Sources for Corbridge Roman Town
The following list comprises the key material, visual and written sources for the study of Corbridge Roman Town.
Material Sources/Collections
Corbridge Museum
The Corbridge Roman Site Museum holds material from the 1906–14, 1933–73 and 1980 excavations, all from the site itself or its immediate surroundings, including the Red House. The items on display include:
- important assemblages such as the Corbridge Hoard
- the Corbridge lion
- ornate building inscriptions from the last of the auxiliary forts (dating to AD 139–40)
- dedications from the legionary supply base and temples, including a slab dedicating a temple to Sol Invictus (the Unconquered Sun), dating to the later 2nd or 3rd century.
The exhibited material comprises about 5 per cent of the total collections; the rest is stored on site or at the Hadrian's Wall Museum stone store at Helmsley, North Yorkshire. About 30,000 items are catalogued (including about 6,500 coins); a further 15,000–20,000 objects remain to be catalogued. Most items or groups of items are inventoried and accessible.
British Museum
The British Museum holds about 200 objects from Corbridge, including coins, pottery, a gold ring, an altar stone, and most notably the Corbridge lanx, a 4th-century silver plate found in the Tyne in the 18th century.
Published Inscriptions
All the inscriptions on stone are collected in the Roman Inscriptions of Britain (RIB) series:
- Collingwood, RG and Wright, RP, The Roman Inscriptions of Britain, vol I: Inscriptions on Stone (Oxford, 1965), nos. 1120–41 and 1143–98 (RIB 1142 is probably from Chesters Roman Fort) [accessed 13 July 2016]
- Tomlin, RSO, Wright, RP and Hassall, MWC, The Roman Inscriptions of Britain, vol 3: Inscriptions on Stone 1955–2006 (Oxford, 2009), nos. 3293–5
Each inscription has a number with the prefix RIB.
Published Sculpture
Phillips, EJ (ed), Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani: Corpus of Sculpture of the Roman World – Great Britain, vol 1, fascicule 1: Corbridge, Hadrian's Wall East of the North Tyne (Oxford, 1977)
[Image above: some rights reserved by the Armatura Press under this Creative Commons Licence]
Visual Sources
JP Gibson’s marvellous collection of pre-First World War photographs of the Corbridge excavations is held at the Northumberland Museum and Archives, Woodhorn. Many of these excavation photographs are also online, and these and others are published in MC Bishop, Corstopitum: An Edwardian Excavation (London, 1994).
Plans and Photographs in the Historic England Archives
Items in the Historic England Archives at Swindon relating to Corbridge include:
- an album of excavation photographs and postcards of various sites along Hadrian’s Wall, including the Edwardian and inter-war excavations at Corbridge (AL1230)
- an album containing photographs of the site taken in the 1930s (AL0882).
More details of these and many other items can be found in the online catalogue. Some material is not yet listed in the online catalogue, including a large collection of aerial photography; for a full search, please contact the search team.
Copies of images and documents can be ordered through the website or by contacting the archive. For details of current charges for these services see the archive price list.
Published Secondary Sources
Antiquarian Accounts
Gordon, A, Itinerarium Septentrionale (London, 1726), 176
Haverfield, F, 'An account of the Roman remains in the parish of Corbridge', in A History of Northumberland, vol 10, ed HHE Craster (Newcastle upon Tyne and London, 1914), 455–522 [collects antiquarian accounts and early excavations; accessed 8 Oct 2012]
Horsley, J, Britannia Romana (London, 1732), 397 [accessed 8 Oct 2012]
MacLauchlan, H, Memoir Written During a Survey of the Watling Street, from the Tees to the Scotch Border, in the Years 1850 and 1851 (London, 1852), pp 20–21 [accessed 8 Oct 2012]
Warburton, J, Vallum Romanum (London, 1753)
Excavation Reports
These are listed in date order.
Woolley, CL, 'Corstopitum: provisional report of the excavations in 1906', Archaeologia Aeliana, 3rd series, 3 (1907), 161–86
Forster, RH (ed), 'Corstopitum: report of the excavations in 1907', Archaeologia Aeliana, 3rd series, 4 (1908), 204–303
Knowles, WH and Forster, RH, 'Corstopitum: report on the excavations in 1908', Archaeologia Aeliana, 3rd series, 5 (1909), 302–424
Knowles, WH and Forster, RH, 'Corstopitum: report on the excavations in 1909', Archaeologia Aeliana, 3rd series, 6 (1910), 204–72 [accessed 8 Oct 2012]
Forster, RH and Knowles, WH, ' Corstopitum: report on the excavations in 1910', Archaeologia Aeliana, 3rd series, 7 (1911), 143–267
Forster, RH and Knowles, WH, 'Corstopitum: report on the excavations in 1911', Archaeologia Aeliana, 3rd series, 8 (1912), 137–263
Forster, RH and Knowles, WH, 'Corstopitum: report on the excavations in 1912', Archaeologia Aeliana, 3rd series, 10 (1913), 230–80
Forster, RH and Knowles, WH, 'Corstopitum: report on the excavations in 1913', Archaeologia Aeliana, 3rd series, 11 (1914), 278–310
Birley, E and Richmond, IA, 'Excavations at Corbridge 1936–8', Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th series, 15 (1938), 243–94
Richmond, IA and Birley, E, 'Excavations at Corbridge, 1938–9', Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th series, 17 (1940), 85–115
Wright, RP, 'The Severan dedication slab of a granary at Corbridge', Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th series, 19 (1941), 188–93
Wright, RP, 'The Stanegate at Corbridge', Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th series, 19 (1941), 194–209
Richmond, IA and Gillam, JP, 'Excavations on the Roman site at Corbridge 1946–1949', Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th series, 28 (1950), 152–201
Richmond, IA and Gillam, JP, 'Further exploration of the Antonine fort at Corbridge', Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th series, 30 (1952), 239–66
Richmond, IA and Gillam, JP, 'Buildings of the first and second centuries north of the granaries at Corbridge', Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th series, 31 (1953), 205–53
Richmond, IA and Gillam, JP, 'Some excavations at Corbridge, 1952–1954', Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th series, 33 (1955), 218–52
Daniels, CM, 'The Roman bath house at Red House, Beaufront, near Corbridge', Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th series, 37 (1959), 85–176
Gillam, JP and Daniels, CM, 'The Roman mausoleum on Shorden Brae, Beaufront, Corbridge, Northumberland', Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th series, 39 (1961), 37–62
Gillam, JP and Tait, J, 'The investigation of the Commander's House area, on Site XI, Corbridge, 1958 to 1970; the structures', Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th series, 49 (1971), 1–28
Gillam, JP, 'The Roman forts at Corbridge', Archaeologia Aeliana, 5th series, 5 (1977), 47–74
Hanson, WS, Daniels, CM, Dore, JN and Gillam, JP, 'The Agricolan supply base at Red House, Corbridge', Archaeologia Aeliana, 5th series, 7 (1979), 1–98 [on the earlier military site at Corbridge Red House]
Bishop, MC and Dore, JN, Corbridge: Excavations of the Roman Fort and Town, 1947–80 (London, 1988)
Allason-Jones, L and Bishop, MC, Excavations at Roman Corbridge: The Hoard (London, 1988)
Casey, PJ and Hoffmann, B, 'Excavations on the Corbridge bypass', Archaeologia Aeliana, 5th series, 23 (1995), 17–45
Other Books and Articles
Bidwell, P (ed), Hadrian's Wall 1989–99: A Summary of Recent Excavations and Research (Carlisle, 1999), 111–13
Bidwell, P, 'The Roman bridge at Corbridge', in Hadrian's Wall 1999–2009: A Summary of Recent Excavation and Research, ed N Hodgson (Kendal, 2009), 101–5
Bidwell, P and Holbrook, N, Hadrian's Wall Bridges (London, 1989), 102–7
Birley, E, Corbridge Roman Station (Corstopitum), Northumberland, 3rd edn (HMSO guidebook, London, 1954)
Birley, E, 'Excavations at Corstopitum, 1906–1958', Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th series, 37 (1959), 1–31 [contains useful checklist of accounts of the Corbridge excavations in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London for 1907–13, with a few details not in the main reports]
Birley, E, Research on Hadrian's Wall (Kendal, 1961), 149–50
Birley, E and Gillam, JP, 'Mortarium stamps from Corbridge', Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th series, 26 (1948), 172–204
Bishop, MC, 'An old Corbridge bath-house revisited', Archaeologia Aeliana, 5th series, 26 (1998), 39–47
Bishop, MC, Corstopitum: An Edwardian Excavation (London, 1994)
Blagg, TFC, Roman Architectural Ornament in Britain, BAR British Series, 329 (Oxford, 2002)
Bowman, AK and Thomas, JD, The Vindolanda Writing Tablets, vol II (London, 1994), 90–98 [on the Roman name of Corbridge]
Bourne, D, 'The Roman bridge at Corbridge', Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th series, 45 (1967), 17–26
Brassington, M, 'A re-appraisal of the western enclave, Corstopitum', Britannia, 6 (1975), 62–75 [subscription required; accessed 8 Oct 2012]
Breeze, DJ, Handbook to the Roman Wall, 14th edition (Newcastle upon Tyne 2006), 416–27, 499–500
Brendel, O, 'The Corbridge lanx', Journal of Roman Studies, 36 (1941), 100–27
Bulmer, W, 'A fragmentary inscription of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus from Corbridge,' Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th series, 21 (1943), 239–47
Bulmer, W, 'Roman glass vessels in the Corstopitum Museum, Corbridge', Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th series, 33 (1955), 116–33
Callender, MH, 'Corbridge amphora stamps', Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th series, 27 (1949), 60–121
Craster, HHE, 'Roman silver coins found at Corstopitum', Journal of Roman Studies, 5 (1915), 173–90
Daniels, CM, Handbook to the Roman Wall, 13th edn (Newcastle upon Tyne, 1978), 90–102, 331
Daniels, CM (ed), The Eleventh Pilgrimage of Hadrian's Wall (Newcastle upon Tyne, 1989), 59–60
Dore, JN, Corbridge Roman Site (English Heritage guidebook, London, 1989)
Hartley, BR, 'The Roman occupation of Scotland: the evidence of Samian ware', Britannia, 3 (1972), 1–55, especially 45–8 [on the 'Corbridge destruction deposit']
Hodgson, N, 'The development of the Roman site at Corbridge from the first to third centuries AD', Archaeologia Aeliana, 5th series, 37 (2008), 47–92
Hodgson, N (ed), Hadrian's Wall 1999–2009: A Summary of Recent Excavation and Research (Kendal, 2009), 97–100
Hodgson, N, 'Roman architectural fragments at Corbridge: a survey and study', Arbeia Journal, 9 (2010), 1–42
Hodgson, N, Roman Corbridge: Fort, Town and Museum (English Heritage guidebook, London, 2015) [buy the guidebook]
Hörig, M and Schwertheim, E, Corpus Cultus Iovis Dolicheni (Leiden, 1987), 352–5 [on the cult of Jupiter Dolichenus at Corbridge]
Keeney, GS, 'Corstopitum as a civil centre', Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th series, 11 (1934), 158–75
Macdonald, G, 'The Corbridge gold find of 1911', Journal of Roman Studies, 2 (1912), 1–20
Richmond, IA, 'Roman legionaries at Corbridge, their supply-base, temples and religious cults', Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th series, 21 (1943), 127–224
Rivet, ALF and Smith, C, The Place-names of Roman Britain (London, 1979), 322–3
Salway, P, The Frontier People of Roman Britain (Cambridge, 1965), 45–60
Simpson, G, 'Haltwhistle Burn, Corstopitum and the Antonine Wall: a reconsideration', Britannia, 5 (1974), 317–39 [subscription required; accessed 8 Oct 2012]
Snape, ME, 'A horizontal wheeled watermill of the Anglo-Saxon period at Corbridge, Northumberland and its river environment', Archaeologia Aeliana, 5th series, 32 (2003), 37–72
Speidel, MP, 'The Risingham Praetensio', Britannia, 29 (1998), 356–9 [important study of an inscription from Corbridge with implications for the role of the legionaries in manning outposts north of the Wall] [subscription required; accessed 8 Oct 2012]
Wilmott, T, Hadrian's Wall: Archaeological Research by English Heritage 1976–2000 (London, 2009)
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