidence has been found. To the west of it it crosses the Cor Burn, then follows the north bank of the Tyne until the present day town of Wall, County Northumberland , is reached. There was probably a bridge over the northern Tyne that led to the small fort Newbrough , the first Roman military base after Coriosopitum .
From Newbrough the road turns west, follows the southern section of the Tyne parallel and reaches the most famous fort in this region, Vindolanda . Then it crosses the modern military road and passes the small fort Haltwhistle Burn on its south side . Here the route separates from the Tyne again and leads past Magnis Fort , now about 20 miles from Coriosopitum . At this point the road is crossed by Maiden Way ( Via Puellarum ) coming in from the south (Whitley Castle).
From Magnis the road continues - always along the Irthing - to the southeast, reaching the small fort Throp and then the fort Nether Denton , 24 ½ miles from Coriosopitum . From Nether Denton the road follows the river bank, passes the small fort Castle Hill (Boothby) and a mile later reaches the fort Old Church (Brampton), which is about 30 ½ miles from Coriosopitum .
At Brampton the road crosses the Irthing and continues to Irthington and High Crosby . At a point that is not exactly known, it crosses the Eden and finally reaches its final destination, the castle of Luguvalium , 38 miles from Coriosopitum . A passage of text on one of the Vindolanda tablets shows that in Luguvalium an Annus Equester , an official who was responsible for the administration of the Trajan Stanegat border and was stationed there around 103 AD. Another proof that the Stanegate extended at least to that point. However, it is believed that other border fortresses existed in the east and west. In particular, the camps in Wreckenton and Washing Wells on the east side and Burgh-by-Sands on the west side probably also belonged to the fortress chain of the Stanegate. The road probably ran a little further west to Kirkbride, near the coast of the Solway Firth , where there was another military camp and a river port ( Portus Trucculensis ?).
The lack of archaeological evidence of other forts at either end of the Stanegate, i.e. H. east of Corbridge and west of Carlisle, however, continues to question the assumption that attempts were still made in the West in Trajan times to secure the border with forts and watchtowers as far as the Atlantic coast on the Tyne-Solway Isthmus. One explanation for this failure to the east could be that beyond Corbridge, the border swung sharply northeast towards Berwick-upon-Tweed, following a road now known as the Devil's Causeway. At present, however, there are no indications that a chain of castles such as the Stanegate was built along this line in Roman times.
Castles
The Stanegate fortresses were laid out according to the interval model common to the Romans. Fortifications were built every 14 Roman miles (about 21 km), which corresponded to the daily marching performance of Roman soldiers. The fortress chain consisted of a chain of cohort forts, which alternated with small forts and was additionally manned with watchtowers in between. This arrangement was adopted on the basis of evidence of two forts in Haltwhistle Burn and Throp and a third in Castle Hill (Boothby) and some towers that had been erected either next to Stanegatestrasse or on hills to the north and south of it. The fort crews controlled the distance between the fortresses, while the individually standing watchtowers were well suited to monitor rough terrain.
The following forts and watchtowers are known at Stanegate:
| Type | Fort | Closest place |
| Cohort fort | Pons Aelii ? | Newcastle |
| Legion and cohort fort | Coriosopitum | Corbridge |
| Cohort and small fort | Newbrough | Newbrough |
| Guard / signal tower | Barcombe Hill | Bardon Mill |
| Guard / signal tower | Barcombe B. | Bardon Mill |
| Equestrian and cohort fort | Vindolanda | Bardon Mill (Chesterholm) |
| Small fort | Haltwhistle Burn | Halt whistle |
| Cohort fort | Magnis | Carvoran |
| Guard / signal tower | Walltown | Gilsland |
| Small fort | Throp | Upper Denton |
| Guard / signal tower | Banna | Birdoswald |
| Guard / signal tower | Mains rig | Nether Denton |
| Cohort fort | Nether Denton | Nether Denton |
| Guard / signal tower | Pike Hill | Boothby |
| Small fort | Castle Hill | Boothby |
| Cohort fort | Old Church | Brampton |
| Equestrian and cohort fort | Luguvalium | Carlisle |
| Port and cohort fort | Portus Trucculensis ? | Kirkbride |
literature
- Margot Klee: Borders of the Empire, Life on the Roman Limes. K. Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-8062-2015-8 , pp. 9-11.
- Kai Brodersen: The Roman Britain. Traces of its history. Primus Verlag, Darmstadt 1998, ISBN 3-89678-080-8 , pp. 159-161 (collection of sources).
- Raymond Selkirk: The Trail of the Legions. Anglia Publishing, 1995, ISBN 1-897874-08-1 , pp. 107-120.
- David J. Breeze, Brian Dobson: Hadrian's Wall. Allen Lane, 1976, ISBN 0-14-027182-1 , pp. 16-24.
- Frank Graham: The Roman Wall: Comprehensive History and Guide. Frank Graham, Newcastle upon Tyne 1979, ISBN 0-85983-140-X , pp. 185-193.
- Eric Birley: Research on Hadrian's Wall Kendal. Wilson 1961.
- Robin George Collingwood, J.N.L. Myers: Roman Britain and the English settlements. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1936.
- Nick Hodgson: The Iron Age on the Northumberland Coastal Plain: general conclusions, in Hodgson, McKelvey, Muncaster: The Iron Age on the Northumberland Coastal Plain Newcastle upon Tyne: Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums. 2012.
- Edward N. Luttwak: The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire: From the First Century CE to the Third. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD 2016.
- Edoardo Albert, Paul Gething: Warrior: A Life of War in Anglo-Saxon Britain. Granta Books, 2019.
Web links
Pons Aelius Castle (Newcastle upon Tyne) | Coriosopitum (Corbridge) | Newbrough forts | Vindolanda (Bardon Mill) | Haltwhistle Burn (Haltwhistle) | Magnis Castle (Carvoran) | Small fort Throp | Nether Denton Fort (Nether Denton) | Castle Hill (Boothby) | Old Church Castle (Brampton) | Luguvalium Castle (Carlisle) | Fort Portus Trucculensis (Kirkbride)
Limes Britannicus | Antonine Wall | Hadrian's Wall | Stanegate | Saxony coast | Lower Germanic Limes | Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes | Wetterau-Limes | Neckar-Odenwald-Limes | Lautertal-Limes | Alblimes | Danube-Iller-Rhine-Limes | Claustra Alpium Iuliarum | Limes Noricus | Limes Pannonicus (Upper Pannonia)