Pons Aelius

Pons Aelius (Latin: Aelian Bridge) or Newcastle Roman Fort was an auxiliary castra and small Roman settlement on Hadrian's Wall in the Roman province of Britannia Inferior (northern England) and was situated on the north bank of the River Tyne close to the centre of present-day Newcastle upon Tyne.

Pons Aelius was a fort and Roman settlement at the original eastern end of Hadrian's Wall, at the site now occupied by The Castle, Newcastle. The Latin name means "Aelian Bridge" and can be traced back to when emperor Hadrian (whose family Nomen (clan name) was Aelius) visited Britain in AD 122 and first saw the need for a frontier wall.

The town's population is estimated to have been around 2,000. The fort is estimated to have been 1.53 acres (6,200 m²), small by usual Roman standards. As Pons Aelius was a wall fort it is very likely a military road led from it and followed the Wall, linking its forts and milecastles.

The bridge and its fort were built at the northern end of a road, Cade's Road, which is speculated to have run from Brough-on-Humber, passing through York (Eboracum) and the fort of Concangis. Although the fort was to be the wall's eastern end, it was not long before the wall was extended to Segedunum (Wallsend). There is evidence to suggest the fort was rebuilt in stone, probably during the reign of the emperor Septimius Severus (AD 193-211). It is also suggested Pons Aelius may have been built to replace an earlier fort at the south of the Tyne at Gateshead.

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