The heart of the fort

The heart of the fort. . , Three buildings dominated a Roman military settlement and these were all placed in the middle of the fort. The principia, praetorium and the horrea formed a central range of imposing buildings which could easily have been identified and located by anyone entering by the main gates of the fort. , Principia , The most important structure was the headquarters building (principia). The principia was always placed at the heart of the fort, in the middle of the central range: in it was the soldiers' pay the regimental banners and honours, extra weapons and stores. It was the central office or nerve centre of Vindolanda where all the administration for most aspects of military life took place. , Praetorium , The commanding officer's house was fully furnished with all of the facilities needed to mark out his status as the most important person living at the site. He had his own bath house, private toilets, suites of rooms for his family, servants and slaves. The building was furnished with heated dining rooms, stables, and a secluded and private courtyard or garden in the middle of the building. While most of the occupants of the fort lived almost on top of one another, the commanding officer lived in relative opulence and would regularly use his house to entertain other members of the ruling elite or hold parties for veterans. His own store rooms would have supplemented his relatively lavish lifestyle and kept his private stocks quite separate from those of the soldiers stored in the granaries. , Horrea , The twin granaries (horrea) at Vindolanda would have been impressive three-storey structures full to the brim with grain, barrels of beer, sides of ham and smoked pig, hay for the horses and spare military kit. They had to contain enough food to serve the population of Vindolanda from harvest to harvest, and the volume of the stores held within them would have been of vital concern to the quartermaster and commanding officer. Although most of the supplies in the granaries were supposed to be only for the soldiers themselves, it is extremely likely that the buildings were used to service the wider military community as a whole.