06-14-2012, 09:43 PM
I've now got hold of Ottaway's 1993 edition of Roman York, which has a detailed plan of the fortress. The positioning of the barracks appears unusual - I don't know quite how unusual... Basically, it doesn't appear possible to fit the standard 12 barrack blocks into the range at each end - there's room for them, but the blocks themselves are too big and too widely spaced.
Originally, Ottaway says, the wooden barracks of the old fortress were about 258ft long by 82ft for a pair, and 12 could have fitted into the space easily, but when they were rebuilt in stone (mid 2nd century?) the intervallum was widened. The new stone barracks (identified, I think, by spaces between the buildings on the intervallum side) were only 216ft long, and widened to 103ft for a pair.
As Ottaway says (p55): 'it is clear that the usual six pairs could not be fitted in if they were all of the same size. How the problem was resolved is unknown, but it must remain a possibility that there were fewer barracks in the replanned fortress than there had been previously.'
Here's the plan (south-east corner of the praetentura):
[attachment=4294]YorkBarracks.jpg[/attachment]
As you can see, with the blocks spaced like that it's impossible to fit 12 into each corner of the fortress - only 10-11 at best.
But if there were indeed fewer barracks, could this mean that the legion (VI Victrix, presumably) had only five centuria in a cohort? (there are, incidentally, six double-sized barrack blocks shown for the first cohort!).
Alternatively, could the plan reconstruction be wrong? Or might the 'extra' barrack(s) have been placed somewhere else, out of the main range? Or are there other examples of forts with less than the usual number of barracks?
Originally, Ottaway says, the wooden barracks of the old fortress were about 258ft long by 82ft for a pair, and 12 could have fitted into the space easily, but when they were rebuilt in stone (mid 2nd century?) the intervallum was widened. The new stone barracks (identified, I think, by spaces between the buildings on the intervallum side) were only 216ft long, and widened to 103ft for a pair.
As Ottaway says (p55): 'it is clear that the usual six pairs could not be fitted in if they were all of the same size. How the problem was resolved is unknown, but it must remain a possibility that there were fewer barracks in the replanned fortress than there had been previously.'
Here's the plan (south-east corner of the praetentura):
[attachment=4294]YorkBarracks.jpg[/attachment]
As you can see, with the blocks spaced like that it's impossible to fit 12 into each corner of the fortress - only 10-11 at best.
But if there were indeed fewer barracks, could this mean that the legion (VI Victrix, presumably) had only five centuria in a cohort? (there are, incidentally, six double-sized barrack blocks shown for the first cohort!).
Alternatively, could the plan reconstruction be wrong? Or might the 'extra' barrack(s) have been placed somewhere else, out of the main range? Or are there other examples of forts with less than the usual number of barracks?
Nathan Ross
