Vindolanda

Vindolanda is an excavated Roman fort with a civilian settlement; the first timber fort was built around AD 85. The site is famous for its writing tablets: in March 1973 Robin Birley found the first thin wooden tablets about 4 m down in a drainage ditch. They are written in ink in cursive Latin and include letters and reports, among them a strength report of about AD 90 and Claudia Severa’s birthday invitation to Sulpicia Lepidina. The British Museum holds more than 1,700 tablets; a small group is on long-term loan to the on-site museum.

The museum displays finds in the house that Eric Birley bought in 1929. Excavations run from April to August; if you want to watch archaeologists at work, British Heritage suggests visiting on a weekday. Outside the fort you can see rows of houses and a large bathhouse. The Roman Army Museum, run as a sister site, is nearby.