Air Reconnaissance in Britain, 1961-64

Author(s): J. K. St. Joseph

Source: The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 55, No. 1/2, Parts 1 and 2 (1965), pp. 74-89
Published by: Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/297432
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AIR RECONNAISSANCE IN BRITAIN, I96I-64
By J. K. St. JOSEPH
(Plates
ix-xIir)
Systematic air reconnaissance of Romano-British sites has continued during the last
few years, with results that are summarized in this paper which supplements accounts of
earlier surveys already published in this Journal.1 In both the summers of I963 and I964
a prolonged dry spell affected much of eastern Scotland, but this region apart, the weather
was not particularly favourable for the development of crop marks in the period under
review: the dry spell in central and southern England in I964 came too late to affect
the cereal crops, but was the cause of remarkable differential growth in certain roots, particu-
larly beet.
The greatest gain in information is in the military zone of north Britain, where
photography repeated year by year never fails to yield discoveries: in the civil districts of
the Province, Romano-British settlements and their agriculture are the most rewarding
subjects to study. Nearly every feature here described has been examined on the ground,
for only so can an accurate impression be gained of a site in relation to its surroundings:
except where noted otherwise, no remains are ordinarily visible on the surface. The
records and photographs on which this account is based are housed in the offices of the
Committee for Aerial Photography of the University of Cambridge.
I. Three early forts in central England.-The existence of a Roman fort at Longthorpe
(TL 158977)2 in the Nene valley 2 miles upstream from Peterborough and over 2 miles from
the nearest point on Ermine Street, was revealed by air reconnaissance in I96I. The
site, on a level gravel terrace north of the river, has been carefully chosen: southwards
the ground falls away to the Nene, now flowing at a distance of little more than I 20 ft. from
the south-west angle; northwards it slopes down to a small brook. Vertical and oblique
photographs (pl. Ix) taken over the last few years show almost the whole outline of the fort
(fig. i), which measures i,200 by i,ooo ft. within the ditches, an area of
2732
acres. Two
ditches are present on the east, north and west sides, but apparently one ditch only on the
south. A gate occurs near the centre of the south, east and north sides, and a west gate may
be assumed, matching the east gate. A considerably smaller enclosure (725 ft. square)
defined by a single ditch lies within the fort, and attached to its south side. A north gate is
present, not in a central position, but almost opposite the north gate of the fort, though
considerably narrower than it. This may represent either a temporary camp, or a second
phase in permanent works.
No trace whatever of these features is now ordinarily visible on the surface: the land
here has long been under cultivation. However, a visit to the site on 3rd March, I962, when
there happened to be a light scatter of snow, revealed that the lines of the buried ditches
could be recognized by the differential melting of the snow lying over them. The snow
melted more rapidly over the infilled ditches than elsewhere, so that the position of the
ditches could be recognized by lines of bare ground contrasting with the normal snow
covering. The effect was most transient, as in a few hours the snow had melted everywhere,
but this provides an interesting illustration of the way in which buried features revealed by
air observation may sometimes be detected on the ground.
The double ditches, some 20 ft. apart centre to centre, show that the larger work at
Longthorpe was a fort rather than a temporary camp. Of internal structures nothing is now
visible, but Roman levels cannot lie deep and buildings, in timber, should not be difficult
to trace. Only towards the SE. angle has the surface been disturbed by an old gravel-pit.
A fort at NTewton on Trent was discovered in the course of reconnaissance of the Trent
valley in I962 when the ditch-system on part of the N. and E. sides was visible. Subsequent
observation has added more to the plan; only the line of the W. side which is under
permanent pasture remains unknown. The site lies 9.1 miles W. of Lincoln, at the N. end
(SK 824737) of a ridge that rises to a height of some 70 ft. on the E. bank of the Trent. This
I
JRS XLI, XLIII, XLV, XLVIII and LI.
2
These references are to the National Grid.
AIR RECONNAISSANCE IN BRITAIN, 196I-64 75
is the highest ground close to the river for a good many miles, and thus commands very
extensive views.
The plan (fig. 2) shows the line of the two ditches of the fort on the N., E. and S. sides,
each with a gate. The proven area of the fort thus measures i,ooo ft. from N. to S., by
at least 840 ft., within the ditches. If the N. and S. gates may be assumed to be centrally
placed in their sides, then a strip of ground 2oo ft. wide should be added to the W. side of
the fort as shown on the plan, giving an E. to W. dimension of about I,040 ft. and area of
251
acres. This would mean that the fort was well placed on the crest of the ridge: a little
of the area has now been lost by river-erosion at the SW. angle.
Outside the fort to the E. a number of lengths of ditch have been recorded in terms of
crop marks (pl. x, i). Though the system is manifestly incomplete, the plan leaves little
doubt that the remains are those of a temporary camp, having gates where adjacent lengths
of ditch overlap, an unusual arrangement
3
forcing a would-be attacker to approach
obliquely, exposing his right side to the defenders as he did so. If this camp lies sym-
metrically across the ridge its area may be half as large again as that of the fort.
Both Longthorpe and Newton lie beside a large river in a position skilfully chosen
with regard to tactical advantage, but not in relation to any known line of Roman road;
both have two broad ditches set moderately far apart, and wide gates. Both are carefully
planned with their axes exactly at right-angles, while proportions and area are closely
similar. The area is so large as to place these far outside the range of forts garrisoned by
auxiliary troops.4 The impression gained is that they are the work of the same unit. Though
not large enough to hold an entire legion, they would accommodate a considerable
\+< LONGTHORPE
F EE 1 500
FIG. I. ROMAN FORT AT LONGTHORPE, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.
Drawn by the author.
3
cf. the camp at Castledykes considered to be of
early Flavian date: A. Robertson, The Roman fort at
Castledykes, I964, fig. 29.
4
In Britain they are closely matched in size only
by Kinvaston I and Clyro, which are, however, of
different proportions.
76 J. K. ST. JOSEPH
proportion of a legion engaged on operations at the time of the Conquest. In newly conquered
territory, this is just the time when to leave a base-fortress unguarded might be deemed
imprudent. If it may be supposed that two or three cohorts remained behind to guard the
base, wherever that lay, Longthorpe and Newton are large enough to hold the remainder of
a legion so divided.
Near the point at which Watling Street crosses the small river Penk in Staffordshire
(fig.
3),
three forts, Stretton Mill (A on fig.
3)
and Kinvaston i and ii (C) in addition to a
road-side settlement (D), known by the Latinized name of Pennocrucium, have already
come to light.5 Two more military enclosures have now appeared. A fort (E) has been
identified on level ground (SJ 905 io0) to S. of the Roman road on the farm of Eaton House.
The platform of the fort is clearly marked, and the site is the best placed of any of the five
military works hereabouts, commanding wide views. The fort measures about 480 ft.
square, over the rampart-crests, an area of some 5 acres. A prominent mound marks the
position of the W. rampart, which seems to have been incorporated in a large ridge of
the medieval system of 'ridge and furrow' that covers the site. Slighter mounds mark the
rampart on the other three sides. The presence of two ditches, at least, on the E. and N.
can be detected on photographs.
On
5th
April, I965, when the site was being ploughed to a depth of i8 in., light-
coloured turfy soil from the rampart and burnt oven-debris from the intervallum were
being turned up together with patches of daub and gravel from the interior of the fort-in
particular, the gravel metalling of a central N. to S. street could be clearly traced. The
scatter of pottery lying in the plough-soil included rusticated ware, an amphora
neck,
NEWTON ONTRENT
IL A
29 _ O0 FEET Iso
FIG. 2. ROMAN FORT AND CAMP, NEWTON ON TRENT, LINCOLNSHIRE.
Drawn by the author.
5 JRS XLIII, 1953, 83-4, 92; XLVIII, 1958, 94.
AIR RECONNAISSANCE IN BRITAIN, 196i-64 77
mortaria fragments, Samian Dr. 35-6, besides a quern in gritstone. No doubt much
material may have strayed from the site of the ' town' in the next field.
Half a mile to N. beyond the hamlet of Water Eaton a small temporary camp (B) has
been recognized (SJ 904II4). The line of its ditch is seen as a crop mark on photographs
taken over a number of years. The camp, which measures about 290 ft. from SE. to NW.
by 450 ft., at a rough estimate, lies on a shelf above the E. bank of the Penk. No trace is
now visible on the surface.
Excavations in the last fifteen years at a number of localities on Roman trunk roads
have revealed military works beneath or beside the remains of later settlements that grew
up on these roads. The neighbouring site at Wall, in Staffordshire, is a case in point.
At the Penk-crossing both a defended civilian settlement and no less than four forts and
one camp are known, but the chance that they all occupy different positions (fig. 3) makes
for clearer understanding of the complexity of remains encountered, for example, at Wall,
where a similar series of works occurs superimposed.
II. Military sites in north Britain.-Recent photographs of the well-known Roman site
at Newton Kyme 6 (SE 456454), Yorkshire, show that there are here at least two forts. The
N
LLA ,' I N
G
aTR
, 8 // O ~ ~~ F E E. T 300
FIG. 3. SITE PLAN: WATLING STREET NEAR STRETTON, STAFFORDSHIRE.
Drawn by D. R. Wilson.
6
JRS
xIiII, 1953, 87-8, pl. XI, I; XLV, I955, 82.
78 J. K. ST. JOSEPH
larger of the two, which appears to be the later, extends to some io acres within the
ramparts,
and has its S. front set nearly 200 ft. out beyond the smaller fort. Within the area common
to the two forts, buildings (of stone) and streets are visible in the crops, so closely grouped
that elements of both forts are probably in question. Newton Kyme is in arable land and
excavation here should not be long delayed, for continued ploughing will inevitably destroy
stratified levels.
On Hadrian's Wall, at Moss Side
7
(NY 457604), in Cumberland, photography has
added a little more to the known outline of the Roman camps, including the position of a
gate in the E. side of the larger camp. A temporary camp has been recorded to the E. of
Burgh by Sands, between the Wall and the Vallum immediately S. of Milecastle 7I (NY
34059I). The E. side, approximately 450 ft. long, a short length of each of the N. and S.
sides and the rounded eastern angles are known so far.
All the more important Roman sites in Scotland have been reconnoitred yearly. At the
principal bases like Glenlochar, Newstead, Castledykes and Ardoch, Roman works extend
over a large area, and repeated examination often yields new details whenever there occurs
a particularly favourable combination of soil, weather and crops. In the course of these
surveys some eighteen temporary camps have come to light. These discoveries have two-
fold importance, in providing proof of troop-movements in areas where there was no
previous evidence of Roman campaigning, and in affording clues to the existence of forts,
or other permanent works, as yet unrecognized.
Five of these camps lie in the Tweed valley. One is at Carham (NT 800378), just
within Northumberland, occupying the SW. end of a ridge. Only a length of some 500 ft.
of the W. side, including a gate with a tutulus, is known so far. Twelve and a half miles
upstream, at Maxton (NT 6I4304), in Roxburghshire, crop marks reveal a length of 750 ft.
of the SE. side, some 350 ft. of the NE. side and the rounded E. angle of another camp,
lying above the S. bank of the Tweed, which has eroded part of the area. Yet another camp
has been recorded a mile to the NW. on fairly level ground within the great loop of the
Tweed, NE. of St. Boswells (NT 6053I7). Photographs establish the position of all four
sides, the rounded angles, and, in the NE. side, a central gate with tutulus. The plan is a
rectangle apart from the irregularity of a slight re-entrant angle in the NW. side; this
change in direction probably takes place at a gate, but at the critical point the line of ditch
is obscured by a field-boundary. The axial dimensions of the camp may be estimated as
850
ft. from NE. to SW. by
650
ft. At St. Leonards 8 (NT 547455), in Lauderdale, a part
of the W. side of this great camp, never before seen under cereal crops, has now been
recorded, together with a second W. gate. The perimeter of the camp now lies within eleven
different fields, and it is interesting to note that reconnaissance over a period as long as
eighteen years has proved necessary before each field could be observed under a cereal crop
at a sensitive stage of growth.
Reconnaissance of the Teviot valley has confirmed the provisional identification in I960
of a temporary camp on the river-flats, i 2 miles W. of Denholm9 (NT 543 I77), in Roxburgh-
shire. The course of the ditch has been established for the whole of the SE. and NE. sides, and
much of the SW., as well as at the rounded S. and E. angles. The axial dimensions of the camp
may be estimated at I,200 ft. from NE. to SW. by I,000 ft., or rather more. Part of the camp near
the W. angle has been eroded by the river. Three-quarters of a mile to S., at Cavers Mains
farm (NT 548i67), another temporary camp has been identified. It lies high above the
Teviot on the E. end of a ridge at an altitude of some
500
ft. A length of 6oo ft. of the NE.
side and nearly i,ooo ft. of the SE., together with the rounded angle between them, have
been recorded. A slight change in direction occurs in the SE. side at a gate which is
furnished with a tutulus. Further survey is needed not only to complete the plan of the
camp, but to search for a possible fort, which the Roman plan of occupation for Selgovian
territory may well have required to watch over Teviotdale, just as the fort at Oakwood,
9- miles to NW., controls the upper Ettrick.
Evidence for Roman troop-movements along the upper valley of the Tweed, proved by
the recognition some years ago of a camp at Innerleithen, is reinforced by the discovery of
J7RS XLI, 1951, 55.
8
YRSXLI, 1951, 57; XLV, 1955, 85; XLVIII, 1958,
88 ; LI,
19q61,
1i21.
9
J7RS LI, I96I, 122.
AIR RECONNAISSANCE IN BRITAIN, 196 I-64 79
two camps at Eshiels (NT 28I395), 33 miles further upstream. The site lies on gently
sloping ground 2 miles from Peebles, in the angle between the main river and a small
tributary, the Eshiels Burn. The fields there carry a variety of crops, only some of which
develop growth-differences responding to buried features. Of the smaller camp the greater
part of the S. side, short sectors of the other three sides, the rounded NE. and SW. angles,
and a central S. gate with tutulus have been identified. Probing 10 has confirmed the
position of this gate and identified a corresponding N. gate and its tutulus. The axial
dimensions of the camp are about 920 ft. from N. to S., by 775 ft. The W. side of the camp
also forms part of the W. side of a larger camp, of which much of the S. side, part of the E.,
and the rounded SW. angle are known. The axial dimensions are I,050 ft. from E. to W.
by rather more than I,I50 ft. Continued observation of the temporary camp by the farm of
Lyne 11 (NT 20I409) has revealed the position of both the E. and the W. gates. Evidently
the camp was laid out with a single gate in each side.
The Roman road penetrating the Tweed valley 12 ran to the fort at Lyne, and thence
west-north-westwards by way of the Lyne Water and its small tributary the Tarth to cross
the Roman road from Biggar to Inveresk at Melbourne (NT 087442), and so to Castledykes.
No military works have hitherto been identified on this route and the discovery of a large
camp near Castlecraig (NT I24444),
4-i
miles from Lyne, is particularly interesting. The
camp lies on rather uneven ground W. of West Mains farm. Part only of the SE. and of the
NW. sides, each including a gate with a tutulus, is known so far. This establishes the one
axial dimension as approximately
I,050
ft.; the dimension at right-angles is not less than
this, and may be considerably more.
A long sector of the NW. side of the temporary camp on Middlebie Hill 13 (NY 208764),
near Birrens in Dumfriesshire, has been recorded: the position only of the SW. side of the
camp now remains unknown. Six and a half miles to the NW. at Torwood 14 (NY I208I8),
the greater part of the N. side of the well known temporary camp, which had vanished even
before Roy's survey, has been recorded in terms of crop marks-the only time it has
appeared in twenty years. There seems to have been a central gate, at which a very slight
change in direction took place, as if the gate marked a sighting-point in the laying out of
the camp.
Near Dalswinton, in Nithsdale, the identification for the first time of a short length of
the NW. side as well as the rounded N. angle of the large temporary camp 15 on the river
plain by the farm of Bankfoot (NX 93484I), permits an estimate of the NW. to SE. axial
dimension as nearly I,700 ft. The dimension at right-angles has already been established
as about
I,550
ft., so the area of the camp is some 6o acres.
At Glenlochar16 (NX 735645), in the Dee valley, recent photographs add to our
knowledge of both the permanent and temporary works at this great base. The chance that
in I964 the field NW. of the fort, normally part of the grass park round Glenlochar House,
was under a cereal crop, enabled an unexpectedly clear picture to be obtained of the buried
features that lie there. Of the fort-defences, the two outermost ditches of the Antonine
ditch-system appear at the NW. angle and along part of the N. side. with a line of pits at
regular intervals in the space between them. A similar arrangement has already been
recorded at the SE. angle: the pits are presumed to have held the foundations of some
form of obstacle or entanglement.
The multiple ditches that form the northern defence of the annexe are slightly staggered
about ioo ft. to W. of the point at which the road from the N. gate of the fort crosses their
line, and they then resume an almost parallel course continuing westwards as far as the bank
of the Dee. A broad ditch, interrupted by a gap for an entrance, occurs 200 ft. further to
N., and perhaps delimits an annexe to one of the Flavian forts. Towards the river-ward
end of the space enclosed by the multiple ditches, traces appear of a large timber building
10
By members of the staff of the Royal Commis-
sion on Historical Monuments (Scotland), as Mr. R.
W. Feachem informs me.
11
3RS XLI, I957, 57 ; XLV, 1955, 85.
12 Roman occupation of SW. Scotland, Glasgow
Univ. Publ. LXXXIII, I962, 57-9 ; Proc. Soc. Antiq.
Scot. LXXXVII, I955, 63-71
3 JfRS XLI, I95I, 58; XLV, 1955, 85.
14
W. Roy, Military Antiquities, 1793, pl. VII;
J7RS XLI, 1951, 58.
15
JRS XLI, I95I, 59; XLVIII, 1958, 89; LI, I96I,
I22.
16 JRS XLI, I95I, 6o-i ; XLVIII, 1958, 89 ; Trans.
Dumfr. Galloway N.H.andAntiq.Soc. xxx, 1953, I-I6.
80 J. K. ST. JOSEPH
of courtyard-plan. This resembles the building identified some years ago to N. of the fort
at Birrens, and like it, may be a mansio.
At Castledykes 17 in Lanarkshire, the temporary camp (NS 927445) previously
recognized to N. of the fort is seen to have been of two periods, for a ditch divides the camp
at a distance of nearly 2oo ft. from the W. side, to which it is parallel. A gate with a tutulus
matches the gate in the outer ditch. To W. of the main fort, and just S. of the belt of trees
that crosses the site, crop marks reveal a narrow ditch defining three sides of a small rect-
angular enclosure (NS 925443) which may prove to be yet another camp.
Temporary camps have been identified at three places on the SE. side of the river Esk,
in Midlothian. At Eskbank (NT 32i668),
42
miles inland from the river mouth, a large
camp has been laid out in a good position, bounded on the N. by a steep scarp leading down
to the river. The whole of the N. side, some I,360 ft. long, 600 ft. of the W. side and a
corresponding length of the E., in which there is a gate with tutulus, have been identified so
far. A trial section showed the ditch on the W. side to be V-shaped, 7 ft. wide and 4 ft.
deep. Two miles down the Esk, and N. of Dalkeith (NT 345693), there lies another camp,
represented by a length of some 950 ft. of its N. side, including a gate with tutulus. One
and a quarter miles further N., several straight lines of ditch, upwards of 500 ft. in length,
have been recorded in terms of crop marks near the railway-junction at Inveresk (about
NT 348712). Probably more than one camp is in question here, but more information is
needed before the significance of the marks can be made out.18 Half a mile to N. on the
higher ground where Inveresk village stands, three broad ditches were noticed in I96I
crossing the west end of a narrow field to S. of Lewisvale Public Park (NT 3497I9). Trial-
trenches dug in the last two years have shown that these ditches extend in a straight line
for some 700 ft. forming the eastern defence of a permanent work, probably the annexe to a
Roman fort occupying the level ground further N. This is evidently a Flavian fort, for the
Antonine fort at Inveresk is already known to lie '-mile away to the NW., beneath the
burial-ground by Inveresk church.19
Reconnaissance of the Antonine Wall has yielded many points of detail about sites
incompletely recorded. To the SE. of Inveravon 20 the entire perimeter of a camp (NS
957797) identified in 1955 has now been established. The size is about 550 ft. square: a
gate with tutulus occurs in the S. side. Of the two camps that lie 1,250 ft. to SE. of this
(NS 961793), the smaller may now be estimated at 225 ft. square: it overlaps the S. side
of the larger camp, and extends as far S. as the edge of the scarp above the Esk. At
Polmont,21 the existence of a small camp on rather uneven ground (NS 947789) just E. of a
reservoir is now confirmed. The ditch observed in 1945 proves to be the NW. side of the
camp: in I964, the SE. side, the greater part of both NE. and SW. sides and the rounded
E. and S. angles were clearly visible. The size is about 275 ft. square.
In the fields of Garnhall 22
farm, in Dunbartonshire, W. of Castlecary, 400 ft. of the N.
side and the rounded NW. angle of the camp (NS 786780) identified there in 1952 have
been recorded. This addition to our knowledge is welcome as almost all that part of the
perimeter previously known has been destroyed by new roadworks. The axial dimensions
of the camp are approximately
850
ft. from E. to W., by 570 ft. Only a few hundred yards
away and lying within the two fields (NS 780779) immediately W. of Garnhall farm itself,
further crop marks have been seen. These appear to define a ditch extending for i,ooo ft.
in an E. to W. direction, and for upwards of 300 ft. in a direction at right-angles, together
with the rounded angle between these lengths. The visible features give every appearance of
being part of the S. and W. sides of a temporary camp, lying on the end of a gently sloping
ridge to W. of Garnhall farm. However, the W. side of the postulated camp runs up to the
Military Way, and it is difficult to suppose on any reasonable estimate of the size of the
enclosure that it did not continue across the line occupied by the Antonine Wall. A camp
earlier than the frontier works and overlain by them would be interesting, indeed, but
opinion on this point must await excavation. It is not the only structure here to impinge on
17 JRS XLV, I955, 85; The Roman fort at Castle-
dykes, I964, 257-8.
18 Inventory of Midlothian (RCHM), I929, 53.
The ' silted-up ditch ' may well be part of the same
system.
19
YRS XXXvIII, I948, 8i-2, plan
on
pi.
xii
facing
p.
I04.
20
YRS LI, i96I, I22.
21
YRS XLI, I95I, 62.
22 JRS
XLV, I955, 86.
JRS vol. LV (I965) PLATE IX
\ - ,: -, t . t S : ^L7
LONGTHORPE, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE: ROMAN FORT. VFERTICAL PHOTOGRAPH, SCALE ABOUT I: 2000 (30TH JUNE, 1
961x).
'r"c ~~~ --
\
*, -
. sw
.-- %
Cf. FIG *. (See p. 74.)
Photograph by J. K. St. Joseph. Copyright reserved Cambridge University.
JRS Vol. LV (I965)
PLATE X
L:;~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
_
T,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~7 -R
Bt ,: - ,, -' 8,': ' ' -- -"o0; -o
(i) NEWTON ON TRENT, LINCOLNSHIRE: ROMAN CAMP OBLIQUE PHOTOGRAPH LOOKING NNW. Cf. FIG. 2. NO TRACE
OF THE FORT APPEARED AT THE TIME THIS PHOTOGRAPH WAS TAKEN (i6TH JULY, 1964)- (2) INCHTUTHIL,
PERTH-
-...__ - - - . _ - . .. - _ _.. , /--_ - - " r- %i.l . %- v .;IIN - v,r v- ..- .. rnI, bnv i r i ^ f -....
SHIE:
THE
LAOURT CAMP ATOS.F
THE
FORTESS ROSOISAEVSBEWTHIN FHEOEP CAM (AKN3RDT
JULY,
I94)96)2).UTIL
ERH
(See pp. 74 ff.
8
f.)
Phzotographs by .7 K. St. Joseph. Copyright reserved Cambridge University.
JRS X0ol. LV (I965) PLATE XI
(I) CARDEAN, ANGUS: THE ROMAN FORT. OBLIQUE PHOTOGRPH LOOKING SE. (23RD JULY, 1964). (a) AUCHTERUCHTY,
F:IFE: THE S. ANGLE AND PARTS OF THE SF. AND SWv SIDES OF TEMPORARY CAMSP (25TH JULY, 1962). (See pp. 83, 82.)
PhAotographs bv Jf. K. St. Joseph. Copyright reserved Cam))bridge University.
JRS vol. LVr (I965) PLATE XII
z
oc
zs-
0*
3 ;
Z2' -
E--Z
o-*
?00Z
4:O
AIR RECONNAISSANCE IN BRITAIN, 196I-64 8I
the frontier-works. Within the area of the enclosure, is a small, roughly circular crop
mark-not unlike the ring-ditch of a barrow-which appears to cut the line of the Military
Way. A barrow of Dark-Age date might be in question here, but certain identification of
the remains and their sequence can only be determined by excavation.
There is much new information about sites N. of the Antonine Wall. One of the three
groups of large camps there, marking the movements of Roman armies, includes six
examples (see fig. 4) all some 63 acres in area, spaced between Ardoch and Strathmore. A
further member of the group has been identified at Auchtermuchty. Moreover, at five
of these camps, Ardoch, Innerpefferay, Broomhill, Kirkbuddo and Battledykes-Keithock,
a small '
attached camp ' or '
annexe
'
linked to one of the shorter sides has been recognized.23
These 'attached camps' perhaps served for a small holding-garrison, while the main force
was elsewhere, but whatever their purpose, this most interesting detail conclusively
distinguishes these camps as members of a series. Only two others of this size are known,
namely Lintrose, where the ground occupied by the camp is so parcelled into market-
gardens that observation is difficult, and Auchtermuchty, of which not all the perimeter has
yet been seen.
At Ardoch, the discovery of such an ' annexe' to the 63-acre camp there (NN
839Io9)
followed the identification of a similar feature at Broomhill, which prompted a search of all
the photographic coverage of Ardoch obtained over the last twenty years. The annexe,
about 300 ft. square, is attached to the N. side of the camp between the N. gate and the
NW. angle. It has a narrow gate in its own N. side. The perimeter of the annexe lies within
three different fields, and the growth-differences over the ditch are so slight that they had
escaped notice hitherto.
Photographs of Dalginross,24 taken in July, I96I, when much of Strathearn was suffering
a drought, provide new information about the temporary camp and the forts there. Within
the camp (NN 774208), which, it may be recalled, has gates of ' Stracathro type', rows of
pits were visible alined to the N. and S. sides. These are presumably rubbish-pits like those
recorded in the temporary camp at Inchtuthil (see below, p. 82). At the forts (NN 7742I2),
the broad, single ditch of the larger fort, and the close-set double ditches of the smaller
(inner) fort were clearly visible. On the NE. front of the large fort, a very narrow crop mark
appears just outside the fort ditch, from which it diverges slightly before it curves round to
the SW. to take up a direction at right-angles, there disappearing in the much broader mark
of the fort ditch. This slight feature might be identified as a lock-spit or marking-out ditch,
but it cannot have been intended to mark, for example, the course of a second ditch of the
fort defences, since it is slightly askew to these. Presumably it is to be interpreted as the
small ditch of a temporary work earlier than the forts, perhaps an enclosure in use during
the fort-building.
Further down Strathearn, and only a mile and a third upstream from the fort at
Strageath, a temporary camp was identified in I962 on the farm of Dornock, on ground
(NN 877I88) lying within a loop of the river. Almost the whole of the SE. side, 1,I50 ft. in
length, 875 ft. of the SW. side, and about half that length of the NE. have been identified,
together with the rounded S. angle. The NW. side has been destroyed by river erosion.
Two trial-sections dug not far from the S. angle, one across the SE. side and the other
across the SW. side, revealed a V-shaped ditch, 8- ft. wide and only 24 ft. deep, cut in
exceedingly hard gravel.
Photographs of the signal-station near RoundlaW
25
farm (NN 958I89) on the Gask
ridge, identified some years ago, show not only a circular ditch but the marks of four post-
holes set at the corners of a square, presumably to hold the main uprights of a wooden
tower. A similar arrangement of post-holes has been noted at Moss-side signal-station
(NO 008I99)
34
miles further E. along the road. The small temporary camp (NN 99II9I)
recorded long ago in the policies of Gask House,26 and subsequently lost to knowledge, has
come to light again. The northern half of the camp is visible as a low earthwork in a
23 For Innerpefferay, where there are two such
' annexes ', see YRS XLVIII, I958, 90: for Kirkbuddo,
Roy, Military Antiquities, I793, pl. XIV; YRS
XLVIII, 1958, 92.
24 YRS
XLI, I95i,
64;
XLVIII, I958, 92.
25 JRS
XLV, I955, 87.
26
Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. xxxii, I898. 430-I, fig. 9,
reproducing a MS. plan of
I789.
I am
grateful
to
Mr. Faulks for telling me of his observations at this
site.
82 J. K. ST. JOSEPH
plantation-belt cleared in I96o for re-planting, when it was observed by Mr. D. K. Faulks.
The N. rampart lies at only 66 ft. distance from the centre of Gask signal-station. The
ditch on the southern half of the E. side, along the S. side, and at the rounded southern
angles has been recorded as a crop mark in an adjacent field. The axial dimensions of this
camp are almost 500 ft. from E. to W., by about 425 ft., over the ditch-centres.
The easternmost signal-station on the Gask ridge of which earthworks remain is that at
Midgate; 2,850 ft. E. of this (NO 028207), on the farm of Westmuir, a circular mark of just
the same size as those at Roundlaw and Moss-side has been observed on several occasions in
an arable field where the modern lane diverges from the line of the Roman road, here
ploughed out.27 There are also traces of the Roman road itself, continuing in much the
same line as the sector to the W. This seems to be yet another signal-station in the series:
though it would have no view northward, to the west Midgate is in sight. On the farm of
Upper Cairnie, a mile to the S., an enclosure (NO 037192) still visible on the ground as a
low earthwork, was in 1957 provisionally noted as a fort.28 Recent photographs which
show not only this feature, but a second enclosure of twice the size beside it on the W.,
make clear that neither work should be regarded as Roman: a medieval date may be
conjectured. The character of the supposed temporary camp 2,000 ft. to the E. (NO 046I92)
remains uncertain.
A mile to the S. across the Earn, reconnaissance of the large camp that lies at the farm
of Broomhill 29 (NO 039I75), in Forteviot parish, has revealed new details. In each of the
sides there is a slight re-entrant angle: the two shorter sides being bowed out, and the
longer sides bowed in, the changes in direction taking place at gate-positions. A tutulus
has been recorded at the S. gate and at one of the two W. gates. An
'
annexe
'
defined by a
narrow ditch has also appeared, attached to the S. side of the camp, between the S. gate and
the SE. angle. The size is 329 by 290 ft. at a rough estimate.
Reconnaissance of Fife has revealed two camps, the first evidence of Roman cam-
paigning between the estuaries of the Forth and Tay. One lies on uneven ground at the
eastern outskirts of Auchtermuchty (NO 242 II8), on the south slope of the Ochil Hills. The
whole of the SE. side with central gate, and sectors of each of the other three sides, together
with the rounded S. and E. angles (pl. XI, 2) have been recorded. The axial dimensions of
the camp are some 1,300 ft. by nearly 2,000 ft., an area of about 6o acres. A section dug
across the SE. side just to W. of the gate revealed a typical Roman, V-shaped ditch, 9 ft.
wide and
5
ft. in depth to the bottom of its drainage-channel. There is close correspondence
in proportions and size with the second of the three groups of large camps that have been
recognized in Scotland, those of the 63-acre size exemplified by Battledykes-Keithock. The
camp in this group that lies nearest to Auchtermuchty is Broomhill,
I3
miles to the WNW.
Nineteen miles to E. of Auchtermuchty, and only IX miles inland from the coast, a camp has
been identified on the farm of Bonnytown (NO 546I26), 31 miles SE. of St. Andrews. The
whole of the NE. side 950 ft. in length, at least 1,025 ft. of the SE. side, and the rounded
E. and N. angles are known so far.
At Carpow 30 (NO 207I29), on the S. bank of the Tay estuary, a rectangular annexe
some 120 ft. in width has been recorded. It is attached to the S. front of the large fort,
extending from the porta
principalis
dextra as far as the SE. angle, being defended by a
single ditch which unites with the outermost of the two ditches of the fort.
At Inchtuthil,31 the large camp (NO I20395) on the W. half of the plateau is seen to
have had two phases of occupation. The camp is crossed by a ditch, parallel to the SW. side
and at 400 ft. from it; a gap in this ditch matches the original SW. gate. A matter of
special interest is the occurrence of rows of pits in the interior of the camp (pl. X, 2).
Excavation has shown these pits to correspond generally in size and spacing to the pits
found in the veranda-space of each barrack-block within the fortress. If, like them, they
are to be interpreted as pits for vegetable refuse related to different mess-units, then their
27
e.g. in i960-62, confirming observations made
in I943; see 0. G. S. Crawford, Roman
Scotland,
1949, 55-6.
28 YRS XLVIII, I958, 90. Two trial trenches dug
across the ditch by Mr. R. W. Feachem, who
discovered the site, yielded no objects.
29
Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot.
LXXXIV, I 952,
217 ; JRS
XLIII, 1953, I05, figs. 22-3.
30 JRS XLI,
I95I, 63.
31
J7RS XLVIII, I958, 9I ; LI, I96I, I23.
AIR RECONNAISSANCE IN BRITAIN, 196I-64 83
disposition may afford a clue, such as is very seldom available, to the arrangement of lines of
tents in a temporary camp. Yet another camp has been identified towards the SW. tip of the
plateau. The ditch, shown by excavation to be barely 4 ft wide by z ft.. deep, has been
traced on all four sides. The axial-dimensions are about 400 ft. from N. to S. by 260 ft.
Some traces of the fort at Cardean 32 (NO 288460), in Angus, can be seen from the air
most years, but the defences seldom appear as clearly marked as in I964, when the ditch-
system was visible round the greater part of the perimeter (pl. xi, i). On the SE. front,
at least four ditches are present. The innermost is of normal width, the next is so narrow
that it may be interpreted as a trench to hold obstacles rather than a ditch, the third ditch
is wide and the outermost, separated by a considerable interval, is wider still. The causeway
where this outer ditch is interrupted at the SE. gate is much narrower than the gaps in the
inner ditches. These points strongly suggest that the elements of the ditch-system are not
all of the same period, as if more than one fort may be in question here. At the SE. and
NE. gates, where alone details are visible, the rampart-ends are inturned rather in the
fashion of the Flavian fort at Oakwood.3 A ditch which extends out from the W. angle of
the fort may delimit an annexe lying on the spur of land between the Isla and the Dean
Water.
Bertha, at the confluence of the Tay and the Almond, is another fort where a multiple
ditch-system has been recorded, while at Strageath34 air photographs have established a
series of superimposed forts, of which the latest had a headquarters-building in stone.
Both Bertha (some
9
acres) and Cardean
(7
acres) are appreciably larger than most Flavian
and Antonine forts in Scotland, and at both there seems to be more than one period of
occupation, as at Strageath. It will be interesting, in view of the proved Severan date of the
30-acre fort at Carpow, to see whether these three forts also were occupied in the third
century.
At Kirkbuddo
35
(NO 49I442), in Angus, crop marks reveal the NE. side of the small
enclosure, recorded by Roy, and shown on his plan attached to the SE. front of the camp
there, between the SE. gate and the E. angle. This little work seems to have measured
about 300 ft. square, thus corresponding closely to the dimensions of the similar annexe, or
attached camp, at Innerpefferay and at Broomhill.
The direct route from the camp at Battledykes-Oathlaw to Strathmore would cross
the River South Esk about Finavon, 2- miles to the NE. In I962, a temporary camp was
observed here (NO 497574) on a terrace to N. of the river. Photographs taken in the last
three years reveal I,250 ft. of the NE. side and the beginning of the curve of the E. angle.
The course of the ditch round the angle and for 500 ft. of the SE. side has been traced by
trial-trenches. Between the proven lengths of ditch and the river-scarp there is space for
a camp of 30 acres. The ditch is only
41
ft. wide and 2z ft. deep, dimensions close to those
of the tiny ditch of the camp at Auchinhove, in Banffshire, and it will be interesting to see
whether, like Auchinhove, Finavon has gates of ' Stracathro type'. This discovery may
also provide a clue to the position of the fort that must surely have existed beside the South
Esk, half-way between Cardean and Stracathro. The level ground, included within the
200 ft. contour, in the plantation E. of Tannadyce House (NO 492576), offers as good a
tactical position as any.
Further study of existing photographs of the camp at Battledykes-Keithock
36
(NO
6io640), taken over the years, shows that the
'
rectangular enclosure
'
identified in I949 is
yet another example of an annexe (fig. 4), here attached to the short NW. side of the 63-acre
camp, between the gate in that side, and the N. angle. The size of the annexe is some 400 ft.
by upwards of 300 ft.
At Kair House
37
(NO 768766), Kincardineshire, near the head of Strathmore, photo-
graphs taken in the last few years have revealed the SW. angle of this large camp, together
with a long sector of the S. side including the S. gate with its tutulus. The I2o-acre camp on
32
Antiquity
xiii,
1939, 287-8; Crawford,
Roman
Scotland, 1949, 88-9.
33 Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. LXXXVI, 1954, 81-105,
and esp. fig. 3.
34
JRS XLVIII,
1958,
pl.
XII, 2.
35
Military Antiquities, 1793, pl. XIV; JRS
XLVIII, 1958, 92.
36
Military Antiquities, 1793, pl. XIV; JRS XLI,
195I, 64-5 ; XLVIII, 1958, 92; LI, i96I, 123 ; cf.
Roman Scotland, 1949, 100-2, fig. 26.
37
J7RS XLI, 1951, 65 ; XLVIII, 1958, 92.
84 J. K. ST. JOSEPH
Muiryfold farm (NJ 48952I), in Grange 38 parish, Banffshire, has been reconnoitred each
year, as its perimeter lies within no less than thirteen different fields, some of which are
seldom under cereal crops. Almost the whole of the SW. side, some 2,450 ft. in length,
including two gates each with a tutulus, and the rounded S. and W. angles, have now been
determined.
III. Military sites in Wales and its approaches.-At Redhill
39
(SJ 7251I12), on Watling
Street, E. of Oakengates, a line of ditch has been recorded defining some 325 ft. of the E. and
about
225
ft. of the S. sides of an enclosure together with the rounded SE. angle. This
seems to be either a temporary camp, or an annexe attached to the S. side of the larger of
the two forts known there.
A military work discovered in I956, just to S. of the well-known fort of Greensforge, in
Staffordshire, has been described as a temporary camp 40 (SO 863884). Subsequent
reconnaissance has revealed the existence of two ditches on both N. and E. fronts, tactically
the weakest. This permits a revised estimate of size as 415 ft. square measured over the
centre-line of the inner ditch. Moreover, in I963, Mr. A. Baker recorded a system of post-
holes at both the W. gate and the SW. angle. The existence of two ditches, and of a gate and
angle-tower in timber, shows that this work must in fact have been a fort. Like Cae Gaer,
Llangurig, also known to have had wooden angle-towers, it was perhaps a' campaign fort',
dismantled when the permanent fort at Greensforge was built immediately to the N.,
where there is a rather wider expanse of level ground. However, it was apparently not the
earliest structure here. Two lengths of broad ditch enclose the little promontory on which
the ' campaign fort ' is set, in a fashion suggesting that the features are not contemporary.
There is a single gate on the E., where the lengths of ditch are staggered rather in the fashion
of the camp at Newton on Trent (fig. 2). Excavation is needed to reveal the historical
significance of the many different structures at this highly interesting site.
The dispositions of the various military works near Leintwardine, in Herefordshire,
where Watling Street crosses the Teme have been described in a previous report in this
Journal.41 Recent reconnaissance has brought new information. At the fort on the high
BATTLE DYKES
KEIT HOCK
1- ~ /
\I
500 0 F E E T 1500
I I I I I I
FIG. 4. CAMP AT BATTLEDYKES-KEITHOCK,
ANGUS.
Drawn by D. R. Wilson.
38
JRS LI, I96I, 123.
39
YRS XLIII, I953, 84; LI, I96I, 123.
40
YRS XLVIII, I958, 95 ; for Mr. Baker's photo-
graph, see Trans. B'ham. Arch. Soc. 8o, I965,
82-3, pl. II.
41' RS LI, I96I, 124-5, fig. 4.
AIR RECONNAISSANCE IN BRITAIN, 196 I-64 85
ground '-mile NW. of Leintwardine village (SO 399744), an annexe has been observed,
some 2oo by I75 ft. in size. It lies on ground sloping down to the river Clun, and is
attached to the southern half of the SW. side of the fort, being defended by a single ditch.
The entire perimeter of the temporary camp south of Walford (SO 394722) has now
been established: recent photographs show the rounded SW. angle, the W. side including
the position of the W. gate, and that part of the N. side lying to W. of the modern road
A.4Iio, also with a gate. The axial dimensions are 1,240 ft., from N. to S., by 900 ft. A
mile further W., another camp has been identified by Mr. A. Baker, who kindly allows me
to include an account of it here. It lies east of Brampton Bryan (SO 379723), on a gravel
terrace above the flood-plain of the river Teme. Crop marks reveal two parallel lengths of
straight ditch some i,8oo ft. apart, each extending for 650 ft. northwards from the modern
road
A.4II3.
The E. ditch curves westwards through a right-angle at its N. end before
being lost to view: the W. ditch has a narrow interruption, as at a gate. If further
investigation should prove that these two lengths of ditch are parts of one camp, as is likely
enough, the long axis would measure some I,820 ft., with the dimension at right-angles
some two-thirds of that distance.
Nearly 8 miles to the NE. a large camp has been identified in terms of crop marks on
level ground (SO 429842) S. of the crossing of the river Onny by Watling Street, near
Stretford Bridge. Considerable lengths of the S., W. and N. sides, together with the rounded
SW. angle have been seen so far, all lying to W. of the Roman road. The S. side can be traced
to a point close to a lane marking this road, to which the camp is not alined, and it will be
interesting to learn what is the relationship between the two. The N. to S. axial dimension
is about i,400 ft., with the measurement at right-angles not less than i,ioo ft., giving a
minimum area of 35 acres.
Two other temporary camps are known hereabouts: a small camp lies in the next
field to S., near Craven Arms, and there is another at Upper Affcot, iE miles to the NE.
These form a group matched on this sector of road only by the group of three camps near
Leintwardine. There, the crossing of the Teme by the Roman road was guarded by a fort:
if, at Stretford Bridge, at the Onny crossing, there was also a permanent work, these camps
may afford a clue as to where search for it should be made. A fort near the stream-
confluence S. of Wistanstow would both control the crossing of the Onny, and command the
valley leading north-westwards, which affords the most direct link with the fort recently
discovered by Dr. G. D. B. Jones, 71 miles to the NW., at Lydham (SO 336907), and thence
with Forden Gaer. However that may be, this concentration of seven camps 42 within such
a short length of the Roman road is evidence for troop-movements, presumably at the time
when Roman units advancing from bases on the Severn first penetrated the tangled hilly
country of the Middle Marches.
The broad valley that connects the head-waters of the Onny with the Severn at Forden
Gaer has been reconnoitred to see whether any elements of the Roman road system there
could be recovered. The road leading NE. from Forden Gaer is well known, both its
causeway and side-ditches being clearly visible, but no traces of a branch-road towards
Lydham have come to light. SE. of Lydham a Roman road could have easily avoided the
narrow little gorge between Plowden and Horderley, by skirting the southern tip of the
Longmynd, a line on which many ancient tracks are still visible.
Another Roman military road that leads into Wales is the route aiming SW. from
Chester to reach the upper Dee near Corwen and thence to Caer Gai. No forts are known
in the 40 miles between Chester and Caer Gai, but provision must surely have been made
for guarding such strategic points as the meeting-place of valleys by Corwen (about SJ
o65443), not to mention the crossing of the little river Alyn (SJ I975I7) near Pen y stryt.
From the Alyn south-westwards the Roman road
43
has been laid out as a ridge-route,
nearly I,300 ft. at its highest point and hardly below i,ooo ft. for 6 miles. It lies just to
N. of the crest-line, so as to command extensive views northwards over the Vale of Clwyd.
The line is now largely followed by modern lanes and tracks, but evident traces of old
42
e.g. Walford, Buckton, Brampton Bryan,
Craven Arms, Stretford Bridge, Upper Affcot and
Bromfield, the last lying 4' miles SE. of Craven
Arms, a little off the line of the road.
43 I. D. Margary, Roman roads in Britain II,
1I957, 78.
86 J. K. ST. JOSEPH
roads remain and can be studied with advantage from the air. The way in which the road
swings across the saddle near the farm of Rhos-lydan (SJ I60498), to take up a new
alinement, and the cuttings near the point SJ I3I480, are distinctive Roman features. The
broad Vale of Clwyd offers a natural line for a branch-road linking this route with the Roman
coast-road, generally considered to have crossed the Vale at St. Asaph. An easy descent
from the ridge-route is afforded by the line of the modern lane running from the cross-
roads near Hafottywen (SJ I04468) towards Rhewl-galed (SJ II8500). A choice of line
northwards along the Vale might be governed by the extent to which dense woodland
formerly covered the valley floor.
At Tomen-y-mur
44
(SH 706387), in Merionethshire, the chance that the field to NW.
of the fort was ploughed in I964 for the first time in many years, though inevitably causing
damage to the earthworks there, has enabled the remains to be seen in terms of soil marks.
Besides the two practice-camps, a rectangular enclosure
45
appears, defined by a rampart
and ditch. The size is about I75 by I50 ft. The enclosure extends to the defences on the
northern half of the NW. front of the main fort, and would appear to be either an annexe
or possibly an earlier fort.
Two-thirds of a mile to ESE. of Tomen-y-mur, a small camp has been seen from the
air near the Braich-ddui slate quarry (SH 7I7383). The square platform of the site, perhaps
IOO ft. across, lies on a small knoll. This is probably another practice-camp like the group
of five at Dolddinas (SH 735378),
i4-miles
further E.
At Rhyd Sarn, 2 miles SW. of the fort of Caer Gai, in Merionethshire, a second camp
has been recorded and planned (SH 860278). The rampart and ditch round the northern
two-thirds of the perimeter are unusually well preserved, the site having been ploughed
for the first time only recently. There is a gate with internal clavicula in both the SW. and
the NW. sides. The axial dimensions are 255 ft. from SW. to NE., measured over the
rampart-crests, by some
i65
ft. Like the small camp 46 that lies some 700 ft. to the W., this
is probably a practice-work.
In South Wales, the Roman road (pl. xii, i) from Brecon which approaches the fort at
Coelbren (SN 859I07) from the NE., is in a notable state of preservation for a distance of
two-thirds of a mile descending the slope towards Afon Pyrddin. The ground hereabouts
is rough moorland never yet enclosed, and not only the cambered road-mound, but the side-
ditches, over
50
ft. apart, and quarry-pits can be traced, making this as remarkable a
sector of Roman road as any in Wales. The sector merits protection before extension of the
fields round the farm of Ton-y-ffildre brings the risk of damage to these features by
ploughing.
Of the three temporary camps on the dissected plateau forming the northern half of
Glamorganshire, that at Twyn y Briddallt
47
(ST 002982), between the Rhondda fach and
Cynon valleys, is the most irregular. This i6-acre camp lies on a spur of moorland at an
altitude of nearly I,500 ft., and the abnormal shape is perhaps due to the fact that the camp
straddles a ridge across which it is impossible for a surveyor to sight with poles. The SE.
side, where the line of rampart and ditch is staggered, is of such unusual plan, that the air
photograph (pl. xii, 2) yields welcome confirmation of opinion based upon ground survey
of the rather damaged remains. From the S. angle (foreground) the defences run in a
straight line for several hundred feet, to a point where they begin to turn outwards. Here
there is an interruption perhaps for a gate: the other half of this side is set further to the SE.
and on a slightly different bearing. The NE. side may be detected on the photograph just
short of the first white streak marking a belt of land deeply ploughed preliminary to
afforestation.
IV. The civil districts of the Province: Towns.-All the important towns in Roman
Britain that lie in open country have been reconnoitred from the air, not always with effective
result, since the crops on many of these sites respond best to a dry spell in spring or a
drought in summer, conditions that have been lacking in the last four years.
44
Arch. Camb. XCIII, 1938, 192-21 1, plan facing
p. I9z; J*RS XLIII, 1953, 87; LI, I96I, 130.
45 This could be traced on the ground, but the air
photographs bring new understanding of the
earthwork.
46
Bull. of Board of Celtic Studies xviii, I96I, 254.
47
JRS XLIX, 1959, 102.
AIR RECONNAISSANCE IN BRITAIN, I96I-64 87
The photograph of Silchester (SU 640625), one of a series covering the whole town,
is reproduced on plate xiii, i as an example of the degree of detail that can be recorded when
crops are caught at their most sensitive stage of growth. The large courtyard-building 48
within insula viii was, in the main, excavated by J. G. Joyce in i876-77. It is interesting to
compare the published plan with the crop marks, which reveal almost all the building with
some new information in addition. Thus, the N. to S. road that separates insulae vii and
xxxv continues S. to the main entrance to the building, where a side-road branches off
obliquely to the SE. Discoloured patches in the crop growing over the rooms in the W.
range suggest that hard floors (of flags, concrete or mosaic) are in position there. While the
baths that lie to E. of the S. range of this building remain invisible, perhaps because of
deeper accumulation of soil behind the town-bank, buildings unknown before appear
towards the NE. corner of the insula. Outside the town to the SE., part of a stone building
has come to light at a little distance from the defences. No doubt many such extra-mural
buildings await discovery.
At Wroxeter (SJ 565090) details of structures continue to appear, filling gaps in the
plan and sometimes posing new questions. The occurrence of buildings in the northern
half of the town which lie awkwardly in relation to one another, if indeed, they do not
actually overlap, points to different periods of construction. Again, there are some buildings
that do not match the street-grid, which itself exhibits unexplained eccentricities of planning.
The development of the town may prove to have been more complicated than is sometimes
supposed.
The land outside the town to the N. is crossed by curving ditches like those common in
the upper Thames valley, for example, at Stanton Harcourt and Standlake, and there usually
identified as ' field-boundaries
'
defining parcels of land and the accommodation-roads that
serve them. This is an interesting subject for further research, which should be directed
to discover whether the system is contemporary with the town or earlier than it.
One and a half miles N. of Wroxeter, an enclosure defined by two ditches has been
recognized at Duncot
49
(SJ 576iI7), on the S. bank of the Tern. The enclosure, some
8oo ft. from NE. to SW. by 240 ft., is set on a slight slope from which the ground rises
gently, particularly to the SE. The crop marks, which are very clear along the sides of
the enclosure, seem to be continuous as if there were no gates there. The SW. end appears
to form an arc of a circle of large radius. Part of the NE. end is obscured at the low scarp
where the ground slopes down to the flood-plain of the Tern. The two ditches carefully
laid out on parallel lines suggest provision for defence, but considerations of shape, size and
position show that this cannot have been a fort. At Wroxeter, a Celtic precinct perhaps
including a number of different works, like the Romano-Celtic centre at Gosbeck's farm,
Colchester, is not an impossibility, but, failing excavation, age and purpose remain obscure.
The defences of Irchester 50 (SP 9i6665), in Northamptonshire, which lies on ground
sloping down to the river Nene, are seen to form an irregular pentagon, having one very
obtuse angle, so that the shape is not far from a rectangle. The scatter of light-toned
soil and building-debris often visible when the site has been newly ploughed is an indication
of many more buildings than the half-dozen actually recorded. At Alcester 51 (SP 090570), in
Warwickshire, the Roman town occupied low-lying ground within a loop of the river
Arrow. Part of the street-plan appears in the meadows S. of the modern town, when the
ground has dried out sufficiently: buildings have not been recorded. At Brough
52
(SK
836584), on the Fosse Way, lengths of metalled streets within this small road-side settlement
have been identified. There was evidently an irregular mesh of streets as at Stretton Mill
and Kenchester. More enclosures delimited by ditches have been identified to S. and E.
of the town of Chesterton
53
(TL I22968), near Water Newton. Some enclosures seem to
have contained buildings, in timber: they presumably represent activity, either in the
exploitation of the fertile soils of the Nene valley for agriculture, or in the Castor pottery
industry, centred hereabouts, or in both.
48
Archaeologia L, I887, 271 ; LIV, I894, 222-7;
G. C. Boon, Roman Silchester, 1957, ii6.
9
By Mr. A. Baker, who kindly told me of the
discovery. The enclosure has a decidedly Roman
appearance, but there are no particular features
conclusively Roman.
50
JRSXLIII, 1953, 92 ; LIII, I963, 135, fig. 17.
51
VCH Warwickshire I, 1904, 236-7; Trans.
B'ham. Arch. Soc. 76, I960, io-I8; 77, I96I, 27-32.
52 VCH Nottinghamshire II, 1910, 11 -5; JRS
XLIII, 1953, 91 ; LI, I96I, 132, pI. X, 2.
53
JRS XLVIII, I958, 98.
88 J. K. ST. JOSEPH
At Richborough, in Kent, the amphitheatre
54
partially excavated by Roach Smith in
1849 is now represented by the mound (TR 32I598) '-mile SW. of the Saxon shore fort.
A photograph taken in I962 when the grass covering the mound had begun to parch,
shows unmistakably the curved bank defining the oval outline of the arena, together with
two parallel-sided entrances, on the long axis of the amphitheatre, which lies NE. to SW.
The size of the arena, 200 by i66 ft. according to Roach Smith, is not much smaller than
that of the legionary amphitheatre at Caerleon. The structure at Richborough is thus too
large to have served an auxiliary unit, and this adds force to the suggestion 55 that it may
have been built by the Second Legion when in garrison there.
The countryside.-A large villa of basilican plan, with compactly arranged rooms
(pl. XIII, 2), has been identified near Saunderton Lee (SU 799990), in Buckinghamshire,
2 miles S. of the well-known villa by Saunderton church. The site is on chalk; no traces of
ancient land-divisions appear, though the fields all around are often under cereal crops,
which might have been expected to reveal buried ditches. One and a half miles W. of
Ipsden (SU 607853), in Oxfordshire, part of the plan of two buildings on the gravel terrace
E. of the Thames has been recorded. The main outside walls are visible at one of the
buildings, which is IOO ft., or more, in length. Other disturbances in the ground, pits and
ditches, are also present, and the site is clearly ancient, for it underlies a lane, forming a
division in the long-established field-system here. The marks are not clear enough for
individual rooms to be distinguished, but the site is likely enough another villa. At Radwell
(TL 235354),
near the source of the little river Ivel, in north Hertfordshire, crop marks reveal
a group of buildings. The largest, lying just E. of the stream, has a corridor, well over
IOO ft. in length, with many rooms grouped around it. There seems to be a second range
at right-angles and, in addition, a little distance away, two detached rectangular structures,
which each measure 30 by ioo ft., at a rough estimate. These remains may surely be
identified as a large villa and its out-buildings. It is well placed in relation to the fertile soil
of the Ivel valley, intensively cultivated at the present time.
A small stone building having four or five rooms, recorded on the river gravels of the
Welland, i - miles NW. of Barnack (TF
os6o65),
in Northamptonshire, may prove to be
one wing of a villa or Romano-British farm. The particular interest of the discovery is that
the building lies amongst a system of enclosures and field-boundaries defined by ditches,
very like those at nearby Fotheringhay 56 (Northamptonshire), so that there might be a
chance here of studying a villa in relation to its agriculture. Barely 2 miles to the NW., a
rectangular stone building, ioo ft., or more, in length has been recorded S. of Ryhall
(TF
032o8g),
in Rutland, and only i' miles E. of the town at Great Casterton. The main
walls outlining the structure are visible, with traces of a second building at a little distance,
both being overridden by existing field-boundaries. Roman pottery has been picked up
from the field after ploughing, and the position on the Middle Jurassic limestone is likely
enough for a villa or farm, but further information is needed here. Part of yet another
building, similarly related to field-enclosures, has been recorded near Normanby (SK
987886), in Lincolnshire: the site, ii miles N. of Lincoln, is on the outcrop of the
Lincolnshire limestone, a tract of land on which a number of agricultural enclosures and
farmstead-sites have been recorded, though whether they were occupied in prehistoric
times or in the Roman age can only be settled by excavation.
Photographs of the villa at Winterton 57 (SE 9I2i82), in north Lincolnshire, show details
of its two large building-blocks. One mile to the NE., extensive enclosures seemingly of a
native settlement in the Iron-Age tradition have appeared. It would be interesting to know
the relationship in time of the two. Allington Hill 58 (TL 578588), 8 miles E. of Cambridge,
noted in a previous report, was recorded under exceptional conditions in April, I964, when
the surface of the field was bare soil. Within the rectangular enclosure were evident signs
of disturbed ground, as are visible most years, but in addition, rows of post-holes appeared.
54
C. Roach Smith, Antiquities of Richborough
Reculver and Lymne,
I850,
I62, where, however, the
long axis is placed E. to W. The NE. to SW.
orientation is confirmed by the O.S. air photo mosaic
6I/35 NW., 1950.
55
VCH Kent, iii, 1932, 33.
56
JRS LI, I96I, 134.
57 JRS XLIX, 1959, 109; LIV, I964, I59.
58 JRS XLV,
1955, 89.
JRS vol. LV (I965) PLATE XIII
(I) SILCHESTER, HAMPSHIRE: BUILDINGS IN INSVLA VIII, LOOKING W. (I9TH JUNE, 1960). (2) SAUNDERTON LEE,
BUCKINGHIAMSHIRE: ROMAN VILLAt (2ND JULY, 1962). (See pp. 87, 88.)
Phtotographts by Jf. K. St. 3'oseph. Copyright reserved camlbridge University.
AIR RECONNAISSANCE IN BRITAIN, I96I-64 89
These may belong to one or more large buildings in timber, like that recorded near Barnack
(TF o8oo66), and whatever their age, excavation here should prove rewarding.
This account of recent reconnaissance of the countryside of Roman Britain, would be
incomplete without some reference to the extensive areas where ancient agriculture can be
studied from the air, particularly in the chalk country and in the Fenland. In north
Cambridgeshire and south Lincolnshire abundant traces both of Romano-British agriculture
and of contemporary settlements are to be seen. Almost the whole region is now arable land
where the traces are visible as soil or crop marks. In the few areas that have never been
ploughed in recent times, remarkable remains of these agricultural settlements still exist in
high relief, and a programme of vertical photography designed to record these earthworks in
evening light, when the features are picked out by a low sun, is currently in progress.
Committee for Aerial Photography, Cambridge.