Friends of Longovicium

03/05/2026

Step back nearly 2,000 years and learn about Longovicium, one of northern England’s Roman Forts.
Created by the Friends of Longovicium, our website documents the story of the fort and its thriving civilian settlement - once home to soldiers, traders, and families from across the Roman Empire.

Learn about:

* The Roman fort built approximately AD 140
* The people who lived and worked there
* Incredible historical finds and inscriptions
* Ongoing surveys and research into the ancient Vicus

Although the site itself is protected and has no public access, our website gives you a unique window into its history and discoveries.

Explore the story now:
https://longoviciumcouk.wordpress.com/

31/03/2026

The Corbridge Lanx. The replica of this amazing piece of Roman Silver is on display at one of our neighbouring sites along Dere Street, Corbridge Roman Town Museum which showcases an internationally important collection of site-finds which bring the town and its people to life.

The original lanx serving tray) is cast from 4.6 kg (10lb) of solid silver. It was made around the middle of the fourth century, possibly in Ephesus, Turkey, which had strong links with the cults of Artemis, Apollo and Leto, all of whom are depicted on the tray.

The lanx was buried on the edge of Roman Corbridge in the late fourth century, along with other silver goods. The owner never recovered their precious possessions and the lanx remained buried until February 1735, when it was found, by the daughter of the local blacksmith. The original lanx is on display in the British Museum.

21/03/2026

A short compilation animation of some of our latest Roman Britain reconstructions.

04/02/2026

Lanchester Diploma - the first complete Roman Fleet Diploma to be discovered in the UK, was discovered in 2016 at Lanchester.

In 2016, metal detectorist Mark Houston discovered an object on land near Lanchester, County Durham. Mark took the fragments to his local Finds Liaison Officer to be examined and recorded as part of the national Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS).
At this point, the full significance of the find came to light, and it was identified as a diploma that had been presented to mark the granting of a range of rights and privileges to a non-citizen sailor when he retired from the Roman navy. Such documents are very rare, and a number of organisations and individuals were brought together to ensure that the diploma was researched and displayed to the public. This object was not defined as treasure, meaning that Mark could have sold the object; however, he wanted it on display and available to the public.

The importance of the diploma

The diploma is the first complete Roman Fleet Diploma to be discovered in the UK, revealing the identity of one of Britain’s first named sailors. It is made of a copper alloy and is now broken into 8 fragments, although it would have originally consisted of 2 rectangular bronze plates attached together with metal wires.
Roman Military Diplomas were the physical proof of the rights granted to non-citizen soldiers to mark their honourable discharge on retirement. The emperor Antoninus Pius (AD 138-161) issued this diploma to Tigernos (Velvotigernus), a native of Lanchester, County Durham, in around AD 150. The diploma granted him and his descendants Roman citizenship and the legal right of marriage. To earn the diploma, he had served in the Classis Germanica - the Roman fleet in Germany, most likely for 26 years, before being honourably discharged.

The Diploma can be seen at Durham University's Museum of Archaeology on Palace Green, Durham.

01/02/2026

A Roman Antefix from Longovicium Roman Fort at Lanchester.

Collections Assistant Tony Drake from Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens looks at a Roman antefix - a type of decorative roof tile.Read the full article and ...

13/01/2026

Landmark discovery places North East England at the heart of Roman trade networks.

The site was found and excavated by volunteer enthusiasts from the Vedra Hylton Community Association and supported by Durham University’s Department of Archaeology.

Link to article below

https://www.culturednortheast.co.uk/p/roman-industry-uncovered-on-banks?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&fbclid=IwZnRzaAPPJQ9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEewGhSlFAacKGGuU7cQWTn_yUCBr5hbPEEUGu9QH77sC2vJBcAEzF5m_lZ-Iw_aem_d39RfR5WtVybREfGIj6AEA

19/12/2025

This large and impressive Roman tombstone located in Hexham Abbey was hidden for hundreds of years, face-down as part of the Abbey's foundations. Unearthed in 1881, it was identified as a tombstone of a young Roman soldier called Flavinus, whose cavalry regiment arrived as part of the Roman conquest of Britain. He died, presumably in this area, aged just 25, towards the end of the first century. The second image is a life size reconstruction at Corbridge Roman Fort and Town museum of how the stone would have probably looked when first made and painted.

26/09/2025

A great turn out at our Discovering Longovicium open evening. Many, many people popped in to look at the displays and to have a chat, we also had a lot of people who were with us for the whole evening to listen to the informative talks by our two speakers.

On behalf of the Friends of Longovicium, I would like to extend our sincere gratitude to everyone who attended our open evening both visitors, group members and speakers. everyone’s participation and contribution in the Discovering Longovicium evening was instrumental to the event's success.

Special thanks go to
Francis Hagan a Roman reenactor who put on an excellent display dressed in the clothing and kit of a Roman soldier of the 4th Century naval/marine unit stationed at Arbeia at the mouth of the Tyne.

Gordon Henderson for his very enlightening and often humorous talk about how advanced Roman military and civilian medicine and surgery actually was.

Charles McKinnie for his talk about ethical metal detecting along with his display of finds and artefacts.

Tony Drake a reenactor and highly skilled maker of replica weapons, who kindly brought some of his amazing quality museum quality replica Roman swords to put on display and talk about to visitors.

We really appreciate the time and effort that everyone spent in helping to promote an interest in Lanchester’s Roman past.

We hope that visitors found the event interesting and informative and would love to hear any feedback or comments you have.

Extra special thanks goes to Nick Greenwell whose family have owned and farmed the land that the fort stands on for many generations. Nick has always been a great supporter of the group and has encouraged all our endeavours. His support is greatly valued.

10/09/2025

Don’t forget our open evening later this month - 25 September

10/09/2025

This is an update of our Longovicium CGI Video with narration kindly provided by Tina Naples.