More information : (NY 6094 0127) Roman Fort (R) (1)
The fort is orientated N-S, and takes the form of a parallelogram measuring internally about 135 yards by 100 yards, giving an area of 2 3/4 acres. The W side has indications of at least two, possibly as many as four ditches, which carry round to the S side, where two faint ditches can be seen. On the N side two ditches are visible with an intermittent counterscarp; in the E there is no clear evidence for a ditch save at the NE corner. The core of the rampart stands 4-5 ft high, but its facing stones have been removed. In 1883 and again in 1933, the outer face of the rampart was cleared on the N side revealing an offset course of large limestone blocks, surmounted by a course of sandstone, above which the wall appears to have been rebuilt in Silurian slate which apparently was carried across the site of the N gate. Excavations on the E side exposed the wall, and the E gate, which was a double portal. The W gate now shows as a single passage, 6 ft wide, with some ashlar remains on the N side. The S rampart was removed in 1827, but from the positions of the E and W gates, it would appear that the main gate was in this quarter. There are no indications of internal features; the report on the 1883 excavations state that these had been destroyed by ploughing though 'traces of flues' and a fireplace near the centre of the fort were discovered in 1826. [2]
Birley has provided a full archaeological history of the site, including the 1883 excavations (a) and those of 1931 and 1933 (unpublished), together with a description of the remains. [3]
Excavations in 1950 proved occupation throughout the Roman period in N Britain, though there was evidence of destruction and reconstruction on more than one occasion. The lower rampart and wall are probably Hadrianic and the upper, Severan. Inside the visible fort there may have been a smaller one, belonging to an earlier phase of occupation. [4]
The fort is fairly well preserved and is generally as illustrated by the RCHM, although there are no surveyable remains of the east gate. Published survey (25") revised. [5]
Roman name not established with certainty. [6]
NY 6094 0127. The fort occupies a spur gently sloping down from W to E, which juts into the valley of the Lune from the W; the position is strategically sound astride the pass with good views to the N and S. The highest point on the fort is just N of the W gate; the interior slopes gradually down to the ramparts on the other sides and then steepens. The enclosed area, now under permanent pasture, is featureless save for ridge-and-furrow, running E-W, which has been largely obliterated by subsequent ploughing.
Essentially, the fort is a platform bounded by a stony outward-facing scarp, from 2 m to 3 m high, which is surmounted on three sides by a modern dry-stone wall, and on the fourth (south) side by a more recent fence. Traces of the outer face of the stone rampart protrude through the turf on the W side, in the N, where an excavation trench has exposed the stonework to a height of 0.7 m, and at the E gate where there are two stones visible for a total length of 1.6 m. Only on the W rampart is there a well-defined counterscarp, surviving to a height of 2.0 m, but much of this may be fairly recently re-deposited material against the modern wall and to some extent across the entrance gap. The position of the gates on the E and W sides is clear, but those to the N and S are no longer evident. In the bed of the modern track by which access is gained to the fort interior, four stones of the base course of the outer face can be seen.
Around the S and W sides of the fort, where the natural slopes are less pronounced, are two parallel ditches separated from the rampart by a berm, about 3.0 m wide. The inner ditch is 7.0 m wide and up to 2.0 m deep, and the outer, its N end destroyed by the railway, is 7.0 m wide and 1.1 m deep. The ditches on the S side are reduced by ridge-and-furrow to a depth of 0.1 m (inner) and 0.4 m (outer). On the other two sides the ditch survives as a single distinct terrace, about 3 m wide and some 3 m below the summit of the remains of the rampart. The SE corner of the fort, within the farm garden, is preserved as a scarp and terrace. At the SW corner there is a spring. No associated structures are visible outside the fort. [7]
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