Dr. Birley’s theme was the importance and continuation of occupation of the Stanegate forts until well after Hadrian’s Wall was built further to the North of it. The Stanegate was the main Roman supply route from Corbridge to Carlisle, transporting goods and foodstuffs from the supply centres at York and Catterick which are further to the South. He stated that no trace of the Stanegate had been found beyond Corbridge, and although it had been thought that it continued to the East, extensive surveys and excavations had failed to produce any evidence of it. The reason given was that the tribes to the Northeast of Corbridge were not antagonistic towards the Roman Army, and peacefully co-existed with it, so removing the need for the defensive forts and road to continue to the coast at Newcastle.

He spoke of the changing scene along the Stanegate defence line, referring frequently to the excavations as the basis of his conclusions. For example, the materials used for the construction of the earlier forts was wood, Birch and Alder, which would only have a useful life of five or six years above ground. Slides were shown of the axe marks where the vertical timbers had been cut off a foot or so above ground, the site filled and levelled, and a new construction erected upon it. He said that there were at least 9 different forts at Vindolanda, and not all of them on the same alignment or even of the same size. He thought that at Nether Denton we had at least 3 forts, perhaps even as many as six! There were at least three consecutive forts at Carvoran, and the earlier are the larger.

The role of the Stanegate Forts.

They were built for the control of the native population, in order to tax them, to use their labour and to stop them fighting the Romans! It had to be economically viable for the Romans to occupy the area and stay there. They found the Celts living there, not a primitive people living in savagery, but a settled nation of expert agriculturalists, rearing flocks and herds and growing corn. Needless to say, the Roman authorities tried to squeeze as much food as possible from the country. It took 700 acres of cultivated land to keep a regiment of 500 men with their oxen and horses, pigs and hens etc.in basic food requirements. Luxury goods such as pepper and spices and even Opium were imported from as far away as the Far East to Northern England!

The tribes were also experts in breeding and training horses, which were very much in demand by the Roman army. Cattle hides supplied leather, sinews for the tension ropes of the Roman catapults, and wool producing some of the finest fabrics in the Empire. British woollen cloaks attracted the second highest taxation rate at the frontiers. The sheep were not usually eaten, (They were small, only weighing about 28 lbs, the size of a large Turkey!)

A particularly interesting commodity was goatskin. This is much lighter in weight than ox leather, and was in great demand for the production of mobile tents. Each eight-man squad possessed besides its members’ personal equipment, a mule, and an eight man tent. Each tent required the use of 80 goatskins. It is estimated that the Roman Army in Britain needed 442,000 goatskins to make their tents! There must have existed huge tanneries to process this number of skins. The skins were marked with the identification of the owner, then processed in what was described as ‘A festering infusion of dog dung and urine’, for a year and a day. It will be appreciated why they needed to be clearly identified after this treatment.

Mineral resources. The Romans were tapping into considerable local mineral resources. Iron and Lead were plentiful in the region and were extensively mined to supply the needs of the Legions. This in turn led to the construction of supply roads and a multitude of transport facilities to distribute the resulting metals. The journey by road from Vindolanda to York via Catterick took five days.

Volunteer soldiers. One of the first things the occupying forces did was to persuade, (Possibly on the time honoured principle used by all armies, "Volunteers, you, you and you") all the local men between the ages of sixteen and forty to join the Roman army. They were then trained as soldiers, and sent off to Germany or Romania to fight for their new masters. The significant result of this was that by taking them out of the community, they were no longer in a position to plot rebellions for the simple reason that no one was left to fight.

The Vindolanda written tablets. Dr. Birley went on to describe the impact of the discovey of numerous wooden writing tablets at Vindolanda in March, 1973, which at a stroke supplied written local information never before available in Britain. He said that British archaeologists had envied the.beautifully preserved written records found in the Middle East in past years, and that now, with the possession of the Vindolanda tablets they had details of the everyday life and organisation of Roman life on this Northernmost frontier of the Roman empire. He said that, for instance, there had been no indication of how the Roman troops behaved towards the British people during the occupation here. The Palestinians were forever complaining about the way the Romans collected not only the taxes which had to be paid, but that they grew personally rich because they inflated the amount to include a bit for themselves. No Roman ever grew rich on just his army pay. He was paid only three times a year, and one envisaged vast wagonloads of denarii, sestercii and other coinage being carried about the Roman roads of Britain. This was never the case. All his personal requirements were issued from the quartermasters’ stores, and noted down as a debit against his pay. Consequently, when pay day arrived, and his debts to the army had been paid, there was not very much left for himself.

The Vindolanda tablets supplied details such as these. An officer’s wife writes to a friend, inviting her for a meal and conversation, and adds a short message in her own hand at the end of the letter. The corner of a tablet upon closer scrutiny reveals doodles of a horse and chariot, and a group of soldiers with an enemy’s severed head at their feet. As mentioned above, they refer to the import of Opium, amongst other supplies. In a letter of the Trajanic period, about 110 AD, the archaeologists were mystified by a reference to Subrigaria. No one could identify .this commodity, until someone remembered seeing the word in a poem of Catullus. Subrigaria are underpants! Another interesting term was Brittunculi, - ‘those wretched little Brits!.

The vicus, or Civilian settlement. Outside the confines of the military camps were the villages where the civilians lived. For every four soldiers, there were probably three civilians. They were not recognised officially, but they were tolerated, because they provided things that the army did not provide, namely drink, extra food and female company. All this was considered to help the morale of the troops.

The Stanegate. (About 70AD). The Romans had to build the Stanegate, maintain it and provide assistance to heavily loaded vehicles to negotiate its severe gradients. The Military Road, (Not to be confused with what is sometimes called General Wade’s Road, which was constructed in 1752); which followed close beside Hadrian’s Wall, further to the North, was not built to the same specification as the Stanegate, .the latter being wider, and an important military supply road for the Roman army. Consequently, when the Wall was built, the Stanegate and its associated forts were not abandoned, as was once thought, but maintained and defended as an essential supply route. It remained occupied until well after Hadrian’s Wall forts were built.

Nether Denton Fort occupies a site of approximately 8.1 acres. It is therefore bigger than Birdoswald. Like Vindolanda, it consists of a smaller and a larger fort, following the Roman practice on some sites of simply doubling the size of the garrison and its.accommodation. Nether Denton Fort in its larger phase would have accommodated up to 1,000 part mounted troops.

During the construction of the ‘New Vicarage’ in 1868 a number of coins and 7 brooches were unearthed, also some figured Samian ware pottery from the end of the second century AD.

Dr. Birley thinks that there may be at least three forts on the site, and possibly as many as six.

The fort dates from approximately 70 - 130 + AD.

A certain amount of excavation was done here by F.G. Simpson in 1933. Indications of an intensive military occupation were found, with earthworks of a massive character, one buried turf rampart being nearly thirty feet thick at the base, and standing five feet high.

The Roman name of the fort remains uncertain, but ULUCIUM is a possibility.

Dr. Birley concluded his lecture by saying, "You are sitting on a treasure at Nether Denton".