Jarrow, Roman dedication slab

HER Number:
992

District:
S Tyneside

Site Name:
Jarrow, Roman dedication slab

Place:
Jarrow

Map Sheet:
NZ36NW

Class:
Commemorative

Site Type: Broad:
Commemorative Stone

Site Type: Specific:
Dedication Stone

General Period:
Roman

Specific Period:
C2/C3

Form of Evidence:
Find

Description:
In 1782 2 inscribed stones were found during the restoration of Jarrow church; one had later had part of a cross carved on it. For many years these stones were thought to be 2 separate inscriptions but in 1943 I.A. Richmond and R.P. Wright reinterpreted them as 2 sections of an Hadrianic war memorial, "which would be situated on high ground somewhere near the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall". Birley preferred to believe it was 3rd century A.D., and a commemoration of Severus' reconstruction of the frontier. The inscription reads: "Son of all the deified emperors, the Emperor Caesar Trajan Hadrian Augustus, after the necessity of keeping the empire within its limits had been laid upon him by divine precept...thrice consul...; after the barbarians had been dispersed and the province of Britain had been recovered, he added a frontier-line between either shore of the Ocean for 80 miles. The army of the province built this defence-work under the charge of Aulus Platorius Nepos, emperor's propraetorian legate".

Easting:
3388

Northing:
6522

Grid Reference:
NZ33886522

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 992 >> R.G. Collingwood & R.P. Wright, 1965, The Roman Inscriptions of Britain, 1051a, b J. Brand, 1789, History of Newcastle, Vol. II, pp. 63 and 590 R. Surtees, 1820, History...of Durham, Vol. II, p. 68 J. Hodgson, 1840, of Northumberland, Part 2 Vol. III, p. 231 R. Blair, 1920, Catalogue of the Inscribed and Sculptured Stones...of the Society of Antiquaries, Archaeologia Aeliana, 3, XVII, pp. 3-4 J.A. Petch, 1925, Roman Durham, Archaeologia Aeliana, 4, I,p. 18 R.G. Collingwood, 1926, Roman Inscriptions and Sculptures belonging to the Society of Antiquaries, Archaeologia Aeliana, II, no. 81 I.A. Richmond & R.P. Wright, 1943, Stones from a Hadrianic War Memorial on Tyneside, Archaeologia Aeliana, 4, XXI, pp. 93-120 R.P. Wright, 1943, Roman Britain in 1942: Inscriptions, Journal Roman Studies, Vol. 33, pp. 78-9 and fig. 16 E.B. Birley, 1961, Research on Hadrian's Wall, p. 159