Vindolanda Roman Fort and Town - Hadrian's Wall, Northumberland. Full tour, facts and history.

Vindolanda Roman Fort on Hadrian’s Wall has exceptionally well-preserved stone remains, an excellent museum with a superb collection, including the unique Vindolanda tablets and a vast collection of Roman finds. Vindolanda at Bardon Mill, Hexham, Northumberland is set in beautiful tranquil countryside. My film takes you on a full tour around the fort, town and museum.
Reasons to visit Vindolanda:
• The Vindolanda Tablets.
• Well preserved Roman fort including Principia building.
• Best preserved Roman town along Hadrian’s Wall.
• Replica stone and wooden milecastles with a section of wall.
• Excellent museum including largest collection of Roman shoes.
• Ongoing excavations - April to September.
• Well preserved bath-house.
The History Bit
Vindolanda was at the heart of Hadrian’s Wall and had over 300 years of Roman occupation, the longest presence along the wall. It started as a conquest fort built shortly after the invasion and it developed into a frontier fort and town. Located near the modern village of Bardon Mill in Northumberland, it guarded the Stanegate, the Roman road which ran from the River Tyne to the Solway Firth.
Later it was used as a base during the construction of the wall in the early AD120s. At Vindolanda’s peak it’s population would have been up to 4,000 people. The Vicus would have been multicultural with people from countries from all over the Roman Empire. The majority of the visible remains of the fort were built in the AD220s by the 4th Cohort of Gauls.
Hadrian’s Wall started to be built in AD122, for 300 years it remained the north-west frontier of the Roman Empire and it is the most important Roman monument built in Britain. The Wall was built to protect the Empire from the northern barbarians and to control the population and trade.
The Vindolanda Writing Tablets
The writing tablets are Vindolanda's greatest discovery, wafer thin pieces of wood covered in spidery ink writing, the tablets were found in the water-logged soil and are the oldest surviving handwritten documents in Britain. These messages from the past cast a rare insight into the everyday lives of the people living and working at Vindolanda in the years AD 95 - 105 , covering both private and military lives. No other place in the Roman empire has records to match these tablets.
VISITING
If you are going to visit only one site on Hadrian's Wall then Vindolanda is probably the site for you, with extensive fort and vicus remains, superb milecastle recreations, an excellent museum including the tablets and very good facilities including a café. Vindolanda today is run by a charitable trust.
Money-saving tip: you can purchase a joint ticket covering Vindolanda and the Roman Army Museum, well worth a visit and only a few miles west along Hadrian's Wall.
GETTING THERE
By Car: Vindolanda is very well signposted off the B6318 and the A69 outside Haltwhistle. Access is by a narrow road with passing places. It has an ample car park.
On Foot: If on the Wall and walking the road from the B6318 at Once Brewed the road is slightly undulating until you get on to the Stanegate Road. Also accessible from Bardon Mill by public footpaths and bridleways
By Bus:Local Bus - Newcastle - Carlisle (via Haltwhistle and Hexham) (685/85) nearest stop at Bardon Mill or connect to Hadrian's Wall Bus at Hexham or Haltwhistle. Hadrian's Wall Bus also travels from Newcastle to Carlisle stopping at sites along the Wall. The AD 122 Bus runs from April.
Location:
Roman Vindolanda,
Chesterholm Museum,
Bardon Mill,
Hexham,
Northumberland
NE47 7JN
Music credits:
Courtesy of Epidemic Sounds
To All the Glory by Howard Harper-Barnes
• To All the Glory
Morning Comes by Mochas
Phoenix Rising by Edgar Hopp
The Battle of the Nile by Grant Newman
Narrow Escape by Dream Cave
Close to His Sword by Bonnie Grace
In the Red Soil by Bonnie Grace
Deep Blue Delta Sinus by Ookean
Title: Faceoff Music: Kevin MacLeod License: CC BY 3.0 (goo.gl/BlcHZR) Download: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Title: The Descent Music: Kevin MacLeod License: CC BY 3.0 (goo.gl/BlcHZR) Download: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
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[@Andy_Babb]

This is great. Well done, thank you.

[@user-fq5kg6gk1g]

❤ Roman History

[@sonsoffalstaff2600]

The overly dramatic music ruined this.