08-04-2009, 02:39 PM
It's not such a strange thing finding this shrine on the inside of a fort, for along Hadrians' Wall there are one or two situations where similar unusual things have happened.
There is a Bath house inside the Fort of Onnum where the Roman Dere Street crosses Hadrians' Wall just a couple of hundred yards to the east of the fort, infact this fort even changed it's shape to a backwards "L" to compensate for the area lost to that venture.
Then there is an external Grannery on the river bank at Cilurnum (Chesters) put there for the fort supplies being brought in by barges along the Tyne.
Then at the Fort of Procolitia there is the Shrine to Coventina which is the only Romano Celtic Shrine in Britain that has a western door, this may result from there being another road that crosses Hadrians' Wall to the west of this fort. It may even be that this shrine pre dates even the wall itself hence the western door alongside a road running north/south. This place is well known for it's Shrine to Mithras however just about all the forts on the wall had such a shrine to this god.
Then of course returning to Vindolanda there was what may have been an early Christian church found in the south east corner of the fort not so many years ago.
There is a Bath house inside the Fort of Onnum where the Roman Dere Street crosses Hadrians' Wall just a couple of hundred yards to the east of the fort, infact this fort even changed it's shape to a backwards "L" to compensate for the area lost to that venture.
Then there is an external Grannery on the river bank at Cilurnum (Chesters) put there for the fort supplies being brought in by barges along the Tyne.
Then at the Fort of Procolitia there is the Shrine to Coventina which is the only Romano Celtic Shrine in Britain that has a western door, this may result from there being another road that crosses Hadrians' Wall to the west of this fort. It may even be that this shrine pre dates even the wall itself hence the western door alongside a road running north/south. This place is well known for it's Shrine to Mithras however just about all the forts on the wall had such a shrine to this god.
Then of course returning to Vindolanda there was what may have been an early Christian church found in the south east corner of the fort not so many years ago.
Brian Stobbs
