J K St Joseph, Air Reconnaissance in RB 73 to 76

Air Reconnaissance in Roman Britain, 1973-76Author(s): J. K. St JosephSource: The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 67 (1977), pp. 125-161Published by: Society for the Promotion of Roman StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/299924 .

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AIR RECONNAISSANCE IN ROMAN BRITAIN, I973-76 By J. K. St JOSEPH

(Plates xIII-xvIII)

Air reconnaissance over the United Kingdom has been continued during the last four years, a period which has seen a considerable extension of such work, and one notable for exceptionally dry summers. Thus, both the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments for England, through the Air Photographs Unit of the National Monuments Record, and the Royal Commission for Scotland have undertaken extensive surveys, while the growth of local flying has meant that many areas of the country have been reconnoitred more intensively than has hitherto been possible. -The account that follows relates almost entirely to the work sponsored by the Committee for Aerial Photography of the University of Cambridge,' though information is, indeed, often interchanged with others making similar surveys. The fullest knowledge of any given site comes from study of all available records. The first clue may be obtained by one observer, later reconnaissance by others may amplify the record, perhaps making plain what was previously only suspected. Nevertheless, had it not been for knowledge of the first, perhaps incomplete, observation, subsequent reconnaissance might never have been undertaken. This is a pursuit in which each partici- pant may owe much to others: the cumulative results reflect the activities of many.

This summary follows the same pattern as the accounts of earlier surveys already described in this Journal.2 The droughts of 1975 and I976 provided opportunities for archaeological reconnaissance such as seldom occur. Over much of southern England, the Midlands, the Marches and in Wales, parching was severe, with extreme effects on vegeta- tion. Not only did buried structures appear with unusual clarity, but the effect extended to such areas as riverside water-meadows and pastures in the highland zone where archaeological information is seldom visible from the air. In the last fifty years only I949 has seen such a drought: in I 976 a combination of a long period of dry weather with unusually high temperatures produced the exceptional results. Thus, there has been abundant gain in knowledge in both the military and civil zones of Roman Britain. The new information, and particularly that concerning military sites, is best appreciated when there is- proper understanding of local geography, and this account may usefully be supplemented by reference to appropriate sheets of the i-inch to a mile, or I: 50,000 maps of the Ordnance Survey.3 The information will be incorporated in the fourth edition of the Ordnance Map of Roman Britain, now in preparation. Nearly all the military sites have been examined on the ground: 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.4

1. MILITARY SITES IN ENGLAND

The discovery of two temporary camps in Devon, the first to be found in the county, provides evidence of Roman campaigning in the south-west. One, on the E. side of the River Taw, near North Tawton (SS 662005), lies a third of a mile N. of a Roman road running E. and W. To S. of the road is an earthwork provisionally identified as the defences of a Roman fort.5 The whole of the N. side, approximately I,500 ft in length, some 500 ft of the E. side, together with the rounded NE. angle, and part of the curve of the NW. angle are known so far. Thus, the minimum area is I7 acres, but the camp may have been

' The reconnaissance was made in the University's aircraft, piloted by A. G. Douglass. The flights were part of a planned programme designed to serve many needs besides archaeology. The photography was undertaken by J. K. St Joseph and D. R. Wilson. The costs of publication have been defrayed by generous grants from the Council for British Archaeo- logy, the Administrators of the Haverfield Bequest and the Committee for Aerial Photography of the University of Cambridge.

2JRS XLI, XLIII, XLV, XLVIII, LI, LV, LIX, LXIII.

3 O.S. maps at I: 25,000, which have the advantage that contours are drawn at intervals of only 25 ft, may also be consulted with profit.

4 The photographs illustrating this article (Plates XIII-XVIII) are all from the Cambridge University Collection. Of the text-figures, 5, 7 and io were drawn by D. R. Wilson, i-4, 6, 8-9 and I1-17 by B. Thomason: copyright the Committee for Aerial Photography of the University of Cambridge.

5 RS XLvIII (I958), 98.



i z6 J. K. ST JOSEPH

much larger. Eighteen miles to the NW., near Alverdiscott, between the Taw and the Torridge, a second camp has come to light (at SS 493255). It lies on level ground at almost 450 ft O.D. near a local summit, immediately beside a triple-ditched fortified enclosure of native type (Fig. i). The greater part of the perimeter including the N., S. and W. gates can be laid down on a plan. The dimensions are about 450 ft from N. to S., by 370 ft, an area of 34 acres. That the camp is beside a native fort can hardly be chance. Few such forts are marked on the Ordnance Maps of this neighbourhood, but a number have come to light through air reconnaissance. The land between the rivers is dissected by streams, not the easiest country for campaigning, especially if it were well wooded.

ALVERDISCOTT

SCALES 100 0 1000 FEET

100 0 200 METRES II,,,, I I I

FIG. I. ROMAN CAMP AT ALVERDISCOTT, DEVON

That there are many factors working for or against the discovery of archaeological sites by observation from the air is exemplified by a fort at Stanway, SW. of Colchester, an area that has long been reconnoitred. Part of the outline of the fort is visible in the distance of a photograph taken in I949, but attention was then so centred on the site of the temple and theatre at Gosbecks Farm that the significance of the other crop marks passed unnoticed. 1949, like I976, was an unusually dry summer, conditions which seem to have favoured the development of crop marks in the particular field in question. The fort occupies level ground (at TL 963227), between the heads of two shallow valleys, now dry, but springs emerge lower down to feed a tiny tributary of the ' Roman River'. The whole of the N. side, the rounded NE. angle, and nearly half the S. side are visible as crop marks (Fig. 2). The E. side is determined within very close limits by the lie of the ground: the SE. angle



AIR RECONNAISSANCE IN ROMAN BRITAIN, I973-76 127

| |4 /S TAN WAY|

LU

0

1 .1

SCALES

100 0 600 FEET o,,,,1,,,,l l _ I ____

100 0 100 METRES I L I

FIG. 2. ROMAN FORT, NEAR STANWAY, SW. OF COLCHESTER, ESSEX

has been destroyed by a modern road, while the W. side seems to be marked by a hedgerow at the field-boundary. This boundary follows the line of one of the Colchester dykes,6 and it may well be that the dyke was incorporated in the defences of the Roman fort. Photo- graphs show the N. and S. defences to have consisted of a broad ditch, behind which were two narrow slots, evidently to hold the seating of timber revetments for an earthen rampart IO-I2 ft wide.7 At the N. gate, two pairs of large post-pits, I5 ft apart, presumably supported a gate tower, which was approached by a broad causeway, the ditch coming to a squared end on either side.

As has been indicated, the photographs do not allow the W. side to be fixed with precision, but the fort is almost a square of 500 ft, or a little less, within the ditches, an area of 5y1 acres. A row of large pits may be distinguished beside the N. and S. ramparts. Interpretation of features inside the fort is less easy, as incidental marks intrude upon this part of the photographs. However, foundation-trenches, defining part of the plan of a principia, in timber, may be distinguished: the N. to S. road was thus the via principalis, which lay a little to E. of the centre-line of the fort. In the praetentura, rows of post-pits appear to define a large building 35-40 ft wide, and perhaps Izo ft long. This might be a double barrack, but other interpretations are possible.

6 C. F. C. Hawkes and M. R. Hull,' Camulodunum', Res. Repts. Soc. Antiq. XIV (I974), P1. i; Britannia v (I974), plan (by C. Saunders) printed as fig. ii, facing p. 259.

7 For a discussion of such revetments, see M. J. Jones, 'Roman fort-defences to A.D. I7 1', Brit. Arch. Repts. xxi (I975), 82-3.



I28 J. K. ST JOSEPH

An earth-and-timber fort in this part of Britain is likely to be early indeed. History tells of two possible occasions when such a fort might have been built: namely following the initial drive upon the Belgic oppidum of Camulodunon and its capture in 43, or in the aftermath of the Boudiccan revolt of 6i. But by 6i, the Roman colonia, covering the ridge above the Colne, had become the centre of administration. If a military presence were needed then, any fort would surely have been built thereabouts to guard what remained of the sacked town and to watch the Colne Valley. This fort faces E. towards the Celtic sanctuary at Cheshunt Field, only 500 yards away, implying that that was its principal concern. What better demonstration of Roman power than the desecration of a sacred precinct, and the planting of a garrison within the dyke-system that surrounded it? If this reasoning is correct, Stanway must be one of the earliest Roman forts to have been discovered in Britain.8

Recent observation has added greatly to knowledge of the site at Ixworth (TL 93I698), in Suffolk, 6 miles NE. of Bury St. Edmunds, where a fort 9 was identified in I950 from air reconnaissance (P1. xvi, i). The site lies SW. of The Black Bourn, a tributary of the Little Ouse, in a position that became the crossing-point for the Roman road that led NNE-wards from Chelmsford, eventually to link with the Peddars Way. A short length of the ditches on the N. side appeared as parch marks in the drought of 1976, a good deal further N. than had been expected. With this clue, much of the line of the N. defences could be recognized on photographs taken years before. There are three ditches there, as on the E. and S. The SW. angle and part of the W. side were noted as crop marks in corn just E. of a main road (AI43). The newly established lengths are parallel to the ditch-systems on the S. and E. respectively. If these sectors are all part of a single defensive circuit, the fort will have measured about 500 ft from N. to S. by 575 ft within the ditches, an area of 62 acres. An E. gate is visible, hardly a third of the distance along the E. side from the SE. angle, while a S. gate lies a little W. of the central position. In shape, the fort is a parallelogram, having angles of 780 and io2o. A street can be distinguished extending inwards from the E. gate, on a line parallel to the S. defences. Other roads, irregularly laid out, some hundreds of pits and lines of ditch are clearly visible both within and to the E. of the fort. These conform to no military plan: thus, the principal road within the fort diverges from the street-line to the E. gate. Moreover, that street appears to be cut by secondary features. It would seem as if, at Ixworth, a military phase was succeeded by an irregularly planned settlement which spread over most of the fort and for some distance outside it, especially to the E.

There is a little more information about the second temporary camp at Water Eaton,10 in the Staffordshire parish of Kinvaston (centre c. SJ 904III). A length of some 6oo ft of the NE. side has now been proved, as well as a gate in the NW. side, at a point about 400 ft from the N. angle, where the ditch changes direction through some 5 degrees. The area will have been more than 8- acres; perhaps considerably more.

At Ancaster, in Lincolnshire, a temporary camp has been identified (at SK 980445) on the N. side of the shallow valley that forms the Ancaster gap. It lies about i,ooo yards N. of the Roman fort at Ancaster. Much of the W. side lies close to, or beneath, a field- boundary, but the greater part of the perimeter and all four rounded angles have been recorded. The two halves of the N. side meet at a re-entrant angle, as if there were a gate at the mid-point. The camp measures about i,8oo ft from N. to S., by 900 ft, an area of nearly z8 acres.

Photographs of Newton on Trent, in Lincolnshire, show (at about SK 825733) what seems to be part of the outline of a second temporary camp 700 ft S. of the fort, and close to the E.-W. ditch of the camp already reported there."1 A length of some I,IIO ft of the ditch on the N. side, short sectors of the E. side, establishing its line for a distance of over 425 ft, and the NE. angle, turned in an arc of large radius, are known so far.

The crossing by the Roman road from Lincoln to Doncaster of so large a river as the Trent has long invited search for an early fort. The river here has a wide flood-plain, and

8 For further details and a photograph, reference should be made to the full account of this site being published by D. R. Wilson in Britannia VIII, I977.

9JRS XLIII (I95 3), 82; LIX (I969), 127-8, P1. II, 2. '0JRS LXIII (I973), 233- 11JRS LIX (I969), o04.



AIR RECONNAISSANCE IN ROMAN BRITAIN, 1973-76 129

the settlement that developed at Littleborough on the W. bank is on an 'island' of ground slightly raised above normal flood level. The search seems to have ended with the observation in 1974, W. of Marton (Lincs.) of crop marks at a point (SK 83282I) above the river scarp, and separated from the Trent to the W. by 700 yards of water meadows. At the precise site, some 500 ft S. of the Roman road, there is a slight rise in the ground to form a low crest at the edge of the scarp. This advantageous position, 13 miles from Lincoln and I71 from the fort at Rossington, offers views extending for some miles up and down the river, and over the country to W. Two ditches are visible defining the whole of the E. side, and much of the N. and S. sides of a rectangular enclosure (Fig. 3). The two eastern angles are rounded. An E. gate is visible, slightly to N. of the central position, and N. and S. gates can be traced with fair probability. The crop marks disappear, as the scarp is approached, no doubt because of a fall in the water-table, above a steep 25-ft drop. If the line of the inner ditch on the W. was not far from the scarp edge, the dimensions will have been 310 ft from N. to S. by 26o ft within the ditches, an area of i *8 acres.

MAARTON

SCALES 100 0 800 FEET s~~~~~~ t ,l0.|||e_t

*

100 0 100 METRES

FIG. 3. ROMAN FORT, NEAR MARTON, LINCOLNSHIRE

At Rossington, Yorks., West Riding, SE. of Doncaster, the entire outline of the 23-acre fort 12 (SK 62899I) has now been recorded. There is a single, broad ditch, except on the E. side, and at the E. angles, where there are two. The N. and S. gates divide those sides in the ratio of 2 to 3. In the shorter E. side there is a central gate.

From the early fort at Brough, near the N. shore of the Humber, the easiest route to York skirts the margin of the Wolds for ten miles, and then, near Pocklington, swings W. to York. Such a line avoids the basin drained by the Derwent and its tributaries, a land of low relief and poor drainage, favouring the formation of fens and mosses. The discovery of a fort at Hayton, halfway along this route (I41 miles from Brough and I 4 from York) was due

12 IDS LIX (I969), 104, P1. II, I.



I30 J. K. ST JOSEPH

to chance observation in I974 (Fig. 4). The site lies on level ground in a position offering no particular tactical advantage, at a point (SE 8I7455) some 400 yards S. of the Roman road. Photographs taken then, and in subsequent years, show two ditches defining the whole of the SE., NE. and NW. sides, and part of the SW. side, and the rounded E. and N. angles of a Roman fort, 4 acres in size. A SE. gate was visible, on either side of which the outer ditch curved in to join the inner ditch. As the site was evidently suffering erosion from continued ploughing, an excavation was arranged in I 975 by the Department of the Environment. The results have been summarized in Mr. J. S. Johnson's preliminary report13: it is only

HAYTON


loo 0 200 METRES

FIG. 4. ROMAN FORT AT HAYTON, YORKSHIRE

necessary to note here the identification, at the SE. and NW. gates, of a double-portalled timber gate-tower, and of a timber barrack. Pottery confirmed a Flavian date for the single occupation. Since the excavation took place, further reconnaissance has revealed a broad ditch forming the SE. and NE. sides, and rounded E. angle of an annexe, about 220 ft wide, attached to the NE. side of the fort.

A small temporary camp has been identified at Wath (Yorks., East Riding), on the N. side of the Howardian Hills (SE 674745). The site lies 7 miles WNW. of Malton, on a limestone ridge overlooking the W. end of the Vale of Pickering. The whole of the N. side with central gate, the E. side, much of the W., including a gate, a short length of the S.,

"I Britannia VII (I976), 3I5-I6, fig. iI.



AIR RECONNAISSANCE IN ROMAN BRITAIN, I973-76 I3I

together with the rounded E. angles, have been recorded. The camp is about 700 ft square, at a rough estimate, an area of i i acres.

II. MILITARY SITES IN SCOTLAND

Half a mile NW. of Cappuck, in Roxburghshire, the site of the camp identified in I972 14 on the N. side of Dere Street, near Ulston Moor (NT 69I222) has been watched each year, with much gain in information.15 The camp occupies the crest and slopes of a low hill, now covered with an irregularly shaped plantation, Millside Wood. The whole of the SW. side, a considerable length of the SE., and almost all the NW. have been recorded as crop marks, together with the rounded S. and W. angles. The N. angle, too, seems reasonably certain, though the crop marks are faint thereabouts. A SE. gate with traverse is visible rather less than half-way along that side, measured from the S. angle: there is a matching gate in the NW. side. The SW. side is aligned to Dere Street at a distance of some 200 ft. A kink in that side suggests a centrally placed SW. gate, as is likely enough. The dimensions of the camp are I,z50 ft from SE. to NW., by about I,650 ft, an area of some 47 acres. Within this camp, and crowning the low hill-top, is a smaller camp of which the whole of the SW. and NW. sides, and parts of the SE. and NE., together with the rounded S., W. and N. angles, have been recorded as clear crop marks in corn. The remainder of the circuit lies within Millside Wood. A gap, as for a gate, is visible at the centre of the SE. and of the NW. sides. The dimensions are approximately 450 ft from SE. to NW., by 500 ft, an area of 5 acres.

The exceptional drought of I976 caused the corn growing over the fort at Newstead, in Roxburghshire (NT 57I344) to respond to buried features in unusual degree, notwith- standing the fact that Roman levels have been covered with upwards of a foot of imported soil dumped over the site. Both streets and buildings were visible, including the principia. However, the crop marks do not discriminate between remains of different periods: on the whole, the visible street-plan is that of the Antonine forts, but streets that seem to have belonged to the Agricolan fort also appear.

At Channelkirk 16 (Berwickshire), at the head of Lauderdale, the small camp (NT 487547) identified four years ago, was visible again in I975, when a gate with traverse could be distinguished in the SW. side, providing welcome confirmation of the character of this work. The gate lies at about 300 ft from the S. angle.

To S. of Inveresk, a linear crop mark (NT 709351) observed in 1975 to S. of the side road that runs NE. from Cowpits to the main road A6i24, may indicate the S. side of a temporary camp. The mark which extends for some goo ft appears to curve northwards at its E. end, but details are obscured by changes in tone of the crop at the edge of a field. At the W. end of the visible sector, a detached length of ditch appears, set forward to the S., like a traverse. This line of ditch is nearly parallel to a V-shaped ditch observed several years ago S. of Inveresk station, and subsequently tested by digging.'7 Further observation is needed to elucidate the relationships of the various enclosures near Inveresk.

In Nithsdale, at Dalswinton 18 (Dumfriesshire), more of the outline of the large forts (Fig. 5) on the river holms, by Bankfoot farm, (NX 93384I) came to light in I974, permitting a closer estimate of the size of these forts than had been possible before. Approximate dimensions, measured within the ditches, of the four forts near Dalswinton are as follows:

Bankfoot I not less than 7I5 ft x 790 ft; I2Z75 acres (52z ha.) Bankfoot ii not less than (?) 715 ft x 570 ft; 9 z acres (3 .7 ha.) Bankhead I 640 ft x 585 ft; 8 acres (3 2 ha.) Bankhead ii 6Z5 ft x 730 ft; IO75 acres (4 4 ha.)

The forts on the river plain by Bankfoot, occupying the less advantageous ground, must surely be earlier than those at Bankhead, in a much more commanding position. The

14JRS LXIII (1973), 2i6. "5 The clearest air photographs of these camps,

obtained by the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments for Scotland, in August 1976, have been

kindly made available by Dr. K. Steer. 'JRS LXIII (I'973), 2i6. '7JRS LIX (I969), 107-8. 8J7RS LXIII (1973), 217, P1. XVI, I.



132 J. K. ST JOSEPH

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AIR RECONNAISSANCE IN ROMAN BRITAIN, 1973-76 I33

forts at Bankhead are known from excavation to be Flavian in date, so presumably those on the floodplain must be Flavian too. Thus, Dalswinton would seem to offer a remarkable succession of forts, all with an occupation of very short duration. If Bankfoot I were to be equated with operations in Agricola's third campaign, it might have been reduced in size the following year (Bankfoot II). The move to the better site at Bankhead I may not necessarily be of historical significance, for it might have been occasioned by no more than a disastrous flood. The increase in size of the garrison represented by Bankhead II evidently reflects changing military dispositions. The evidence from Dalswinton, added to the considerable information already available about military activity in the south-west in the Flavian period, supports the view that Tacitus was referring to Galloway and Ayrshire in the well-known phrase, 'eamque partem Britanniae quae Hiberniam aspicit',19 describing operations in Agricola's fifth campaign.

E. of Beattock, in Dumfriesshire, two temporary camps have already been identified from the air on either side of the Roman road, on a gravel plain, N. of the Evan Water.20 That E. of the road is of rather unusually long and narrow proportions: at least goo ft from N. to S. by 350 ft, part of the S. side having been eroded by the river. In I974, a further length of ditch was observed, parallel to the two long sides of this camp, but at two fields' distance to the E. (NT 092027). The visible length extends for 500 ft, and includes a gate with traverse, matching the gate in the W. side of the camp, nearest the Roman road. The site, near the confluence of the Annan with the Evan Water and the Moffat Water, occupies a considerable extent of level ground not easily found in this part of the valley. If the newly recorded ditch should be part of the same work as the ditches observed in I945, the camp would have had an E. to W. dimension of some I,450 ft. Though the proven length from N. to S. is only goo ft, there might once have been space for a camp I,700 ft long or more, assuming that the Evan Water, here in a meandering course, has destroyed nearly half the S. and W. sides. This theory would account for the unusual proportions of the camp as originally understood: the ditch judged in I945 to be the E. side would now be readily explained as a later subdivision of the camp, on the occasion of a re-occupation by another force. For troops on a northward march a camp here would occupy almost the last level ground of any extent before the hilly route leading to the head of the Clyde valley had to be negotiated. The nearest large camp to Beattock is that at Kirkpatrick, 25 miles to the S., having axial dimensions c. I,375 by 2,000 ft, and an area of 63 acres.

At Coulter, in Lanarkshire, reconnaissance in I974-75 has revealed a further length of the NW. side of this camp 21 (NT 022358), and some 8oo ft of the SW. side (Fig. 6). This establishes the length of the NW. side as about I,550 ft. The NE. side has been traced for some I,000 ft: at a point about goo ft from the N. angle, the ditch changes direction through one or two degrees. Such a change often occurs at a gate: here the crop mark is not clear enough for any opinion to be expressed. Two further lines of ditch, first seen in terms of crop marks in I949, remain to be mentioned. Both are parallel to the NW. side of the camp and lie at distances of 88o ft and c. I,I25 ft from it. The western of the two ditches is interrupted near its mid-point, and there a short length of ditch is set forward some 30 ft, implying a gate with a traverse. But this ditch cannot represent the full extent of the camp to the SE., since the NE. side has been traced beyond its line. It must therefore be a subdivision of a larger camp. Should the second ditch represent the limit of the camp, then the axial dimensions would be c. I,550 by I,105 ft, and the area some 40 acres. The configuration of the ground would equally suit a larger camp: more reconnaissance is needed here.

At Castledykes, in Lanarkshire, the temporary camp 22 (NS 927445) recognized in 1952, to N. of the fort, was in 1974 under barley. Reconnaissance in late July of that year revealed the E. side of the camp not previously recognized. The camp measures 850 ft from N. to S., by c. 700 ft, an area of I 32 acres. Within the camp, further marks suggest a number of narrow ditches defining rectilinear enclosures: age and character remain uncertain.

19 Agr. 24. 20JRS XLI (I95I), 58; XLVIII (I958), 89; for a

plan, see Glasgow Univ. Publs. LXXXIII (1952), P1. V.

21 JRS LXIII (1973), 217. 22JRS XLV (I955), 85; LV (I965), 8o.



134 J. K. ST JOSEPH

SCALES 100 0 1000 1800 FEET

lO0 0 400 METRES

FIG. 6. ROMAN CAMP AT COULTERC LANARKSHIO

Recet oseratin o th cap a :Bchly 23 (NS 587722), NE. of the fort at Balmuildy, on the Antonine Wall, has brought to light two small enclosures, perhaps annexes, or ' attached camps ', near the E. angle. That most clearly visible projects from the NE. side of the camp, covering the whole distance between the NE. gate and the E. angle. It adds to the main camp (of almost I I acres) a space equal to about one-seventh of the area.

23JRS XLV (i955), 86-7, described under Balmuildy.



AIR RECONNAISSANCE IN ROMAN BRITAIN, I973-76 I35

Half a mile W. of the fort, at Camelon, and S. of the large camp at Lochlands, part of an enclosure has been recorded at the point NS 854812. So far, some 300 ft of the N. side and rather more of the S. side, and the well-rounded SE. angle have been traced. The ditch is small, to judge from the crop mark. This seems to be yet another camp in the group near Camelon.

Further reconnaissance and excavation has added to knowledge of the large camp at Craigarnhall 24 (NS 757985), in Perthshire. The E. side of the camp, including a gate, was identified from the air in 1974, when the field in which it lies was under corn for the first time for eight years. Excavation has confirmed the line and has shown that the ditch continued southwards into a fir-wood, Craigarnhall Plantation. The position near the mid- point of their respective sides of both the E. and of the W. gates, each with a titulum, was also determined by digging. The E. gate was 49 ft wide with a titulum laid out obliquely to the line of the ditch. The axial dimensions of the camp are 2,070 ft from E. to W. by 1,275 ft, so far as may be judged, but much of the S. side is now lost within the plantation. These dimensions suggest an area of 6o acres, close to the average size of the camps of the '63-acre ' series.

Ardoch,25 in Perthshire, provides more opportunities for studying the intersections of different temporary camps than any other site north of the Antonine Wall. For this reason an up to date version of the plan is printed as Fig. 7. In the last few years progress has been made in three directions; the relationship of the i3o-acre camp to the large earthwork (Roy's ' procestrium ') attached to the N. side of the forts has been established; the nature of the supposed signal-station in Blackhill Wood, and its relation to the I30-acre camp has been confirmed by digging; yet a further camp has been identified and its position defined in the sequence of works.

Careful study of the intersections of the 13o-acre camp with the large earthwork N. of the forts leaves no doubt that the 13o-acre camp is the later of the two, though this is contrary to generally accepted opinion.26 The N. side of the earthwork, comprising a considerable rampart and ditch, still stands in the high relief along the edge of a fir plantation. At the intersection of the E. side of the 13o-acre camp with this earthwork, the camp rampart crosses the ditch descending the south face and climbing the N. face to a ruined wall that forms the boundary of a modern road. No very profitable observation on the relative age of the two works can be made at the other intersection, because of the poor preservation there of the rampart of the camp. However, a careful sighting along the rampart, suggests that it changes direction through about i ?, at that point.

Excavation in Blackhill Wood in 1974 showed that a little earthwork, first planned by Roy, but now only recognizable with difficulty, marks the site of a signal-tower surrounded by two circular ditches. Digging confirmed the impression gained by inspection of the ground,27 that the defences of the 130-acre camp override those round this signal-tower. The site (see Fig. 7) lies on the summit of a hummock of glacial gravel, the highest point on the uneven surface of the moraine thereabouts, bounded to SW. by a small scarp. Excava- tion defined the two ditches, respectively 47 and 74 ft in diameter, and revealed three of the four post-pits for uprights supporting a wooden tower, I2 ft square (Fig. 8). The fourth pit lay beneath a fir-tree. The position of each post, of about i i inch side, was marked by a square of dark earth, set within an irregularly shaped pit 2f-3 ft across. Trees prevented search for an entrance causeway, but the earthwork evidently faced the Roman road, here 95 ft away. This site is close to the northernmost gate in the E. side of the 13o-acre camp. A section of the defences (Trench 5 in Fig. 8) revealed the inner ditch round the signal- tower buried beneath the gravel rampart of the camp. At the gate of the camp, a traverse was identified: it is set forward a comparatively short distance, perhaps because of the proximity of the road, and covers barely two-thirds of the width of the gate.

24JRS LXIII (I973), 2I7-8. For the position of the various sites N. of the Forth, see the map printed in JRS LXIII (I973), 227, fig. I7.

25 RSXLI (I95i), 62; XLVIII (I958), 90; LV(I965), 8xI; Britannia I (1I970), I63-7I.

28 T. Pennant, Tour in Scotland 1772, pt. 2 (1776),

plan on P1. Io, facing p. ioI; W. Roy, Military Antiquities 1793. 63, P1. IO; 0. G. S. Crawford, Topography of Roman Scotland (1949), 33.

27 I. A. Richmond, Arch. J7. xciii (I937), 314. In Fig. 8 the trenches dug across the signal-post are omitted for sake of clarity.



I36 J. K. ST JOSEPH

I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~iu

/ 0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~0 /0

wl-

ol ~ ~ ~ l I-, - (4~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~t

Q - IN

U 0

4:

4: U

z 4:

0 z 4:

0




BLACKHILL WOOD, ARDOCH.

field gate

-- ----- - -

-~ ', - '" -RO

10 / 0 \F \ E -- ' I I I ' I- t 11I I 1 I 1 ! 11 I 1 I !1111!I'l1 111111f!1

0 05

SCALES 10 0 210 PEE

10 0 60 METRES

J.K.St.J. menfsit d.lineavit BAMT

FIG. 8. SIGNAL-TOWER, BLACKHILL WOOD, ARDOCH, PERTHSHIRE

To N. of the forts, examination of the eighteenth-century field-banks, still visible much as they appear on Roy's plan of c. I750, has shown that a bank and ditch forming part of the S. and W. sides and the rounded SW. angle of an enclosure (2) 28 can be recognized amongst them. In scale and character, these earthworks are very like those of a temporary camp, and this resemblance has been confirmed by digging (Fig. 9, i), which has established most of the plan, including a S. gate, and an extension, or annexe, I40 ft deep, attached to the S. side of the camp. At the gate, the lines of ditch are slightly staggered. The annexe covers the W. half of the S. side only; its ditch then inclines north-eastwards, to join that side to E. of the S. gate. The question of a gate to the annexe remains undetermined. As to size, the camp measures approximately 640 ft from E. to W. by 700 ft, an area of IO acres. There was ample evidence in a number of sections that considerable lengths of the ditch of this camp had been deliberately filled with layers of turf and gravel (Fig. 9, z and 3). To judge from the small amount of silt below this filling, the operation took place at no very long interval after construction.

The relationship of this camp to other works at Ardoch is particularly significant. The ditch of the extension, or annexe, on the S. side of the camp is overridden by the substantial mound that extends north-eastwards from the gate in the northernmost defences of the forts. This mound, or agger, no doubt originally carried a road across a belt of damp ground immediately outside the forts. This camp and the x30-acre camp overlap so as to have a

28 These are the numbers of the camps in Fig. 7.



I38 J. K. ST JOSEPH

small area in common (Fig. 7). A section across both ditches close to their intersection showed (Fig. 9, 3) that the ditch of the large camp (7) 28 had been dug through the infilling of the ditch of the small camp (2),28 which is thus the earlier. Camp 2 lies wholly within the earthwork forming Roy's ' procestrium '. However, on the N. and W. sides, a distance of only 125 ft separates the ditch of the camp from this earthwork which in places still attains a height of 5-7 ft. To construct a camp in such a position that the outlook from the defences was completely blocked at a distance of 40 yards is contrary to all reason, so camp 2 must be earlier than the earthwork, indeed the construction of the earthwork may well

ARDOCH 1975 Temporary camp i sections of defences

1~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

EXTERIOR INTERIOR

2 3

s E- DITCH OF SMALL CAMP l

DITCH OF 130 ACRE CAMP SCALE OF FEET

0 SCALE Of METRES6

J.IK.St. mensit deUneavit I.MX.T

FIG. 9. ARDOCH, PERTHSHIRE, SECTIONS OF DITCHES OF ROMAN CAMPS

have been the occasion for the obliteration of the camp. If this reasoning be accepted, Roy's ' procestrium ' is dated to within the Roman period, being later than camp 2 and earlier than camp 7. It is best regarded as an annexe to the forts, if of somewhat irregular plan.

I,ooo yards NE. of Blackhill Wood, faint marks observed from the air in I973 (at NN 8499II49) W. of Shielhill farm led to a trial excavation which revealed yet another signal-tower.29 A few trenches quickly established the four post-pits for a tower iiI- ft square surrounded by two circular ditches respectively 5o and 77 ft in diameter, both interrupted on the SE. for an entrance-causeway facing the Roman road. A section of one of the post-pits, which was 3 ft across, showed that the post had been rocked and twisted to facilitate its withdrawal. The hollow remaining after its extraction, and the subsequent collapse of earth into the void, had been filled with cobbles capped with a layer of clay, thus confirming the evidence already obtained at Shielhill north for the deliberate demolition of the system.

29 This may be named Shielhill south to distinguish it from the tower already identified (JRS LXIII, 2I8) 1,000 yards to the NE., which becomes Shielhill north.




Three towers, closely corresponding in plan, are now known between Ardoch and Kaims Castle. Each is surrounded by two ditches, a detail of planning that distinguishes them from the towers on the Gask Ridge which have one ditch only. The distance between the NE. angle of the reduced fort at Ardoch and Kaims Castle is almost exactly 4,000 yards: the towers are so placed that each is easily visible from the next, and that they divide the distance into four nearly equal intervals. They provide a close link between the outpost at Kaims Castle, placed so as to command a wide sweep of country to the NE., and the fort at Ardoch in a good tactical position in Strath Allan, but on lower ground from which distant views northwards are not to be had.

Information about roads, both as to the extent of the system and as to details of construction, accumulates slowly. Sections have been dug across Roman roads at Kinbuck Muir,30 N. of Dunblane, at Blackhill Wood, Ardoch, and in Innerpeffray Wood,3' and the roads have been cut by trenches for regional pipe-lines for oil or gas, though such excavation by machines seldom affords opportunity for careful observation. The line of the road up Strath Allan, discovered by Mr. Nicoll, is well preserved on Kinbuck Muir, where both the road mound, and quarry-pits are visible for a length of a few hundred yards. Further S., quarry-pits have been observed from the air at NN 79850490, confirming the straight course of the road over a total length of some I,300 yards. Crawford observed the road in a large field S. of Ardoch (c. NN 838088), but the land has been heavily ploughed and little is now ordinarily visible, though reconnaissance in winter might reveal soil marks. Quarry-pits have been recorded from the air near Ardoch where the road lies E. of the 13o-acre camp. They appear as crop marks at NN 844106, and are visible as hollows in the rough ground 200 yards further N. In Blackhill Wood, the road was 22 ft wide, composed of up to io in. of hard, rammed gravel of fairly fine texture. No heavy bottoming was present. This area has long been rough woodland; the trenches revealed no plough soil, but only a few inches of humus lying on hard gravel, so the road may remain much as it was, apart from the little that has been lost by weathering.

Somewhat further NE., the course is marked by irregularly shaped quarry-pits of varying sizes, seen as crop marks to N. and S. of both the signal-towers on Shielhill farm. They form a line on either side of the road for a total length of I, IOO yards. More are visible between Shielhill north and Kaims Castle, on Muir of Orchill (NN 8585I243), where the metalling of the road is seen between the two lines of pits. The next record in this sector has been obtained if miles further on, near the farm of Westerton, where, from the air, pits have been traced for 500 yards (P1. XIII, 2) defining the course of the road, past another signal-tower (at NN 872I45), identified in 1945.32

In Innerpeffray Wood, the mound of the road is well preserved where it passes Park Neuk signal-tower. A section dug across the mound in 1975, showed a cambered road c. I9 ft wide, surfaced with gravel. For most of the length of the Gask Ridge, the Roman line is obscured from view by modern tracks and lanes. Only at the E. end of the Ridge, S. of the farm of Westmuir, does the Roman road again become visible from the air, its course marked, as further south, by lines of quarry-pits (from NO o26zo6 to NO 031208). This sector aims at Cultmalundie Woods. The further course towards Bertha, mainly across arable land, is uncertain. However, the terrace limiting on the south the alluvial plain of the river Almond, is composed of gravel, which often promotes crop marks. Here, two rows of large irregular pits have been recognized: these extend for a distance of some 8oo yards, from NO 072248 to NO 08I25I, running ENE. towards Mains of Huntingtower. The rows are c. 60-70 ft apart. These pits seem far too large to have been made for uprights in timber or stone; moreover, the spacing is quite irregular. Photographs (P1. xIII, 3) show how closely they resemble the pits beside the Roman road at Westerton and Shielhill. Con- sidered as quarry-pits beside a road, they define two lengths, involving an angular change of direction through 22 degrees. When produced southwestwards, the line leads to the last known point on the road, near the low crest forming the S. side of Cultmalundie Moor,

30 By Mr. J. S. Nicoll, who kindly showed me his excavation. Discovery and Excavation, Scotland ('97'), 35.

31 By members of the Perthshire Society, Archaeo-

logical Section, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland (I967), 37.

32 JRS XLI (I 95 I), 62.



I40 J. K. ST JOSEPH

3- miles away. If these marks do, indeed, indicate a further length of the Roman road, it must shortly descend the scarp, to cross the flood-plain of the Almond to the fort at Bertha, xi miles distant.

Roman sites in Strathearn have been reconnoitred each season. At Dunning 33 (NO 025148), where much of the E. side of the camp lies beneath a hedgerow bounding a modern lane, the traverse of the E. gate has been recorded showing that the gate lay i,ioo ft from the NE. angle, a position that closely matches the W. gate. At Abernethy 34 (NO I74I65), the traverse at the western of the two gates in the N. side has also been observed from the air.

At Cardean 35, in Angus, part of the NE. side of the large camp (NO 300462) has been identified from the air, and confirmed by digging, which revealed a considerable ditch I2 ft wide and 51 ft deep. For about half the length of this side, the ditch is now represented by a wide trench still serving for drainage along the edge of a field. The dimensions are close to those for the ditch on the SE. side. Nearly half the NW. side lies beneath a modern road, or its boundary hedges. This further information permits a revised estimate for the size of the camp of i29j acres, which is unlikely to be far wrong.

At the camp of Finavon,36 in Angus (NO 497574), by the river South Esk, the gate in the SE. side, and a sector of the NW. side have been observed from the air for the first time. The gate, the only one so far known at this camp, was seen to have been provided with a traverse. This usefully amplifies the results obtained in a trial excavation in I966.

At Longforgan 37 (Perthshire), aerial photography and excavation have both added to knowledge of the camp (centre at NO 299304). The NW. side has been traced by digging as far as the W. angle (now within a plantation belt), set near the crest of a ridge, which is straddled by the camp. The angle was turned in a curve of 40 ft radius. Reconnaissance has revealed the E. angle and some 700 ft of the SE. side. This new information permits an estimate of about 2,040 ft from NE. to SW., by between I,400 and I,500 ft, for the axial dimensions, an area of c. 64 acres. At Kinnell 38 (NO 6I3055), in Angus, a substantial part of the NW. side of the camp, including a gate, which lies within the area of a military airfield of the 1939-45 war, was recorded for the first time.

Further study of the site at Logie39 (Angus), near the river North Esk, where a V-shaped ditch of Roman type was identified in I972, has shown that its length cannot greatly have exceeded i,425 ft. Recent reconnaissance has revealed a line of ditch extending almost at right-angles, in a N. to S. direction for at least I,325 ft. A section showed it to be 6ift wide and 4 ft deep, thus matching the first ditch in size. The relation of the two ditches is not apparent from the air since, near their junction, a length of the E. to W. ditch had formerly served as an open drainage-dike. If, as seems likely, these ditches go together, they must represent the N. and W. sides of a camp (centre c. NO 699629), having an area of not less than 40 acres. The proven length of the N. side (c. I,425 ft), which falls within the range of widths of ' 63-acre ' camps, and the area, suggests that, of known sizes of camps, Logie may belong to the ' 63-acre' series. However, Keithock, another member of that series, lies only 5 miles away, and other explanations are possible. A second V-shaped ditch, parallel to that described as running in a N. to S. direction, and at only io ft distance (centre to centre) from it, has been observed for a length of at least i,ioo ft. It is smaller than the first ditch, 4 ft wide by nearly 3 ft deep, but equally of Roman character. More digging is needed to establish the nature and sequence of these works.

Near Kintore (Aberdeenshire), a straight crop mark was observed in the dry summer of I976 on level ground (NJ 784I75) i mile N. of the well known camp by Kintore burgh. The mark, about I,ooo ft in total length, consisted of two straight sectors separated by a gap, at which there is a change of direction of about I0. Two trenches dug in November I976, identified a small v-shaped ditch, 4 ft wide and up to 2- ft deep, cut in loose gravel: that this is a camp seems most likely. The configuration of the ground limits the possible area to not much more than 30 acres. Further work is needed to trace the ditch, and to establish whether the gap marks a gate.

33JRS LXIII (i973), 2I8-I9, fig. IC. 34 ibid. 2I9-20, fig. II. 35JRS XLV (1955), 87; LXIII (1973), 224. 36 RS LV (1 965), 83; LIX (1 969), }I Ii; LXIII (1 973),

224. 37 JRS LIX (i969), i Ii. 3 8RS LIX (I969), III-I z; LXIII (I973), 224. 39JRS LXIII (1973), 226.



AIR RECONNAISSANCE IN ROMAN BRITAIN, I973-76 14I

100 0 900 METRES~~~~~~~~~~40

I I I I~~~~~32

ocuisuee ron,N.o h salrvrUi (i.i,50f away0a iETseRESt poinSt.J Tefed nwic h aple hv l enmc ploughd, anenontaces are

viibe onscthesrface. They whole of thare SW.p side,tr 3,3at iNJ total2 length, isr kown Loincluding tw widegaes,NW eac wneuithataerse Thme exac supoisitio Tof theasouth eronaisencteo tandtw sid,adoft thell rouignde S.ange hosasblseen dhegetermie byr digig the ditch There-m aoutsies unvaedn groftuwde aNd. up tohe ftal dieep Ari changeI) indiretiona thrug isomear32t

occusil at the northernos gThe inwhisselM of the NW. side, 31,930tinfta longt, has benon

observed from the air, while a few trenches fixed the position of the central gate, 63 ft wide, and its traverse. Rather less than half the NE. side, including the northernmost of the two gates, was visible from the air: the rest lies in well-established pasture. Digging was able to trace the ditch nearly to the small steading, Easterton of Logie, and to determine the second gate in that silde. Of the SE. side, only some zoo ft remained near the S. angle. The

4? For its geographical setting, see the map, Fig. i I.



I42 J. K. ST JOSEPH

neighbouring length of ditch had presumably been ploughed out on the moderately steep slope. On the NE. side, the ditch became progressively shallower towards Easterton, till it ran out into the ploughsoil. Some 200 ft W. of Easterton is a small rocky knoll, and there are outcrops of the country rock (gabbro) both there, in the paddock SE. of the steading, and south-westwards across the lane in rough ground formerly part of a wood. Several ditch-sections on this side revealed an irregular profile: digging had stopped when rock was encountered. Trenches SE. of the steading found no ditch: perhaps round this part of the perimeter, the camp-builders made do with a rampart of earth and boulders. The precise area of the camp cannot thus be determined. However, the short proven length of the SE. side, parallel to the matching NW. side, may be assumed- to continue to a SE. gate, within the wood, on the crest of a ridge. A straight line drawn from Easterton to this gate position defines the minimum extent of the camp. The lie of the ground, and the disposition of the known gates suggests that the E. angle lay a few hundred feet SE. of Easterton. The minimum extent is I4III acres, and the most likely area some 3 acres more, making this the largest camp known N. of the Antonine Wall.

MI LES KILO2METRE O 0 5 25 0 10 40

_KSt DRW

FIG. I I. ROMAN CAMPS IN NORTH EAT SCOTLAND (Stonehaven Bay is near the foot of the map, at the mouth of the two small rivers. Bennachie is the mountain of which the summit, at I,600 ft., lies 3j miles SW. of Durno)




At Ythan Wells 41 (Aberdeenshire), recent photographs of the large camp (centre at NJ 655383) have shown there to be a slight re-entrant angle in the S. side, E. of the S. gate, necessitating a recalculation of the area. Of the small camp (centre at NJ 66I385), a crop mark, visible in 1974, may give a clue to the line of the E. side, but this observation needs to be tested by digging. As to area, the best estimate is 33 acres.

The identification of the NE. side of the camp at Cardean, as well as minor adjustments of the kind just mentioned, make necessary small corrections in the published areas of these large camps. Precise sizes are difficult to determine, since the shape is often irregular and the ground uneven. In the table that follows, the camps are arranged in geographical sequence: the areas are thought to be accurate to 2 acre.

Camps of about IOO acres and upwards

(a) Strath Allan to Moray acres

ARDOCI-I I29 INNERPEFFRAY I30-1- i.e. I33-, less 3 acres unusable ground.

Norm GRASSY WALLS I29 minimum, perhaps i acre more I29z- acres CARDEAN I29' (52 5 ha.) I OATHLAW 130

[BALMAKEWAN 123 minimum, perhaps up to 7 acres more KAIR HOUSE 130 RAEDYKES 93

fNORMANDYKES io6l minimum, perhaps up to 2 acres more Norm / KINTORE IIO IO9 acres DURNO I4I1- minimum, best estimate c. 144 (44 5 ha.) fYTHAN WELLS III

MUIRYFOLD 109

(b) Lower Strathearn to the Tav DUNNING 114 best estimate, possibly I acre more ABERNETHY ii6 CARPOW plan incomplete, probably over ioo acres 42

Of the first seven camps, six conform to an average of Iz291 acres, with an accuracy within i per cent, a remarkable correspondence considering the uneven ground on which they are set. At Balmakewan, the line of the E. side has not yet been recorded, but the nature of the ground is such that the size is determined within close limits. Of the four camps, Normandykes, Kintore, Ythan Wells and Muiryfold, only the first departs signi- ficantly (by just over 41 per cent) from an average of IIO acres, and as at Normandykes the position of the SE. angle is uncertain, the discrepancy may prove even less. Raedykes, at 93 acres, is smaller than the first group by 28 per cent, and than the second by I 5 per cent. The abnormally small size of Raedykes has customarily been explained in terms of difficulties of the terrain, but the ground there is hardly more difficult than at Innerpeffray or Kair House. There seems no overriding reason why more ground could not have been included by setting the E. side somewhat further out. To suggest that given a slight change in site, more level ground was available, might invite the rejoinder that many aspects of the terrain, for example the extent of moorland peat-bogs in Roman times, is largely unknown. An expeditionary force that for the last 75 miles of its march had been accommodated in camps uniformly i29 acres in size, could hardly have been fitted into a camp of 93 acres, and on uneven ground at that. If Raedykes is to be regarded as belonging to the second group of camps (of iIo acres), the same argument applies, though the difficulty is less.

Of all these large camps, Raedykes is closest to the sea (Fig. io). It lies near the point where the line of march has to turn the edge of the Highlands where this approaches the

41JRS XLV (1955), 87; XLVIII (1958), 93; LI (I96I), 123; LXIII (1973), 226; Britannzia I (I970), I75-7.

42 The distance between the E. and W. sides near the S. end of this camp is c. 2,200 ft, compared with 2,275 ft at Dunning, and 2,250 ft at Abernethy.



I44 J. K. ST JOSEPH

coast near Stonehaven. If need arose to detach a force that might make contact with a naval party, this is the most convenient place. Stonehaven Bay is wide open to the E. and SE., and not a harbour in any ordinary sense. Though not suited for trans-shipment of men and stores, it offers as good a shelter as anywhere on the east coast between Lunan Bay and Peterhead (only shallow transports could enter Montrose Basin). Between the Cowie Water and the Carron Water, on the landward side of Stonehaven, there is an expanse of ioo acres or so of nearly level ground unmatched for miles around. A camp there would be well placed to overlook Stonehaven Bay from a distance of half a mile.43 Raedykes is worse sited in regard to water supply than any other of these large camps. The only source of consequence is the Cowie Water, nearly a mile away, from which water would have to be carried 350 ft uphill. In face of such difficulties in supply, the smaller the force that had to camp on this distant hill, the less disadvantage.

The camps in the first group display such striking uniformity of size that the contrast with the four camps Normandykes-Muiryfold is even more marked than in I972 when this matter was last reviewed. The significance of Durno, the largest camp of all, also falls to be explained. That a whole series of I44-acre camps, extending back to the Antonine Wall, remain to be found can hardly be seriously considered. It is to be supposed that Durno accommodated a specially large force, appropriate to that size of camp, for the uniformity of size exhibited by the other two groups surely illustrates how close a relation existed between the composition of a given expeditionary force and the area of its camps. If so, Durno can only be explained in terms of a need to quarter a composite force that everywhere else was operating in separate contingents. The only two types of camp to be found within 35 miles of Durno are, firstly, the group represented by four examples, for which iio acres is the average area, and secondly, a group, with two examples,44 having gates of elaborate plan, involving an external clavicula and oblique ditch: of these two examples, that most completely known has an area close to 33 acres, while the second, of which three sides only have been determined, evidently corresponds in proportions. Can it be chance that the average area of the first group, when added to that of the smaller (IO9 + 33), comes so near to the area of Durno (I44)?

If this equation be accepted, the period both of Durno and of the four iI io-acre camps (and Raedykes most likely goes with them) is Agricolan, for the camps having these elaborate gateways are themselves Agricolan. The i29-2-acre camps, now widely accepted as Severan, mark the movement of an imperial expedition comprising the greater part of the army of Britain. Yet Durno is some I5 acres larger still: it must represent, in the context of Roman military affairs, a concentration of almost overwhelming force in response to special circumstances. The existence of this unique camp in significant juxtaposition to a remarkable mountain that it partly outflanks, in terrain that would suit such tactics as Agricola described, poses the question whether it was at Durno that Agricola's army encamped before the battle that was the climax of his seventh campaign? Bennachie will then have been the mountain of which the enemy was already in possession: 'ad montem Graupium pervenit quem iam hostis insederat.' 45

Such a conclusion implies that more examples of the two types of camps above- mentioned must await discovery to complete the series all the way from the Forth, or from wherever the battle-groups assembled for these northern campaigns. Might the army of the I Io-acre camps have reoccupied the (Flavian) camps of c. II5 acres such as Dunning, and any examples there may be further S., by-passing Abernethy to reach Carpow two miles further on, where a large camp has been shown to underlie the Severn remains? Carpow, as has previously been noted,46 is the best point from which to cross the Firth of Tay. The 6o miles between the Tay and Raedykes would involve five or six marching-intervals. Camps with the same elaborate gate-plan found at Ythan Wells are known at Menteith, at

43 There is an eighteenth-century record pur- porting to refer to a camp near Stonehaven. I. Forsyth (ed.), A survey of the Province of Moray (Aberdeen, 1798). 'The remains of a Roman camp were, some years ago, to be seen near the shore at Stonehaven, but are now effaced.' I owe this reference to Mr. Angus Graham.

'" It will be interesting to see whether the camp recently recognized near Kintore may prove to be a third example.

"I Agr., 29. This conclusion is to be discussed in a separate paper, which will also give details of the excavations at Dumo.

4 JRS LIX ( I969), I i6.




Dalginross and at Stracathro, all beside Agricolan forts, but only the last of these lies on a direct line of march to Stonehaven.47

The arguments advanced in the preceding paragraphs that Agricola's famous battle was fought in the neighbourhood of Bennachie do not amount to formal proof. However, the question may be asked of those who are disinclined to accept the conclusion: what better explanation can be offered to account for the unique camp at Durno?

III. MILITARY SITES IN WALES AND ITS APPROACHES

In the Welsh Marches, where the effects of the drought developed to an extreme degree, there is much to record.48 The site at Leighton49 (SJ 599053), in Shropshire, 2 miles SE. of the fort at Wroxeter, has been reconnoitred each year since its discovery in 1970. Recent photographs show that there were in fact three ditches on all four sides (Fig. I2). The position of both the N. gate centrally placed in its side, and of the E. gate has been identified, but no traces appear of internal buildings. Leighton, 86o ft from E. to W. by I,020 ft, extends to 2o acres in area, and like Kinvaston (23 acres), is best regarded as a vexillation fortress, perhaps a base for a battle-group before a legionary fortress was established at Wroxeter. At Buckton 50 (SO 390733), near Leintwardine in north Herefordshire, a large building has been recorded about 125 ft E. of the fort. It appears to comprise ranges of rooms disposed round a rectangular courtyard: at least nine rooms can be distinguished in the E. range. The building measures I70 by I30 ft, more or less, and is set out at a slight angle to the axes of the fort. Possibly this is to be identified as a mansio.

Half a mile NW. of Wroxeter (Salop) a temporary camp came to light in I976 through the parching of the grassland in Attingham Park (SJ 556097), near the confluence of the Tern and the Severn. Some I,025 ft of the E. side, 950 ft of the N. side, and the rounded NE. angle have been recorded. The area is not less than 22 acres. A part of the outline of an enclosure that may prove to be a second camp was recorded as crop marks to S. of the main road A5, at SJ 55650930. Only about IOO ft of the E. side, nearly 200 ft of the N. and the rounded NE. angle was visible, the rest lying within woodland. The area cannot have been more than a few acres. Barely three miles to the NW., another large camp was identified above the E. bank of the Severn, S. of Uffington village and SW. of Haughmond Hill. The ditch of the camp was revealed by differential growth of a crop of peas, affected by the drought in I975. The camp (centre at SJ 5245I280) occupies level ground at c. I75 ft O.D., now part of a large extent of arable land, but formerly divided into a number of small fields (Fig. I3). The area is 38 acres. The second ditch on the NE. side includes a strip of ground between I37 and i85 ft wide, adding an extra 34 acres. That this represents an extension to the camp is shown by a slight change in direction in the NW. side, at the original N. angle. Gates may be distinguished at the centre of the original NE. side, and of the extension, and about the centre of the SW. side.

The discovery in July I975 of Roman military works at Rhyn in the NW. corner of Shropshire has already been described 51 in some detail and need only be summarized here. The plan of the two enclosures observed from the air has been plotted from photographs (Fig. 14): they lie on a gravel plateau S. of the river Ceiriog, nearly Iv miles from its confluence with the Dee and about i miles from the straight front of the Welsh hills that forms the west limit of the Shropshire-Cheshire Plain. The smaller work is defended by a narrow ditch that can be traced for some 8oo ft of the S. side, for the whole of the W. side (750 ft) and for some 640 ft of the N. side: the E. side is now obscured by soil-flows and slips along the edge of a minor valley. An outer, wider ditch surrounds the W. half of the enclosure, being set forward nearly Ioo ft. There is a gap in this ditch for a gate at the centre of the W. side, the lines of ditch being staggered to define an oblique entrance. The

47 Moreover, Stracathro is 39 acres in size; it may equally have belonged to the previous year's campaigns, when Agricola's forces were operating N. of the Forth.

48 For a distribution map, 'The Roman advance into Wales', see JRS LXIII (I973), 243, fig. 23.

49JRS LXIII (I97) 234 '0JRS LI (I96I), 123-4. For excavations at this

site see S. C. Stanford, Trans. Woolhope Nat. F.C. XXXIX, pt. 2 (I968), 238-58.

51 Antiquity LI (I977), 55-6o.



146 J. K. ST JOSEPH

LEIGHTON (NI

A151


100 0 400 METRES

FIG. 12. ROMAN VEXILLATION FORTRESS AT LEIGHTON, SALOP (contours in feet)




100 0 1000 SCALES 200 2500 FEET

ltK} O 700 METRES

FIG. I13. ROMN CAMP AT UFFINGTON, SALOP

inner ditch is correspondingly interrupted. The area is not less than 14 acres. The character of the defences shows that the remains are those of a fort.

The larger enclosure is bounded by two ditches 12 about 23 ft apart, between centres; the angles are rounded. At the NW. angle, a little ground has been lost- by slipping at the steep slope down to the river Ceiriog. The N. side will have beenl about I,o8o ft long, measured on the inner ditch, the E. side I,640, the S. I,240 and the W. I,530 ft. Of the four gates, those in the N. and S. sides are almost central. Traverses are v'isible at the E. and W. gates, and no doubt will have been present at the other two gates as well. An outermost, attached ditch forms an additional defence round the S. side of the enclosure. The area within the double-ditches extends to some 4:z acres; a further 34-1 acres is embraced by this outermost ditch. In character, this work fits the class of sites termed vexillatilon fortresses, of which Kinvaston (Staffs.) and Leighton (Salop) are other examples in the W. Mildlands. To judge from the results of excavation, at yet another such site, Longthorpe, in the Nene Valley, the fortress will have been equipped with timber buildings.

The whole site, long in pasture, has been worked in a normal agricultural rotation for the last generation or two. How much damage ploughing may have caused excavation alone can reveal. The hummocky nature of the ground, apparent on the surface, 'is very evident from the mottled appearance of the crops as they are seen from the air. On the hummocks, ploughing will no doubt have removed stratified levels and havre reduced the depth of any

.52 The narrowness of the inner mark leaves open the question whether this was indeed a ' ditch ', or a trench for timber uprights, perhaps forming the front of a rampart.



I48 J. K. ST JOSEPH

100 0 1000 2000 FEET IIl I I I I I I I I ~ I II I I I I

100 0 500 METRES

JKl.Stl . mensit delinea.vit B.M.T.

FIG. 14. ROMAN VEXILLATION FORTRESS AT RHYN, SALOP

foundation trenches, while in the hollows, soil will have accumulated, so that it should be possible to determine the history of the site, even if a complete plan cannot now be recovered. The 14-acre fort occupies the better ground, and may be presumed to be the earlier work. How interesting if it were to represent the first Roman penetration towards Chester under Ostorius Scapula in A.D. 48. The fortress would come later, providing quarters for a battle-group near its theatre of operations, either during the very phase of campaigning, or in a period of consolidation, once the land had been overrun. The subjec- tion of the Deceangli, their territory represented by much of Clwyd, seems to have been complete by A.D. 6o.

The lines of forward communication from Rhyn can only be conjectured. Neither the incised valley of the Dee, with its great meanders near Llangollen, and still less the valley of the Ceiriog, affords an easy way of penetrating the Welsh hills. The position of the fortress, I- miles from the Dee, might suggest the choice of a ridge route, about 2 miles S. of the Dee valley, along the northernmost crest of the Berwyns, leading to the important valleys-meet near Corwen, i6 miles to the W. When the time came to make permanent dispositions, the immediate tactical advantages of Rhyn would cease to have weight in face of the more obvious suitability of Chester for a legionary base, from which troops could move quickly to any point where danger threatened in the hilly country of North Wales, or of the Pennines.




The junction of valleys near Corwen is a point of strategic importance in any system of roads closely related to the geography. However, lack of knowledge of permanent works in the 4I-mile interval between Chester and Caer Gai may mean no more than that on this route recognition of the key points chosen by the Roman command still eludes us. The discovery, in I975, of an earth and timber fort at Llanfor near Bala, barely 5 miles from the well known fort at Caer Gai, suggests that the spacing of forts may have varied in different periods.

S. of Llanfor village is a wide extent of level ground, embraced between the Tryweryn and the Dee, near the confluence of the two rivers, and above the flood-plain of both. The fields are commonly pasture, and it was the extensive drought of I975-76 that revealed a large fort, a polygonal enclosure, a possible signal-post, and a temporary camp (P1. xIv, i). The most important element in this complex is the fort, which lies (centre at SH 93836I) just above the I 5-ft scarp bounding the river-plain (Fig. I 5). The fort commands the whole valley-floor near the confluence, and for a mile downstream. The defences comprise a rampart and three ditches. The ditches have been plotted from photographs along the whole of the W. side, for much of the S., for a part of the E., and at the rounded SE., SW. and NW. angles. The line of the N. rampart is still visible as a low mound, now spread by ploughing to a width of 45 ft. The axial dimensions measured within the ditches are about 650 ft from E. to W. by 6oo ft. A break in the rampart mound, and in the lines of parching on the S., suggests that the gate in this side lay a little E. of the central position. There seems to have been an E. gate, centrally placed in its side, but no W. gate, which would have given access only to the low-lying river holms. Thus, the fort may have faced E.: in the praetentura, if so it be, parching of the grass revealed close-set, parallel foundation trenches, 6o ft long, typical of a military granary, and also two long buildings, subdivided into rooms,

LLAN FOR

1JI~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~y

SCALES 100 0 1000 2000 2700 FEET

XJJIIII!t I . t I L I I t I I I . I I . I I I

100 0 700 METRES

J.K.St.J. mensit delineavit B.M.T.

FIG. 15. ROMAN FORT, STORES-DEP6T, AND CAMP, NEAR LLANFOR, MERIONETH



I50 J. K. ST JOSEPH

perhaps barracks or stables. To find a granary in such a position is rare; however, the lay-out of buildings in so large a fort (nearly 9 acres within the ditches) is uncertain.

To NW. of the fort, photographs reveal an irregular pentagonal compound, bounded by two ditches (Fig. I5). Three of the sides are laid out so as to run just above the river scarp. The area within the ditches is a little under 3 acres. In the longest side, the E. (500 ft), two gates are visible, and a third may be assumed near the NW. angle, matching that near the SE. angle. At the central gate there are four large post-pits, evidently for the vertical members of a gate-tower: two such pits (of an original four) are visible at the S. gate. Within the enclosure, some seventeen close-set parallel trenches have been distinguished: they were evidently to hold the foundations of a timber store-house or granary, about 73 by 29 ft. The granary is aligned to the SW. side. This compound is probably to be identified as a forward depot for stores or supplies. Some 300 ft E. of the N. angle of this enclosure, part of the circuit of a penannular ditch, about 70 ft in diameter, was traced. A gap in the ditch on the SE. suggests an entrance causeway. If the ditch surrounded a tower, the signalling-system of which this formed a part can hardly have involved the fort, but other explanations are possible. Yet another military work is represented by a narrow parch mark revealing the line of a small ditch, evidently of a temporary camp. Part of the W. side, of the S. (i,ooo ft long), and not less than I,250 ft of the E. have been traced, together with the rounded SW. angle. A section dug N. of the main road, A494, to identify the E. side, showed a V-shaped ditch, 43 ft wide and z2 ft deep. The E. and W. sides are not quite parallel: on the assumption that the shape approximates to a rectangle, the area can hardly be less than 29 acres. This camp occupies in part the same ground as the stores' compound, and on the S. comes very close to the ditches of the fort: it is presumably the earliest of the three.

Large earth and timber forts such as Llanfor must surely be referred to the time of the conquest, or to the period of consolidation that followed. The length of the occupation may well have been quite short. Thus, the history of the fort is likely to be very different from that of Caer Gai, only five miles to the SW., where excavation has demonstrated 53 three periods of building, in the last of which, at least, the defences include a stone wall.

In central Wales, parching of grass over the fort of Caersws 54 (SO 029920), in Mont- gomeryshire, revealed much of the street-plan. At one phase in the history of the site, the praetentura seems to have been divided into seven almost equal plots for buildings arranged per strigas. If the visible line of the via praetoria is contemporary with the other streets, it would seem to leave space for only a very narrow building on either side of it. If, however, the streets are not contemporary, then a re-arrangement of the buildings in the praetentura is implied. On the NW. side of the fort, an annexe has been identified. It was defended by two ditches which enclose a space nearly ioo ft wide. The annexe seems to cover rather more than half the NW. side of the fort. The parching suggests that the ditches cut through the road that originally ran out from the porta decumana. Outside the NE. gate, a road may be traced for some 400 ft across a field: it gives off a branch-road to the SE. A vicus may have developed on the level ground on this side of the fort.

Further S., the fort at Pen-y-Gaer 55 (SO I692I9), in Brecknock, lies within a number of small grass fields, and is partly covered by two small farms, their outbuildings, and gardens. Though the upstanding knoll, perhaps artificially shaped to form the platform of the fort, is prominent enough, and particularly the N. side where the slope of the ground was steepened when the defences were constructed, little that can convincingly be identified as Roman work is now visible. However, parching in the drought of I975 showed both the line of the defences on the east part of the N. side, and at the rounded NE. and SE. angles, and also traces of internal buildings. The site is crossed by a modern lane which, despite its sinuous course, may mark approximately the line of the via principalis. The buildings are most easily described by reference to this lane. To S. of it, and near the centre of the fort, several lengths of wall suggest a square building, which may well be the principia, though what is visible of the plan is very incomplete. To W., at least two long narrow

"V. E. Nash-Williams The Roman Frontier in WVales2, revised by M. G. Jarrett (I969), 55-6.

54 YRS XLIII (1953), 85-6; Nash-Williams, op.

cit. (n. 53), 66-70. 55 Nash-Williams, op. cit. (n. 53), io8-iio; D. W.

Crossley, Arch. Camb. cxvii (I968), 92-102.




buildings, aligned E. and W., may be distinguished, and there are traces of others. S. of the principia, is a building of which the walls seem to have buttresses: this may be a granary. Lastly, an unidentifiable building appears within the NE. angle. Thus, there may prove to be more of the fort left than has sometimes been supposed.

Near Caerau, Beulah (Brecknock), parching of grass revealed the outline of a rectangular enclosure, about i6o by I 25 ft, with well rounded angles, and at least one gate, at the mid-point of the W. side. It lies at the point SN 920950I7, some 6oo ft W. of the fort. This is very probably a small temporary camp, but the plan is partly masked by a second enclosure, of which the ditch overlies the camp on much of three sides.

At Caer Gai 56 (SH 8783I5), in Merionethshire, parching of the grass in July I976, on the slope SE. of the fort, revealed the line of a road extending nearly to the highway A494. The road presumably leads to the SE. gate of the fort. Foundations of stone buildings could be seen on either side of the road in the first field below the fort, suggesting the presence of quite an extensive vicus. At Tomen-y-mur 57 (SH 207388), also in Merioneth- shire, the outline of the principia, 8o or 85 ft square, was likewise revealed by parching. The building, which faced SE., evidently had stone foundations. A long narrow building was also detected to W. of the via praetoria: it extended for the whole width of the praetentura. At Caerhun 58 (Caernarvonshire), in the Conway valley, parching in I976 of the rough grass that covers the site revealed the stone buildings of the fort so clearly that it almost seemed as if they had been laid bare. The effect may partly be due to the clearance of fallen stonework from around the foundations in the excavations of I926-29.59 Roads may be traced extending out from the N., S. and W. gates. Most important of all is the evidence for an extensive vicus (centre at c. SH 777704), to N. of the fort. The northward road is lined with buildings, for nearly 300 yards, to the point SH 77787068, where it crosses a small stream. In plan, the buildings are mainly narrow rectangles, set end-on to the road. E. of the fort, on the slope down to the Conway, are more elaborate structures: one will be the bath-house, excavated in i8oi. The nature of an adjoining building, extending over a space of i0o ft, and including several rooms, cannot be determined without excavation. A large, rectangular walled enclosure, c. 2oo by 8o ft, revealed by parching, just outside the W. half of the S. rampart should not be mistaken for Roman work: it includes the site of a seventeenth-century cottage. Two other such enclosures occur in the fields to S. and E. of the late nineteenth-century mansion, Caer-Rhun Hall. Extensive lines of parching in the lawns in front of this house, which at a first glance simulate buildings of a Roman fort, probably relate to an earlier house, or to its offices.

There is much new information about forts in W. Wales. At Pennal 60 (SH 705001), in Merionethshire, on the N. side of the Dovey, 21 miles W. of Machynlleth, parching revealed the line of a broad foundation for the stone wall of the fort, on part of the NE., SE. and SW. sides, and at the rounded S. angle. A little NE. of the centre of the fort the outline of a large building, perhaps go ft square, could be discerned. This gives on to a street, visible only for part of its length, but leading to a SE. gate. Another street at right-angles runs to the mid-point of the SW. side, presumably to another gate. These facts strongly suggest that the building is the principia, facing SW. However, parching over these foundations gave rise to very broad marks, quite distinct from parch-marks over neighbouring Roman buildings. Perhaps it reflects not only the foundations, but also tumbles of loose stone or even superimposed remains of a later age, such as long-vanished outhouses of a farm. More buildings were visible in the SW. half of the fort, and outside, to the SW., where the ground slopes down to marsh.

Several lines of old road, not all necessarily Roman, are visible in the neighbourhood of the fort. One leads from the general position of the NW. gate, to the lane that runs NW.

56 Inventory of Merionethshire (RCHM), I92i, 135-8; JRS LI (I96I), I30; Nash-Williams, op. cit. (n. 53), 54-6.

5 Inventory of Merionethshire (RCHM), I92I, 150-2; JRS XLIII (I953), 87; LI (I96I), 130; LV (I965), 86; Nash-Williams, op. cit. (n. 53), III-II3.

58 P. K. B. Reynolds, Excavations on the site of the Roman fort at Caerhun, Caernarvonshire (1938); Inventory of Caernarvonshire I (RCHM), 1956, 34-6.

59 At the fort of Brecon Gaer, it was noted that all the stone buildings excavated in 1924-5 showed very clearly in 1976, even under a crop of hay. This result, likewise, is probably due to the clearance of the fallen debris that encumbered them.

60 Inventory of Merionethshire (RCHM), I92I, 157-60; Nash-Williams, op. cit. (n. 53), I04-6; JRS XLIII (1953), 86-7.



152 J. K. ST JOSEPH

to the hamlet of Pennal. If Roman in origin, it would support the view advanced some years ago 61 that the northward road connecting Pennal with the Mawddach estuary, led to the Dysynni valley upstream from Towyn, to connect with the old route from Llanegryn north-eastwards by way of the little valley of the Dyffryn, and so by Ffordd Ddu, to the lower ground in front of the Cader Idris range.

Southwards from Pennal the current O.S. map of Roman Britain shows no fort nearer than Llanio, 28 miles away. In I959, a fort was identified at Trawscoed, in the Ystwyth valley, some 17 miles from Pennal. In 1976, two more forts, one large and one small, were discovered on this road. The small fort lies (at SN 652590) on the farm of Erglodd, a little over i mile N. of Talybont (Cardigan) and about 7 miles from Pennal. The site is well chosen, in the mouth of the pass that carries the modern road A487. The fort is set on the end of a spur that descends from the low hill forming the E. side of the pass: to SW., the ground falls away to a small stream. The discovery was made on I September I976, when parching showed all four sides of a nearly square enclosure, with rounded angles. The parch marks persisted, so that on a visit to the site on 8 September I976, the ditches could still be traced on the ground. Thus, on the NE. side there was a mark, 7i ft wide, as of a ditch, and two narrower marks of smaller features. On the NW. and SE. sides only the broad mark and that of one outer feature could be traced. A small excavation undertaken in November by Mr. J. L. Davies, showed that on this NW. side the defences comprised a turf rampart, some io ft wide, its front overlapping with a shallow V-shaped ditch filled

PENLLWVVYN


Itliitl . - I .1 t I I 1 --_I 1 _ I__ _ _-7 I

100 0 300 METRES I t1 - I I -t I I l- I , - - - l I

J.K.St.J. mensit delineavit B.M.T.

FIG. I6. ROMAN FORT AT PENLI,WYN, CARDIGAN

61J RS LI (I96I), I30; but compare I. D. Margary, Roman Roads in Britain II (I957), 86-7.




with turf. Beyond lay a larger ditch, 61 ft wide and 3 ft deep. Both ditches had been deliberately filled in. Tiny scraps of abraded Samian and of coarse pottery found in the top-soil confirm the date of the site. The dimensions within the ditch are approximately I67 ft from NW. to SE., by 154 ft, an area of a little over I-acre.

That Erglodd belongs to the class of Roman military works currently described as 'fortlets ', there can be little doubt. It commands a pass that affords the most convenient route southward for any road (like the A487) that has been following the edge of the marshes along the S. side of the Dovey estuary. To W. and NW., there are extensive views from the site over Borth Bog to the coast, and to the tidal Dovey: to S., the view extends for a mile to the N. end of Talybont village. The line of the Roman road southwards is not known with any certainty. However, the discovery of a fort in the Rheidol valley, near Capel Bangor, 6- miles away, provides a fixed point from which to begin a search.

The Rheidol valley inland from Aberystwyth has often been reconnoitred from the air: it was an interest in the effects of parching in picking out old river meanders on the valley- floor that led to the chance discovery on I5 July 1976 of a fort at Penllwyn (Cardiganshire), 4u- miles from the river mouth (Fig. i6). The site (SN 65058065) occupies an uneven west- facing slope. The lowest point is at the centre of the NW. side, the highest at the E. angle. The line of the NE. defences runs just above a small scarp. A suggestion of a ' causeway ' leading up the scarp points to the existence of a gate near the centre of this side. Crop marks in corn define the position of ditches that formed the defences on the NW., NE. and for part of the SE. sides (P1. xiii, i). The general position of the S. angle is marked by a curve in a hedgerow below which there may well be surviving remains of the rampart. Three ditches are present on the NW., two on the NE. and at least one on the SE. The ditches on the NW. are interrupted at a point about two-fifths of the way along that side from the W. angle, as at a gate. A gate may similarly be traced near the mid-point of the NE. side. The axial dimensions, within the ditches, are about 6oo ft from NE. to SW., by 5I5 ft, an area of some 7 acres.

Two other lines of ditch (Fig. i6), outside the defences to NW. and SE., seem to be part of the perimeter of a larger enclosure. A gap in the ditch, as for a gate, matches the NW. gate of the fort, but is set I50 ft further out. This ditch may have served to delimit an annexe on the slope SW. of the fort, as well as providing an extra defensive circuit round part of the fort itself. A section (Fig. I7) dug across this ditch in September I976,62 showed it to be about io ft wide and 4 ft deep, cut in steeply dipping shales. There was no silt: the bottom of the filling consisted of dirty earth, like occupation-debris, and greyish soil in lumps such as might have been thrown into the ditch in spadefuls. This debris contained charcoal, and slivers of bone. It now lies to a maximum depth of Iz inches. The remainder of the filling comprised compacted, orange-coloured earth full of angular chips of shale, covered by Iz inches of plough-soil.

In point of size (7 acres), Penllwyn is the largest of the forts in west Wales: indeed, in the whole of Wales, only Llwyn-y-Brain, Llanfor, Brecon, Caersws and Forden Gaer are larger, apart from the fortresses at Carleon, Usk and Clyro. As to garrison, it may be observed that the surrounding country of low hills is suitable terrain for operation of cavalry, provided the land was not too wooded. The area would be appropriate for a garrison comprising a quingenary ala, to mention but one possibility.

Only 5 miles separate the forts Penllwyn and Trawscoed, in the Ystwyth valley, the next fort to the south. With two such fixed points as guides, field-work may be able to identify the course of the road between them. The chief obstacles in this sector are the steep, 5oo-ft high scarp S. of the Rheidol, and the lesser slopes of minor streams further S. The general direction of the lanes that lead from Trawscoed Park north-north-westwards to Llanfihangel-y-creuddyn, and thence to the main road, A4I20, on the ridge overlooking the Rheidol, affords as good a line as any.

Comparatively little of the fort at Trawscoed 63 (SN 671727), in Cardiganshire, is ordinarily visible from the air. About a third of the fort lies in an arable field, S. of the road

62 I am grateful to Mr. J. L. Davies for his assis- tance with the examination of this site. He also kindly sent notes of his excavation at Erglodd.

63 RS LI (I96I), iz8; Nash-Williams, op. cit. (n. 53), 113-6.



154 J. K. ST JOSEPH

PENLLWYN SECTION OF OUTERMOST DITCH ON NORTH -WEST SIDE

SCALE OF FEET

1q 0 1

I, t,1 I I l I 1

SCALE OF METRES 1 ~~~~~0 2

,,,I,, ?

J.K.St.J. mensit delt. B.M.T.

FIG. 17. PENLLWYN, CARDIGAN, SECTION OF DITCH ON NW. SIDE OF FORT

B4340, and only there does the clay rampart show as a white band after ploughing, or the corn respond to the compact metalling of the streets of the fort. The drought of I975 emphasized the disparity between what is visible in a normal year, and what may be seen in extreme conditions (P1. xiv, 2). Thus, the principal streets of the fort, including the intervallum road, all showed clearly. The plan of the streets and the position of the four main gates suggests that the fort faced W. towards the river; the depth of the praetentura (c. I25 ft) being less than that of the retentura (c. i8o ft). Details of buildings do not appear, save that a small part of the principia, near its SW. corner, may be visible on the line of the via principalis. Roads lead out from the four main gates. That to the W. makes a dog- leg bend to descend the low river-scarp to a crossing of the Ystwyth. The road from the N. gate turns through a few degrees when clear of the defences, and can be traced for 325 ft towards the belt of ornamental trees delimiting the gardens of Trawscoed House. From this road a side-road branches at right-angles to the E., on a line just outside the N. defences of the fort. The branch can be traced for 500 ft, while a further road, parallel to that emerging from the N. gate, runs N. almost in line with the via quintana. This evidence suggests that there may have been a vicus to N. of the fort.

The road leading S. from Trawscoed traverses a dissected plateau, across ground that hardly rises above 800-goo ft O.D., to aim straight at the fort at Llanio 64 (Cardiganshire), in the Teifi valley, io- miles away. This fort (SN 644564) lies on the NW. side of the Teifi, on a low gravel terrace, where little is ordinarily visible from the air, even when the two fields in question are under corn. The drought of I975 revealed much of the street-plan, though without the clarity that distinguished Trawscoed. The general outline of the defences, the four gates, and the axial streets within the fort showed clearly, as does the rectangle of the principia, indicating that the fort faced S. towards the Teifi. In the praetentura, differences in tone in the grass, as it responded to the drought, reveal four long narrow rectangles, evidently buildings, arranged per scamnum, but details of their plan do not appear. A road marked by a line of parching may be seen leading from the E. gate, and

64JRS LI (I96I), 127; LIX (1959), 126; Nash-Williams, op. cit. (n. 53), 97-8, zoo.



AIR RECONNAISSANCE IN ROMAN BRITAIN, 1973-76 155

another from the W. This continues as a prominent mound in the field 65 beyond a farm lane where it joins the line of the main N. to S. road at a distance of some 400 ft from the W. gate. An estimate of about 475-500 ft from N. to S., by c. 440 ft for the dimensions of the fort, is unlikely to be far wrong, but there may have been more than one phase. Pits and other disturbances visible to W. of the fort raise the question whether a small vicus developed along the branch road.

A road S. to the recently discovered fort at Dolaucothi is certain: whether there was also a direct link, down the Teifi valley, with Carmarthen is likely enough, but awaits substantiation. However, the new information adds notably to knowledge of military dispositions in west Wales. The forts just described may not all have been in occupation together. Their positions seem to have been dictated by a need to place forts in the main valleys, and this makes for uneven spacing. In some of the longer intervals between forts on the mountain routes of central Wales, an intermediate fortlet, often half an acre in size or less, provided a base for patrol duties and perhaps for signalling. Thus, the fortlet at Pen-y-crogbren divides the 23-mile interval between Caersws and Pennal; Brithdir the interval of not less than i8 miles between Caer Gai and a presumed fort somewhere at the head of the Mawddach estuary; Mynydd Mydfai the i8 miles between Brecon Gaer and Llandovery; and Hirfynydd the I2 miles between Coelbren and Neath. Erglodd, dividing the I 3 mile interval between Pennal and Penllwyn, fits this category of sites, and it may be that another fortlet is to be looked for about half-way between Trawscoed and Llanio. The highest point (845 ft) on the central sector of this road is at Taihirion-rhos (SN 64465I), 51 miles from Trawscoed, and 51 from Llanio. The point affords long distance views: if it were thought too exposed, a lower spur at SN 646656, by the small farm of Pen-bryn, where the road makes a slight change in direction, is almost as well placed, and with the advantage of being nearer a water supply.

IV. CIVIL DISTRICTS OF THE PROVINCE

Of the time spent on reconnaissance, a full share has been devoted to the civil zone of Roman Britain. There, the gain in knowledge is often measured in terms of more detailed information about sites already known, rather than of new discoveries. If most of the towns have by now been identified, many smaller settlements on main roads and elsewhere have yet to come to light, while in the countryside there is much to learn about villae and their agriculture.

At St. Albans 66 (TL I35074), Hertfordshire, many buildings appeared both inside and outside the town. In the close-cut grass of a public park lines of streets and foundations of houses could be seen. These revealed not only the main walls but also subdivisions into rooms, though details became difficult to distinguish where the grass had suffered heavy wear on tennis-courts and cricket-pitches. Outside the town, building had spread along Watling Street to N. and S. Enclosures defined by ditches, resembling settlements of Iron Age type have also been seen in the proximity of the town.67 These may have much to reveal about the immediately pre-Roman settlement of the area. The significance of this new information can hardly be assessed until a detailed plan of the Roman town is prepared from all available sources, including the remarkable air photographs taken in the hot summer of I940.68

The small town at Mildenhall 69 (SU 2I6695), near Marlborough, in Wiltshire, lies on gently sloping ground on the S. side of the Avon. Southwards, the upward slope steepens, as the ground rises to the edge of the chalk plateau on which stands the Iron Age hill fort and settlement on Forest Hill (SU 2o9686) that no doubt preceded the Roman town. The position of the town at the foot of a slope on the floor of a valley may help to explain why in an average year few crop marks are visible, for the water-table probably varies only within

"-At SN 64255637. It is the mounds of these roads that constituted the 'substantial bank' mentioned in JRS LI (i 96 I), 127.

66 RS XLVIII (1958), 97; LI (I96I), I3I; S. S. Frere, Repts. Res. Comm. Soc. Antiq., xxviii (1972), fig. 147 for general plan of the town.

6 At TL iiio82 and TL 113o83. 68 Antiquity xv (I94I), 113, PIs. i-iii. "9 R. Colt Hoare, Ancient Wiltshire ii, Roman Era

(I821), 90-I and plan facing p. 9I; JRS XLIII

(1I95 3),9go-1.



156 J. K. ST JOSEPH

narrow limits. In 1975, the fields in which the town lies were in corn, and the dry summer was the occasion for revealing many features not recorded before (P1. xviii, i). The streets do not form a regular grid, and the relationship of the streets to the town-wall suggests that adjustments in plan have been made in response to some constraint no longer evident, nor are the streets parallel to the defences of the underlying early fort. Several large town- houses are visible within the walled area, and stone foundations of buildings have been recorded outside the town to S. and E. A complicated system of streets appeared in the field W. of the town, where crop marks suggest considerable disturbance of the subsoil, so that buildings, perhaps in timber, are to be inferred there too.

Over the years, Chesterton 70 (Water Newton), in Huntingdonshire, on a gravel terrace of the Nene (TL 122968), has yielded as notable crop marks as any Roman town in Britain. A circumstance particularly apparent at Chesterton, but by no means always recognized elsewhere, is that a large area, outside the walled circuit yields abundant evidence of settlement. Some of the marks relate to pre-Roman features, but much of the information concerns extra-mural settlement, comprising timber buildings, contemporary with the Roman town. Chesterton is, indeed, somewhat exceptional because of the Castor pottery industry, for which this part of the Nene valley was the centre, as numerous scattered kilns and workshops testify.7' That settlement will have developed around many other such towns is a fact to be kept in mind when questions arise as to the extent of the land to be reserved for future excavation and study.

Alcester 72 (Warwickshire) is an example of a low-lying site with a water-table not far below the surface, so that traces of buried features are seldom visible S. of the modern town in the few pasture fields (centre c. SP 09057I) that constitute the only part of the Roman site not now built over. In 1975-76, part of the Roman street-plan was visible, some of the roads having side-ditches, as if care had been taken over the drainage of the site. Numerous pits and other considerable disturbances of the subsoil, visible as patches of dark growth in the short grass of a playing-field, suggest some density of occupation, matching the results obtained by excavation further W. A broad band of dark grass curving across the neck of a meander of the river Arrow, probably marks an old channel which formed the E. limit of the occupied area.

In the drought of the last two years, the principal buildings at Wroxeter,73 in Shropshire, were visible from the air with a clarity seldom attained before. In I975, the opportunity was seized to undertake a complete vertical survey of the area of the Roman town, at a time when buried features were showing most clearly (P1. xv, 2). The interpretation of the results, now in progress, will have much to add not only to known buildings, but also to the general plan of the town, in areas like that E. of Wroxeter parish church, where rough pasture usually hides all. Foundations of buildings excavated years ago and subsequently buried again,74 and foundations that have never been uncovered, may show with equal clarity. No doubt much depends upon depth of burial: when the covering of soil is shallow, grass parches rapidly if high temperatures persist for a few days. When structures lie at greater depth, cereal crops may give a better rendering than grass, even in an average summer. Thus, the results of one year supplement those of another, and with so large a site as Wroxeter, within different fields, photography repeated over years continues to yield results.

The principal gain is in the very quantity of new information. An inner line of defences shows clearly: it encloses an area only three-fifths of the whole town. Nearly all the stone buildings visible on air photographs lie within this smaller circuit. Thus, apart from two notable buildings with stone foundations, the marks in the peripheral parts of the town

70Inventory of Huntingdonshire (RCHM), 1926, 52-4, plan; JRS XLIII (1953), 9'; XLVIII (1958), 98; LI (I96I), 132; LV (I965), 87; LIX (I969), 127.

71 E. T. Artis, The Durobrivae of Antoninus (I828). 72 VCH Warwickshire I (I904), 236-7; JRS LV

(I965), 87. For summaries of recent excavations at Alcester, see Britannia 11 (I971), 262 and subsequent volumes.

73 'RS XLIII (1953), 88-9; XLV (1955), 88;

XLVIII (1958), 97-8; LV, (I965), 87; for a plan of Wroxeter, see G. Webster, The Cornovii (1975), fig. 27.

74 Such as the forum, excavated by D. Atkinson in 1922-27 (Birmingham Arch. Soc. Trans., 1942), and buildings SW. of the forum, excavated in 1912-14, J. P. Bushe-Fox, Repts. Res. Comm. Soc. Antiq. i-iI, iv, (1912-I6).




outside the circuit are of pits and other minor disturbances, of a kind that in towns elsewhere are commonly associated with timber structures. Most of the central area of the town, comprising those insulae that border the public buildings, appear to be densely built up, but this is not the impression conveyed by the peripheral insulae. Even. where stone buildings abound, the unexpected may appear. Somewhat to E. of the baths is a walled rectangular area, c. 650 by 450 ft in size, enclosed by two walls 25 ft apart. In the surrounding insulae many buildings appear. Within the area, faint traces of foundations appear here and there, but the only two that are distinctly visible are a buttressed building resembling a granary that stands near the centre, and a second rectangular building set end on to it. Two insulae to N. of theforum, a street line departs from the normal grid and even appears to over-ride buildings, as if replanning had taken place. Nearby, foundations in the shape of a small square within a larger square are perhaps to be identified as a temple.

The field (SO 441427) within which lie the remains of the small town of Kenchester 75 (Herefordshire), happened in I975 to be under grass which was severely affected by the drought (P1. XVIII, 2). There, the main surprise was the considerable number of stone buildings of elaborate plan, or at least of buildings with stone foundations. The majority were related to the main E.-to-W. road through the town, but some, set back from it, were served by side-streets. Irregularities in the street-plan recall those that have been noted at Chesterton (Water Newton).

The line of a Roman road extending NW. from Gloucester is well attested, especially the straight 8 mile sector from Dymock to the crossing of the small river Frome, 8 miles ENE. of Hereford. The modern road swings to the W. as it approaches the low-lying ground near the river, but the line of the Roman road has been recorded as a crop mark extending for some 6oo ft north-westwards from the point SO 636043I5, in the parish of Canon Frome. There is a slight fold in the ground so that the surface stands perhaps io ft higher than the surrounding fields. An area on either side of the Roman road, amounting to some 7 acres in all, seems to have been enclosed within a broad ditch. This looks very like a small road-side town, or settlement, that developed by this stream crossing, 20 miles from Gloucester. It lies 450 yards W. of the Roman fort discovered in I970.76

At Littleboroutgh 77 (SK 823827), on the W. bank of the Trent, by the Roman road from Lincoln to Doncaster, crop marks were recorded in I975 for the first time in over twenty years' reconnaissance of the site. A street defined by side ditches may be traced on a NW.-SE. line, parallel to the long axis of the enclosure, thought to mark the limit of the Roman town. There are branch-roads, and ditches running at right-angles to the principal road, and defining roughly rectangular plots. That buildings do not appear, is no matter for surprise as the site is a low-lying one beside the river. However, the line of the street is not parallel to the course of the Roman road, which is well attested for some miles on either side of Littleborough, while the point to which it leads on the NW. of the circuit, if indeed the site of a gate, does not seem to be served by the known Roman road. The marks might just as easily be those of a vanished medieval settlement as of a Roman town: Roman levels here may be buried beneath later remains.

The well known coastal fort at Brancaster (TF 782440), in Norfolk, was an element in the defensive system of the Saxon Shore. Recent reconnaissance has revealed around the fort traces of an extensive settlement, of which a plan, based on photographs taken in I973-75, and in part upon the results of geophysical survey, has been published by D. Edwards.78 Plate xvii, i, taken in I976, provides vertical coverage of the whole area. The almost square outline of the fort (56o by 575 ft) appears clearly: the crop has parched over the rampart mound. The position of the four gates, each central in its side, may be distinguished, as also the towers at the two northern angles. Within the fort, a large building (C. I2o by I45 ft) has been recorded in a position apparently fronting the main E. to W. road. This may reasonably be identified as the principia facing N. towards the seaward gate. The building seems to conform to the familiar standardized plan, including a courtyard, cross-

75 Inventory of Herefordshire (RCHM) II, I932, 93-5;JRS XLIII (I953), 92; XLVIII, (I958), 98.

767RS LXIII (I973), 237, and plan, fig. 20. 77 VCH Notts. II (I9I0), I9-23, fig. 5; JRS LIX

(I969), I27. 78 D. Edwards, East Anglian Archaeology, rept. 2

(I976), 258-9, fig. 69, Pls. xxi-xxv.



158 J. K. ST JOSEPH

hall and offices, but by no means all details of the structure are clear, and close correspondence with plans of headquarters-buildings in first- and second-century forts should not be presumed. To N. of the principia, beyond the via principalis, traces of other buildings appear. At Brancaster, the stone wall of the fort is known to have been largely removed, even to its footings. Evidently, foundations remain, in the interior, so that this site may offer a chance, not easily found elsewhere, of recovering the plan of one of these third-century coastal forts.

That part of the settlement to E. of the fort is related to two principal streets, arranged rather strikingly at right-angles, with other streets less regularly laid out. Crop marks suggest that the space between these streets is divided by a maze of ditches into a multi- plicity of small plots, conforming to the main axes, but with much irregularity of detail. In many parts of the site there has clearly been re-planning. The streets are slightly out of alignment with the axis of the fort, nor does the E. to W. street of the settlement, E. of the fort, exactly align with that to the W.

The photograph emphasizes the proximity of the site to the edge of the saltings. Did the settlement follow the fort, or was the fort built beside, perhaps even over a pre-existing settlement, which then developed further? If the choice of site was determined by the existence of a natural harbour, the salt-marshes now afford no clue to this. The present coast line, indeed, lies I,250 yards from the landward edge of the salt-marsh. Upon what did the livelihood of the considerable population implied by the 25-acres of settlement-area depend? These are some of the questions posed by this exceptionally interesting site. An early fort has been conjectured in the field N. of the third-century fort.79 Two ditches, sometimes visible there, may represent part of the perimeter. Whether erosion has taken place along this coast since Roman times is doubtful: deposition and accretion of salt- marsh have been the main changes here for a good many centuries.

Occasional finds of Roman objects have been made near Kirmington, in Lincolnshire, but in recent years crop marks have been recorded over an extensive area W. of the village.80 The site (TA 097I I3), at the N. end of a wartime airfield, which has now been converted to civilian use, lies within a gap that carries the main railway from Gainsborough to Grimsby through the chalk Wolds. Two separate phases may be distinguished from a study of photographs (P1. xvi, z). A rectangular enclosure is bounded by two broad ditches, which can be traced for the whole of the N. side, much of the W., about half the E., and at the rounded northern angles. The perimeter track of the airfield crosses the enclosure near the SE. angle, but no part of the S. side can easily be recognized because of the darker tone of the crops there. The enclosure is overlain by an irregular series of roads, associated with which are numerous lines of ditch defining small compounds which would appear to have developed with no systematic plan. The two carefully laid out, parallel and widely-spaced ditches, the rounded angles, the proportions and area of the enclosure (about 6z6 ft square, some 9 acres), so far as these may be judged, raise the question whether this enclosure may be identified as a fort? No gate can certainly be recognized, but what other explanation can be given to such a defended enclosure, which subsequently became overlain by a sprawling civilian settlement?

Such a fort would control this convenient gap through the Wolds. The country is all of chalk, so there would be no problem of drainage, even for a site on the valley-floor. Crop marks associated with the subsequent occupation of the site mask much of the interior. The visible streets do not correspond to a standard fort plan, though one street crosses the ditches on the N. side at a point where a gate may originally have been. The second phase in the history of the site presumably represents a civilian settlement which grew piecemeal till it came to cover some 40 acres. Save for two rectangular structures, c. 35 by 75 ft, outside the north defences, and lying obliquely to them, buildings cannot ordinarily be distinguished. Detailed analysis of this site must await evidence from excavation. The historical sequence may prove to match that at Ixworth, where an early fort was superseded by the irregular streets and associated structures of a civilian settlement; at Catterick,

79ibid. 259. 80 J. B. Whitwell, Roman Lincolnshire (0970),

76-77. Mr. D. N. Riley kindly drew my attention to

these crop nmarks. His detailed account of the site will appear in the forthcoming issue of Britannia.




where it is thought that an early fort and its vicus developed into a walled town; or at Newton Kyme, where a fort came to be over-ridden by an extension of the settlement that began as a vicus beside the road from the S. gate of the fort.

The sites of villae were photographed whenever crop marks were visible, often with useful gain in information, even at excavated examples. Villae have suffered extensively from one form of destruction or another, or from the attentions of excavators of a century and more ago. The knowledge that there are parts of a building that yet remain intact, having escaped such depredations, means that there may still be a chance of recovering the history of many of these sites. The villa in Hadstock parish, Essex, in the valley of the small river Granta, upstream from the Cambridgeshire village of Linton, was excavated in I846-54.81 The site (TL 57I462) is now marked by an area of disturbed ground, no doubt caused by the grubbing up of masonry I50 years ago for road repairs. Nevertheless, some foundations are still in place. The outline of a main block, facing SE., can be distinguished: a row of what seem to be pier-bases is visible within it. A narrower NE. wing extends towards the stream. The large villa at Rivenhall in Essex (TL 829I79) was partially excavated in I95o-52.82 The principal walls of the main building, aligned NW.-SE., were visible in the drought of I976, and there were also indications of buildings some 750 ft further W.

At Wixoe 83 (TL 20943I), in SW. Suffolk, where remains of a Roman building came to light nearly thirty years ago in an old quarry, reconnaissance in I976 revealed the foundations of a compact group of five or six rooms, visible in terms of crop marks. The disposition of the rooms and the relation of the site to the river Stour suggests that this may be only one wing of a larger building that might have faced SSW. Numerous pits are visible in the same field.

The villa near Street 84 (ST 48903467), in Somerset, discovered about I825, was seen in I976 partly by reason of crop marks over foundations of walls, and partly as an area of disturbed ground which affected the growth of corn. The principal block, possibly extending to 250 ft in length, seems to be aligned N. and S. There ate also two rectangular buildings, detached from the main structure.

In the Thames valley, five miles downstream from Cricklade, and in the Wiltshire parish of Hannington, much of the plan of a villa, partly excavated in i890,85 was noticed during reconnaissance in I975, when it showed as crop marks in corn. A W. range, nearly 200 ft long, comprising quite a complicated sequence of rooms, and a N. range visible in general outline only, have been recorded, together with an isolated rectangular building at a little distance to the E. The villa stands on the alluvial plain of the Thames in a part of the valley densely occupied in late Iron Age and Roman times, to judge from the extensive settlement sites that have been identified on the N. side of the river. Two small stone buildings seen in terms of crop marks at Newton Blossomville (SP 9I2515), in the Ouse valley (Buckinghamshire), are likely to be the remains of a small villa, or farm. One of the buildings seems to comprise overlapping elements as if there were two periods of construction. The buildings lie close to crop marks of small enclosures, defined by ditches, with pits and disturbed ground, suggestive of Iron Age occupation. This may be another example, like Little Milton (Oxon), and Lockington (Leics.), where an Iron Age settlement has been succeded by a stone-built villa or farm.

Reconnaissance in I976 revealed near Radwell (TL 234353), in Hertfordshire, still more of the group of buildings identified some years ago.86 The main range, comprising a series of ten or more rooms, served by a corridor on their NW. side, faced SE. A long narrow SW. wing lay close to the little river Ivel. If there were a NE. wing, this is now obscured beneath a farm-track, and at the edge of a field where no crop marks appear. There is a suggestion of a courtyard, or garden lay-out, in front of the main block, and in addition at least three outlying buildings.

The villa identified in I960 in the angle between the Trent and the Soar near

81 Inventory of Essex (RCHM) I, I 9 I 6, xxiv and plan fig. 2 on p. xxii.; VCH Essex iII (I963), 135-6.

82 V.C.H. Essex iii (I963), I7I-3, fig. 35. 83JYRS XLIII s953), 94.

84 VCH Somerset I (I906), 322. 85 VCH Wiltshire I, pt. i (I957), 75. 86J RS LV (I965), 88.



I6o J. K. ST JOSEPH

Lockington 87 (SK 482294), in Leicestershire, showed clearly in I976, together with outbuildings and lines of ditch, presumably boundaries of this small estate. Two rectangular outbuildings, each about ioo by 2o ft, are laid out almost symmetrically to the main block, to which they are at right-angles, though the structures are not linked together. Within one of these, what seem to be two rows of post-pits appear, perhaps for roof-supports. A third, rather smaller building is set at a little distance.

At the sites listed as villae in the preceding paragraphs, the principal buildings are in stone, or at least with stone foundations. No doubt some of these sites may have seen a first phase in timber, and at many Romano-British farmsteads the buildings may always have been in wood. In such instances an enclosing ditch within which the buildings were set may be all that is now visible from the air. Crop marks recorded at Langford, in Essex, and at Whittlesford, in Cambridgeshire, are probably of this nature. At Langford (TL 833095), a rectangular area of about 2 acres on a gravel terrace beside the river Blackwater was enclosed by a broad ditch. There are no signs of buildings: other ditches subdividing the surrounding land may have delimited fields. At Whittlesford (TL 453476), a similar enclosure near a spring that feeds a minor tributary of the upper Cam, is defined by a less regular system of ditches. Again, no buildings appear, but Roman pottery is to be found in the area after ploughing.

A notable example of these sites to have come to light in recent reconnaissance lies (at TL 265384) on the S. slope of a low ridge of chalk, Claybush Hill, near Ashwell, in Hertford- shire. A broad ditch, carefully laid out, encloses a space of 500 by 375 ft (4 acres), with a gap for an entrance in the side facing ESE. No buildings are seen. Plate XVII, 2 shows that the surrounding land is divided by ditches into plots of varying shapes. Those in the fore- ground of the plate are the most regularly laid out: in the distance, where the shapes are less regular, one of the ditches runs in an arc conforming to part of the circuit of the well known defended settlement of Arbury Banks.88 Some of the ditches extend within the rectangular enclosure. Evidently there were several phases in the development of this agricultural system, which covers upwards of 75 acres, between the track visible at the foot of plate XVII, 2, and Arbury Banks in the distance. Perhaps a native Iron Age farm has been succeeded by a Romanized farming estate or villa: the features are of quite unusual interest, and call for detailed study. It may be recalled that barely i - miles to the north, in Guilden Morden parish,89 another villa, discovered in I97I, was seen to stand inside a complicated system of ditches, some of them overlain by buildings.

Elsewhere, on fertile soils in the larger river valleys, and round the margin of the Fens, irregularly planned settlements in the native tradition persisted through the Roman period. The Fenland settlements have been treated in great detail in a recent memoir 90 which is unlikely to be superseded for a long time, though reconnaissance continues to add to the body of evidence. Few of these remarkable sites now remain unploughed: that yet more of the extensive settlement at Bullocks Haste, Cottenham (TL 466702) should have been levelled is a tragedy, especially as a sector of the Car Dyke was involved. Crop marks in the field NW. of Setchel Drove show the dyke to have been crossed by no fewer than six or seven causeways, three of them quite broad, 25 ft or more in width. These wide causeways, in spite of their appearance, can hardly be original if the silt recovered from the bottom of the dyke was indeed 'deposited under conditions of running water '.91 Further excavation here might reveal much about the history of the dyke. There are, indeed, few lengths of the dyke more likely to yield answers to questions about its construction and purpose. The rather sharply angled turn at the point TL 46537035 does not support the view that it was used for navigation. Bullocks Haste is only one of many such settlements round the edge of the Fenland basin. Others, in the area between Waterbeach and Landbeach, known for some time, are now seen to have been equally extensive as a result of photographs taken in the dry summers of I975-76, when they were revealed in most essential points of their plan.

87JRS LI (i 96 I), 13 3-4; LIX (i 969), I28; Antiquity XLII (I968), 46-7.

88 Inventory of Hertfordshire (RCHM), I9 II, 38; YRS XLV (I955), 89.

89YRS LXIII (1973), 245, pl. XViii, 2.

90 C. W. Phillips (ed.), The Fenland in Roman Times, R.G.S. Research Series v (I970). For Bullocks Haste, Cottenham, see pp. 212-3, plan fig. 13 and P1. xvii.

"I J. G. D. Clark, Ant. 7. XxIx (I 949), I50.




At some sites, field systems are apparently related to the settlements. There must be many areas of the county where such rural sites have as yet been recorded only sketchily, if at all. In I976, an extensive agricultural development with field-boundaries, access-roads and settlement sites was seen to cover a span of two miles in Hopton parish, between Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. Vertical photographs enabled the system to be recorded in detail.92 In this coastal area of Suffolk, a region of light sandy soils, the pattern of land use has evidently evolved over a long period, for one series of fields and roads has been superseded by another. In plan, the system seems closer to the arable plots and access-ways of Romano-British agriculture in the Fenland, as seen in the silt Fens on Spalding Common, than to the familiar Celtic fields of the south. An entirely different agricultural development is represented by photographs which show an extensive system of rectangular ' fields ' enclosed by ditches, covering a minimum area of zoo acres in Rossington parish (Yorks. W.R.), south-east of the 23-acre fort there. The system approaches to within IOO ft of the fort. The field-plots range in size from 260 by 6oo ft, to 500 by 700 ft. No associated settlement has yet been observed. As at Yarmouth, this is a land of light soils, to-day intensively cultivated, so that study of these ancient agricultural systems should not be long delayed: it is a question for how many more years the relatively slight traces will survive modern farming practices.

Committee for Aerial Photography, Cambridge

92 The centre-line for this flight runs from TG 52IOI8 to TG 53I982. The photographs cover an area i,ooo yards wide.



JRS vol. LXVII (I977) PLATE XIII

'.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Z

(I)

(a) (3) (I) PENLLWYN, CARDIGAN, ROMAN FORT IN THEL YSTWYT VALLEY. 15 JULY I976 (see p. 153 and Fig. s6). (a) and (3) EXAMPLES OF ROMAN ROADS IN PERTEISIIRE MARKED BY QUARRY-PITS, RESPECTIV LY NEAR WESTERTON (LEFT) AND

AT HUNTI:NGTOWER (RIGHT) (see p. j39). Copyright reserved: Univers ty of Cambridge



JRS vol. LXVII (I977) PLATE XIV

- _~~~~-

(2)

(I) LLANFOR, MERIONETH. THE DITCHES OF A ROMAN FORT, A MILITARY STORES DEPOT, AND A TEMPORARY CAMP ARE VISIBLE AS PARCH MARKS. 3 SEPTEMBER I976 (see p. I49 f. and Fig. I5). (2) TRAWSCOED, CARDIGAN. THE STREET- SYSTEM OF A ROMAN FORT AND ITS vicus IS REVEALED BY PARCHING OF GRASS. 7 JULY I975, VERTICAL PHOTOGRAPH,

SCALE I: 5400 (see p. I53 f.). Copyright: Uni7versity of Cambridge



JRS Vol. LXVII (1977) PLATE XV

(I)

_ -n -!

(2)

(I) CAERHUN, CAERNARVON, ON THF W. SIDE 01F THE CONWUAY ESTUARY, BOTH THE ROMIAN FORT AND ITS EXTENSIVE vacus ARE SEEN AS PARCH MARKS IN ROUGH GRASS. 7 JULY 1975, VERTICAL PHOTOGRAPH, SCALE I :5000 (see p. isi). (2) UROXETER, SAl OP. PART OF THE ROMIAN TOWN LYING NE. OF THE BATHS. 2 JULY I975, VERTICAL PHOTOGRAPH,

SCALE I :3800 (see p. I 56 f.). Copyrighlt reserved: Un iversity of cam)bridge



JRS vol. LXVII (I977) PLATE XVI

ii:).,_ 1._

(I)

(2)

(I) IXWORTH, SUFFOLK. TRIPLE-DITCHES OF AN EARLY ROMAN FORT WITH STREETS AND OTHER DISTURBANCES RELATINC TO A LATER SETTLEMtENT THAT SPREAD ACROSS THE AREA. 23 JUNE I976, V'ERTICAL PHOTOGRAPH SCALE I: 3700 (see p. 128). (2) }CIRMINGTON, LINCS. DOUBLE DITCHES DEFINE A RECTANGLE, PROBABLY AN EARLY FORT OVERLAIN BY A SETTLEMENT WITH IRREGULAR STREET-PLANI AND NUMEROUS ENCLOSURES. 5 JULY 1976, (see p. I58 f.). Copyright

reserved: University of Cambridge



JRS vol. LXVII (I977) PLATE XVII

9ti~~~~~~~~~~~~"s

(I)

(2)

(1) BRANCASTER, NORFOLK. A THIRD-CENTURY COASTAL FORT, TO E. OF WHICH IS A LARGE SETTLEMENT, VISIBLE IN DETAIL. 29 JUNE 1976, VERTICAL PHOTOGRAPH, SCALE i 66oo (see p. 157 f.). (2) ASHWELL, HERTFORDSHIRE. A RECTANGULAR ENCLOSURE, PROBABLY THE SITE OF A ROMANO-BRITISH FARM WITH THE SURROUNDING LAND SUB-

reevd Unvrst of Gabig



JRS Vol. LXVII (I977) PLATE XVIII

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(I) MILDENHALL, WVILTSHIRE. BUILDINGS ARE VISIBLE BOTH INSIDE (TOWARDS TOP LEFT CORNER) AND OUTSIDE (BOTTOM RIGHT) THE DEFENCES OF THIS SMALL W ALLED TOWN. 3 JULY I1975, (see p. 15 5 f.). (2) KENCHESTER, HEREFORD- SHIRE. A WALLED TOWN OF 33 ACRES. THE M1AIN STREET, SIDE-STREETS AND LARGE HOUSES MAY BE DISTINGUISHED. 7 JULY I975, VERTICAL PHOTOG;RAPH, SCALE I: 4800, (see p. I57). Copyright reservwed: University of Cambridge.



J K St Joseph, Air Reconnaissance in RB 73 to 76

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