Roman road from Chester-le-Street

Roman road from Chester-le-Street

HER Number
276
District
Gateshead
Site Name
Roman road from Chester-le-Street
Place
Gateshead
Map Sheet
NZ25SE
Class
Transport
Site Type: Broad
Road Transport Site
Site Type: Specific
Road
General Period
ROMAN
Specific Period
Roman 43 to 410
Form of Evidence
Documentary Evidence
Description
It has been generally agreed since the 18th century that a Roman road connected Chester-le-Street with a bridge across the Tyne. Two stretches are thought to lie under existing roads:
a) Durham Road through Birtley
b) Old Durham Road - High Street - Bottle Bank through Gateshead.
Between these stretches, in open country, Wright located it in 3 places in 1938-9:
NZ 2714 5695, beside Coach and Horses PH, he found a raised causeway suggesting there had been a bridge over Leyburnhold Gill. No traces today.
NZ 2707 5835 (garden of 15 Chambers Cres.) he obtained a cross-section of the E half, 8 feet, of the road, the remainder being under the back lane.
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. He could see nothing "further north across the golf course and Mossheap quarries".
Easting
427310
Northing
553900
Grid Reference
NZ427310553900
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