aerial photograph of Vindolanda Roman auxiliary fort (castrum) adjacent Hadrian's Wall Northumberland. The first fort built on the site was of wooden construction built around AD 85. This was rebuilt at least 5 times in wood before eventually a stone fort was built. This stone fort was then itself rebuilt by the Forth Cohort of Gauls in AD213. The fort was abandoned around AD 280 but then again reoccupied and rebuilt around AD300. This time it was occupied by Germanic troops who built a church. After the withdrawal of the Roman Legions around AD 400 the fort was used by local warlords until finally being abandoned around AD900. The fort has been the site of a number of interesting archaeological finds, in particular the Vindolanda Tablets which were a series of routine correspondence written on wooden tablets and detailing day to day life in the fort including a birthday party invitation for the wife of the forts commander written in AD 100.