| Summary : The site of Burnhead Roman temporary camp, surviving as an earthwork. This camp lies at a height of about 190 m above OD on a N-facing slope in rough pasture, some 60 m NE of Hadrian's Wall and 850 m NNW of Burnhead. It encloses an area of 3.5 ha (8.6 acres), and is only approximately rectangular. The E and W sides are parallel and the N side is at right angles to them. The E defences are 8 m longer than the W, and those on the S bow outwards slightly towards the entrance. Later field banks of earth and stone, themselves denuded and spread, occupy the summit of the rampart on the E and W, and accentuate its height to as much as 0.9 m. The Roman ditch, now up to 0.7 m deep, has been recut to form part of the drainage system on the hillside, and the E side is further obscured by a ditch and upcast bank associated with the public road alongside the camp. The best-preserved stretch of the defences, apparently uneffected by later works, is on the N, on the lip of a shallow valley, where the rampart is 0.2 m high internally and up to 1.4 m high externally; the ditch, partly recut, has an external scarp 0.3 m deep. The metalled farm road to Great Chesters crosses the camp, cutting through the E and W ramparts, and there are further minor mutilations to the defences caused by cattle, drainage ditches and other modern agricultural activities. The camp faces N and the S defences occupy the crest of the natural slope. There is a gate in each of the four sides. A drainage ditch now passes through the N entrance, truncating the W side of the traverse, which survives as a bank 0.1 m high with slight traces of an outer ditch 0.1 m deep. A slight bulge on the inner face of the rampart may indicate the former presence of a recessed gate, or may be the remnants of an ascensus; the interpretation is made more difficult by the spoil upcast from the two modern ditches that join at this point. |
More information : [NY 70986696] Roman Camp [G.S.] (1)
A Ro. temporary camp located 18.10.1914, lies north of the Wall, about 250 yds N.W. of Burnhead. The camp faces north, and has four gates with straight traverses. Its overall size is about 245 yds by 170 yds. (2)
Correctly described, and in fair condition, though the traverses on the E & W. sides are no longer discernible.
Re-surveyed at 1:2500. (3)
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.
This camp lies at a height of about 190 m above OD on a N-facing slope in rough pasture, some 60 m NE of Hadrian's Wall and 850 m NNW of Burnhead. It encloses an area of 3.5 ha (8.6 acres), and is only approximately rectangular. The E and W sides are parallel and the N side is at right angles to them. The E defences are 8 m longer than the W, and those on the S bow outwards slightly towards the entrance. Later field banks of earth and stone, themselves denuded and spread, occupy the summit of the rampart on the E and W, and accentuate its height to as much as 0.9 m. The Roman ditch, now up to 0.7 m deep, has been recut to form part of the drainage system on the hillside, and the E side is further obscured by a ditch and upcast bank associated with the public road alongside the camp. The best-preserved stretch of the defences, apparently uneffected by later works, is on the N, on the lip of a shallow valley, where the rampart is 0.2 m high internally and up to 1.4 m high externally; the ditch, partly recut, has an external scarp 0.3 m deep. The metalled farm road to Great Chesters crosses the camp, cutting through the E and W ramparts, and there are further minor mutilations to the defences caused by cattle, drainage ditches and other modern agricultural activities. The camp faces N and the S defences occupy the crest of the natural slope. There is a gate in each of the four sides. A drainage ditch now passes through the N entrance, truncating the W side of the traverse, which survives as a bank 0.1 m high with slight traces of an outer ditch 0.1 m deep. A slight bulge on the inner face of the rampart may indicate the former presence of a recessed gate, or may be the remnants of an ascensus; the interpretation is made more difficult by the spoil upcast from the two modern ditches that join at this point. At the S entrance the original ditch has been recut and extended across the causeway, and the break in the rampart seems to have been partly filled with this later upcast. The traverse is well preserved: its bank stands 0.4 m high, 0.8 m above the base of its outer ditch, which is 0.4 m deep; some stone debris has been piled on the summit of the bank. The public road has presumably destroyed the traverse at the E entrance; an inward swelling on the N side of the gap through the rampart could be a vestige of a recessed gate or of an ascensus, but the area is disturbed and the feature may be simply the result of the displacement of rampart material. A later field bank partly blocks the W entrance gap, and the modern drainage ditch has cut through the causeway. The traverse here survives only as a spread mound, 0.3 m high, against the wall in the adjacent field; its ditch has been levelled but is marked by a change in the vegetation. Evidence of ridge-and-furrow cultivation occupies two-thirds of the interior of the camp. This ridge-and-furrow is probably contemporary with the bank that lies parallel to it and that forms the N side of a small field in the S third of the interior. Three small, curvilinear earthworks, each defined by banks, lie close to the W rampart. The relationship of these earthworks to the ridge-and-furrow to the E and to the Roman defences cannot be demonstrated from ground inspection alone, but they resemble the post-medieval limekilns in the area (see Milestone House camp). There are, however, no obvious remains of any associated quarrying in the vicinity, although a seam of limestone does cross the camp from E to W. Full information is included in the NMR Archive. (4)
Additional references. (5-6)
The camp was recorded at a scale of 1:10000 from aerial photographs as part of the Hadrian's Wall World Heritage Site Mapping Project. (7)
Located on the English Heritage map of Hadrian's Wall 2010. (8) |