Hunnum (also known as Onnum, and with the modern name of Halton Chesters) was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

north of the modern-day village of Halton,

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

North East England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authorit ...

. The Latinized

Brittonic Brittonic or Brythonic may refer to: *Common Brittonic, or Brythonic, the Celtic language anciently spoken in Great Britain *Brittonic languages, a branch of the Celtic languages descended from Common Brittonic *Britons (Celtic people) The Br ...

name “Onnum” may mean "Stream/Water", "Ash (tree)", or “Rock”; if it means "Stream", it may be a reference to the Fence Burn, where a stream touches the line of

Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall ( la, Vallum Aelium), also known as the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Hadriani'' in Latin, is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. R ...

,Rivet, A.L.F., Smith, Colin, The Place-names of Roman Britain, B.T. Batsford, London, 1979, p. 433. but if it means "Rock", it may refer to Down Hill situated to the east of it. It was the fifth fort on

, after

Segedunum Segedunum was a Roman fort at modern-day Wallsend, North Tyneside in North East England. The fort lay at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall (in Wallsend) near the banks of the River Tyne, forming the easternmost portion of the wall. It was in use ...

(

Wallsend Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Roman Wallsend In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This fo ...

Pons Aelius Pons Aelius (Latin for "Aelian Bridge"), or Newcastle Roman Fort, was an auxiliary castra and small Roman settlement on Hadrian's Wall in the Roman province of Britannia Inferior (northern England), situated on the north bank of the River Tyn ...

(Newcastle),

Condercum Condercum was a Roman fort on the site of the modern-day Condercum Estate in Benwell, a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It was the third fort on Hadrian's Wall, after Segedunum (Wallsend) and Pons Aelius (Newcastle), and was situated o ...

and

Vindobala Vindobala (Brytonnic Celtic : windo- ''fair, white'', bala ''place, situation?'', cf. Old Irish bal, bail ''place, situation, condition, (good) luck'') was a Roman fort at the modern-day hamlet of Rudchester, Northumberland. It was the fourth fo ...

. It is situated about seven and a half miles west of Vindobala, and is two and a half miles north of

Corstopitum Coria was a fort and town south of Hadrian's Wall, in the Roman province of Britannia at a point where a big Roman north–south road (Dere Street) bridged the River Tyne and met another Roman road (Stanegate), which ran east–west between C ...

. The site of the fort is bisected by the B6318

Military Road {{Use dmy dates, date=November 2019 The following is a list of military roads worldwide. Australia * Part of the A8 (Sydney) between Neutral Bay and Mosman * Military Road, part of Route 39, Melbourne * Military Road, off Wanneroo Road just north ...

, which runs along the route of the wall at that point.

Description

The fort guards

Dere Street Dere Street or Deere Street is a modern designation of a Roman road which ran north from Eboracum (York), crossing the Stanegate at Corbridge (Hadrian's Wall was crossed at the Portgate, just to the north) and continuing beyond into what is n ...

as it crosses the Roman Wall through the valley immediately to the west of it. The original fort was an oblong, measuring north to south by east to west, but at a later date the section south of the Wall was extended to the west making the south wall of the fort long and giving the fort an L-shaped appearance. The areas occupied by the northern and southern sections are 4.3 and respectively. There were four main gates, at the main points of the compass, with double portals with guard chambers. At various times some of the portals have been blocked up and both portals of the west gate were blocked almost at once. There were towers at each corner of the fort, and also on either side of the main gates. It is believed that the fort was built between 122 AD and 126 AD. The

Vallum Vallum is either the whole or a portion of the fortifications of a Roman camp. The vallum usually comprised an earthen or turf rampart ( Agger) with a wooden palisade on top, with a deep outer ditch (fossa). The name is derived from '' vallus'' (a ...

passed some short distance south of the fort, and was crossed by a road leading from the south gate to

vicus In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (plural ) designated a village within a rural area () or the neighbourhood of a larger settlement. During the Republican era, the four of the city of Rome were subdivided into . In the 1st century BC, Augustus r ...

just south of the Vallum.

Garrison

A dedicatory slab from the west gate of the fort tells us that the

Legio VI Victrix Legio VI Victrix ("Victorious Sixth Legion") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army founded in 41 BC by the general Octavian (who, as Augustus, later became Rome's first emperor). It was the twin legion of VI ''Ferrata'' and perhaps held vete ...

were responsible for the initial building work. The fort was initially garrisoned, probably, by a cohort of 500 partly mounted troops. In the third century it held a regiment of cavalry, the Ala I Pannoniorum Sabiniana, also called Ala Sabiniana, and named after Sabinus who first raised it

Excavations

The field north of the Military Road containing the northern section of the fort was first ploughed in 1827, and a fine bath-house was found. This contained dry and moist hot rooms, a warm room and cold rooms, and a dressing room. Such a large bath-house is a rarity on the Wall.

References

* J. Collingwood Bruce, Roman Wall (1863), Harold Hill & Son, * Frank Graham, The Roman Wall, Comprehensive History and Guide (1979), Frank Graham,
HUNNUM FORT (ONNUM) Roman-Britain.co.uk
* https://web.archive.org/web/20070915113454/http://hadrians-wall.info/hadrianswall/onnum/onnum.htm

External links

{{Hadrian's Wall forts Roman fortifications in England Roman sites in Northumberland Forts of Hadrian's Wall Former populated places in Northumberland