Tristan Hughes

Let's say it's the end of the second century AD or sometime around that.

Do we have any idea about the mourning routine of a soldier or their family?

Do we know when they would wake up, where they would be sleeping?

What do we know about that?

Because they're horses in the same room, don't you?

per group to make up the 18th century you'd probably be taking turns because i guess this is different because if you think of a like a roman army or an ancient army if you're thinking of a field army they'll be given rations for x days on campaign but of course this is a different setting this is where they are every day of the year if they're a garrison kind of thing so i didn't realize that that of course the making of your own food how much time in the day that would have entailed and do we know much about where those cooking places would have been

And do you think the soldiers would have had servants to help in the fort for any of that stuff?

And the fetching of water, we talked about food early on, but do we know much about the fetching of water and liquid?

I mean, if it's not water, I guess milk from the local cows or anything like that.

Do we know about that?

And so you mentioned how we put the scenario at the end of the second century in this particular case, where in the case of the cavalry at Chester's, three men, three horses in a barrack block.

But you mentioned that after that decree that soldiers could marry, do we see that reflected in the archaeology at all, that the barrack blocks changed, I guess, for both infantry and cavalry, that they could have a family with them?

I just love the idea.

It's always in my mind now, ever since going to Vindolanda and learning about that and seeing that wall of shoes they have of all sizes, just thinking that maybe in those later centuries, kind of walking out for barrack blocks, seeing the soldiers huddled around doing their stuff, like their garrison duties, but also potentially seeing, you know, two children running around playing or like a woman with clothing or whatever like that.

It's fascinating to kind of get that insight into a war community as well at the same time as just the soldiers from the archaeology.

But if we kind of stick with that turn of the third century then, if we were walking through a place like Chester's, woken up, got the water, done the food, what types of clothing do you think we'd see, both like the armour of soldiers, but also the everyday clothing?

No, exactly.

That old Roman idea that anyone who wears trousers are barbarians is like, well, as soon as you get into northern England and you experience a winter here, you're going to be praying for trousers at the very least, right?

Could you still imagine like the prefect or the chief administrators at one of the forts maybe wearing the equivalent of a toga or something more, I guess, in the Roman mindset, prestigious to symbolise their rank?

other things like that being very personal the reason i ask also is because don't you get in many of these forts you get the the commander's house so you get the headquarters you get the commander's house and you get the granaries in the middle of the fort and when the commander's house sometimes did we see the house days it almost comes very much an italian feel to it a villa feel to it yeah so do we get a sense that maybe if you're walking through somewhere like chester's at the turn of the third century you might be able to spot who was like the commander's wife or the commander's family because they might look a bit you know a bit more