Segedunum Roman Fort

Wallsend is one of several Roman forts built along or near Hadrian’s Wall in the north of England. This fort was built at the eastern end of the wall, as the modern name explains. The Romans called it Segedunum, which probably means something like “strong” or “victorious.” It is located in today’s Newcastle.

In the third and fourth centuries AD the garrison at Segedunum was the fourth cohort of Lingones, a mixed unit of 120 cavalry and 480 infantry.

The typical Roman fort is shaped like a playing card, i.e. a rectangle with round corners. The Romans had standard regulations for the orientation of a fort and for the different buildings inside it, but there was always room for local variations. No two forts are exactly alike.

Segedunum was built on the north bank of the river Tyne. The wall joined the fort at the western gate and continued from the south eastern corner to the water’s edge. Perhaps the end of the wall was marked by a statue of Emperor Hadrian.

In Segedunum you can see the foundations of several buildings: the military headquarters (principium), the commandant’s house (praetorium), a double granary (horreum), the hospital (valetudinarium) and some barracks. Recent investigations seem to indicate that the six barracks in the northern sector (praetentura) was allocated to the infantry, while the four barracks in the southern sector (retentura) was allocated to the riders and their horses. The northern barracks are partially hidden by a modern road (Buddle Street).

West of the fort there is a full-scale reconstruction of a short section of the wall. It is 5 m high on the front (facing north) and 3.5 m high on the back (facing south). This means there is a parapet of 1.5 m. The experts do not agree about the height of the wall. Perhaps it was higher. It is not known if there was a parapet, but many experts believe there was one, and this is why it was decided to build one here.

On the back of the wall the natural stones are covered with plaster in different ways to remind us that the Romans often covered the raw stones with plaster. Sometimes they would draw red horizontal and vertical lines on the white plaster. Viewed from a distance the wall would seem to be built by white rectangular blocks.

South of the fort there is a full-scale reconstruction of a Roman bath house. It is based on the impressive surviving remains of the bath house at Chesters, but has been laid out in mirror image in order to fit the space available for it here.

For more information about Chesters see my blog: Chesters Roman Fort.

Other Roman sites in the north of England include the following:

** Birdoswald

** Corbridge

** Housesteads

** Vindolanda

The modern reconstruction in Newcastle includes all the major rooms of a Roman bath house: the entrance room (vestibulum), the changing room (apodyterium), the cold room (frigidarium), the tepid room (tepidarium), the hot room (calidarium), the furnace (praefurnium), and the latrines (latrinae).

Segedunum Roman Fort is the subject of an excellent booklet written by W. B. Griffiths and published by Tyne & Wear Museums. The booklet is divided into three parts. The first part is called “History.”. The second part is called “Archaeology.” The third part is called “Present Day.”

The text is illustrated by a large number of photos, drawings and maps. All illustrations are in colour, except for a few old photos, which are in black-and-white. All illustrations are helpful and instructive.

The photos show us what is visible today. The drawings are modern reconstructions. They show us what a particular building (probably) looked like when it was new. The drawing on page 4 gives us an idea of how the fort may have looked in Roman times. The maps give us orientation: there is a map of Hadrian’s Wall on page 3; there is a map of the eastern end of the wall on page 5, and a map of the layout of the fort during the second century AD on page 13.

The first part of the booklet – “History” – is divided into several short sections, including the following:

* The building of Hadrian’s Wall

* Buildings within the fort
* Outside the fort
* After the Romans

The third part of the booklet – “Present Day” – is divided into several short sections, including the following:

* Museum

* Viewing tower
* Bath-house
* Hadrian’s Wall: the reconstruction

The local museum is housed in a new building east of the fort. It presents the history of the town from antiquity until today. The museum includes a 34 m high tower with an observation platform. The tower looks like the bridge on a ship. This is no coincidence, because the fort’s neighbour is the Swan Hunter Shipyard. From the observation platform you can have a bird’s eye view of the ancient Roman fort and the surrounding area.

The reconstructed bath-house is presented on pp. 52-54. The reconstruction of Hadrian’s Wall is presented on pp. 56-57.

W. B. Griffiths has written an excellent guidebook about this fort. Read the book, it is highly recommended; visit the site, if you can, it is a very interesting place.

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W. B. Griffiths,

Segedunum: Roman Fort, Baths, & Museum,

Tyne & Wear Museums, Newcastle, 2000, 60 pages

PS. A second edition of this guidebook (with 76 pages) was published in 2008

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