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hi again Yuri, The book I have mentioned is most certainly a must and particularly for you. The late Ramond Selkirk did such wonderfull work in bringing alive the Romans here in the north of England, I used to be a member of the Northern Archaeology Group that he formed it might still be going but Im not sure. When it comes to Pons Aulius I have my own views about this place, a bit crazy I know but it might well be a Stanegate fort. Ramond and I traced the Stanegate all the way from Corbridge to Heddon on the Wall, it then of course becomes lost under the city of Newcastle.
Brian Stobbs
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I got the PM Yuri but forgot to mention, that I don't know where Ramond Selkirk got his ref's from. Thats why there may be slight differences in position he may have used place names rather than exact positions.
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Yes, I will be going out tomorrow and will certainly be on the lookout for this book, it does seem very interesting indeed.
Its interesting you should mention that. I was tracing hadrians wall from Newcastle to Corbridge through google maps and the name ``stanegate`` does seem to appear a lot in the names of roads around the area, the thought did cross my mind. However, my knowledge of the Stanegate is patch at the very best.
PS: I would be dlighted to hear your views on Pons Aelius.
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Article on Pons Aelius substantially revamped.
http://eng.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pons_Aelius
Suggestions, constructive criticisms and so on welcome.
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Yes we are having some ''technical'' problems and so unfortunately all the articles will be down indefinately.
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I also found it difficult however when I did get hold of things, I discovered a couple of details that may need to be cleared up. There is mention of a bridge the name of which is incorrect, this bridge it is refering to should be the Ponti Sansebastiano that crosses the Tiber river to the Castel St Angelo which is the tomb of the emperor Hadrian. The other point is that the name Newcastle was not in use at the time of the Norman conquest, it only comes in with William Rufus the son of William the 1st. Rufus came north at a later date, infact Northumberland is the county that does not feature in the Doomsday book and only came under Norman rule after Rufus. Indeed the name after Pons Aelius through out medieval times was Villa Castri Novae as can be found on many ancient coins.
Brian Stobbs
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The name of Newcastle I think referes to the fact that Rufus built a new castle in stone when he came there, infact he even built his castle ontop of the Roman fort known as the Pons Aelius.
Brian Stobbs
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Having got through to the Pons Aelius article, there are a few points that do need correcting. There is a photogragh showing a bridge in Rome over the Tiber river, it is being refered to as the Ponti Sant'Angelo which is not correct. This particular bridge is infact the Ponti San'Sebastiano which crosses the Tiber leading to the tomb of the Emperor Hadrian, which of course is also known also as the Castel Sant'Angelo that was the fortification for the Vatican. Another point that needs correcting is where the article mentions that the Stanegate road runs through Pons Aelius fort, and that this road linked all the Hadrians' Wall forts. This is incorrect for the Stanegate was another frontier limes that predates the Hadrians' Wall frontier system, the Stanegate road may have ran through the area of the Pons Aelius but did not link the Hadrians' Wall forts. The Stanegate road does travel east of Corbridge, indeed I have traced it to the western ends of the city of Newcastle and may safely assume that it does travel from coast to coast as an erlier limes.
Brian Stobbs
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Ok, I will have all that cleared up.
As for the stanegate, can we not assume that, even it being built before hadrians wall, it did serve the secondary purpose of linking these forts on the frontier anyway? It would make sense to me to have a road behind the wall between the forts and even the milecastles, not only for monitoring traffic from east-west and vice versa, but for the obvious military purposes as well.
As for the bridge in rome, I did not writte that article, and at the momment im just focusing on forts in the northeast. It may ahve to wait im afraid 
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The Stanegate does predate Hadrians' wall but it has nothing to do with the latter as a link to it's forts, infact it is a frontier that has never been fully understood even by archaeologists. This is where for many years now it has been assumed that it only runs from Carlisle to Corbridge then crosses the Tyne and goes east along the south bank of the river. It is only in more recent time that the Northern Archaeology Group led by the late Ramond Selkirk have shown that it is another frontier that ran from coast to coast and did carry on east from Corbridge on the north bank of the Tyne.
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Quote:The Stanegate ... is a frontier that has never been fully understood even by archaeologists.
"Never fully understood" in what sense? (imho Nick Hodgson has done a sterling job of elucidating the Stanegate: Britannia 31, 2000, pp. 11-22.)
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I have not read Nick Hodgson but will look it up, however up until now I have not come across any archaeologist who has wanted to consider that the Stanegate travels east of Corbridge.
Brian Stobbs
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Quote:I have not read Nick Hodgson but will look it up, however up until now I have not come across any archaeologist who has wanted to consider that the Stanegate travels east of Corbridge.
Why would it not travel east of corbridge? I am no archaeologist and my knowledge of roman roads in the northeast is patch, but as I have written (maybe incorrectly) in the Pons Aelius article, would it not make sense for a major road to continue east of corbridge and link the remaining forts? And why are there so many smaller roads around that area named after the Stanegate if it did not?
Also, does anybody know how I can use pictures on the Roman Britain.org website without running into copyright issues?
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The Stanegate has nothing to do with wall forts it pre dates Hadrians'wall by some 30 to 40 years.
Brian Stobbs
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