Photographs of Birdoswald Roman Fort

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Birdoswald has a good visitors' centre but is a little disapointing when compared with Vindolanda or Chesters.
The outline of the walls of the fort are visible and sections of each gatehouse. The granaries have been well excavated, but the rest of the form remains protected under a field of grass and sheep.
There are also the remains of the buildings built here after the Roman withdrawal. First, in the 5th century, a large timber hall - now marked out by posts, then a medieval fortified tower. This was replaced by an Elizabethan 'bastle house' (a defence against the notorious 'Border Reivers'). Finally the present Victorian farmhouse was built; its outbuildings contain the visitors centre.