housesteads08 The Barracks Most of the buildings in the fort, as you might expect, were barracks. In the barracks the men were grouped in mess-units of 8 (contubernium). Each unit had a room for sleeping with an antechamber for kit. No trace of beds has been found; there may have been wooden bunks or possibly mattresses were rolled out on the clay floor. These foundations show the original structure followed the normal pattern of a long building divided into ten rooms for soldiers (80 men), with larger quarters for the centurion at the far end. The visible remains date from the 4th century when the barrack rooms were replaced by six individual houses, a workshop and the centurion's quarters. Each unit apparently had a separate roof. The smaller building at the nearest end was probably a workshop. These 4th century houses may have been married quarters for soldiers and their families. This would indicate a considerable reduction in the number of soldiers garrisoning the fort.