Brocolitia was an auxiliary fort on Hadrian's Wall, situated between Housesteads and Chesters in Northumberland. It was a secondary addition to the Wall, built c. AD 130–133 over the partially-filled Vallum ditch, indicating it was not part of the original Wall plan. The fort covered approximately 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres) and was garrisoned into the late 4th century, latterly by the *cohors I Batavorum* (First Cohort of Batavians), attested epigraphically.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Brocolitia is most famous for its extramural religious complex, particularly the Mithraeum discovered in 1949 and the adjacent shrine to the Celtic-Roman goddess Coventina at her sacred well — one of the richest assemblages of votive material from Roman Britain. These finds make the site exceptionally important for understanding religious life, syncretism, and the spiritual practices of soldiers on the northern frontier.
The fort platform itself remains largely unexcavated and survives as visible earthworks, but Coventina's Well, cleared in 1876 by John Clayton, yielded over 13,000 coins, altars, jewellery, and a relief of the goddess; the Mithraeum produced three altars dedicated by prefects of the Batavian cohort and evidence of deliberate late-4th-century destruction, likely
Brocolitia was an auxiliary fort on Hadrian's Wall, situated between Housesteads and Chesters in Northumberland. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fort site from the Roman period in Britain.
*Brocolitia 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 Milecastle 31 (Carrowburgh) (0 km), Coventina's Well (0.1 km), Turret 31A (The Strands) (0.3 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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