More information : (SK 356 880 - SK 457 975 & SK 398 923 - SE 467 001) Roman Ridge (NAT)
Dyke (NR) (where earthwork survives) (1)
The Roman Rig, a linear earthwork, extends for some ten miles from the Pennine foothills in Sheffield to low ground near Mexborough (SE 4700) and near Kilnhurst (SK 460 976). In the west, where steep slopes form the northern side of the Don valley, the `Rig' is single, but to the east, double earthworks running more or less parallel and up to a mile apart, continue across undulating country.
The general layout suggests that the earthwork was intended to restrict access from the middle Don valley to the upland region to the north and north-west.
There is slight evidence to suggest a Brigantian date for the earthwork. This consists of a fragment of 3rd century mortarium rim found at Hilltop in 1947 on the level of the secondary silting of the ditch (SK 3981 9255), also a Roman coin hoard (SK 39 SE 23) found in 1891 apparently in the ridge, but these finds are not regarded as being conclusive, and the possibility of an Anglian date cannot be excluded. (2)
From Sheffield to its bifurcation near Rotherham, the Rig has been largely obliterated by industrial development.
Thereafter there are extant but intermittent sections of both branches to Mexborough and Kilnhurst. Nowhere do bank and ditch retain their original form. Re-surveyed sections at 1:1250 and 1:2500 scale. (3)
(Some original survey documents are available in Linear Archive File) |