Hunnum was a Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 fort

Castra

The Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. The word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian as well as in Latin. It may have descended from Indo-European to Italic...

 north of the modern-day village of Halton

Halton, Northumberland

Halton is a village in the southern part of Northumberland, England. It is situated a few kilometres north of Corbridge just south of Hadrian's Wall.Halton Castle is a pele tower and grade I listed building.-External links:...

, Northumberland

Northumberland

Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...

. The name “Onnum” means “The Rock”, and probably refers to Down Hill situated to the east of it. It was the fifth fort on Hadrian's Wall

Hadrian's Wall

Hadrian's Wall was a defensive fortification in Roman Britain. Begun in AD 122, during the rule of emperor Hadrian, it was the first of two fortifications built across Great Britain, the second being the Antonine Wall, lesser known of the two because its physical remains are less evident today.The...

, after Segedunum (Wallsend

Wallsend

Wallsend is an area in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. Wallsend derives its name as the location of the end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 42,842.-Romans:...

), Pons Aelius

Pons Aelius

Pons Aelius or Newcastle Roman Fort was an auxiliary castra and small Roman settlement on Hadrian's Wall in the Roman province of Britannia Inferior...

 (Newcastle), Condercum

Condercum

Condercum was a Roman fort at modern-day Benwell, a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It was the third fort on Hadrian's Wall, after Segedunum and Pons Aelius , and was situated to the west of the city. Today, nothing can be seen of the fort or its adjoining wall, as the site is covered by...

 and Vindobala

Vindobala

Vindobala was a Roman fort at the modern-day hamlet of Rudchester, Northumberland. It was the fourth fort on Hadrian's Wall, after Segedunum , Pons Aelius and Condercum. It was situated about to the west of Condercum. The name Vindobala means “White Strength”...

. It is situated about seven and a half miles west of Vindobala, and is two and a half miles north of Corstopitum

Coria (Corbridge)

Coria was a fort and town, located south of Hadrian's Wall, in the Roman province of Britannia. Its full Latin name is uncertain. Today it is known as Corchester or Corbridge Roman Site, adjoining Corbridge in the English county of Northumberland...

. The site of the fort is bisected by the B6318 Military Road, which runs along the route of the wall at that point.

Description

The fort guards Dere Street

Dere Street

Dere Street or Deere Street, was a Roman road between Eboracum and Veluniate, in what is now Scotland. It still exists in the form of the route of many major roads, including the A1 and A68 just north of Corbridge.Its name corresponds with the post Roman Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Deira, through...

 as it crosses the Roman Wall through the valley immediately to the west of it. The original fort was an oblong, measuring 460 feet (140.2 m) north to south by 410 feet (125 m) east to west, but at a later date the section south of the Wall was extended to the west making the south wall of the fort 570 feet (173.7 m) long and giving the fort an L-shaped appearance. The areas occupied by the northern and southern sections are 4.3 and 4.8 acres (19,424.9 m²) respectively. There were four main gates, at the main points of the compass, with double portals with guard chambers. At various times some of the portals have been blocked up and both portals of the west gate were blocked almost at once. There were towers at each corner of the fort, and also on either side of the main gates. It is believed that the fort was built between 122 AD and 126 AD.

The Vallum

Vallum

Vallum is a term applied either to the whole or a portion of the fortifications of a Roman camp. The vallum usually comprised an earthen or turf rampart with a wooden palisade on top, with a deep outer ditch...

 passed some short distance south of the fort, and was crossed by a road leading from the south gate to vicus

Vicus (Rome)

In ancient Rome, the vicus was a neighborhood. During the Republican era, the four regiones of the city of Rome were subdivided into vici. In the 1st century BC, Augustus reorganized the city for administrative purposes into 14 regions, comprising 265 vici. Each vicus had its own board of...

just south of the Vallum.

Garrison

A dedicatory slab from the west gate of the fort tells us that the Sixth Legion were responsible for the initial building work. The fort was initially garrisoned, probably, by a cohort of 500 partly mounted troops. In the third century it held a regiment of cavalry, the Ala I Pannoniorum Sabiniana, also called Ala Sabiniana, and named after Sabinus who first raised it

Excavations

The field north of the Military Road containing the northern section of the fort was first ploughed in 1827, and a fine bath-house was found. This contained dry and moist hot rooms, a warm room and cold rooms, as well as a dressing room. Such a large bath-house is a rarity on the Wall

External Links

• HUNNUM FORT (ONNUM) On the line of Hadrians Wall as it exists today