Seven Roman Milestones

Crindledykes Farm, Northumberland

NGRef: NY7866
OSMap: LR86/87
Type: Milestones
Roads
Stanegate: E (7) to Newbrough (Northumberland)via Grindon Hill
Stanegate: W (1) to VINDOLANDA (Chesterholm, Northumberland)

Milestone of Emperor Severus Alexander and Governor Claudius Xenophon
IMP CAES M AVREL SEVERO ALEXANDRO PIO FEL AVG P M TR P II COS P P CVR CL XENOPH LEG AVG PR PRAET M P XIIII
"For Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander Pius Felix Augustus,¹ High Priest, holder of tribunician power for the second time, Consular, Father of the Fatherland, under the administration of Claudius Xenophon,² legate of the emperor with pro-praetorian power. Fourteen thousand paces [to Corstopitum]³"
(RIB 2299; dated: AD222/3)
  1. The emperor Severus Alexander succeeded his adoptive father Elagabalus in March 222 and ruled until his murder at Vicus Britannicus (Bretzenheim, Germany) in March 235.
  2. Claudius Xenephon was governor of Britain c.AD223.
  3. Although the name of the terminus station is not supplied on the stone the specified distance of 14 miles corresponds exactly with that measured eastwards along the Stanegate to the Corbridge supply-base on the River Tyne. There is nothing remarkable located a comparable distance along the Stanegate to the west.

Milestone of the Emperor Probus
M AVR PROBVS P F INVIC AVG
"[For Imperator Caesar] Marcus Aurelius Probus Pius Felix Invictus Augustus.¹"
(RIB 2300; dated: AD276-282)
  1. The emperor Probus was the former commander of Rome's eastern frontier who succeeded Florianus after instigating the military coup which resulted in the latter's death. He ruled from July AD276 until he was murdered by his own soldiers near Sirmium in September 282.

A number of Roman milestones have been unearthed at Crindledykes Farm, which lies about 1 mile (1.6km) to the east of Chesterholm/Vindolanda along the Stanegate. There are seven entries in the R.I.B. for Crindledykes, all of them milestones, all but two of which may be dated. The undateable stones are rendered so by the brevity of their texts, one of them reading IMP ... or "For the emperor [...]" (RIB 2304), the other simply LI perhaps "fifty-one [miles to somewhere]" (RIB 2305). The dateable stones are shown on this page.

Milestone Re-Inscribed Several Times
InscriptionTogo-TranslationDate
...NOB CAES"...Noble Caesar"AD296-305
... NOB CAES"... Noble Caesar"AD306-307
IMP CAES MAXIMIANO P F AVG"Imperator Caesar Maximianus Pius Felix Augustus"AD305-311
IMP CAES MAXIMINO PF AVG"Imperator Caesar Maximinus Pius Felix Augustus"AD309-313
(RIB 2301; milestone, re-used three times)

Milestones of Emperor Constantinus
IMP CAES FL VAL CONSTANTINVS P F INV AVG DIVI CONSTANTI IMP CAES FLAV VAL CONSTANTINO PIO F NOB CAESARI DIVI CONSTANTI PII AVG FILIO
"For Imperator Caesar Flavius Valerius Constantinus Pius Felix Invictus Augustus, [son of] the divine Constantius" "For Imperator Caesar Flavius Valerius Constantinus Pius Felix, most noble Caesar, the son of the deified Constantius Pius Augustus"
(RIB 2302; dated: AD307-337) (RIB 2303; dated: AD306-307)
See: Chronicle of the Roman Emperors by Chris Scarre (Thames & Hudson, London, 1995);
Chronology of the Ancient World by E.J. Bickerman (Thames & Hudson, London, 1980);
The Roman Inscriptions of Britain by R.G. Collingwood and R.P. Wright (Oxford 1965).
All English translations, including any inherent mistakes, are my own.

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