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The pasture dotted with dandelions is the part of the Roman Fort that lies to the north of the Military Road which here was built on the line of Hadrian's Wall. Its north gate would have been near the fence line on the right. Vindobala is thought to mean 'white peak' while the alternative name, Vindovala, translates as 'white walls' which may be more correct. The northern part of the Fort has never been excavated and considerable remains may lie below its seemingly flat surface.

The site of Rudchester Fort is owned and managed by Northumberland County Council.

The ruins of Rudchester fort were very well preserved until the eighteenth century. Hors­ley (1732) described the remains as 'very remark­able'; he could identify interval-towers and those at the gates and angles in the northern part of the fort, though those in the southern part were 'not so distinct'. By the 1760s stone-robbing was in progress and by 1783 the site was under the plough. The ridge-and-furrow now visible in the southern part of the fort probably dates to this period, before becoiming permanent pasture. In the 1860s the northern part of the fort was under the plough but the southern part was still under grass.

Tynedale U3A, Hadrian's Wall Group: Archive Link