Segedunum Roman Fort, Baths and Museum, Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England...
Built, lived in, cared for and defended by Romans and other nationalities for roughly 300 years and left to us in its present state by several factors through time. They include those stone hungry builders, farmers, and souvenir hunting folk as well as collapse through time and natural erosion. Not everyone thought we’d appreciate history as we currently do. Thankfully though that is no longer the case. An appreciation of archaeology gives us all the tremendous opportunity to at least attempt to try and understand just what it was that made Rome and the Emperor Hadrian build this fantastic monument for us all to treasure for such a long time. Obviously, neither Hadrian nor anyone else from that period, could have really foresaw what the Wall was to become. It was not built to last this long surely but because it has survived we must look after it with all the gusto and technology we have at our disposal to allow future generations to enjoy it as we do now.

Segedunum Roman Fort is the eastern most fort on the Wall and this part of the site is dedicated to it. Roman history in this country is one of the most interesting periods of time to study simply because of the vastness and wealth of their empire, the fascination of the folk and their life’s habits who ultimately lived and died during that time and of course the wonderful archaeology they leave behind for us. The sheer majesty of their architecture and the scale of it. The brutality that went alongside it all. Their legal system, the elections, the different levels of society, their entertainment. Virtually everything they had can be drawn as a parallel to our society today! The ultimate willingness of the locals to welcome the habits and living standards of Rome’s own people eventually helped this tiny little outpost which lay at the eastern end of Hadrian’s Wall become a major defence frontier. Now, of course, it is a major tourist attraction and rightly so. While other sites along the Wall were being excavated and finds were being dug up by their hundreds poor little Segedunum lay almost lost because of a total lack of funds to do anything about it. But, the millennium was creeping up on us all and the ’Let's do something for the year 2000...’ cries were being heard and so, now, Segedunum takes its rightful place among the best sites to visit along the whole stretch of the Wall. Enjoy your visit to Segedunum here on this site and someday hopefully to Segedunum itself.

Both photographs show the 34 metre viewing tower with the restaurant at the lower left on the upper picture. The view of the fort and a lot of central Wallsend’s surroundings from the top of the tower is excellent. The upper rear of the tower enables a view towards Arbeia although it is virtually invisible with other buildings in the way. The site was opened to the public on June 17th 2000 by the Mayor of North Tyneside and was paid a special visit on the day by the Ermine Street Guard and members of the Cohors Quinta Gallorum. Apart from the fort itself and the Visitor Centre there is a reconstructed section of wall across the road ( Buddle Street ) from the fort alongside the original wall. At this location several posts are visible giving the onlooker an impression of the cippi defences that were used by the Romans to protect the wall from attack and gives a feel for what it was like to come up against something this formidable. The original section of wall shows a small part of it that has collapsed without repair. Excavations have been carried out at this section and at present a lack of funding has meant the excavations are on hold. There is some evidence that the Wall was actually plastered in at least some of the sections of its entirety but just how much, if not all, is not easy to say. The reconstructed Wall shows examples of how this may have looked. Alongside is the sealed B pit from a once flourishing and world famous coal mine. The Visitor Centre includes a restaurant and an excellent gift shop. There are also several multimedia points for visitor interactivity and short film shows giving brief histories of Wallsend and the fort plus what it was like to be a Roman from a "Roman’s" point of view.

GARRISON: under Hadrian cohors quingenaria equitata ?
GARRISON: under Marcus Aurelius cohors II Nerviorum civium Romanorum ? •
GARRISON: Third Century cohors IV Lingonum equitata
GARRISON: Notitia Dignitatum cohors IV Lingonum †

• The cohors II Nerviorum could have been the Hadrianic garrison, although it was not equitata.
† The inscriptions of cohors IV Lingonum from the fort ( RIB 1299 - 1301 ) are not dated, but are certainly late and are probably third century. The tile of ala I Hispanorum Asturum ( Britannia 7 ( 1976 ) 388 ) is insufficient evidence for its having been stationed here.