Rochester : Potential For Further Research

The archaeological identification of Umfraville vaccaries should be considered a priority within the overall study of medieval Redesdale to illuminate a site-category hitherto known locally only from the documentary sources and to establish whether such sites were later used as shielings and farmsteads.

There is still considerable potential for the examination of the earlier phases of Rochester’s history.  In particular significant, relatively undisturbed, Roman deposits should survive in the south-east corner of High Rochester fort which was not touched by the mid 19th century excavations.

The fate of High Rochester after the fort was relinquished by permanent Roman garrisons raises some intriguing questions. The coin evidence recovered to date suggests that the fort was abandoned in the first or second decade of the 4th century, whilst examination of the pottery from the recent excavations directed by James Crow has revealed an almost complete absence of the East Yorkshire grey wares (Crambeck etc.) which become common on the northern frontier from the late 3rd century onwards (J Shipley pers. comm..).

Yet the repairs to the west curtain between the west gate and the south west angle appear more characteristic of modifications made at other northern frontier forts, such as Housesteads and Vindolanda along Hadrian’s Wall, much later in the 4th century or even later still. Could this reflect continued occupation of the fort, perhaps even its transfer to a friendly federate Britthonic chieftain?

The date of the reoccupation of High Rochester fort by members of the Hall surname remains uncertain and the form that reoccupation took is unclear. The earliest date provided by the documentary evidence is 1552. An inquisition post mortem of 1495 suggests the area of the dale around Rochester was still no more than seasonal pasture ground at that date.