| Summary : The earthwork remains of a Roman temporary camp at Fell End. It measures 360 metres from east to west by 240 metres transversely, and encloses an area of about 8.7 hectares (21.5 acres). The Stanegate bisects the camp from east to west, however, the passage of a road through the centre of a camp, utilising a large proportion of the restricted amount of level ground available, would have disrupted the internal layout. It is therefore likely that the coincidence of axis between the camp and the road is a product of the topography, and that the camp had gone out of use before the Stanegate was constructed. The defences are generally well preserved, although there are sections notably at the medial points on the east and west sides, which have been destroyed by extensive surface quarrying, by the Stanegate and by adjacent later hollow-ways. The south, east, and west defences have fairly consistent dimensions: the rampart is 0.1 metres to 0.3 metres high internally and stands 0.7 metres above the base of the ditch; the latter has a counterscarp of between 0.1 metres and 0.2 metres. There are faint and intermittent traces of what conceivably may be an upcast outer bank. The north defences lack this consistency. The part to the east of the entrance, which lies at the top of a steep natural escarpment, is affected by soil slumping and peat growth; of this stretch of rampart only a discontinuous outer scarp, up to 0.7 metres high, or at best, a low tussocky bank, survives. To the west of the entrance the defences utilise the crest of a steep escarpment with good visibility north to Hadrian's Wall. Here the rampart is 0.2 metres high internally and up to 1.3 metres above the ditch; the latter is marked by a terrace with a slight counterscarp bank measuring 0.1 metres in maximum height at the top of the natural slope. It is possible that this stretch of the defences may have been refurbished at a later date. |
More information : [NY 685655] Roman Camp [G.S.] (1)
At Fell End, the Stonegate passes through a large marching camp, practically following its axis E. to W. The camp measures about 375 yds. E-W and 245 yds N-S and has one entrance in the south front. (2-3)
Re-surveyed at 1:2500. A well-defined, but mutilated enclosure of single bank and ditch, with external traverse to its south gate. The camp straddles a ridge on which the remains of Stonegate are plainly visible. (See R.R.85a) (KM No. NY 6865) (4)
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 large camp, at present in unimproved pasture, straddles one of a series of E to W ridges 1.7 km E of the fort at Carvoran (Magnis). It measures 360 m from E to W by 240 m transversely, and encloses an area of about 8.7 ha (21.5 acres). The highest point of the ridge is close to the W side of the camp at 250 m above OD, but the lowest points on the N and S ramparts are respectively 17 m and 21 m lower. The Stanegate follows the crest of the ridge and bisects the camp from E to W. The defences are generally well preserved although there are sections notably at the medial points on the E and W sides, which have been destroyed by extensive surface quarrying, by the Stanegate and by adjacent later hollow-ways. The S, E, and W defences have fairly consistent dimensions: the rampart is 0.1 m to 0.3 m high internally and stands 0.7 m above the base of the ditch; the latter has a counterscarp of between 0.1 m and 0.2 m. There are faint and intermittent traces of what conceivably may be an upcast outer bank (cf Oakwood, Ettrick and Lauderdale; RCAHMS 1957, 99-102 (5a)). The N defences lack this consistency. The part to the E of the entrance, which lies at the top of a steep natural escarpment, is affected by soil slumping and peat growth; of this stretch of rampart only a discontinuous outer scarp, up to 0.7 m high, or at best, a low tussocky bank, survives. To the W of the entrance the defences utilise the crest of a steep escarpment with good visibility N to Hadrian's Wall. Here the rampart is 0.2 m high internally and up to 1.3 m above the ditch; the latter is marked by a terrace with a slight counterscarp bank measuring 0.1 m in maximum height at the top of the natural slope. It is possible that this stretch of the defences may have been refurbished at a later date. The evidence for this is the unusual height of the rampart, notwithstanding its enhancement by the ground configuration, the sharpness of the outward facing scarp, and the existence of a seriies of scoops cut into the line of the ditch, some of which impinge upon the rampart. Whether this represents a strengthening of the defences during the Roman occupation or much later reuse is unclear.
Only two entrances can now be identified and these are approximately central to the N and S sides. The former is visible as a gap, 9 m wide, partly obscured by peat growth. A bulbous end to the rampart on the W side might possibly be the remains of an ascensus, but the area is too disturbed for certainty. There is a traverse some 2.5 m outside the outer edge of the ditch; its bank survives as a N-facing scarp, 1.1 m high, and its ditch as an external terrace in the steep natural escarpment. The modern drainage ditch that utilises the gap provided by the gate has eroded the scarp of the traverse and material from it has washed on to the terrace. This N entrance, opening directly on to the steep escarpment, would have had limited practical use. The S entrance is about 11 m wide and is guarded by a traverse lying 7.5 m outside the line of the perimeter ditch. The bank of this traverse is only 0.1 m high internally but stands 0.7 m above the bottom of its external ditch, which is barely discernible. Both entrance and traverse are mutilated by the ridge-and-furrow cultivation that extends from the bank and ditch of an old field boundary within the camp across the S defences, fading out close to the modern road. The central portions of the E and of the W rampart, where an entrance might have been expected, have each been disturbed or destroyed by the Stanegate, and by later quarrying and hollow-ways. Indeed, the course of the Roman road itself is difficult to establish with certainty. Its general course, along the crest of the ridge, is clear, however; the turn to a more northerly line beyond the W end of the camp is dictated by the topography in the descent to the fort at Carvoran. The breaks in the rampart caused by this zone of destruction are 31 m wide on the E and 36 m wide on the W. The relationship between the camp and the Roman road cannot, therefore, be demonstrated on the ground. Nevertheless, the passage of a road through the centre of a camp, utilising a large proportion of the restricted amount of level ground available, would have disrupted the internal layout. It is therefore likely that the coincidence of axis between the camp and the road is a product of the topography, and that the camp had gone out of use before the Stanegate was constructed.
The shallow quarries running approximately parallel to the general line of the road on either side are not directly associated with it. Although some of the hollow-ways may be the result of quarry traffic, the quarries themselves are comparatively recent and follow outcrops of sandstone which on this site consist of a ganister, known as the Firestone Sill; these outcrops extend to the WSW and diverge from the line of the road to the W of the camp (inf British Geological Survey; CUCAP AKI 72-3 (5b)). Of all the trckways, one just to the N of the centre of the W side of the camp appears to be cut by the Roman defences and thus to predate them. It survives, within an area of quarrying, for a distance of about 30 m; it is 4 m wide and 0.2 m deep.
The greater part of the interior of the camp occupies the sloping ground to the N and S of the ridge. On the N the hillside is in places so steep, with a twenty-five per cent gradient, that the usable space within the rampart would have been restricted to a maximum area of only 7.5 ha (18.5 acres). The irregular plan of the camp is unusual and the internal angles of the rampart lack uniformity, that on the SE being especially sharp. Like the example at Milestone House, 4 km to the E, the layout seems to have been partly dictated by the topography. Thus in its W half the N rampart was constructed along the crest of the steep natural scarp, economically its utilising defensive potential. Nevertheless there is a regularity in the plan, for each of the four major sides is composed of two portions which articulate about each entrance. The bed of a tramway extends from the site of a disused colliery behind Peatsteel Crags, 120 m to the N; it crosses the camp from N to S, to reach a loading bay beside the modern road. The bay itself is reduced to some concrete foundation posts and the remains of a platform amidst coal refuse (see NY 66 NE 49, UID 915154). Alongside the tramway, in an old quarry within the camp, is a roofless brick built structure which may have been an engine house (see NY 66 NE 365, UID 1393454). Neither colliery nor tramway appears on large-scale maps until 1956 (OS 6 inch). Full information is included in the NMR Archive. (5)
Additional references. (6-7)
SCHEDULED
(8)
The above camp is visible as earthworks on air photographs and was transcribed as part of Hadrian's Wall NMP project. Post medieval ridge and furrow overlies the southern area of the camp (see NY 66 NE 259, UID 1391052)
(9)
Located on the English Heritage map of Hadrian's Wall 2010. (10)
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