Bremenium (High Rochester) is an ancient Roman fort (castrum) located at Rochester, Northumberland, England. The fort is part of the defensive system built along the extension of Dere Street, a Roman road running from York to Corbridge and onwards to Melrose. Significantly the fort is a long way north of Hadrian's Wall. It was one of the last forts north of Hadrian's Wall to remain occupied until the 270s.
The fort's name, Bremenium, is mentioned in the Ravenna Cosmography, the Antonine Itinerary and Ptolemy's Geographia.
A separate Roman road ran eastwards from Bremenium to the Roman fort at Learchild, where it joined up with the Devil's Causeway Roman road to Berwick upon Tweed.
The fort is situated in the village of Rochester, five miles (8.0 km) north-west of Otterburn on the A68 road between Corbridge and Jedburgh.
It was one of the forts along Dere Street, and positioned to defend this main supply and transit route to the north.
In 79 AD Agricola moved against the Brigantes of northern England and the Selgovae along the southern coast of Scotland, using overwhelming military power to establish Roman control. He built a network of military roads and forts to secure the Roman occupation and Bremenium was built around 80 AD. Existing forts were strengthened and new ones planted in northeastern Scotland along the Highland Line, consolidating control of the glens that provided access to and from the Scottish Highlands. The line of military communication and supply across southeastern Scotland and northeastern England was Dere Street (on which Bremenium was located) which was well-fortified.
After Agricola was recalled from Britain in 84 AD the Romans retired to a more defensible line along the Forth–Clyde isthmus. In the 120s Hadrian established the frontier further south by building his wall, and Bremeniun remained outside it as an "outpost" fort.
The emperor Antoninus Pius advanced again in the 140s and built the Antonine Wall, when Bremenium once again became
a supply and logistical waypoint on Dere Street until about 164 when Hadrian's wall became the frontier again leaving Bremenium in hostile territory.
The fort is 8+1⁄2 miles (14 km) north of Risingham (Roman name Habitancum), the next fort on Dere Street and less than a day's marching distance away. The name Bremenium means 'The Place of the Roaring Stream'. The site is in a strong position, occupying the end of a ridge with the ground falling away steeply to the north and west, and giving a clear view over the Rede Valley and beyond.
Defensive ditches can still be seen to the north and east, outside which Dere Street passes. Early temporary marching camps at Redesdale are visible across the Sills Burn from the fort.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Bremenium (High Rochester) is an ancient Roman fort (castrum) located at Rochester, Northumberland, England. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fort site from the Roman period in Britain.
Bremenium is classified as a Roman fort — a military site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Petty Knowes Roman Cemetery and Length of Dere Street Roman Road, Rochester (0.5 km), Birdhope Camps (0.6 km), Romano-British enclosed settlement 400m south east of Woolaw (1.2 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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