A completely unforseen stroke of luck saw me with a day for selfish recreation, excellent weather and a very fast car.Dea Fortuna and Mercurius will recieve Libation.

I offer you therefore Cilvrinum Fort (Chesters) , I have now pushed further east beyond Vindolanda toward Wallsend ( Segedunum). The weather was glorious, the museum of artefacts is crammed with retrieved inscriptions/altars and the fort bathhouse must have one of the best rustic views in the Empire.

http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=mo...&cmd=si&img=723

Attested units -First Cohort Vangiones, ("The Augustan Wing" becasue of their virtue), the First Cohort Dalmatae , and VI Pia Fidelis (as builders, probably not the garrisson) and The Second Asturians (from Bremetenaccum).

The Fort was built by order of Hadrian and continued in active use especially during the campaigns of Severus.I must explain it was a Hadrianic pre-wall fort (by a short head) that came to be built into the wall.This particular fort is considered to be the best preserved Cavalry fort in existence.

The upload is so huge from this visit that I will have to place most offsite here:

http://spaces.msn.com/triclinium/

Fortunately I shot the information labels attached to the altars and votive items so saving myself caption work.

I will create a Cilvrinum dedicated gallery on the MSN blog , but look out for new items under "Bana", they are easy to spot-the sun is shining .

I also have shots of the turrets to the West of Bana and updated photos from the Mithraic Temple at Procolita, which if you recall I was driven from by freezing hail.I was struck how very close together the turrets are, the whole barrier must have been alive with keen eyes watching out for movement.Check the misc Roman on msn for the turrets and Mithraium.

and you may be asking, how did the Wall continue over the River at the foot of the fort site? A fortified bridge , rebuilt several times.I should add that the civilian vicus here was quite substantial, I assume the River crossing made this a focal point for movement.