05-07-2008, 01:18 AM
You are probably correct in your assertation that the wall they say would be the fortress wall is actually Hadrians wall itself.
The fortress, if it had 480 men would definetely not be the shape the dotted lines represent.
Also the so-called granaries and CO's quarters are highly debatable.
Personally i think the archeologists or whoever made this sketch (not your reconstruction) were in a wishful thinking modus!!
Especially the medieval Keep which has been built later would have destroyed a lot of the original fortress/milecastle.
so where they get the idea that they have found granaries i do not know...
The direction it faces is also totally wrong going from the Wall segment, since the so called officers quarters and headquarters are not at all in the region they would have to be going from a regular fortress layout.
could you get us a larger drawing made by the archeologists themselves?
I mean an excavation report of any sort!!
and or a list of finds on which they base their conclusions?
i found this text on the net
The Auxiliary Fort and Bridge
The praetorium and principia of the Hadrianic fort at Pons Aelius were recently found in the grounds of the castle adjacent to the Castle Keep, the castle being built directly upon the site of the former Roman encampment. Originally built c.AD122 to mark the eastern terminus of the Wall, the fort at Newcastle is quite small and was sited here to guard the important river-crossing, the first major encampment being nearby at Condercum (Benwell, Tyne & Wear). The unit which comprised the original garrison of the fort is unknown, however, a recently unearthed stone dedicated to the empress Julia Domna and dated to c.AD213, gives the name of the unit then stationed at Newcastle, and the Notitia Dignitatum provides the name of the late-fourth century garrison. Another recently-discovered inscription records the building or restoration of a bath-house which evidently stood outside the Newcastle fort.
C... AV... BALINEVM... A SOLO ...
"For C[aesar ...] Au[gustus ...] the bath-house [...] from its foundations [...]"
(RIB 1322d; dedicatory slab; Britannia xxx (1999), p.380, no.5)
The site of the Aelian Bridge was discovered in 1872 lying directly beneath the swing-bridge built in that year. This bridge still exists, carrying Bridge Street across the Tyne, lying betweeen the modern road-bridges of the B1307 to the west and the A167(M) to the east. The Roman road led directly south by south-east from the southern end of the bridge, beneath the modern buildings, taking the line of West Steet beyond, and did not follow the course of the Bottle Bank and Gates Head roads.
The Roman bridge had two stone abutments and, although only two piers have so far been located, it is estimated that there were originally ten. The pier found in 1872 was 16 feet wide and 20 feet long with cutwaters both upstream and down to cope with the tidal nature of the Tyne at this point in its course. The pier caisson was constructed from closely-set, iron-shod oak piles, with the internal space filled with stone rubble. The total length of the Roman bridge from bank to bank is estimated to have been 735 feet.
There are a number of small tributary streams of the Tyne which must have passed through culverts beneath the Wall. The Pandon Burn emptied into the Tyne some 150 yards downstream from the Roman bridge near the Custom House, and the substantial Ouse Bourne confluence lies over ¾ mile further downstream. Another small stream named the Skinner Bourne entered the Tyne just over 300 yards upriver from the site of the Roman bridge beyond the Mansion House, and another named the Lort Burn lay to the east about 1/3 of the distance between the Pandon and Ouse Burn confluences.
M.VIB.M.
The fortress, if it had 480 men would definetely not be the shape the dotted lines represent.
Also the so-called granaries and CO's quarters are highly debatable.
Personally i think the archeologists or whoever made this sketch (not your reconstruction) were in a wishful thinking modus!!
Especially the medieval Keep which has been built later would have destroyed a lot of the original fortress/milecastle.
so where they get the idea that they have found granaries i do not know...
The direction it faces is also totally wrong going from the Wall segment, since the so called officers quarters and headquarters are not at all in the region they would have to be going from a regular fortress layout.
could you get us a larger drawing made by the archeologists themselves?
I mean an excavation report of any sort!!
and or a list of finds on which they base their conclusions?
i found this text on the net
The Auxiliary Fort and Bridge
The praetorium and principia of the Hadrianic fort at Pons Aelius were recently found in the grounds of the castle adjacent to the Castle Keep, the castle being built directly upon the site of the former Roman encampment. Originally built c.AD122 to mark the eastern terminus of the Wall, the fort at Newcastle is quite small and was sited here to guard the important river-crossing, the first major encampment being nearby at Condercum (Benwell, Tyne & Wear). The unit which comprised the original garrison of the fort is unknown, however, a recently unearthed stone dedicated to the empress Julia Domna and dated to c.AD213, gives the name of the unit then stationed at Newcastle, and the Notitia Dignitatum provides the name of the late-fourth century garrison. Another recently-discovered inscription records the building or restoration of a bath-house which evidently stood outside the Newcastle fort.
C... AV... BALINEVM... A SOLO ...
"For C[aesar ...] Au[gustus ...] the bath-house [...] from its foundations [...]"
(RIB 1322d; dedicatory slab; Britannia xxx (1999), p.380, no.5)
The site of the Aelian Bridge was discovered in 1872 lying directly beneath the swing-bridge built in that year. This bridge still exists, carrying Bridge Street across the Tyne, lying betweeen the modern road-bridges of the B1307 to the west and the A167(M) to the east. The Roman road led directly south by south-east from the southern end of the bridge, beneath the modern buildings, taking the line of West Steet beyond, and did not follow the course of the Bottle Bank and Gates Head roads.
The Roman bridge had two stone abutments and, although only two piers have so far been located, it is estimated that there were originally ten. The pier found in 1872 was 16 feet wide and 20 feet long with cutwaters both upstream and down to cope with the tidal nature of the Tyne at this point in its course. The pier caisson was constructed from closely-set, iron-shod oak piles, with the internal space filled with stone rubble. The total length of the Roman bridge from bank to bank is estimated to have been 735 feet.
There are a number of small tributary streams of the Tyne which must have passed through culverts beneath the Wall. The Pandon Burn emptied into the Tyne some 150 yards downstream from the Roman bridge near the Custom House, and the substantial Ouse Bourne confluence lies over ¾ mile further downstream. Another small stream named the Skinner Bourne entered the Tyne just over 300 yards upriver from the site of the Roman bridge beyond the Mansion House, and another named the Lort Burn lay to the east about 1/3 of the distance between the Pandon and Ouse Burn confluences.
M.VIB.M.
Bushido wa watashi no shuukyou de gozaru.
Katte Kabuto no O wo shimeyo!
H.J.Vrielink.
Katte Kabuto no O wo shimeyo!
H.J.Vrielink.
