Gateshead, Roman road from Chester-le-Street

HER Number:
276

District:
Gateshead

Site Name:
Gateshead, Roman road from Chester-le-Street

Place:
Gateshead

Map Sheet:
NZ25SE NZ26SE

Class:
Transport

Site Type: Broad:
Road Transport Site

Site Type: Specific:
Road

General Period:
Roman

Specific Period:

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
It has been generally agreed since the 18th century that a Roman road connected Newcastle Chester-le-Street with a bridge across the Tyne. Two stretches are thought to lie under existing roads: Durham Road through Birtley and Old Durham Road - High Street - Bottle Bank through Gateshead. Between these stretches, in open country, Wright located it in 3 places in 1938-9. At NZ 2714 5695, beside the Coach and Horses public house, he found a raised causeway suggesting there had been a bridge over Leyburnhold Gill; at NZ 2707 5835 (the garden of 15 Chambers Crescent) he obtained a cross-section of the easter 8 feet of the road; at NZ 2704 5876 the road was 17 feet 6 inches wide, and built in 3 layers of 6 inch and 8 inch grade sandstone blocks.

Easting:
2731

Northing:
5390

Grid Reference:
NZ27315390

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 276 >> R.P. Wright, 1940, The Wrekendike and Roman road-junction on Gateshead Fell, Archaeologia Aeliana, 4, XVII, pp. 54-64 I.D. Margary, 1957, Roman Roads in Britain, Vol. II, pp. 171-2 J. Horsley, 1733, Britannia Romana, 1974 edition, pp. 104, 451-2 J.C. Bruce, 1853, Roman Wall, 2nd ed., p. 299 W.H.D. Longstaffe, 1858, Durham before the Conquest, Proceedings of the Archaeological Institute Newcastle, Vol. I, p. 62 D.P. Dymond, 1963, Roman Bridges on Dere Street, County Durham... Archaeological Journal, Vol. 118 (for 1961), p. 160