Excavations 1924

The Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne appointed a small excavation committee led by Parker Brewis in February 1924 to inform a planned volume of the Northumberland County History, although it is not clear whether this section was ever published.

They began by excavating the South Gateway, which had been stripped of stone down to the Roman ground level. They found a double gatehouse, typical of other Wall forts, with a central pier between two portals each 10 ft wide, closed by two-leaved gates which turned on pivots shod in iron.

Vindobala has 4 main double gateways with guard chanbers, and 2 single or postern gates. The external walls were 5 ft thick and rounded at the corners with turrets at each angle. The centre of the fort contained administrative quarters with roads from all gates. The building facing the main street was an open court surrounded by a portico leading to an inner court leading to 5 rooms. The central chamber formed the Shrine or Chapel of the Standards. In the 3rd Century a cellar or strong room was built beneath the Chapel of the Standards. The remainder of the central 1/3 of the fort was taken up by the Commandant's house. The granary occupied the space between the 2 streets running East to West, 115 ft 6 inches by 23 feet giving it 295 square yards of floor space. This is larger than would be needed for local consumption, and may indicate that this was a good grain producing region which needed space for storage prior to export. Part of the pay of Roman soldiers was in unground corn, and 5 fragments of handmills made from local sandstone have been found in Rudchester. The Headquarters or praetorium/principia was parallel to the granary, and led to offices including the tabularium where the regimental accounts were prepared and kept.

Early in the 3rd Century, a treasury was added 6 steps under the Chapel of Standards 10 ft 6 inches by 6 ft 7 inches with walls of coloured plaster. Brewis stated that "A British halfpenny of 1924 was placed in the filling in of the cellar to indicate to future explorers the date of the present investigations." Rudchester is similar to Chesters, but on a slightly smaller scale, probabaly because Vindobala was garrisoned by infantry whereas Chesters was garrisoned by cavalry, requring extra accomodation for their horses.

They found multiple artefacts, detailed in the report: iron spearheads, a mason's trowel, a bronze ornament, a skillet, glass, a bone pin "with multi-faceted head, 4 1/2 inches long, now in teh posession of Mr James of Rudchester", 14 coins, and many fragements of pottery.

There is a detailed (70 page) report of Parker Brewis' excavations starting in February 1924 Archaeologia Aeliana series 4, volume 1, page 93-120.