Castra of Steincheshof

The Kastell Steincheshof stands on a high river terrace above the Rhine floodplain near Bedburg-Hau in the Lower Rhine region. It once lay between two Roman forts, Quadriburgium to the south-east and Burginatium to the north-west, connected by a straight road. The site is now part of a working farm, its ancient ramparts hidden beneath fields and a modern farm track. The fort was only recognised as military in 2009–2010 after geophysical surveys revealed its buried defences. Earlier finds had suggested a civilian villa, but magnetometry uncovered the outline of a wooden-earth fort and a later stone-walled replacement. The older fort measured about 125 by 155–180 metres, while the larger one reached roughly 195 by 185 metres. Both lacked corner towers and were defended by a single ditch and rampart fifteen metres wide. Visitors walk over the farm track that follows the ancient via principalis, the main street through the fort. On either side faint rectangular shapes mark the positions of barracks, each about forty-five by eighteen metres. A rare brass arm guard, or manica, found in one barrack still shows its original rivets. Beyond the southern gate a road once led to Burginatium, where traces of the civilian settlement attached to the fort survive.