04-21-2008, 11:27 PM
Quote:I think Yuri that the info given by Bishop reference the north wall of the fort being found in 1986 needs to be read, however his compass directions of the wall running WSW to ENE appear to point to the wall leaving the fort in it's easterly direction to Wallsend (Segedunum) For the wall going west from the fort would be on the reciprocal of this heading....I do think however for Bishop to state that the Wall was built before the fort, when the wall in this area has never been found appears to be a bit presumptive.
Breeze and Hill (2001) have proposed that construction of the Wall began from Dere Street and progressed eastwards to Wallsend, but even so Breeze and Dobson's chronology (1978, 64-70) would put that in the AD 120s. Bidwell and Snape (2002, 253) point out that the fort's construction must have pre-dated a dedication slab to Julia Domna of AD 203 and suggest (but can't prove) a date in the 170s or 180s for its construction. No evidence has been found for a Hadrianic fort here. The curtain wall was however noted in this area in 1778 (Bidwell and Snape 2002, 261) 'below' Amen Corner (just south of the west end of the cathedral for those getting lost in the fine detail) and B&S argue that 'below' means in The Side, and thus north of the north wall of the fort (excavated in 1986, together with a wall to the north of it interpreted as an extramural building - Snape and Bidwell 2002, 99-105).
There is thus circumstantial evidence that the curtain wall did not join the fort wall and no evidence that it did: you pays your money and takes your choice. Any further observations on my part would appear to be fruitless.
As for my being 'a bit presumptive', I choose to let that comment pass.
- Bidwell, P. and Snape, M. 2002: 'The history and setting of the Roman fort at Newcastle upon Tyne', Archaeologia Aeliana series 5, 31, 251-83
Breeze, D.J. and Dobson, B. 1978: Hadrian's Wall, Harmondsworth (in the process of moving so can't lay my hands on a more recent edition - the chronology remains essentially the same)
Breeze, D.J. and Hill, P.R. 2001: 'Hadrian's Wall began here', Archaeologia Aeliana series 5, 29, 1-2
Snape, M. and Bidwell, P. 2002: 'Excavations at Castle Garth, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1976-92 and 1995-96. The excavation of the Roman fort', Archaeologia Aeliana series 5, 31, 1-249
Mike Bishop
