South Shields Fort, parade ground

HER Number:
904

District:
S Tyneside

Site Name:
South Shields Fort, parade ground

Place:
South Shields

Map Sheet:
NZ36NE

Class:
Defence

Site Type: Broad:
Military Training Site

Site Type: Specific:
Parade Ground

General Period:
Roman

Specific Period:

Form of Evidence:
Find

Description:
In 1959 John Thornborrow excavated at the corner of Beacon Street and Lawe Road roundabout. He recovered three stone altar bases in situ, a large inscribed altar (HER no. 905), fragments of a further very large altar, the statue of a bearded god (HER no. 906), a large moulded panel and a feature interpreted as a tribunal. These discoveries are taken to suggest that a parade ground lay immediately east of the fort, with its long axis parallel with the east wall of the fort, and the shrine area and tribunal at the north end.

Easting:
365

Northing:
680

Grid Reference:
NZ365680

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 904 >> Excavation report, J.W. Thornborrow, 1959, Report on Excavations at Beacon Street, South Shields 1959, South Shields Archaeological and Historical Society, Vol. I no. 7, 8-25 E.J. Phillips, 1977, Great Britain, Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani, Vol. I Fasc. I no. 199 P.T. Bidwell, 1988, The Civilian Settlement...of the Roman Fort at South Shields, Arbeia Journal Roman Studies, 1960, Roman Britain in 1959: Sites Explored, Vol. L, p. 215