The church at Vindolanda

The Daily Express online website has a post today about the interpretation of the evidence for a late or post-Roman church at Vindolanda in Northumberland associated with the chalice that was discovered there and publicised last year. I posted about that in Chalice from Vindolanda

The new report explains that an area of dark earth, whose significance on this and other sites had been missed hitherto, represented decayed timber work from a church built on rough stone foundations. This points to active life at Vindolanda in the last years of a military presence or in the following decades of the early fifth century. Evidence for such continuity of occupation is increasing and ties in with historical research into the post- Roman, and Arthurian era. 

The website article, together with the links to their previous reports can be read at Archaeology breakthrough as 'dark earth' at Vindolanda site discovers rich 'secrets' 

Vindolanda has been, I think, less in the news than it was some years ago, until these recent discoveries. That however is a personal impression and is perhaps because I am not now living in the north. It is a long time since my one visit to the site. Twenty to thirty years ago it was attracting a lot of attention, particularly through the discovery of original letters or notes which opened up the world of the community in this outpost of Empire. However it continues as a research project to reshape our understanding of Roman and post Roman Britain.