Cilurnum or Cilurvum was a fort on

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. Ru ...

mentioned in the ''

Notitia Dignitatum The ''Notitia Dignitatum'' (Latin for "The List of Offices") is a document of the late Roman Empire that details the administrative organization of the Western and the Eastern Roman Empire. It is unique as one of very few surviving documents o ...

''. It is now identified with the fort found at Chesters (also known as Walwick Chesters to distinguish it from other sites named Chesters in the vicinity) near the village of Walwick,

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 ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It was built in 123 AD, just after the wall's completion. Cilurnum is considered to be the best preserved Roman cavalry fort along Hadrian's Wall. The site is now preserved by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

as Chesters Roman Fort. There is a museum on the site, housing finds from the fort and elsewhere along the wall.

Construction

The site guarded a bridge, Chesters Bridge, carrying the Military Way Roman road behind the wall across the River North Tyne. Massive

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end which provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining wal ...

s survive of this bridge across the river from the fort. Cilurnum was a cavalry fort at its foundation, for retaliatory raids into barbarian areas north of the wall, then given over to infantry later. Hadrian himself encouraged the "Cult of Disciplina" among legions stationed at the wall, and an early inscription on an altar dedicated to Disciplina, found in 1978, indicates the earliest known military presence was a wing of cavalry, ''ala Augusta ob virtutem appellata'' ("named Augusta because of its valour"). Inscriptions have also been found showing the

Cohors I Delmatarum Cohors prima Delmatarum ("1st Cohort of Dalmatae") was a Roman auxiliary infantry regiment. It is named after the Dalmatae, an Illyrian-speaking tribe that inhabited the Adriatic coastal mountain range of the eponymous Dalmatia. The ancient geog ...

, from present-day Bosnia-Herzegovina (Yugoslavia), and the Cohors I Vangionum Milliaria Equitata from Upper Rhineland in Germany were also stationed here. Four large Roman columns, believed to come from Cilurnum, may be seen supporting the south aisle in the church of St Giles at Chollerton, a couple of miles upstream from the fort.

Excavation

In the early 19th century Nathaniel Clayton, owner of Chesters House and Estate, moved hundreds of tons of earth to cover over the last remains of the fort as part of his parkland landscaping, thereby creating a smooth uninterrupted grassland slope down to the River Tyne; However, he collected, before they disappeared, a number of Roman artefacts which he preserved in the family. His son John Clayton, a noted

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...

, when he inherited the estate in 1832, with a crew of workmen, undid his father's landscaping, exposing the fort, excavating the ruins, and establishing a small museum for the finds. John Clayton also purchased and made excavations at Housesteads Fort,

Carrawburgh Carrawburgh is a settlement in Northumberland. In Roman times, it was the site of a -acre (1.5 ha) auxiliary fort on Hadrian's Wall called Brocolitia, Procolita, or ''Brocolita''. This name is probably based on the Celtic name for the pla ...

Mithraic Temple, and

Carvoran Magnis or Magna was a Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall in northern Britain. Its ruins are now known as and are located near Carvoran, Northumberland, in northern England. It is thought to have been sited with reference to the Stanegate Roman road, ...

, and other historic sites.

Museum

The museum was commissioned in 1895 and opened in 1903. It is a grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

and was designed by

Richard Norman Shaw Richard Norman Shaw RA (7 May 1831 – 17 November 1912), also known as Norman Shaw, was a British architect who worked from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings. He is considered to be among the ...

. It displays part of John Clayton's collection of Roman finds.

Curators

Until 1950 there was no curator of the Clayton Collection, only a caretaker, paid for by the Keith family. Between 1950 and 1972

Grace Simpson Mary Grace Simpson (12 November 1920 – 8 February 2007) was a British archaeologist and museum curator specialising in the study of Roman ceramics, especially Samian ware. Biography Early life Simpson spent her early years in Newcastle, ...

was the Honorary Curator of the Collection, and spent a great deal of time working on the Collection, in particular the material excavated by her father, F. G. Simpson. When she left, Dr David J. Smith, who at the time was the keeper at the

Museum of Antiquities The Museum of Antiquities was an archaeological museum at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It opened in 1960 and in 2009 its collections were merged into the Great North Museum: Hancock. History The museum was originally ope ...

held the position until 1987.

Lindsay Allason-Jones Lindsay Allason-Jones, is a British archaeologist and museum professional specialising in Roman material culture, Hadrian's Wall, Roman Britain, and the presence and role of women in the Roman Empire. She is currently a visiting fellow at Ne ...

became a trustee of the collection in August 1987 and became the then Honorary Curator. The collection became the responsibility of

in 1983 and the new post of 'Curator of Hadrian's Wall Museums'. This position was filled briefly by John Dore (1983–1986), Sally Dumner, and then and Bill Hubbard. Georgina Plowright held the position from 1987 until her retirement in 2012 and was responsible for the refurbishment and re-display of the museum as well as the production of an electronic catalogue of the collections. Frances McIntosh is the current Curator of Hadrian's Wall and the North East for English Heritage.

Gallery

File:Chollerford MMB 03 Cilurnum.jpg, View File:Chesters Roman fort barracks.jpg, The barracks File:The Commanding Officer's House (praetorium), AD 150-400, Chesters Roman Fort (Cilurnum), Hadrian's Wall (44036170984).jpg, The Commanding Officer's house File:The Baths located outside the fort, considered as the best-preserved Roman military building in Britain, Chesters Roman Fort (Cilurnum), Hadrian's Wall (38453750925).jpg, The baths

Sources

Roman BritainChesters Roman Fort and Museum - Hadrian's Wall
- English Heritage *

References

External links

Chesters Roman Fort and Museum - Hadrian's Wall
- official site English Heritage
'Chesters Roman for: outpost of empire'
on Google Arts & Culture
''Cilurnum '' at www.Roman-Britain.co.uk
{{authority control Forts of Hadrian's Wall Roman fortifications in England Roman sites in Northumberland English Heritage sites in Northumberland Museums in Northumberland Museums of ancient Rome in the United Kingdom Archaeological museums in England