CIMRM 838 - Mithraeum. Rudchester, Northumberland, Britain

From: JRS 44, p.88 and fig. 11. Via JSTOR.

@Wall_CAP. From: Twitter.

@Wall_CAP. From: Twitter.

@Wall_CAP. From: Twitter.

CIMRM entry

838. VINDOBALA A Mithraeum, discovered in Rudchester in 1844 "on the brow of the hill outside the south west angle of the (roman) station" (Bruce). Hodgson in Arch. Ael. IV, 1846, 6ff1; Surridge, Notice of Roman inscriptions discovered at Rudchester, Newcastle 1853, 25 2; Bruce, Roman Wall, 127ff; Lap. Sept., 42ff; MMM II 392f No. 272; Richmond in Durham University Journal, XXXVI,1943, 6; J. Toynbee in JRS XLIV, 1954, 88 and fig. 11.3 "The sanctuary was rediscovered 150 yds. outside the south-western angle of the fort, and excavated by Messrs. J. P. Gillam and I. MacIvor. The shrine was built on the original surface of the ground, and oriented to the north-west. The nave is rectangular, 42 ft. long and 26 ft. wide, with a shallow segmental apse at the north-western end; a doorway in the centre of the south-eastern wall leads into the nave from an asymmetrically planned external narthex. Along almost the whole length of the nave, on each side of a central alley 10ft. wide, are raised couches or benches, 6 ft. wide, revetted at the front with stone. Nave and narthex were built together earley in the third century on ground that had been occupied by earlier structures, including a large filled pit. Consolidation of the filling in the course of the century brought about the partial collapse of the south-eastern end of the shrine. The nave, subsequently reconstructed without an external narthex, continued to function as a shrine until its final desecration in the first half of the· fourth century". Close to the spot, where it was situated, there must have been a spring and a few yards more Eastward a basin, hewn out in the rock. This basin (L. 3.66 Br. 1.22 D. 0.61) has "a hole close to the bottom at one end". Part of it was made of brickwork and on its discovery it contained bones and "an iron implement described as a three-footed candlestick" (Bruce). This Mithraeum supplied us with four altars, which are at the Blackgate Museum (Nos 839-843).

A twitter thread by Hadrian's Wall Community Archaeology Project (@Wall_CAP) supplied additional information.

It's #RomanFortThursday! We haven't done one of these in a while, so had to do some digging to see how far along the Wall we had gotten & this week we are at Vindobala (Rudchester) Fort! Vindobala roughly translates to 'white place'. It guards the March Burn valley, which is an ancient route running south to the ford across the Tyne at Newburn. Not much is visible on the surface, but the fort's outline & the vallum are quite clear in the LiDAR. The remains were well preserved until the 18th century when stone from the site was robbed for use in building. In 1760, a life-size statue of the Roman god Hercules was found - spot the Nemean lion! Vindobala was excavated in 1924. They uncovered the south & west gateways, east & west postern gates, a granary/storehouse, the headquarters building & the treasury. They buried a 1924 halfpenny in the treasury as a marker for 'future explorers'. Further excavations took place in 1972, focused on the southern portion of the fort. They found 3 buildings - 2 earlier barracks that had been burnt down and a 3rd built on top of the burnt debris. In 1844, 5 altars to Mithras were found in a mound south of the fort. This mound was excavated in 1954, revealing a mithraeum!

Bibliography

• J. P. Gillam and I. MacIvor, "The Temple of Mithras at Rudchester", Archaeol. Ael.,⁴ XXXII (1954), pp. 176 ff. the excavation report.⁴
• Additional information at the Wikipedia article.
• T.G. Newman, etc, "Intermin report on excavations at the Roman fort of Rudchester, 1972.", Archaeologia Aeliana Series 5, vol. 1, pp.81-85. https://doi.org/10.5284/1060587.