VINOVIA
(Binchester) Durham, England.
Site of Roman fort 1.6 km N of Bishop Auckland, on
Dere Street 34 km N of Cataractonium (NZ 208314).
The fort may have been over 2.4 ha in size, and was
occupied from the Flavian period probably to the early
5th c. The original clay ramparts were reinforced with
a stone wall, probably in the 2d c. A catapult platform of
early 4th c. date was found abutting the wall on the SE
side. A hypocaust still visible on the site may have formed
part of the commander's house. The 3d c. garrison was
the ala Vettonum (
RIB 730, 1028, 1035) and probably
in the 4th c. a unit of Frisians (
RIB 1036), perhaps
equites catafractarii. Industrial activity is attested in the
large extramural village.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
R. E. Hooppell,
Vinovia, a Buried Roman City (1891); E. Birley,
Trans. Archit. and Archaeol. Soc. of Durham and Northumberland 11 (1958) 56; B. Dobson & M. G. Jarrett, ibid. 115-24.
J. C. MANN
