High Rochester

[Nathan Ross]

Can anyone direct me to a thorough survey of the fort at High Rochester (Bremenium)? So far I've found the information on the very useful 'Roman Britain.org' site, which has a general ground plan, and the small plan reproduced in Guy de la Bédoyère's 'Eagles over Britannia' (a very confusing plan too, with nothing much that looks like a barrack block and a collection of little buildings blocking the Via Decumanus!).<br>
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Has there been any in-depth recent archeological investigation, particularly of the fort buildings and the surrounding area? <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

I recently visited the site and have some photos<br>
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but the only parts visible are parts of the perimeter wall <p><img src="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mark.martin/forum/mark.gif
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[mcbishop]

<em>Has there been any in-depth recent archeological investigation, particularly of the fort buildings and the surrounding area?</em><br>
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Yes, the University of Newcastle have been working there, mainly outside the fort (with both geophys and excavation) but also some work within (including a hypocaust in the <em>principia</em>). Before that, it was excavated in the mid-19th century, producing one of my favourite features - a Star Trek-style sliding door in the entrance to the strong room! The early plan recovered is rather confused and appears to show chalet-style barracks amongst various other odds and ends.<br>
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Northumberland National Park have published a free full-colour (A3 folded into four) leaflet entitled 'Bremenium - the fort on the edge of the Empire'. I picked up my copy from the Brigantium archaeological reconstruction centre nearby when I was there recently. This is a pretty good summary of the site but it is unfortunately not available from their PDF download site:<br>
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www.northumberland-nation...efault.htm<br>
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although if you ask them nicely, you never know - they might consider putting it on.<br>
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I don't think there has been a definitive academic publication as yet, but I am open to correction on that.<br>
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Mike Bishop <p></p><i></i>

[Nathan Ross]

Thanks, both of you - the leaflet sounds quite nice. I'll have to send off for a copy. It seems that one James Crow is, or was, in charge of the Newcastle Uni team at Bremenium, so I'll try contacting him directly. He, I suppose, should know the best available sources on the fort. <p></p><i></i>

[D B Campbell]

Apparently, the leaflet is now out-of-print.<br>
Certainly, I was unable to obtain one recently. <p></p><i></i>

[Nathan Ross]

Out of print? How unfortunate - I've already sent off for one. Perhaps somebody has one lying about somewhere...<br>
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It appears that the most recent work at the High Rochester site was in 1999, and the results written up by James Crow in 'Current Archaeology'. The issue contains a lot of interesting-looking Roman stuff, and (apparently!) can be ordered from the journal's main site:<br>
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[url=http://www.archaeology.co.uk/ca/issues/ca164/ca164.htm" target="top]Current Archaeology Issue 164[/url]<br>
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