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Fortlets might not sound like they are really up to much, although these strategic defences were very well built structures that were essential in defending Roman Britain from many attacks.

During the late 4^th century Roman Britain was being attacked from land and sea by the Picts, the Attacotti, the Scots, the Franks and the Saxons. The historian Ammianus Marcellinus paints a picture of a chaotic situation with bands of raiders wandering around unchecked, taking prisoners and loot where they fancied, and destroying or killing at will.

In AD 367 the Emperor Valentinian dispatched a task force to try to get a grip on the situation, placing Theodosius (the father of the future Emperor Theodosius the Great) in command. Ammianus Marcellinus wrote that, on his arrival, Theodosius ‘rendered the greatest aid to the troubled and confused fortunes of the Britons’ including restoring ‘cities and garrison towns…and protected the borders with guard-posts and defence works’.

Along the Yorkshire coast a system of fortlets (often referred to as `signal stations`) were constructed. Archaeological remains of such structures have been found at Scarborough, Filey, Goldsborough and Huntcliffe. In 1774 a tablet was also discovered at Ravenscar bearing an inscription translated as ‘Justinianus the First Centurion and Vindicianus the Magistrate, built this tower and fortification from its foundations’ (Figure 1). The original series of fortifications might have included examples at Seaton Carew, Whitby, Flamborough Head and Spurn Point too.

The fortlets consisted of a central tower within a small courtyard surrounded by a perimeter wall (incorporating bastions and a gatehouse) as well as a ditch with rounded corners (Figure 2). The excavations at Huntcliffe in 1912 revealed two particularly substantial bastions and a defensive wall (Figure 3).

The remains of the Scarborough fortlet are located on the headland of Castle Hill and can still be visited (Figure 4). It is estimated that the central tower was 30 metres high and the stunning views out across the sea are still evident today.

The fortlet at Filey was positioned on Carr Naze but, since Roman times, the area has been badly eroded. However, five large stones were recovered from the site in 1857 and placed in Crescent Gardens where they can be found in a flower bed. The heavy blocks (one of which is decorated with a dog chasing a stag) contain sockets that would have held oak pillars, perhaps supporting the first floor of the central tower (Figure 5).

Over the years there has been considerable discussion and debate about the function of the Yorkshire coastal fortlets. One suggestion is that they might have constituted a signalling chain – using beacons – monitoring movements and hostile activities along the coast. However, it would have required an enormous tower for Goldsborough to transmit any messages to Whitby, irrespective of the compounding effect of sea frets. An alternative may have been for them to communicate inland to forts such as Malton (via intermediate beacons), but it would still have taken some time for the military unit stationed there – Numerus Supervenientium Petuarensium – to mobilise and march to the coast or to intercept any raiders heading inland.

Others have proposed that the fortlets could have been places of refuge for isolated coastal communities against hostile forces. Both Goldsborough and Huntcliffe certainly had a good water supply with wells being found by excavators in their courtyards. Soldiers might have been garrisoned within timber barracks inside the walls with, perhaps, artillery being placed on the towers.

More recently Alistair McCluskey has argued that the fortlets acted as a deterrent by threatening a raiding party`s escape route rather than blocking its primary incursion into Roman Yorkshire. Given the nature of their substantial defences they would have been difficult for a small force to attack but, once any incomers had left their landing grounds, the Roman garrison could have simply marched out of the fortlets destroying any beached boats.

The Yorkshire coastal fortlets probably only enjoyed a brief period of Roman military use – perhaps, 20 to 30 years – before being abandoned. What happened to them next is a matter of conjecture but might have been somewhat gruesome. In the excavations at Huntcliffe fourteen skeletons of men, women and children were found dumped in the well. At Goldsborough, the archaeologists who uncovered the remains of the fort wrote:

‘In the south-east corner of the tower we made discoveries that can only be described as sensational. A short, thick-set man had fallen across the smouldering fire of an open hearth, probably after having been stabbed in the back. Another skeleton, that of a taller man, lay also face downwards, near the feet of the first. Beneath him was the skeleton of a large and powerful dog, its head against the man`s throat, its paws across his shoulders – surely a grim record of a thrilling drama.‘

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Figure 1: Inscription from Ravenscar ©Whitby Museum

Find out more online: Whitby Museum

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Figure 2: Plan of Huntcliffe Fortlet ©Creative Commons

Figure 3: Bastion at Huntcliffe ©Historic Environment Image Resource Database

Figure 4: Scarborough Fortlet ©Nick Summerton

Figure 5: The socketed stones at Filey. On the stone in the foreground a dog can be seen chasing a stag ©Nick Summerton

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There seems to be a great deal of speculation about what happened to The Ninth legion as it moved northwards across England, and then into Scotland, to seeminly dissappear completely.

Four legions participated in the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43: the Second, the Fourteenth, the Ninth and the Twentieth. The Ninth, originally raised by the Emperor Augustus, had been awarded the title Hispana for its bravery during the wars against the tribes in northern Spain. The full Roman name for this Legion was Legio IX Hispana.

By the early AD 70s the Ninth Legion had moved up from Lincoln to its new bases at York and Malton. Roman bricks and tiles were often stamped with the name of the legion supervising their production and, at York and Malton, complete examples (and fragments) have been discovered marked with the letters LEG IX HISP (Figure 1).

From Yorkshire the Ninth was involved in campaigns across the North and into Scotland. But its military reputation within Britain was far from outstanding, having been badly mauled by Boudicca`s troops in AD 61 (see previous blog: Petillius Cerialis and the Brigantes). Also, in his biography of his father-in-law, Julius Agricola, who was Roman governor in Britain during the Scottish campaigns, the Roman historian Tacitus explained how the Legion had been attacked as it was considered `the weakest point`.

After campaigning in Scotland, the Ninth returned to York as evidenced by an inscription discovered near the south-east gateway of the Roman Fortress (Figure 2) and translated as:

The Emperor Caesar Nerva Trajan Augustus, son of the deified Nerva, Conqueror of Germany, Conqueror of Dacia, pontifex maximus, in his twelfth year of tribunician power, six times acclaimed imperator, five times consul, father of his country, built this gate by the agency of the Ninth Legion Hispana.

 

This can be dated to AD 108 and, perhaps from the same period, was the tombstone of Lucius Duccius Rufinus, the standard bearer for the Ninth Legion (Figure 3).

However, after this the Ninth seems to have disappeared from the historical record, a mystery that has intrigued numerous individuals since the 18^th century. It was replaced in York by the Sixth which travelled to the province with the Emperor Hadrian in AD 122 and no inscriptions referring to the Ninth have been found anywhere on Hadrian`s Wall. Moreover, the list of Roman legions on the Collonetta Maffei pillar in Rome (dated to AD 168) makes no mention of any Ninth Legion.

There are various theories surrounding the demise of the Ninth. Some argue that it left the province for the continent and finished its days fighting along the Rhine or the Danube. Certainly, some brick and tile stamps unearthed around Nijmegen imply that at least a detachment was deployed to the region sometime between AD 104 and AD 120.

Other historians believe the fate of the Ninth can be put down to redeployment in the East, with the Legion being sent to help quell the Second or the Third Jewish revolts in Palestine in AD 115 or AD 132. Others suggest that the Legion was destroyed in Armenia during Marcus Aurelius’ Parthian War. The Roman historian Dio Cassius stated that a Parthian army surrounded and annihilated an entire Roman unit during the conflict, but failed to name it.

The traditional view originally put forward by Theodor Mommsen in the 1850s was that the Legion was simply wiped out in action within northern Britain soon after AD 108, perhaps during a rising of the Brigantes against Roman rule. This view was further popularised in the 1954 novel The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliffe that paints a picture of the Ninth Legion marching into the mists of Scotland, never to be seen again.

Dr Simon Elliott`s recent book (Figure 4) takes up the mantle from Mommsen arguing that the Legion was most likely lost in dramatic circumstances somewhere north of York. But echoing Rosemary Sutcliffe we now just need to find the location of the Ninth`s final stand and, if possible, their Eagle too!

Malton Museum are very excited to announce, that to celebrate our reopening, the first of our Summer Lecture series this season is a FREE online lecture, taking place on Wednesday May 26th at 7pm. Our guest will be renowned Archaeologist and author Dr Simon Elliott, who will talk about his latest book on the infamous ‘Missing Legion, Legio IX Hispana’.

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Kemps of Malton & Whitby have some copies of this book in store, especially ordered for our lecture

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For full details of this lecture, and to book: Roman Britain’s Missing Legion

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Figure 1: Roof tile from York marked with LEG IX HISP. ©Yorkshire Museums Trust (Creative Commons)

Figure 2: Inscription from the Roman Fortress at York. ©Yorkshire Museums Trust (Creative Commons)

Figure 3: Tombstone of Lucius Duccius Rufinus, the standard bearer for the Ninth Legion. ©Yorkshire Museums Trust (Creative Commons)

Visit: York Museums Trust

Figure 4: Front cover of book by Dr Simon Elliott ©Dr Simon Elliott & Pen and Sword Books.

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Most of us would probably consider that modern medicine and technology has brought about eye care, and that ‘Roman Eye Health’ and any treatments or remedies probably didn’t exsist – yet both archaeological, and written accounts tell us that such things certainly did exsist.

The health of the eyes was a particular concern in the Roman world. The eyes were considered a privileged body part and the transition point between the soul and the outside world.

Unfortunately, crowded bathhouses and the excellent communications afforded by the road network would have contributed to the spread of infectious eye diseases across the Empire. From Britain a military strength report of the First Cohort of Tungrians found at Vindolanda specifically categorises the thirty-one soldiers signed off as unfit into three distinct groups: aegri (sick; 15); volnerati (wounded; 6); and lippientes (eye troubles; 10).

Within the Roman medical literature there was a significant emphasis on the treatment of a variety of eye diseases using eye ointments – or collyria. For example, the first century doctor Scribonius Largus, listed twenty-two collyria and Galen, physician to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius over two-hundred. In addition, collyrium stamps are found throughout the Western Roman Empire and two dozen have been discovered in Britain. These would have been used for impressing the name of the maker, the remedy and the purpose of the treatment onto a newly manufactured collyrium (before it was left to harden). Work I have undertaken with the students at Malton School has demonstrated the remarkable effectiveness of many of these Roman medicines in treating eye infections.

Typically, collyrium stamps are small square blocks made of greenish schist or steatite with wording on each of the four edges (Figure 1). In a few instances the stone is oblong with two inscribed sides and in one example from Wroxeter, the stamp is circular (Figure 2). The letters are cut in intaglio form and written from right to left so that when stamped on a soft collyrium they make an impression that reads from left to right.

Lippitudo (acute conjunctivitis) is the mostly frequently cited problem mentioned on the British stamps followed by aspritudino (chronic conjunctivitis). The example from Cambridge is inscribed:

L. IVL. SALVTARIS PE/NICILLUM AD LIPPITUD

‘the collyrium of Lucius Julius Salutaris, to be applied with a fine brush for lippitudo of the eyes‘

A collyrium stamp discovered in York (Figure 3) bears the letters:

IVLIALEXANDRI DIAMYADASP

‘Julius Alexander`s salve made from misy for aspritudo

Collyrium stamps may have been handed on from person to person and even down the generations. In an example from St. Albans the name Flavius Secundus is executed in a rougher style than that for Lucius Julius Ivenis suggesting a succession. Also, the green colouration of the stones was thought to confer some sort of magical property to the object.

Intriguingly collyrium stamps are absent from many areas of the Roman Empire and it has been argued that they relate to the different medical systems in Gaul, Germany and Britain at the time. Perhaps the sticks of medicament were prepared in bulk at a larger town – such as York, London or Colchester – for use by eye healers making regular circuits around the local countryside. In 1990 a Roman grave was found near Lyon including a brass box with four compartments that contained 20 baton-shaped collyria. Also discovered were three brass probes of the type used to mix medicaments alongside a worn slate grinding stone. It is likely that many travelling eye healers would have carried such equipment.

Stopping in a place such as Malton a peripatetic eye healer from York (such as Julius Alexander) might have pulled out of his travelling pack a brass medicine box. As the locals looked on the lid would have been retracted revealing five small compartments containing a range of embossed and hardened collyria (Figure 4).

A collyrium would then have been carefully selected according to the patient’s needs with a small piece being cut off. After crushing the collyrium fragment on a stone palate using a brass probe, the resulting powder would have been mixed with water, egg or milk as appropriate in the cup-shaped depression on the underside of the box to produce a paste for application to the eye (Figure 5).

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Figure 2: A collyrium stamp from Wroxeter ©Nick Summerton

Visit: York Museums Trust

Figure 4: Reconstructed eye box with view of central compartment ©Nick Summerton

Figure 5: Cup-shaped depression on underside of reconstructed eye box ©Nick Summerton