More information : A road, classified by all authorities as Roman, has been identified extending north from the escarpment north of Pickering by the Roman sites at Cawthorn and Lease Rigg, and may have continued northwards to the coast at or near Whitby. (1a-b) [Compiler's gloss- most probably Roman, but note tentative alternative periods suggested in later sources].
In June-July 1992, RCHME undertook a survey at 1:2500 scale of a 2km stretch of the road on Wheeldale Moor, from SE 8020 9693 to SE 8102 9868, which had been excavated between 1912 and 1920, and which is now in the care of English Heritage who requested the survey. The original plan and a full description are available for inspection in the NMRC. The road has been left exposed by the excavators and has suffered from erosion by water and by visitor pressure; at best the metalling survives as a layer of small sandstone slabs, which is very uneven. Where this is washed out, an underlying layer of fist-sized cobbles,sandy clay or a combination of the two is revealed. The greater part of the road remains as a raised and slightly cambered band of bare stones, from 5.3 to 6.2m wide, contained within a kerb, on average 0.3-0.5m high. The surface is completely destroyed where streams and drains cross.
It has been assumed that the road is Roman, being carefully built and well-engineered, and the proximity of the line to the Roman military installations at Cawthorn and Lease Rigg is noted.
However, the association with these installations has not been demonstrated, and the Wheeldale sector shows a marked lack of typically Roman straight alignments. If the road is indeed Roman in origin, its course did not stem from the imperial tradition of civil engineering, and it is possible that it in fact dates from the medieval period when the wool trade was of particular importance in the region. (1)
A road of probable Roman date is visible as a structure on air photographs, centred at SE 8067 9787. The road extends south-south-west to north-north-east for a distance of nearly 2.1km and is approximately linear in plan. A conjectural length of road is visible continuing to the north. The feature is extant on the latest 2009 vertical photography.
(2-3)
Accessible description of Wheedale Roman Road providing a brief topographical summary and also looking at alternative interpretations other than a Roman origin. (4) |