Where the Soldiers Lived

Where the Soldiers Lived. . , Where the Soldiers Lived , Most of the space within the fort was occupied by barracks where the soldiers and their officers lived. , In front of you are the wall foundations of building XIII, one of ten identical fort barracks completed under Hadrian in the 120s AD. It survived, altered and repaired, for almost 200 years. , Each barrack was a long, low building that accommodated a century – 80 men – in ten compartments plus a larger apartment for the centurion in command. Each compartment was for a group of eight men (contubernium) who lived in a very small space made worse by further subdivision into two smaller rooms. The front room was for weapons and kit and the rear room for sleeping, though both were used for various tasks including cooking. , A pitched roof was carried forward over the front of the building, supported on stone columns, to provide a dry covered area for various duties and for relaxing when off duty. , Felix says … , So, this is my home. Can you imagine sharing a room with seven people? I eat, sleep and relax here, so it is very cramped! , ( photo captions ) , Left: An idealised cut-away drawing showing the inside of a barrack block. In practice, sub-division was less regular and rooms used more flexibly. Reconstruction: akg-images/Peter Connolly , Above: The front of barrack XIII in the second century AD. The roof line is stepped down in stages to compensate for the sloping ground. Reconstruction by Philip Cooke