Stanegate

Coria to Luguvalium

Stanegate ran east-west across the narrow neck of northern Britain between Coria at Corbridge and Luguvalium at Carlisle, on the line where Hadrian would later build his wall. It was laid out in the early second century under Trajan, on the line of earlier Flavian forts at Vindolanda and Corbridge. For a generation it was the frontier road of Roman Britain before there was a frontier: a string of forts along its length kept watch on what lay north. When the wall went up around AD 122, Stanegate dropped a little south of the new line and continued as a supply road to the wall's garrisons. The modern A69 partly follows it.

The route

The Stanegate ran between Coria at Corbridge on the Tyne and Luguvalium at Carlisle on the Eden, crossing the narrowest part of northern Britain. It followed the natural corridor of the Tyne and Irthing valleys rather than the ridge line that Hadrian's Wall would later take.

Forts were built along it under the Flavian emperors and then more densely under Trajan: Vindolanda, Nether Denton, Carvoran and others. For roughly a generation, from about AD 105 until the wall was begun around AD 122, this string of forts along a road was the northern frontier of the Roman empire in Britain.

The surveyed line

The Itiner-e survey maps Roman roads across this part of the empire, but attributes no segment to Stanegate by name, so there is no measured line to draw here. The road is well attested by archaeology and by the modern roads that still follow it.

The road today

The A69 between Corbridge and Carlisle shares the corridor rather than the alignment, taking an easier course along the valley bottom where the Roman road held higher ground.

The minor road known as the Military Road, the B6318, is a different thing entirely and is largely eighteenth century, built on the wall rather than on the Stanegate.

See also: which modern roads follow Roman lines, and how closely.

Where to see it

Vindolanda is the essential visit. The fort and its excavated civilian settlement sit directly on the Stanegate, and the site's waterlogged deposits produced the writing tablets that are the richest surviving evidence of everyday life on the empire's northern frontier.

The stretch of surviving road immediately outside the Vindolanda site is visible and walkable, with an original Roman milestone still standing in position beside it.

Common questions

Is the Stanegate older than Hadrian's Wall?

Yes. The road and its forts were established under Trajan in the early second century, on the line of still earlier Flavian forts. Hadrian's Wall was begun around AD 122, a little to the north, and the Stanegate then became its supply road.

Where can I see the Stanegate?

At Vindolanda near Bardon Mill in Northumberland. A stretch of the Roman road survives beside the fort, complete with a milestone standing where the Romans put it.

Counties it crosses

Am I on it?