Roman Newcastle (Pons Aelius)

Newcastle upon Tyne in North East England can trace its history back to Roman times. During that period, the Fort that was built there was to  protect the bridge crossing over the River Tyne.This is how Pons Aelius is thought to have looked

 The fort was named Pons Aelius. Pons was the Lain word for Bridge, Aulius was the family name of the Emperor Hadrian , He also gave his name to the Roman wall, which stretches from Newcastle to Carlisle and was the northern most outpost of the Roman Empire.
                                                            

The Roman bridge at Newcastle was built of timber on stone piers and may have continued in use for many centuries. Records suggest that the bridge may still have stood in Norman times and if this is so then it was not finally destroyed until 1248 during a raging fire. It is highly likely that a medieval bridge which replaced this burned structure still utilised the Roman foundations.
The Roman bridge at Newcastle was built of timber on stone piers and may have continued in use for many centuries. Records suggest that the bridge may still have stood in Norman times and if this is so then it was not finally destroyed until 1248 during a raging fire. It is highly likely that a medieval bridge which replaced this burned structure still utilized the Roman foundations.


A little way to the west, built as part of the Roman wall was the Fort of Condercum. This is now Benwell part of the modern city of Newcastle. The modern name "Benwell"  is of Anglo-Saxon origin coming from the words Beonnam-wall, this means "a place within the wall". Today most of what remains of the fort at Benwell is largely buried beneath modern housing, but the defensive Roman ditch called the `Vallum' can still be clearly be seen along with the nearby ruins of a Roman temple dedicated to a local god called Antenociticus.

From Benwell the Roman wall continued east, towards the fort near the river at Newcastle called Pons Aelius. Between Benwell and Newcastle City Center.  Hadrian's Wall more or less ran along the course of what is now the Westgate Road. This road is built along the site of a Roman defensive ditch situated just north of Hadrian's Wall.
. The Roman Wall runs across northern England  from Newcastle  to Carlisle      

Initially the Roman bridge and fort at Newcastle formed the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall but later the wall was extended three miles further to the east where a fort called Segedunum was built at what we now know as the modern suburb of Wallsend. Segedunum was strategically located at the point where a short northward flowing section of the River Tyne suddenly turns east towards the sea. East of here the Tyne provided a natural continuation of Roman defences. This is demonstrated by the fact that one of the defensive walls of Wallsend fort actually extended into the River Tyne itself.

This is the reconstructed bath house and museum in 

Segedunum