The Roman Fort at Bainbridge, Wensleydale: Excavations by B.R. Hartley on thePrincipiaand a Summary Account of Other Excavations and Surveys

Abstract

AbstractOccupation at Bainbridge began in the governorship of Agricola. Little is known of the first fort; the visible remains represent a successor fort, established inc.a.d. 85 at the earliest, abandoned under Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, and reoccupied inc.a.d. 160. In the early Severan period, the size of the unit at the fort seems to have been greatly reduced in numbers, and a suite of rooms for an officer was inserted in theprincipia. Extensive work bycohors VI Nerviorumwhich took place inc.a.d. 205–7 included the building of newprincipia, the relocation of the east gate, and probably the addition of an annexe, its wall described in an inscription from the site as abracchium. The fort was held until the end of the Roman period, by which time theprincipiahad been partly demolished to provide space for a timber building probably accommodating the commanding officer. Theaedesand part of the rear range seem to have stood until the ninth or tenth century, when the former was possibly converted into a church. Knowledge of this sequence of occupation depends largely on the results of Brian Hartley's excavations which are published here. The main focus of the report is on the remarkable series ofprincipia, but a review of what is known of the overall archaeology of the fort is also included in the main text. The Supplementary Material (http://journals.cambridge.org/bri) contains a more detailed analysis of some of the other excavations together with various specialist reports.