Hunnum

Hunnum was a Roman fort on Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland. It stands north of the village of Halton, bisected by the B6318 Military Road. The site lies 7.5 miles west of Vindobala fort and 5.9 miles east of Chesters fort. It is also 2.5 miles north of the Stanegate fort of Coria. The fort guarded the Wall and may have overlooked Dere Street where it crossed the Wall’s route. The fort was built between 122 and 126 AD with a rectangular plan measuring 460 feet north to south by 410 feet east to west. It had four main gates with double portals and guard chambers. The Vallum ran south of the fort, crossed by a road from the south gate to the vicus. In the Severan period the fort was extended to the west, giving it an L-shaped appearance. Excavations in 1827 revealed a bath-house inside the fort’s northern section. The bath-house contained dry and moist hot rooms, a warm room, cold rooms, and a dressing room. The fort was garrisoned first by a cohort of partly mounted troops and later by the cavalry regiment Ala I Pannoniorum Sabiniana. The Legio VI Victrix built the fort, as shown by a dedicatory slab from the west gate.