Description of Benwell Roman Temple

The temple once stood within the civilian settlement or vicus which developed outside the fort of Condercum. It now lies in the unlikely setting of a 1930s housing estate, just south of the A186 from Newcastle to Carlisle, which cuts across the site of the fort.

Temple Building

The temple is a rectangular building measuring 4.9 by 3.0 metres internally. It has a semicircular apse at its south end. The walls stand about 0.5 metres high.

There is now a door-sill in the east wall, which is not in its original position. The original excavation accounts describe a door in the north wall, opposite the apse.

The temple of Antenociticus, seen from the south-east with modern residential area beyond — The temple of Antenociticus, seen from the south-east. The altars are copies – the originals are in the Great North Museum, Newcastle

Altars

The concrete casts of the two altars are approximately in the positions where their originals were found lying face down. In the apse is the base of a statue, presumably that of the god Antenociticus, which was originally found by the north wall.

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