Hadrian's Wall by Goldsworthy Adrian

Author:Goldsworthy, Adrian
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Published: 2018-04-09T16:00:00+00:00

One of the buttressed granaries at Housesteads gives an idea of the sheer scale of these functional buildings. They are very distinctive archaeologically. Note the rows of pillars used to raise the floor above ground level. Granaries were always built in pairs and formed part of the central range of buildings in a fort.

Much easier to identify from its remains than the military hospital is the balneum, or bathhouse. These were always of stone and always built outside the ramparts because of the risk of fire created by the furnaces, although this also meant that they were in the vicus, so there were sometimes other buildings nearby. Bathers went through a sequence of warm, very hot, and cold rooms. Olive oil was used as soap and the skin then scraped clean with a strigil. There was also space for other activities, from exercise to board and dice games and simply talking and eating. That the bathhouse was beyond the rampart may have added to the men’s sense that they were off duty.2

The bulk of space within each fort was taken up with accommodation for troops, the number of buildings varying depending on the type of unit. An infantry barrack block was designed to house one century of eighty soldiers. It consisted of a long building, for much of its length divided into pairs of rooms, with each pair allocated to a contubernium of eight men who on campaign would share a tent. As there were ten contubernia in a century, there ought to be ten pairs of rooms per block, and though this was sometimes true, other barrack blocks have slightly more or slightly fewer rooms. Assuming that we are correct to see a pair of rooms as accommodation for a contubernium, we have no idea of how the men slept, but bunk beds, straw paliasses, or cots are all possible. Two or three men may have shared a cot or bed, an arrangement common for much of human history even if it seems deeply alien to those of us born in the age of central heating. Hearths have been discovered on some sites, but they do not appear to have been universal in all periods. At Vindolanda, barrack room floors were covered in layers of rushes, heather, and straw. When dirty, these were not cleared out and replaced but were simply covered with fresh material, leaving a thick mat of dirty and decaying vegetable matter. Finds of lost possessions, including objects as large as shoes, are common, which reinforce the sense of dimly lit and crowded barracks, rife with insects and other vermin, especially in the summer months. At one end, the barrack block widened into a suite of rooms that housed the centurion in greater comfort, probably with plastered and painted walls, and perhaps also rooms for other junior officers such as the signifer (standard bearer).

As we have seen, around the 230s new barrack blocks were constructed that were smaller than the older pattern. These tend to have just five pairs of contubernium rooms but are otherwise very similar in design.

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