Here in Northumbria, we are fortunate in having some wonderful Roman remains. Of course we have Hadrian’s Wall, the 74-mile-long barrier that marked the edge of the Roman Empire and all the forts and other buildings linked to it such as Arbeia in South Shields, and Housesteads and Vindolanda in Northumberland.
We also have numerous place names linked to the Romans, including Chester-le-Street, which was named after the Roman fort or ‘castra’ of Congangis.
Roman industrial hub in Sunderland
Now it has been reported that evidence of a large and previously unknown industrial hub of Roman manufacturing has been discovered by archaeologists. This discovery is said to be thought of as one of the most significant finds in northern England in the last 100 years.
Researchers were said to be “astonished”, when they found more than 800 whetstones at a site on the banks of the River Wear. That is not all; they also suspect that there could be “hundreds, if not thousands, more buried in the riverbank.”
Whetstones were very important to Roman soldiers and would have been required by every Roman soldier, as they were basically stone bars, used to sharpen bladed weapons and tools and were found all over the Roman empire.
The project leader Gary Bankhead, an honorary fellow of Durham University, said that about 250 whetstones had been discovered in the British Isles prior to this new discovery and added, “for us to suddenly find at least 800 and very likely many hundreds if not thousands more … it is staggering.”
This new discovery places North East England firmly in Roman Britain’s sophisticated manufacturing and trade network, as it is the biggest known whetstone discovery in the whole of North West Europe.
Hidden in plain sight
It has also been noted that this amazing discovery was essentially ‘hiding in plain sight.’ It has been reported that the huge Roman industrial hub that has been uncovered on the banks of the River Wear at Offerton, near Sunderland, had been a site that had stayed “hidden in plain sight” for centuries.
The excavations on the site were undertaken by the local Vedra Hylton Community Association and began in February last year.
It was Allyson Timm, who first found whetstones, she wasn’t sure what they were and consequently mistook them for “Mars Bar stones” at first.
Timm commented: “I actually found the first ones over the opposite side of the river and didn’t have a clue what they were. I’m so pleased to be part of [the dig] and we’ve all worked together. It’s just amazing and now we’ve made history with it.”
AD 104 to AD 238
Durham University, who supported the excavation have said that its research has suggested that Offerton was the “first Roman site found in Britain where stone was deliberately quarried for whetstone production.”
They have also suggested that according to samples of sediment taken from the excavation, it appears that the factory was in use between AD104 and AD238.
Gary Bankhead from Durham University stated that this was “without a shadow of a doubt,” the biggest whetstone production site in Britain. It was also noted that Bankhead had said that the team had also discovered a number of other objects from different periods from the same site. This suggests that Offerton was later re-established as a settlement, after having been abandoned by the Romans.
Our industrial heritage
A lot of credit must be given to all those involved in this important discovery by the banks of the Wear, including the local Vedra Hylton Community Association and Durham University.
It is great news that this new discovery can be added to the wonderful Roman heritage we have in the North East, and of course to our great industrial heritage.
It is somehow very appropriate that such an early industrial hub has been discovered in our region, which was one of the first major industrial regions in the world during the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries and gave us so many inventions, such as the railways, turbines and the electric lightbulb.
Now we can add this newly discovered site of Roman industrial heritage to the long list of our industrial heritage locations.
