Segedunum ("strong fort") guarded the eastern terminus of Hadrian's Wall on the north bank of the Tyne, occupied from c. AD 122/127 until the late 4th century. The fort covered roughly 1.7 hectares (about 4 acres) and housed an auxiliary garrison of around 600 men — in the 3rd century the Cohors IV Lingonum equitata, a part-mounted unit from Gaul. A short stretch of curtain wall extended from the fort down to the river, sealing off the wall's eastern flank.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
As the eastern anchor of the Wall system, Segedunum controlled riverine traffic on the Tyne and the approach to the frontier from the North Sea, complementing Arbeia at South Shields downstream which served as a supply base. Its placement reflects the slight eastward extension of the Wall from the original terminus at Pons Aelius (Newcastle), undertaken early in the building programme.
Excavations from the 1970s onward, after the demolition of overlying shipyard housing, have exposed the full plan of the fort including the headquarters building (principia), commanding officer's house, granaries, barracks, hospital, and bath-house outside the walls. The site is now a fully consolidated and displayed monument with a museum and reconstructed bath-house, and is among the most extensively investigated forts on the Wall.
Segedunum ("strong fort") guarded the eastern terminus of Hadrian's Wall on the north bank of the Tyne, occupied from c. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fort site from the Roman period in Britain.
Segedunum 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 Turret 0A (0.1 km), Turret 0B (St. Francis) (0.8 km), Milecastle 1 (Stott's Pow) (1.3 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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