More information : NY 819147. A Roman signal station at Augill Beck, identified and excavated by G D B Jones. (1)
The small circular earthwork at Augill Bridge, NY 819147, appears too small to have been a signal station. On present evidence, this site should not be accepted. (2)
The Roman signal station at Augill Bridge at NY 818147 was proved by excavation October 1975. It has a high central mound of yellow clay bisected by a modern ditch. Two post holes at one corner of the central wooden platform, about 3.5m. square, suggest that it had been reconstructed. (3)
The site posesses an exceptionally broad, bipartite ditch, separated by a small, low mid-rib and its centre appears to have been dug into. It has also been damaged by drainage and a stone-lined flue from a lead-smelting mill, which crosses the site. There is no evidence of a causeway and if access was required it is likely to have been by a timber gangway. The limited excavation of the site in October 1975 by Prof. Jones stripped the southern segment of the central mound and cut a section across the inner part of the bipartite ditch. This part of the ditch was originally about 2m deep and had been recut. A large post-hole on the lip of the mound had also been replaced and was thought to be consistent with a timber tower 3.5 square. No dateable objects were recovered but cut food bones were found in the ditch.
The site at Augill Bridge is very similar to another (NY 81 SE 1) 1.1km to the east near the Punchbowl Inn, North Stainsmore. Although their elaborate construction, their situation and relationship to the Roman road, and the lack of obvious alternatives lend colour to the view that both earthworks were observation or signalling posts of some kind, their plan seems without parallel in detail in Roman or other contexts. (4)
NY 81861469. The remains of a Roman signal station, built as one of chain of such stations overlooking the Roman road over the Stainmore Pass. Scheduled. (5) |