Barracks: the Last Hundred Years at Housesteads

Barracks: the Last Hundred Years at Housesteads. . , Barracks: the Last Hundred Years at Housesteads , Archaeology has revealed radical changes to the fort beginning around AD 300. One of the most important was the reconstruction of the barracks from single long buildings into smaller individual 'chalets’. , The replacement for each barrack used the same space but was made up of several small individual chalets of varying size, forming a row. The number of chalets in each row was fewer than the rooms in the old barracks, possibly indicating a smaller garrison. In front of you, barrack XIV was rebuilt as seven chalets; five for soldiers, one large unit for an officer and one used as a workshop. , During the same period, other buildings were reconstructed – and similar work is known at other Wall forts. The new barracks at Housesteads may be part of a general re-organisation of the frontier. One reason may be the campaign of a Roman army under Constantius Chlorus north of the Wall in AD 305, against the Picts. , ( photo captions ) , Far right: In the course of the fourth century, the Roman army developed a new structure. The troops were re-organised into mobile field armies (comitatenses) and frontier troops (limitanei). Limitanei, equipped like this one, lived in the new barracks at Housesteads. Reconstruction by Nick Hardcastle , Above: the chalets of barrack XIV in the fourth century AD. Each chalet had its own roof and a narrow alley separating it from the next. Reconstruction by Philip Corke