| Summary : Cropmark of a Roman temporary camp. About 350 m SE of Walford the almost complete outline of a large camp is known from cropmarks. It occupies a slight but pronounced spur on the S side of the Teme valley at approximately 130 m above OD. The position commands excellent open views to the N, NW, and W. The Roman military establishments at Leintwardine (Bravonium), Buckton and Brampton Bryan are all clearly visible; only 400 m to the E, within the Iron Age hillfort known as Brandon Camp, excavation has revealed part of a campaign supply base. The position of the defensive circuit appears to have been carefully selected so that its NW and SW ditches lay close to pronounced natural scarps. Both the NW and the SE sides coincide with local high points, but outside the latter the terrain falls away more gently into a slight hollow before rising again towards higher ground. A similar slight valley separates the NE defence from the hill occupied by Brandon Camp. The Roman camp is almost a parallelogram, measuring approximately 390 m from NW to SE by 250 m transversely, and enclosures about 9.7 ha (24 acres). Its W corner, the only part of the circuit not attested by cropmarks, appears to have been removed by quarrying, but no trace is discernable in the quarry face. The NE and SW ditches are slightly bowed, the alignment of the former, and most likely the latter, apparently pivoting slightly on the gates. There seem to have been four entrances. Within the camp, the fragmentary cropmark of an enclosure with rounded angles has been recorded centred at SO 39367232. This is unlikely to be another camp (see SO 37 SE 51). An irregular linear feature outside the E corner of the camp is a pit alignement; it may have been aligned on what appears to have been a round barrow (see SO 37 SE 52). |
More information : SO 394722. The entire perimeter of a Roman temporary camp has now been established. The axial dimensions are 1,240ft. from N to S by 900ft, and it is crossed by the modern road A4110 south of Walford. (1)
There are now no visible remains of this camp, although the site (SO 394722) was confirmed from APs held by Mr S C Stanford. There is nothing visible on the ground. (2)
SW corner and parts of sides visible as crop marks. (3)
NW corner visible. (4)
At the time of field investigation, all the fields, across which the site of this camp falls, are under crops and cannot be fully explored but as far as can be seen, there are no extant remains of the camp. (5)
Nothing visible on OS AP's 73 069 559-61. No plan available. (6)
This camp has been re-assessed in connection with RCHME's survey and publication of Roman Camps in England. The following descriptive acount is taken from the published text.
About 350 m SE of Walford the almost complete outline of a large camp is known from cropmarks (St Joseph 1961, 124 (6a); 1965, 85 (see auth 1); CUCAP BGD 94 (6b)). It occupies a slight but pronounced spur on the S side of the Teme valley at approximately 130 m above OD. The position commands excellent open views to the N, NW, and W. The Roman military establishments at Leintwardine (Bravonium), Buckton and Brampton Bryan are all clearly visible; only 400 m to the E, within the Iron Age hillfort known as Brandon Camp, excavation has revealed part of a campaign supply base (Frere 1987 (6c)). The position of the defensive circuit appears to have been carefully selected so that its NW and SW ditches lay close to pronounced natural scarps. Both the NW and the SE sides coincide with local high points, but outside the latter the terrain falls away more gently into a slight hollow before rising again towards higher ground. A similar slight valley separates the NE defence from the hill occupied by Brandon Camp.
The Roman camp is almost a parallelogram, measuring approximately 390 m from NW to SE by 250 m transversely, and enclosures about 9.7 ha (24 acres). Its W corner, the only part of the circuit not attested by cropmarks, appears to have been removed by quarrying, but no trace is discernable in the quarry face. The NE and SW ditches are slightly bowed, the alignment of the former, and most likely the latter, apparently pivoting slightly on the gates. There seem to have been four entrances. A gate in the centre of the SE side is partly overlain by the modern B4530 road. On the NW side, the gate may have been just to the W of this road. However, an interruption in the cropmark of the NW ditch about 30 m SW of the road could be attributed at least partly to local variations in geology or to natural drainage features which are apparent on the aerial photographs. The NE and SW entrances are almost, but not exactly, opposite one another, the former located in a ratio of 1:2 along the NE side, while the siting of the latter only approximates to this formula. The camp, therefore, presumably faced NW. There is a pronounced kink in the modern hedge line beside the S corner of the camp, suggesting that its ditch may still have been visible as an earthwork when the field boundary was laid out.
Within the camp, the fragmentary cropmark of an enclosure with rounded angles has been recorded centred at SO 39367232. This is unlikely to be another camp (see SO 37 SE 51). Just inside the NW ditch of the camp, broad alternating dark and light bands, visible as cropmarks but not illustrated, are probably of geological origin. An irregular linear feature outside the E corner of the camp is a pit alignement; it may have been aligned on what appears to have been a round barrow (see SO 37 SE 52). Full information is included in the NMR Archive. (7)
Additional reference. (8)
The perimiter ditch of the temporary camp has been mapped from aerial photographs by RCHME's Marches Uplands Mapping Project. (9-10) |