Skip over main navigation
  • Log in
  • Basket: (0 items)
The Vindolanda Trust
  • Search
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
Buy tickets Donate
  • Twitter
Menu
  • Visit us
    • Book Your Visit
    • Our Sites
      • Roman Vindolanda Fort & Museum
      • Roman Army Museum
      • Day Planner
    • Getting Here
    • School Visits
    • Group visits
    • Places to stay and services
      • Stay with us
      • Local Accommodation
      • Local Interest
  • Events
    • Events
    • Lectures
  • Learn
    • Blogs & more
    • Schools
    • Families
    • Digging up memories
  • Support us
    • Appeals
    • Donate
    • Friends and members
    • Excavate
      • Vindolanda Excavations
      • Consolidation & Conservation
    • Volunteering
    • American Donors
  • Shop
  • About us
    • Who we are
      • History of the Trust
      • Trustees and Patron
      • Meet the team
    • Our Vision
    • Our Collection
      • What is Designation?
      • National Significance
      • Outstanding Quality
      • Research
      • Blogs
    • Our Eco Journey
      • Green Policy
      • Green Journey
      • Recycling: A Roman Case Study
    • News
    • World Heritage
    • Work for us
  • Admin
    • Log in
  • Basket: (0 items)
  • Roman Vindolanda Fort & Museum
  1. Visit us

Roman Vindolanda Fort & Museum

Take a look at our 'Visit Us' hub for information on how to book an arrival window and purchase your tickets, you will also find key information on getting here and what to expect:

Book Your Visit

The home of Britain's Top Treasure: The Vindolanda Writing Tablets

Before, during and after Hadrian's Wall

Vindolanda lies just to the south of the curtain wall of Hadrian's Wall and has a very different ‘feel’ to other sites along the Wall. It lies upon the first Roman frontier in the north – The Stanegate Road and in a stunning landscape which lets your imagination really connect with its past. You will probably visit Vindolanda by driving or walking along this road to reach the fort and museum. Although first built by the Roman army before Hadrian’s Wall Vindolanda became an important construction and garrison base for the Wall, a Hadrian’s Wall fort in its own right. During this time Vindolanda was demolished and completely re-built no fewer than nine times. Each re-build, each community, leaving their own distinctive mark on the landscape and archaeology of the site.



After Hadrian’s Wall and the Roman occupation was abandoned by its imperial armies Vindolanda remained in use for over 400 years before finally becoming abandoned in the 9th century.

If you would like to join one of our free guided tours of the site you can take a look at the upcoming schedule here.

Vindolanda Fort Guided Tours

The Museum

The Vindolanda site today contains a modern world class museum using the latest interpretation techniques and display to tell a very old, very interesting Roman story. The museum is constantly changing with artefacts added annually as a result of the ongoing excavation programme.  In 2018 the museum was extended with a Wooden Underworld gallery, housing a rare collection of 2,000 year old wooden finds (including a toilet seat and a toy sword!).

This is why people from around the world travel to Vindolanda to experience its unique atmosphere and rare treasurers. Come rain or shine, Vindolanda, the outdoor site and indoor Museum will entertain you, your family or group.

  • TripAdvisor

The Vindolanda Tablets

The writing tablets are perhaps Vindolanda's greatest discovery and have been previously voted by experts and the public alike as 'Britain's Top Treasure'. Delicate, wafer thin slivers of wood covered in spidery ink writing, the tablets were found in the oxygen-free deposits on and around the floors of the deeply buried early wooden forts at Vindolanda and are the oldest surviving handwritten documents in Britain.  

Like postcards from the past, the tablets allow a rare insight into the real lives of people living and working at Vindolanda near Hadrian's Wall nearly 2000 years ago. They provide a fascinating and compelling insight into private and military lives from a very different time but are hauntingly familiar, covering matters - from birthdays through to underpants! Have we changed that much in two millennia?

Thanks to an investment running into millions of pounds, some of the Vindolanda Writing Tablets are on display in their home.

Returned to Vindolanda on loan from the British Museum in 2011, the tablets are displayed in a new state of the art, special hermetically sealed case, protected from the decaying influence of oxygen, moisture and humidity.

The Archaeology

The excavations at Vindolanda, set in its stunning landscape, aim to unravel the mysteries of its nine Roman forts/towns and countless communities. It is a huge and complicated task which is undertaken by a dedicated team of professionals leading a veritable army of volunteers. Come and see what the archaeologists discover, the excavations rarely disappoint, and continue to provide some of the most stunning examples of Roman and early British material culture to come from nine forts and nine centuries.


The physical remains include some of the following:

  • A large Pre-Hadrianic bath house and a beautifully preserved 3rd century bath house.
  • Several commanding officer’s residences and barrack buildings
  • A headquarters building
  • 3rd and 4th century evidence of village houses and workshops, latrines, and a Roman Celtic temple to an unknown Romano Celtic God.
  • The only temple to be found on display to a Roman god inside an auxiliary fort anywhere in the Roman Empire (Jupiter Dolichenus).
  • A Post-Roman mausoleum and late Roman Christian churchReplicas of a Roman temple and shop, a Romano-British house and replica sections of Hadrian's Wall in turf timber and stone.

Excavations take place every year at Vindolanda between April and September. We try and give the public as much access as possible by getting you very close to the trenches. Come along and witness the excavations taking place, you might just see our next major discovery coming out of the ground!

The Facilities

Vindolanda has a café with a range of hot and cold drinks as well as snacks, lunches and afternoon tea available. There are also toilets for visitors at both entrances and a shop in the museum to purchase souvenirs. All of these facilities are reserved for visitors to Roman Vindolanda Fort and Museum.

Roman Vindolanda Accessibility Information

Roman Vindolanda Tickets

Published: 1st February, 2019

Updated: 23rd March, 2022

Author:

Location: Chesterholm Museum, Westwood, Hexham, NE47 7JN

Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Latest

  • Illuminating the Vindolanda Stylus Tablets

    Illuminating the Vindolanda Stylus Tablets

    Vindolanda writing tablets are some of the most precious objects to come from the site. This current research project is using new technology to read these ancient texts.

  • Roman Pottery Demonstration

    Roman Pottery Demonstration

    2nd - 3rd June 2022
    Roman Army Museum
    Meet Potted History's Graham Taylor at the Roman Army Museum. See how Romans made their pots and learn about Roman pottery.

  • FACT FILE Animal Brooches

    FACT FILE Animal Brooches

    The Romans used brooches to hold their clothes together and as fashion accessories. Some, the zoomorphic or animal brooches, also had deeper meaning. Find out more here.

  • Taste of the Empire

    Taste of the Empire

    30th & 31st May 2022
    Roman Army Museum

    Join our Roman Chef John Crouch as he introduces us to the Roman diet. What did the Roman soldiers eat to keep them strong and what would you miss if you lived in the Roman times?

Related

  • Day Planner

    Day Planner

    This is a suggested day planner for your visit to Roman Vindolanda and the Roman Army Museum.

  • Roman Army Museum

    Roman Army Museum

    Lying in magnificent countryside next to a sweeping section of Hadrian's Wall and based at the site of Magna Roman Fort, the Roman Army Museum is an authentic and dramatic tribute to Rome’s extraordinary military legacy. Step into the life of a Roman soldier and experience life on the front line of Emperor Hadrian’s formidable British frontier.

Most read

  • Tickets & Arrival Windows

    Tickets & Arrival Windows

    How to visit Vindolanda Roman Fort and Museum and the Roman Army Museum. This page will take you through the new systems we have in place for visiting our sites, what is open and how to visit.

  • Roman Vindolanda Fort & Museum

    Roman Vindolanda Fort & Museum

    Visit Roman Vindolanda today and you will find one of the North East’s most famous and not to be missed tourist attractions lying in the beautiful landscape of Hadrian's Wall Country. Formerly a key military post on the northern frontier of Britain, Vindolanda is the home of Britain's 'Top Treasure' - the Vindolanda Writing Tablets - and is one Europe's most important Roman archaeological sites, with live excavations taking place every year.

  • Roman Army Museum

    Roman Army Museum

    Lying in magnificent countryside next to a sweeping section of Hadrian's Wall and based at the site of Magna Roman Fort, the Roman Army Museum is an authentic and dramatic tribute to Rome’s extraordinary military legacy. Step into the life of a Roman soldier and experience life on the front line of Emperor Hadrian’s formidable British frontier.

  • Getting here

    Getting here

    How to find us no matter how you like to travel, make your journey as smooth as possible and enjoy more time with us.

  • Booking and Visiting FAQ's

    Booking and Visiting FAQ's

    Have you got questions about what to expect when you arrive or how to book? Take a look at our Frequently Asked Questions page which answers some of our visitors most popular queries.

  • Visitor Information

    Visitor Information

    Information and links to all you need to know about visiting our sites, Roman Vindolanda Fort and Museum and the Roman Army Museum.

  • Day Planner

    Day Planner

    This is a suggested day planner for your visit to Roman Vindolanda and the Roman Army Museum.

  • Luna, Moon Goddess

    Luna, Moon Goddess

    The ancient Roman moon goddess, Luna, derives her name from the Latin lucere, meaning ‘to shine’ and was seen not only as the divine embodiment of the moon but also the female counterpart of the sun, Sol.

  • Work for us

    Work for us

    Find out about any opportunities to join the award winning teams at Vindolanda and the Roman Army Musuem.

  • Carved stone depicting mystery horseman uncovered.

    Carved stone depicting mystery horseman uncovered.

    A beautifully carved sandstone relief which depicts a naked male figure holding a spear stood in front of a horse/donkey has been uncovered during the annual excavations at the Roman fort of Vindolanda near Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland.

Carved stone depicting mystery horseman uncovered.

Carved stone depicting mystery horseman uncovered.

A beautifully carved sandstone relief which depicts a naked male figure holding a spear stood in front of a horse/donkey has been uncovered during the annual excavations at the Roman fort of Vindolanda near Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland. Read more

Published: 28th June, 2021

Updated: 13th May, 2022

Author: Sonya Galloway

Latest tweet

Sign up for our newsletter

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Contact us
  • Full sitemap
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

Charity No. 1159798 Company No. 9182268

© Copyright 2019 Charity. All rights reserved.


+44 (0)1434 344277

Manage Cookie Preferences