Washing Wells is a Roman auxiliary fort identified solely from aerial photography (J.K. St Joseph, 1970s), occupying a commanding spur on Dunston Hill above the south bank of the Tyne. The cropmarks reveal a substantial playing-card enclosure of roughly 2.8 hectares with multiple ditches, gates, and internal divisions — large enough for a quingenary or possibly milliary auxiliary unit. Its dating is uncertain without excavation, but its position and form suggest a Flavian foundation (later 1st century AD) associated with the Agricolan or post-Agricolan consolidation of the Tyne corridor, likely going out of use before the Hadrianic frontier was established a few miles to the north.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The fort lies on the projected line of the Roman road running south from Pons Aelius (Newcastle) towards Chester-le-Street (Concangis) and ultimately Binchester, making it a key node controlling movement through the lower Tyne–Wear corridor before the Wall was built. It is one of the few known pre-Hadrianic garrison sites south of the Tyne in this sector and helps fill out the otherwise sparse picture of early Flavian military deployment in County Durham.
No formal excavation has been published; knowledge derives almost entirely from aerial photographic plotting, which shows defensive ditches, gateways with apparent titula or claviculae, and traces of internal
Washing Wells is a Roman auxiliary fort identified solely from aerial photography (J.K. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fort site from the Roman period in Britain.
Washing Wells Roman Fort 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 5A (4.3 km), Turret 5B (4.3 km), Milecastle 5 (Quarry House) (4.4 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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