MONUMENT NO. 1012548, NORTHUMBERLAND
In an interrupted period between 1985 and 1987, about 150 hectares of
the landscape around Housesteads fort was surveyed at 1:1000 scale by
RCHME Newcastle in response to a request from the National Trust.
The area surveyed extends from Hotbank Crags in the W to Kennel Crags
in the E, and from the modern road in the S to just N of Hadrian's
Wall. It marches with a survey done by the Trust at the same scale
to the W as far W as Steel Rigg.
Control for the survey was provided by a Wild T05 theodolite with a
Citation EDM head attached; the readings were booked in the field,
and then coordinated using a scientific calculator. The coordinated
points were plotted manually on a master plan on permatrace, from
which subsidiary plots were traced; these were of a size to fit a
plane table board, and the 'soft' archaeological and natural detail
was supplied back in the field by plane table method using a Wild RK1
self-reducing alidade. Finally the survey was inked and forwarded to
the NMR. A full diagnostic account is forthcoming; a decision will
be made on whether to publish this.
The Roman fort itself, the best preserved example in Britain, is in
the care of English Heritage and has been planned satisfactorily.
However, the earthworks to the S, E and W, a very visible element in
the landscape, have not been studied as a whole, and the general
assumption has been that they are by and contemporary with the Roman
fort. Certainly some of the scarps do represent the remains of the
vicus, and some still cannot be classified, but the survey, and
research into post-Roman occupation of the area, has shown that the
extensive system of fields and cultivation terraces to the S,E and W
of the fort are mainly post-medieval. There has also been
considerable industrial activity in the form of lead prospecting,
lime burning and quarrying.
|
Purpose and objectives
The purpose of the RCHME Hadrian's Wall Project was to revise the
Ordnance Survey Linear File which had been compiled in the mid-1960s
and in some cases even earlier with only minor revisions in the
1970s. A considerable amount of archaeological research had been
undertaken in the intervening period. Revision was felt to be a
matter of some urgency as the Roman Military Zone was to be
designated a World Heritage Site and the National Trail had been
proposed by the Countryside Commission. In addition, several bodies
with responsibility for parts of the monument (e.g. English Heritage,
the National Trust, Northumberland National Park) required accurate,
current, detailed mapping of the archaeology for management purposes.
The complex archaeological history of the Wall adds to the inherent
problems of recording a landscape which consists of a bundle of four
individual linears (Ditch, Wall, Military Way, Vallum) studded with
hundreds of separate individual sites. Hadrian's Wall is unique in
this respect and it was this factor which suggested that the whole
corridor should be the subject of a dedicated database. Eventually,
however, with the development of MONARCH, the Hadrian's Wall database
was abandoned and the records recast to MONARCH format.
Area
The Project took in every map sheet in Cumbria and Northumberland on
which any element of the Hadrian's Wall complex falls. Tyne and Wear
east of easting NZ 2000 was excluded from the field Project.
Nevertheless, some desk-based research into the extreme east end of
the Wall was undertaken.
Method
The Project was undertaken as a map-based ground survey exercise.
Paper copies of the 1:2500 maps (1:1250 in the urban area of Carlisle
and the western suburbs of Newcastle) with plastic overlays, were
taken into the field on specially prepared portable drawing boards;
revisions, additions and deletions were drawn onto the overlays. All
archaeological detail was then inked onto these overlays in the
office. Field officers worked from existing map detail using
graphical survey techniques and it was very rarely necessary for
instrumental survey to be undertaken.
The fieldwork was mainly undertaken between January 1988 and
September 1990. In May 1991 Geophysical Surveys of Bradford were
commissioned to undertake a series of transects across the supposed
line of the Wall and Vallum in the western sector in an attempt to
establish the courses of these features more securely; some success
was achieved.
Sphere of interest
Sites of pre- and post-Roman periods were included in the Project
only when they impinged upon the Roman archaeology. Roman sites away
from the Wall, e.g. Stanegate, were only recorded where they fell in
the same kilometre square as an element of the Hadrian's Wall Linear.
Because the map overlays were regarded as the primary product of the
Project, with the textual information providing an extended caption
to the drawings, information readily available from the overlays
(such as NGRs) was not recorded initially.
Product
The revised linear file consists of 1:2500 and 1:1250 base maps with
film overlays on which the archaeological detail is plotted. There
was a separate text record of annotations on Dbase, backed up by a
select bibliography and list of authorities; this is now being
replaced by entries in the MONARCH database. The level of
information contained in the new records is not necessarily any
higher than that contained in the old Ordnance Survey Linear File;
this is equivalent to RCHME Level 1 or 2.
The 1:2500 maps are in standard double plan format (except in rare
cases where single sheets are available) but the kilometre square was
the basic unit of record for the Project. The film overlays depict
all archaeological detail (except as noted above). A set of Project
drawing conventions was developed to reflect, as well as possible,
varying levels of certainty about the accurate location of sites and
sectors of the linears. Individual sites and discrete sectors of the
linear elements were given unique numbers referring to the text
record on Dbase in place of the labels applied to the OS Linear File
maps. Each km square had its own number sequence. Arrows were
applied to denote the limits of particular sectors of the linear
elements and the location of centurial stones, offsets, etc.
Marginal numbers, falling within the main number sequence, referred
to sites which cannot be accurately located. A site falling on two
adjoining squares was numbered in the square in which the greater
part of it lies and, if necessary, a note of its number was given in
the margin of the adjoining sheet. Sectors of the linear elements,
however, were artificially ended at kilometre square edges. As
stated above, the individual site records have now been converted to
MONARCH records but the original Project numbers have been retained
as Other Monument Identifiers.
The text record on Dbase file consisted of the same information given
on the labels of the OS Linear File maps, laid out in fourteen
fields:
1 Km. Sq.
2 Site No.
3 NAR No. (if any)
4 Site classification
5 Wall Mile No. (for Turrets and Milecastles only)
6 Site name (if any)
7-10 Text
11 Extra text (in Memo File)
12-14 Land classification
The text was kept as short as possible by the use of abbreviations
and codes. The select bibliography was referenced by the Harvard
system. Only major references were included, as in the OS Linear
File. All this information has been transferred to MONARCH and the
Dbase File has been discontinued.
Within each kilometre square records were added, as far as possible,
in the following sequence:
Wall
Offsets, centurial stones (in situ), etc.
Milecastles/Turrets/Forts
Ditch and glacis
Military Way
Vallum
Others, Roman and pre-Roman
Others, post-Roman
Further considerations
Because of its form Hadrian's Wall is subject to a number of
hypotheses developed by 'Wall-scholars' over the years. Some of
these hypotheses have appeared to work so well that they have come to
be as firmly believed as established facts. A prime example of this
is the idea that along the Wall itself there is a milecastle every
Roman mile with turrets in between at 1/3 mile intervals; early
discoveries suggested that the Wall's builders had adhered to this
scheme rigidly, and so a 'Schedule' of deduced sites of milecastles
and turrets was established. These deduced sites, even where there
was no evidence to substantiate them, were included in the OS Record
and are therefore in the NMR. These alleged sites are clearly stated
to exist as 'measured sites only' in the MONARCH record.
In addition, a large number of minimal excavations undertaken along
the line of the Wall over the past hundred years or more have no
adequate records as to the precise location and/or nature of the
evidence found. In these cases the descriptive text clearly flags
the inadequacy of the information.
The Wall complex is partly entered to MONARCH.
|
The Hadrian's Wall WHS Mapping Project is part of English Heritage's National Mapping Programme (NMP). The project started in June 2002 and finished in July 2008. The project team was based in English Heritage's York and Swindon offices. The project area covers 69 Ordnance Survey quarter sheets, running from Bowness in the west to Newcastle in the east. The project area runs the entire length of the Wall (with a five kilometre corridor either side of the Wall) and includes the Cumbrian coastal defences. It is expected that the results of the project will assist in the future management of the World Heritage Site.
The project was split into 6 main blocks, some of which were subdivided. The project started on the west coast, with Block 1 running from Bowness to Carlisle. Blocks 2, 4 and 5 (completed by Swindon Staff) cover the central parts of the Wall, with the best-preserved and most well-known parts of the Wall and associated sites. Block 3 covers Newcastle and runs to South Shields on the east caost. Block 6 runs down the west coast, covering the area of the Cumbrian coastal defences.
The aims of the project were to interpret and transcribe, all archaeological features visible on air photographs from the prehistoric period through to the twentieth century. Photographs were rectified using Aerial 5.18 and 5.24, with control derived from Ordnance Survey 1:2,500 LandLine digitial data. The archaeological features were mapped in AutoCAD Map and a textual description was recorded in English Heritage's AMIE database. Selective sites were recorded morphologically in the Aerial Survey Recording Module.
The specification and scope of the project and archaeological results are in the summary report and two further reports describe aspects of the archaeology in Blocks 1 & 5.
| Archive Holder |
Cumbria Sites and Monuments Record
|
Publications :
Full report
Centre for Archaeology Report series
Oakey M/2009/Hadrian's Wall WHS: NMP Project: NMP summary report/Report No 73-2009.
|
Full report
Centre for Archaeology Report series
Small F/2008/Hadrian's Wall WHS: NMP Project: NMP summary report: Brampton to Birdoswald (Block 5)/Report No 69-2008.
|
Interim report
Hadrian's Wall World Heritage Site: vegetation and erosion project: aerial survey
English Heritage, York
|
|
|