| Summary : Roman temporary camp surviving as an earthwork. A small fort, and three camps that are exceptional in having all their gates defended by claviculae, form a group of earthworks that survive to the N and to the NW of the hamlet of Troutbeck, 15 km to the W of the fort at Brougham (Brocavum). The position chosen is of strategic importance since it controls one of the principal natural routeways into the uplands of the Lake District from the broad lowlands of the River Eden. A Roman road, leading south-westwards to Troutbeck from the fort at Old Penrith (Voreda), probably continued to near Keswick. Camp 1, the most westerly of the Roman earthworks, lies at 255m above OD, about 14 m below the fort and 100 m from its NW corner, on the almost level summit of a spur that extends westwards, parallel with the N bank of the Trout Beck. In contrast to the other three sites, this camp is orientated NW to SE. It is almost rectangular measuring 205 m from NE to SW by 223 m transversely, and encloses an area of about 4.0 ha (10 acres). The former line of the A66, bypassed in 1974, crosses the S quarter of the site and from it a farm track leads N to Fieldhead. The fence bounding the cutting in which the present A66 runs is immediately outside the S angle of the camp. |
More information : NY 3799 2728 Roman Camp (GS) (site of) (1)
Roman camp visible with gates having internal claviculae, in the NW and SE sides. A trench was cut through the defences but no dating evidence obtained. Surveyed and planned. Scheduled. See AO/63/192/4 plan. (2-4)
Surveyed at 1/2500. (5)
Roman Camp of 10 acres at Troutbeck (see plan) (8). Examined prior to road works, a trench was cut just north of the south-east entrance showing the defences to be a bank 3.8m wide by 0.6m high and a ditch of irregular profile circa 1.45m wide and 1m deep, with the outside face rather steeper than the inner. Although the south-east and north entrances are well preserved, the position of the south-west entrance is doubtful. (6-8)
Description as above with photograph. The claviculae would suggest a first century or at the latest an early second century date. (9)
This camp has been re-assessed in connection with RCHME's survey and publication of Roman Camps in England. The following descriptive account is taken from the published text.
A small fort, and three camps that are exceptional in having all their gates defended by claviculae, form a group of earthworks that survive to the N and to the NW of the hamlet of Troutbeck, 15 km to the W of the fort at Brougham (Brocavum). The position chosen is of strategic importance since it controls one of the principal natural routeways into the uplands of the Lake District from the broad lowlands of the River Eden. A Roman road, leading south-westwards to Troutbeck from the fort at Old Penrith (Voreda), probably continued to near Keswick (Bellhouse 1954 (10a); Allan and Richardson 1978 (10b) and 1980 (10c).
The four sites make the most of what level ground there is in this undulating landscape and occupy the gentle S slopes of Lofshaw Hill and its SW spur; these lie between the Naddles Beck and the Trout Beck, two tributaries of the River Glenderamackin which drains westwards, around the S side of the massif of Blencathra and Skiddaw, to the foot of Derwent Water. The exact date and relative chronology of the four sites is not known, but the similarity of plan of both the fort and camp 2 at Troutbeck with their counterparts at Oakwood, in Ettrick and Lauderdale, which are Flavian in date (Steer and Feachem 1954 (10d)), may be significant. The numbering of the camps follows that of Lenoir (19770 (10e).
Camp 1, the most westerly of the Roman earthworks, lies at 255m above OD, about 14 m below the fort and 100 m from its NW corner, on the almost level summit of a spur that extends westwards, parallel with the N bank of the Trout Beck. In contrast to the other three sites, this camp is orientated NW to SE. It is almost rectangular measuring 205 m from NE to SW by 223 m transversely, and encloses an area of about 4.0 ha (10 acres). The former line of the A66, bypassed in 1974, crosses the S quarter of the site and from it a farm track leads N to Fieldhead. The fence bounding the cutting in which the present A66 runs is immediately outside the S angle of the camp.
For much of its course, the enclosing bank is well preserved, the scarps surviving up to 0.4 m internally and 0.7 m externally, above a ditch 0.2 m deep; the latter is only visible on the surface on the NW and for a short distance on the SW. A discontinuous bank, no more than 0.2 m high, lies approximately parallel to the S half of the SE side. A section cut through the defences in 1955 just to the S of the SE gate, and another cut in 1973 just to the N of the gate, revealed that the ditch was about 1.0 m deep and between 1.4 m and 1.7 m across. A narrow berm, 0.3 m wide, was found in 1955. The bank was found to be 3.0 m and 3.8 m wide in the two sections, and consisted of clay and cobbles upcast from the ditch, retained by inner and outer kerbs of stacked turves (Bellhouse 1956, 32-3 (see auth 3); Charlesworth 1974 (10f); Britannia 5 (1974), 412-13 (see auth 6).
The interior is generally level but in the SE it is broken up by shallow, natural watercourses which have scoured away the NE bank to the S of the gate. Each gate was defended by an internal clavicula. On the SE, NE and NW, the mounds are 0.5 m, 0.2 m and 0.4 m high respectively; the excavation of the SE gate in 1973 demonstrated that the external ditch closely followed the line of the curving mound (Charlesworth 1974 (see auth 10f)). The position of the NE gate suggests that the camp faced SE. A section cut in 1973 in an attempt to locate an equivalent gate on the SW side rapidly became waterlogged and failed to provide much information. The excavator concluded that the gate lay under the modern road (Charlesworth 1974 (see auth 10f)). The reason for the NW to SE orientation is unknown; the camp evidently preceded the main Roman road, the course of which cuts across its S half from the E angle (Allan and Richardson 1980 (see auth 10c)). The earthworks of this road are now somewhat confused in this stretch but its general course is clear. Small-scale excavations were apparently undertaken on camp 1 by Manchester University in 1976, and before 1973 by Oundle School and the Brathay Centre. No details have been published. Full information is included in the NMR Archive. (10)
Additional references. (11-12)
The camp was transcribed as part of the Skiddaw NMP project, based on the RCHME field survey plan.
(13-14) |