RISINGHAM (Habitancum)		Quality of Remains
		Ease of Access
		Atmosphere & Setting

History:

Habitancum, the first fort northwards that lies on the stretch of Dere Street beyond Hadrian's wall, lies between the forts of Halton Chesters and High Rochester. Though no inscriptions attest to the presence of a fort here before the 3rd Century, Risingham was almost certainly constructed in the late 2nd Century as one of the series of Advance forts north of the wall. Possibly it fell into disuse fairly quickly before being completely reconstructed in the 3rd century during the campaigns of Septimius Severus. From the Severan period, Habitancum was continually occupied, though lack of inscriptions and archaeological evidence suggests that the fort was abandoned by the mid 4th century. The site must have continued to be occupied by locals as there is evidence for an early medieval settlement within the fort's boundaries.

Occupation:

The fort was likely originally constructed by the 6th Legion Victrix, as attested on one undated inscription found at the site. The first attested occupying unit however were the Fourth Cohort of Gauls, a part-mounted unit who appear to have been the garrison in the late 2nd century, though they had been transferred to Vindolanda by the early 3rd century. After this, the thousand-strong part-mounted First Cohort of Vangiones became the garrison, certainly from dated inscriptions to the campaigns of Severus in the early 3rd century. They may have formed the garrison from then until the abandonment of the site in the 4th century. However, during the same period, a third unit comes to light. The Numerus Exploratorum Habitancenses are attested on inscriptions from 209 AD and therefore the Vangiones may have been very short-lived and replaced by this irregular unit of scouts. There are further complications as to the garrison of Habitancum. The Second Cohort of Nervii are also attested here, though only on an undated and damaged building inscription, though this may merely refer to extra manpower being applied here to repair structures. Finally, the engimatic Vexillation of Gaesati and Raeti are attested here on an altar, though they seem to have been drawn partially from the 1st Vangiones, which would explain their presence. The true order of occupation by these units may never be known unless a thorough excavation of the site is carried out.

Remains and Visit:

The entire fort platform can be viewed from a farm road, though the site itself is on private farmland. The sight is very impressive and gives one of the best impressions of a Roman auxiliary fort anywhere. The ramparts, fort-platform and gates are all remarkably visible. The only troubles with this view are that the various mounds in the fort's interior do not correspond to the Roman buildings, being instead the remains of the medieval settlement, and that the impressive ditches visible around all sides are a mixture of Roman ditch defences and and medieval ridge and furrow farming. The only stonework visible anywhere on the fort is at the north east corner, which can clearly be seen from the farm road.

Images:

General view	North rampart	NE corner