Petty Knowes is a Roman military cemetery located approximately 500m south-east of the fort at High Rochester (Bremenium), in use from the late 1st to the early 3rd century AD. It served as the principal burial ground for the garrison and associated civilian community (vicus) of this northernmost Dere Street outpost fort, with over 100 visible burial mounds making it one of the largest surviving Roman cemeteries in northern Britain.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The cemetery is significant as a rare upstanding example of a Roman military burial landscape, lining Dere Street as it approached the fort and reflecting the standard Roman practice of placing cemeteries along approach roads beyond settlement boundaries. Its scale demonstrates the long-term occupation of Bremenium as a forward base controlling the route into Scotland.
Excavations by Charlton and Mitcheson in the 1970s investigated several barrows, revealing cremation burials in stone cists or pottery urns beneath circular kerbed mounds, sometimes accompanied by grave goods including glass vessels, samian ware and personal items. The site also preserves a well-defined length of Dere Street agger, and tombstones recovered historically from the vicinity (now in the Great North Museum) attest to the diverse origins of the garrison, including units such as the cohors I Vardullorum.
Petty Knowes is a Roman military cemetery located approximately 500m south-east of the fort at High Rochester (Bremenium), in use from the late 1st to the early 3rd century AD. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a cemetery site from the Roman period in Britain.
Petty Knowes Roman Cemetery and Length of Dere Street Roman Road, Rochester is classified as a Roman cemetery — a civilian 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 Bremenium (0.5 km), Birdhope Camps (1.1 km), Romano-British enclosed settlement 400m south east of Woolaw (1.4 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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