Arbeia Roman Fort, South Shields

 
Arbeia Roman Fort, South Shields

This is the gate-house of Arbeia, a Roman fort in South Shields near Newcastle on the River Tyne, England. The building you can see is a modern reconstruction, built on the original foundations. The design has been based on Roman depictions of forts found on triumphal arches, mosaics etc. Two other parts of the fort have also been reconstructed on their foundations. There is a small but interesting museum.

South Shields is on the southern bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. It is about six kilometers from the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. As such it was a key position, commanding the river and the border to the north. The remains of the fort are now surrounded rather incongruously by a 19th century industrial housing estate, which can be seen in the background.

Excavations have revealed that the soldiers and oarsmen based at the fort came from far away. The name may mean "the fort of the Arabs" and inscriptions show that some of the people came from what is now Iraq. Others came from Spain. A tombstone commemorates the British wife of a man from Syria.

Click the "download" button to see the image as I submitted it (1300 x 900 Pixels, 412Kb).

Panasonic DMC-LX7 camera. Edited in Photoshop Elements.

Constructive criticism welcome.

(c) bobswin.deviantart.com March 2014

This picture is not public domain, please do not use it elsewhere.