Wallsend vicus, Roman temple(s)

One or more temples may have existed on the west side of Philiphaugh. Altars, dedication slabs and sculpture - representing at least three deities - were recovered during the digging of allotments in 1892. In one allotment (no. 17) "the tenant declared that nine inches below the surface his allotment is traversed by the foundations of two broad walls, one running from west to east, and the other from north to south". There is no precise location - the stones came from the "south end" of the allotments, and lay "about one hundred yards from the line of the Roman Wall". Lewis infers the existence of a temple to Mercury; Phillips suggests the statue of Minerva may have stood on a parade ground since it was found with an official dedication to Jupiter Optimus Maximus. The allotments are now covered by buildings.