Newcastle (Pons Aelius) – Quick Facts

Newcastle-upon-Tyne was the location of a wall fort and a large bridge (pons) with ten stone piers crossing the River Tyne built by Hadrian whose family name was Aelius.

Great North Museum

Map and Website

Tauroctony from the Mithras Temple of Carrawburgh

What Remains

  • The museum has an interactive model of Hadrian’s Wall winding its way up and down ridges and across flats from Wallsend to Bowness-on-Solway.
  • There are models of a turret and a milecastle.
  • The museum also houses many artefacts from the forts of Segedunum and Arbeia, as well as the original altars and the head of Antenociticus from the temple at Benwell.
  • Another major part of the museum exhibit is a full size reconstruction of the interior of the temple of Mithras at Carrawburgh near the wall.
  • The reconstruction shows the inside of the temple with the colourful statues of Cautes and Cautopates, Mithras’ companions marking the entrance of the inner sanctuary.
  • Also in the museum are the original altars from the Mithraeum and a relief called the tauroctony depicting Mithras slaying a bull, which would have hung behind the altars in the window-less, cave-like temple.

Benwell Roman Temple

Map & Website

When

  • The Roman temple was built in the 2nd century AD near the Hadrian’s Wall fort of Condercum.

What Remains

  • Set amongst redbrick homes in a housing estate, the stone foundations of Benwell Roman Temple sits in a little fenced lot.
  • Dedicated to a local god, Atenociticus, it was located outside the fort whose remains lie buried under the city streets and buildings nearby.
  • There are two cement copies of altars that were found during excavation of the temple.
  • The head of a statue of Antenociticus found at Benwell Temple is on display in the Great North Museum in Newcastle.

Benwell Vallum Crossing

Map & Website

When

  • The vallum was built on the south side of Hadrian’s Wall in the 120s AD.
  • In the late 2nd century a military road was built between the wall and the vallum.

What Remains

  • A short length of Roman stone paving remains crosses over the vallum ditch.
  • Benwell is the only remain of an overpass over the vallum, the structure of two turf banks about 10 feet high separated by a twenty foot flat bottomed ditch that ran south along the wall.

Denton Hall Turret

Map & Website

When

  • Denton Hall Turret (#7B) was built as part of Hadrian’s Wall in the 120s AD.
  • It is the first surviving turret site from the eastern terminus, but it is Turret #7b on the Wall.

What Remains

  • Denton Hall Turret is a little square foundation (13 x 14 feet) and a stretch of low rubbly-looking wall running either side.
  • While small in area, it would have been two stories high with access to the wall’s walkway.
  • Turrets accommodated four to eight soldiers stationed there.

Heddon-on-the-Wall Wall Section

Where

  • East of Newcastle on the B6528 Road. Map & Website

When

  • Hadrian’s Wall construction began in AD 122.

What Remains

  • A stretch of Hadrian’s Wall about 255 meters (837 feet) standing up to 1.7 meters (5.5 feet) and with a width of 3 meters (10 feet).
  • The wall is widest here and becomes narrower to the west when building plans were changed, probably to speed up the construction.
  • An interesting feature of this section is a round opening in the wall with a flat floor that is almost the width of the wall and according to the guide book is a post-Roman kiln.