Visiting Piercebridge Roman Fort and Bridge

The Bathhouse complex at Piercebridge, Co. Durham.
Note: houses and gardens to the West, a church to the North.

On Saturday afternoon, Mrs Soup and I (and Indy the dog) visited the Roman fort, vicus and bridge at Piercebridge, a small village in County Durham.

Reconstruction of bath house and courtyard building.

The fort was investigated by archaeologists from Durham University in the 1970s. They were able to excavate a portion of the South Eastern section of the fort, including the Eastern gate, a bathhouse complex and a courtyard building. The courtyard building comprised of four wings arranged around a central courtyard which was later divided into two.

Running along the Western boundary of the site are a series of houses and gardens (see above) which are seemingly built on top of the majority of the Roman fort. The thought occurred to me that I would love to own one of those houses... the possibility for a Roman excavation in your own garden - haha!

Durham University not only excavated the site but also consolidated much of the stonework with concrete. If I am honest, this concrete hasn't aged well and in places it is clear that it was needlessly slathered on in the name of 'conservation'. Despite this, the over-all state of the site is impressive, not least the defensive ditches which would have run along the exterior of the Eastern wall (see below).

Defensive ditches at Piercebridge Roman fort site.

Reconstruction of vicus at Piercebridge.

Further East, beyond a stone boundary wall is the field where the vicus settlement was located. The settlement sprang up by a river crossing on Dere Street (the main road between York and Hadrian's Wall) around AD100. The settlement expanded around AD210 when the timber bridge was replaced by another further down stream. The population grew and more buildings spread around the crossing when the fort, whose remains were excavated, was built around AD260.

Sadly, there is little evidence of the vicus above ground today and as we emerged beyond the stone wall an icy rain began to drive in, we didn't investigate the field further. Instead we continued around towards the River Tees and across to the south side of the river. A little along from the fort are the remains of a Roman bridge.

It has been around 1,800 years since the Romans built their bridge(s) and in that time, the river has shifted its course to the North. Despite this it is still possible to see the shallows in line with where the Romans decided to build.

The shallows (where the water is rippling over stones) are in line with the Roman bridge.

The movement of the flow of the river was a fortunate development for archaeologists who benefited from the slow burial and subsequent discovery of the lower portions of stone piers and abutments during gravel quarrying operations in 1972.

Stone piers and abutments on the South side of the River Tees.

Reconstruction of the bridge with wooden beams and planks supported by stone abutments.

These were built using large stones with iron cramps and cement, the largest of these (to the South) still stands to two courses and is is very good condition.

The Southern-most abutment.

I was particularly impressed to see the striations upon the blocks which were disturbed by flood water in the years after the bridge collapsed.

It was obvious that the stone had been worked to key in well with cement and on some of the stones, it was possible to see where the iron cramps would have gained their purchase upon the blocks.


As I walked the river, I recalled there having been a field trip to this site when I was at Durham University - however I missed out due to illness (and having an essay due). Despite the weather, it was a pleasure to finally make it to Piercebridge and take a look around. I really enjoyed seeing the relationship between the fort, the river and the bridge and observing the way the modern village of Piercebridge has developed around the ruins.