National Lottery Grants for Heritage – £250,000 to £5million
Roman soldiers lived at the fort before Hadrian's Wall was even built, between 85AD and 122AD. It was home to regiments such as the Syrian Archers, who were famous for their skills with the bow. The fort had a strong strategic positioning meaning it grew to be much larger than a normal fort.
Surveys show that the site holds some of the richest finds ever discovered at the UNESCO World Heritage Site. However, over the last 20 years, the land has been rapidly drying out, damaging the peat and organic soils that form a protective layer over the landscape. Materials like wood and leather are being exposed and left at risk.
Run by The Vindolanda Charitable Trust, our funding is supporting volunteers to investigate the most at-risk areas, conserve objects found through digs and share results across the archaeological community. Some of their discoveries include:
- a rare orange terracotta head, which depicts a female figure with a centrally parted, four-strand plaited hairstyle
- ancient roman shoes, including an exceptionally large shoe at 32.8cm in length
- a stone-lined grave containing the remains of a single person wrapped in a shroud, one of few burial sites discovered along the length of Hadrian’s Wall
A new facility is being developed at the Roman Army Museum on the site of the fort. Working with local communities, they are running activities ranging from Roman soldier games to climate-focused walking tours of the site.
The Trust are also creating a management plan that provides them with long-term strategies to protect this landscape for generations to come.
Discover more about our support for archaeology projects across the UK.
