Living and Working at Chesters Fort, Northumbria
Administrative and Living Quarters in a Roman Fort
May 18, 2009
Covering an area of 5.7 acres on a plateau 100m from the river Tyne, the remains of Chesters Roman fort is impressive. Outside its walls, it has a well preserved bath house. Besides retaining fragments of its gates and walls, the fort itself contains very well preserved remains of its barrack blocks, headquarters building and the commander in chief’s house
The Roman Barracks
Although many roman forts preserve the remains of the barrack blocks, those at Chester’s are particularly complete and well preserved. Built in the 2nd century AD, they are not the original barracks built on the site. They do however give a clear idea of how Roman military barracks would have been organised and how many men they would house.
Chesters’ barracks consisted of three long buildings each 53m long. The two best preserved buildings face each other across a narrow street which connects the barracks to the main road of the fort.
Each block consisted of eight to ten rooms for the men with quarters at the rampart end for the unit’s commander. In addition to sleeping quarters, the barracks also contained mess rooms. It is estimated that they could house 80 infantry men and 64 cavalry men.
The Headquarters’ Building
The headquarters’ building is one of the few original features remaining in the fort. The centre of the garrison’s administration, it retains very distinct features relating to its function.
The main entrance to the headquarters was close to the north gate. It opened onto a large paved courtyard with a colonnade on 3 sides and the headquarters itself on the fourth. Some of the stone slabs that paved the courtyard are still in situ, complete with guttering that would have drained away rain water from the colonnade’s roof and a lucky phallus carved by a well in the north west corner.
The main building of the headquarters could be entered from each connecting end of the colonnade as well as a doorway leading straight off the courtyard. It was here that the fort’s clerks worked, records and valuables were stored and hearings, meetings and ceremonies took place.
Windows high in the upper story lit the main hall of the headquarters and the space was divided by columns. At one end was the tribunal where the commanding officer presided. Traces of the bases of statues and an altar also remain.
To one side of the hall was a range of small rooms for clerical workers and records. The most interesting room is the regimental chapel which contained the statue of the reigning emperor and the unit’s standards. At some point in the fort’s history, an underground strong room was added beneath the chapel. Initial excavations found it with its iron bound and studded door still in place although this feature has since been lost.
The Commander’s House
This is one of the most complete sets of remains on the remains on the site. Built late in the fort’s life the house expanded gradually, taking up more space from the surrounding fort.
The house comprised of three suites of domestic rooms, several of which were heated by hypocausts. it was centred on an internal courtyard which was gradually encroached upon as all available space was used for extensions.
One of the latest additions to the house was a private bath suite. This extended out into the fort, taking up some of the road that ran around the internal periphery of the complex. This luxury addition to the commanding officer’s house meant that it was impossible to move entirely freely about the walls of the fort.
Sources:
Chesters Roman Fort, Northumberland, by J S Johnson. English Heritage. London
