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Binchester Roman Fort
The fort is an archaeology site and currently only a small portion of it has been excavated. The total size of the site is thought to be about ten acres and only a small portion of it has been excavated. Some interesting finds include the Commander's House and the Bath house. Now this fort is pretty much hidden away in a rural area of Durham and situated near the market place of Bishop Auckland.
There is I believe a further dig to this immense green site suggesting a find of a cemetery containing some Germanic troops buried there and further out another of civilians. It is said that Binchester was bigger than the other Roman forts that existed between here and those that dotted along Hadrians Wall. A small diorama in the activity hut on the site suggests what it may have looked like.
The reason for our visit today was not just for the Roman remains, but rather to see and experience the Life of the Roman soldiers and Cavalry. This Roman festival is on every Bank holiday and the re-enactors for this period visit various sites and bring history alive for adults and children alike.
In the erected tents there were displays of Helmets, armour, swords and shields. I can honestly say that it appealed both the young children and that inner child of the adult. There was a demonstration of the cavalry cutting the head off a brigand ( not really it was cabbage and a squash mounted on a stick)
There was a also a demonstration of a mercenary from the Netherlands training the Auxiliaries - the examples of different eras shown in their attire. Then a battle of painted Brigands and Romans. No prizes for guessing who won?
A little video showing it in action I have taken quite a few close ups of the mechanism and its name - NEMESIS. |
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