The Roman Fort (Arbeia) on the high ground of Law Top was a very important spot on the Roman Empire map and doubled as a storage and supply base for the maintenance of Hadrians Wall. The fort itself has been well excavated but very little has been revealed of the domestic site (vicus) which was a common feature of many Roman military establishments. Some small evidence for this has already been uncovered near the SW corner of Arbeia but there must have been a dedicated 'port' area required to support the supply base. Given the cruel nature of North Sea weather, it could hardly have been to the east of the fort and geography would have ruled out the very narrow strip immediately North, which may then have been a sheer cliff.
A naturally weather protected port would have been situated on the riverside and the Tyne Dock position may well have been following much earlier common sense and practice. Only archaeological work could ever provide the evidence...which brings us to my suggestion which could never be proved about those names. 'Corstophine' is tantalisingly similar to Corstopitum (Roman Corbridge) and the word 'Temple' is synonymous with the fact that very many Roman sites contain the remains of such structures. The idea of a combined military/civilian port just inside the mouth of the Tyne may only be stretching my own imagination and no one else's but, those two titles, so close together, qualified by the word 'Town' instead of street or road is certainly worth thinking about.
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