Roman port
Roman port
HER Number
910
District
S Tyneside
Site Name
Roman port
Place
South Shields
Map Sheet
NZ36NE
Class
Maritime
Site Type: Broad
Dock and Harbour Installation
Site Type: Specific
Port
General Period
ROMAN
Specific Period
Roman 43 to 410
Form of Evidence
Implied Evidence
Description
The existence of a Roman port on the south bank of the Tyne at South Shields is presumed from the fort's role as a supply-base for, originally, the armies of Septimius Severus and, eventually, Hadrian's Wall. Richmond suggested that such a port was probably at Mill Dam, formerly a tidal inlet and focus of the medieval settlement. Speak prefers the one-time site of Hospital Quay at the end of Fowler St/Mile End Road, which ran straight to the Lawe from the direction of Sunderland. He points out that such a port would be extensive, and contain quays, roads, boat-houses, granaries, warehouses, etc. All this is yet supposition. The 1990 excavations north of Wapping Street produced only one sherd, and no Roman structures. Speak suggests the Roman river frontage could be actually under Wapping Street.
Easting
436100
Northing
567900
Grid Reference
NZ436100567900
Sources
<< HER 910 >> 1st edition Ordnance Survey Map, c.1855, 6 inch scale, Durham IV
I.A. Richmond, 1934, The Roman Fort at South Shields, Archaeologia Aeliana, 4, XI,
S. Speak, 1990, The Roman Port at South Shields
I.A. Richmond, 1934, The Roman Fort at South Shields, Archaeologia Aeliana, 4, XI,
S. Speak, 1990, The Roman Port at South Shields