Housesteads is the best-known fort on Hadrian's Wall, and is one of the most iconic sites of the Roman Empire. Perched high on its ridge, the remains convey the spirit of the past as well as the beauty of the present. Along with Chesters, it was one of the permanent forts added to the Wall around AD 124, as part of a second plan for the new frontier. Known to the Romans as 'Vercovicium', 'the place of effective fighters', Housesteads was garrisoned by around 1,000 infantry (generally Tungrians from what is now Belgium), later reinforced by Germanic cavalry.
Covering an area of approximately 5 acres (2ha), the overall layout of the fort changed very little over some three centuries of occupation. The internal buildings, however, went through various phases of modification, and not surprisingly the remains exposed today represent different periods in the history of the site. The most prominent and readily discernible survival is the line of the turreted curtain wall, complete with its four twin-towered gateways. The west gate, in particular, is one of the best-preserved examples on the Wall as a whole. Among its surviving features, there are the holes for the bar that was slotted into place when the gate was closed, and, by the front corners, marking out lines scored by the masons who built the initial structure.
At the centre of the fort was the headquarters building. This was entered from an open courtyard, surrounded on all four sides by covered verandas. The roofs of the verandas were at first supported on pillars, though these were later embedded within walls when the covered areas were converted into additional rooms. Opposite the courtyard entrance, a wide door led into the assembly hall. Here, at one end, there was a dais or tribunal for the commanding officer, the place where he may have stood to issue daily orders. Beyond the hall, along the west side of the building, there were five rooms where the regimental clerks worked, and where the standards of the unit were housed.
South of the headquarters lay the commanding officer's house, providing accommodation for himself, his family, and a number of slaves. The building was arranged around an open courtyard, and in the north range a heated room near the centre served as a bath suite for a time. Elsewhere within the fort, other clearly traceable remains include the military hospital, a double granary (originally built as one), two 4th-century barrack blocks, and a well-preserved communal latrine building which was carefully placed at the lowest point of the fort.
The remains of the fort itself are surrounded by extensive earthworks, marking other buried remains as well as cultivation terraces. On the south side, there are also traces of several buildings which represent the vicus, or civilian settlement, which grew up alongside the military presence within - a common pattern across the empire.
Many centuries after the Romans left, Housesteads became the haunt of 'rank robbers', including the notorious Armstrong gang of 'border reivers'. The remains of a fortified Elizabethan bastle house can still be seen near the south gate.
In 2009, English Heritage published the results of a long series of archaeological investigations at the fort (1954-95). Alan Rushworth's work not only provides the most up to date sequence for developments at Housesteads over its 300 year history, it also reveals much about the material culture of the occupying soldiers.
