BINCHESTER, a township in that part of the
parish of ST-ANDREW-AUCKLAND which is in the
north-western division of DARLINGTON ward, county
palatine of DURHAM, 2 miles (N. by E.) from Bishop-
Auckland, containing 49 inhabitants. Binchester appears
to have been a Roman station,, called Finovia by
Antoninus, and Binovium by Ptolemy, situated on the
Fosse-way. Mr. Cade considers it to have been sacred
to Bacchus, and to have derived its name, Vinomum,
from the festivals held at it, in honour of that deity.
The fortress occupied an elevated site rising from the
bank of the river Wear, and the station comprised a
plot of about twenty-nine acres of ground, within.which,
and in its vicinity, the remains of a hypocaust, altars,
urns, and other relics, have been found.