What are the earliest written historical records from the North East have emerged from a batch of new letters discovered at a Northumberland Roman fort. The writing tablets are from, and to, Julius Verecundus, the first commander of the original wooden fort at Vindolanda before the building of Hadrian’s Wall.

This fort dates from between 85-92AD and Verecundus was the colonel in charge of the First Cohort of Tungrians, from what is modern-day Belgium. A total of 25 fragmentary Verecundus wooden letters were unearthed in 2017 at Vindolanda, which was followed by two years of conservation work and painstaking deciphering and research by experts.