Arbeia Roman Fort and Museum (South Shields)

Standing four miles beyond the easternmost point of Hadrian's Wall, the barren northern boundary of the Roman world, Arbeia must surely have been one of the least appealing postings in the Empire. The fort, which was built in the AD 160s, served as a garrison for cavalry troops and later as a supply base during Emperor Septimius Severus' campaigns against the Caledonian tribes. Built by the Sixth Legion, occupied for three hundred years, home to the Fifth Cohort of Gauls, the First Wing of Asturian Spaniards and Bargemen from the Tigris, burnt down, rebuilt and finally abandoned, Arbeia Roman Fort & Museum is now the most extensively excavated military supply ...  Read the complete review

For over three hundred years the Roman Fort of Arbeia stood guard high above the mouth of the River Tyne; built in AD 160’s the stone fort at South Shields on the south bank of the river played an important role in the mighty frontier system that stretched across the width of England marking the northern boundaries of the Roman Empire. The Fort controlled the main port of entry to the Roman Empire in Britain and was originally built to house a garrison but soon became the military supply base for the forts along Hadrian’s Wall, more than one thousand five hundred years on the remains of Arbeia represent the most extensively excavated example of a ...  Read the complete review