Piercebridge Roman Fort is a scheduled ancient monument situated in the village of Piercebridge on the banks of the River Tees in modern-day County Durham, England. There were Romans here from about AD 70 until at least the early 5th century. There was an associated vicus and bath house at Piercebridge, and another vicus and a villa south of the river at Cliffe. The Victorians used carved stones from this site when they built St Mary's church at Gainford. Part of the site is under Piercebridge village green.
The fort was situated on Dere Street, the major Roman road linking York to the north. The fort was strategically placed to control the crossing of the road over the river Tees, and the major Roman bridge crossing it.
Lumps and bumps in the village green at Piercebridge, as well as extensive excavated Roman buildings, show that there is a Roman fort underneath it. The Roman name for the site is uncertain, although it has been suggested that it could be Morbium, a placename listed in the 4th century list of Roman officials, known as the Notitia Dignitatum. That said, there are other arguably better candidates, such as Scaftworth, near Bawtry. An old theory that Piercebridge may have been Magis is now generally rejected, the name more probably applying to the fort at Burrow Walls, near Workington in Cumbria. Another possible name has been put forward on the basis of the text of one of the Vindolanda Tablets dating from the mid-first century AD, in which reference is made to Bremesio, the context of which strongly suggests an identification with Piercebridge.
Dere Street was the main road that the Piercebridge Fort guarded. It was the furthest south of four forts along Dere Street in what is now County Durham, the others being at Binchester, Lanchester and Ebchester. Artefacts found in Piercebridge suggest that there were Romans on the site around the river as far back as AD 70, perhaps because there was a ford or ferry to be defended from the Brigantes. A civil settlement in the Toft field existed by AD 125, and a military installation alongside Dere Street south of the Tees appeared in the late 2nd century AD. However, the fortifications which can be seen today on the north side of the river were not built until AD 260 to 270, when the other Roman settlements north and south of the river began to decrease in size. The fort was maintained from around AD 290 to 350, with later development, by which time the inhabitants were mostly inside the fort area. It was inhabited until the 6th century AD, although some theories state that it was finally abandoned in the early 5th century. It is now a scheduled ancient monument. It was not the only Roman fort next to a bridge hereabouts; there was also Greta Bridge, on the River Greta to the south.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Piercebridge Roman Fort is a scheduled ancient monument situated in the village of Piercebridge on the banks of the River Tees in modern-day County Durham, England. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fort site from the Roman period in Britain.
Piercebridge 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 Piercebridge Roman Bridge (0.4 km), Holme House (6.5 km), Roman fort and prehistoric enclosed settlement 400m west of Carkin Moor Farm (8.9 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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