Site · United Kingdom
Vindolanda
Roman, 85–400 CE
Vindolanda is an auxiliary fort and civilian settlement just south of Hadrian's Wall, occupied from about 85 to 400 CE, whose anaerobic soils preserved the earliest handwritten documents in Britain. Excavation continues each summer.
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| State / province | Northumberland |
| Dates | 85–400 CE |
| Status | Scheduled Monument within the Hadrian's Wall World Heritage Site |
| Managed by | Vindolanda Trust |
| Access | Open to the public with ongoing excavations and a museum |
| Coordinates | 54.991, -2.361 (public site) |
What was found
The waterlogged deposits preserved the Vindolanda writing tablets, thousands of leather shoes, textiles, wooden objects, a boxing glove, samian and coarse pottery, coins, brooches and military equipment from nine successive forts. The tablets are in the British Museum and many of the other finds in the site museum.
Rules
Nothing may be collected, dug, moved or removed at Vindolanda; it is a protected archaeological site managed by Vindolanda Trust, and taking artifacts, stones or samples is an offence. In England, Scheduled Monument protection makes any digging or metal detecting without consent an offence. This article is for study and context only and is not a collecting locality.
Elsewhere
Cite this article
Stratum Strata. "Vindolanda" (Site). Stratum Strata pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21. https://stratum.black/strata/sites/vindolanda. Accessed 2026-09-21.
@misc{stratum-vindolanda,
title = {Vindolanda},
author = {{Stratum Strata}},
howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/strata/sites/vindolanda}},
year = {2026},
note = {Site article, Stratum Strata pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21; sources: stratum, wikidata, commons. Accessed 2026-09-21.}
} Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.