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About the only accomodation in the area is the Once Brewed Youth Hostel.
The "Youth" part is pretty much just a name -- there were people of all
ages. The good part was that it was relatively cheap and we could cook
for ourselves. The bad part was sharing rooms with lots of strangers --
Jen was woken up three times at 3 am by cellphone calls from Australia.
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The hostel is on the side road to Vindolanda. We nearly missed the bus
when I realized that I had forgotten to give back my key.
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On the way from Hexham back to Newcastle, we got off the train at
Corbridge, site of the Roman fort Coria, or Corstopitum. The ruins
turned out to be a lot farther from the station than we had anticipated,
but it was worth the walk.
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The granaries at Corbridge were massive and well-preserved. It is likely
that they were built by Antoninus Pius as a staging point for his
reconquest of southern Scotland.
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Here you can see the raised floor stones of the granary. The site had
an audio guide, which was informative, if occasionally over-dramatic.
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Dave inspects the raised flooring.
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This small temple was later incorporated into another wall (bottom left).
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I have no idea what this is.
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Corbridge had an extensive drainage system, including several cisterns.
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Jennifer inspects the west military compound. The site was occupied
througout the Romano-British period. It began as a fort like any of
several we saw during the trip, but developed into a small town. The
south part of the town was made up of two walled compounds, separated
by the old north-south road of the original fort.
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From the western end looking east, towards the modern town. The
defensive ditches of the early fort were filled in and built over, but
over time the fill has subsided, causing the walls to sag.
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The level of the main east-west road (to the right of the columns) has
gradually risen as it was successively repaved. The columns were also
built at different times -- some are solid stone, others are built of
smaller blocks, which would have been plastered over.
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When we arrived at Corbridge, there were hundreds of cars lined up
on this field in some sort of massive yard sale. They must do it this
way, because no one has a front yard. By the time we got back, it was
all gone.
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Exhausted, Jennifer finally curled up her tootsies.
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