North Gosforth, Roman altar from the Chapel

HER Number:
169

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
North Gosforth, Roman altar from the Chapel

Place:
North Gosforth

Map Sheet:
NZ27SW

Class:
Religion or Ritual

Site Type: Broad:
Religious Structural Object

Site Type: Specific:
Altar

General Period:
Roman

Specific Period:
C2-C3

Form of Evidence:
Find

Description:
An uninscribed altar in local buff sandstone, 185 m high x 0.71 m wide x 0.41 m deep, very much weathered. The front of the capital and the front right corner of the base have been broken away, but in the top of the capital there is a rectangular mortice hole, perhaps cut in the medieval period for use as a socket for a cross. Some relief carving survives, including a knife and an axe on the left side of the shaft and a jug and long-handled patera on the right. Said to have been found within the walls of the church and now in the Museum of Antiquities.

Easting:
2463

Northing:
7011

Grid Reference:
NZ24637011

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 169 >> J. Bell, 1832, An Account of the Remains of a Chapel ...near Low Gosforth House... Archaeologia Aeliana, 1, II, pp. 243-45 Rev. R.E. Hooppell, 1882, On the Ruins of an Early Church at North Gosforth, near Newcastle... JBAA, Vol. 38, pp. 117-121 S. Holmes, 1883, ...Recent Investigations at the Ruimed Chapel of North Gosforth, Archaeologia Aeliana, 2, IX, pp. 205-210 B.H. Pritchard, 1968, Ordnance Survey archaeological record card E.J. Phillips, 1977, Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani Great Britain, Vol. I, Fasc.I, no. 303, p. 110 and plate 81