Archeologists who study Roman army latrines tell us the army's diet was primarily grain. (And you thought your job was bad!) Therefore safe and adequate grain storage was an important element in the design of permanent forts. Housesteads' granary (horrea) is literally high and dry, being among the uppermost buildings on this hilly site and perched on an elevated floor.[17] This left a cool and dry building also suitable for storing meat (although the army typically stored that on the hoof.)
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Left: Diagram of the Granaries from the Housesteads Museum; Above: Drawing found on the site of the ruins depicting the granary before it was separated into two sections, each with its own ridged roof. We see above the west doors of the granaries. Originally this was one single hall but was later divided into two separate rooms, each with its own roof. The entrances were at the west end as grain entered through the west gate to reduce traffic on the busier eastern and southern gates.[17] |
Fort granaries would store grain sufficient for their troops plus reserves for sieges and campaigns. Below are the pillars (shown as small squares in the diagram at upper left) which lifted the wood floor above the damp and vermin. Often fort granaries had vents on the outer wall to promote air circulation. When first constructed, the granary had two aisles separated by six piers holding the ridge of the roof. Later the space was divided into two sections, each with its own ridged roof. (Housesteads was pretty much permanently under construction as the army remodeled buildings to address their changing needs, usually by pulling stones from an obsolete building to modify or create a new one, after all, the quarry for new stone could be a 100 miles or more away.)
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Below is a side view of the buttresses that pushed back upon the wall so that it could support a heavy roof without being pushed outward; their size suggests that there may have been a second floor. The roof extended over wide eaves to keep the outer walls dry. A large roof such as the granary had would most like have a large drainage system feeding water into holding tanks for later use.
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During the late fourth century, the army reduced the number of men stationed at Housesteads and the granary was further divided, perhaps with part of it for the army and the rest for the area tax collections (which could well be in grain, of course. By the 3rd century, monetary inflation was rampant and taxes were often collected in kind rather than in coin.[12] )
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