| Summary : Roman temporary camp surviving as an earthwork. The camp lies in undulating countryside 2 km SE of the camps and fort at Kirkby Thore (Bravoniacum) and alongside the Roman road leading down the Eden valley from the Stainmore Pass. It is in an unusual position, being bisected by a steep-sided natural gully some 70 m wide and up to 7 m deep, drained by the former Gaylock Sike, now culverted. The outlook from the remainder of the camp is as good as can be obtained in a roadside position in this area, but the low that runs southwards from about the midpoint of the SW defences limits the view from the S angle of the camp to only 100 m in a south-westerly direction.It was evidently the topography that determined the positions of the NE and SW sides of the camp and thus the irregular layout of the defences as a whole. The NE side was intended to be parallel with the Roman road, the line of which, about 50 m away, gradually converges here with that of the line of the disused railway. The embankment of the latter now obstructs the forward lines of sight and reduces the impact of the defences which lay along a minor local crest overlooking the valley of the Trout Beck. The N angle of the perimeter is slightly obtuse, its position determined by another slight crest line which is followed by the NW rampart as far as the E lip of the gully. Similarly, the course of the SW defences was laid out along the rounded summit of a gently rolling spuralthough, as noted above, this diverges southwards from the ramparts. The camp encloses an area of 9.3 ha (23 acres). The deep gully of the Gaylock Sike covers 2.1 ha (5.2 acres) of the interior; thus a significant proportion would have been unsuitable for the erection of tents. Possibly in an attempt to compensate for this, the position of the S angle was pushed westwards in order to maximise the habitable area on the higher ground to the SW of the Sike. |
More information : (Centred NY650237) Roman Camp (R) (Site of) (NAT) (1)
Temporary Camp. (2)
Lying across the main road and the road to Long Marton, with its NE side parallel to and about 50 yards SE of the Kirkby Thore-Brough Roman road. It is an irregular quadrilateral of about 22 acres, split into 2 unequal parts by a broad gulley. Roy's plan of 1769, (Illus Card-side 2), shows 9 entrances defended by tutuli, of which 6 can still (1936) be seen. The ramparts have been much reduced by ploughing and no traces remain of the outworks shown by Roy to the SW of the Camp. A good example of a Ro temporary base, it closely resembles Rey Cross Camp, (NY 91 SW 2) and probably dates from c 80 AD. (3)
AP's show in the SW side a second gate with tutulus, about midway between the central gate and the SW angle. Now not visible on the ground, but Roy's plan shows a gap at this point. (4-5)
This camp has been re-assessed in connection with RCHME's survey and publication of Roman Camps in England. The following descriptive account is taken from the published text.
The camp lies in undulating countryside 2 km SE of the camps and fort at Kirkby Thore (Bravoniacum) and alongside the Roman road leading down the Eden valley from the Stainmore Pass. It is in an unusual position, being bisected by a steep-sided natural gully some 70 m wide and up to 7 m deep, drained by the former Gaylock Sike, now culverted. The outlook from the remainder of the camp is as good as can be obtained in a roadside position in this area, but the low that runs southwards from about the midpoint of the SW defences limits the view from the S angle of the camp to only 100 m in a south-westerly direction.
It was evidently the topography that determined the positions of the NE and SW sides of the camp and thus the irregular layout of the defences as a whole. The NE side was intended to be parallel with the Roman road, the line of which, about 50 m away, gradually converges here with that of the line of the disused railway. The embankment of the latter now obstructs the forward lines of sight and reduces the impact of the defences which lay along a minor local crest overlooking the valley of the Trout Beck. The N angle of the perimeter is slightly obtuse, its position determined by another slight crest line which is followed by the NW rampart as far as the E lip of the gully. Similarly, the course of the SW defences was laid out along the rounded summit of a gently rolling spur although, as noted above, this diverges southwards from the ramparts. The camp encloses an area of 9.3 ha (23 acres). The deep gully of the Gaylock Sike covers 2.1 ha (5.2 acres) of the interior; thus a significant proportion would have been unsuitable for the erection of tents. Possibly in an attempt to compensate for this, the position of the S angle was pushed westwards in order to maximise the habitable area on the higher ground to the SW of the Sike. By contrast, the E angle of the camp, to the NE of Powis Cottage, was not conditioned by topographical considerations and is thus a right angle; the indications are, however, that the SE side was not straight but was realigned somewhere around its midpoint, although the reason for this is unclear. It seems that there was another slight change of direction in the SW side at the more northerly of its two known entrances.
When first recorded by Roy in 1769, the earthworks, except perhaps for the S angle, were in common land and were still in good condition, he compared the strength of the defences at Crackenthorpe to those at Burnswark in Annandale and Eskdale and to those at Rey cross in County Durham (Jobey 1978, 80-2 (6a); Roy 1793, 73, pl XVII (6b).) Subsequent inclosure and cultivation have resulted in the earthworks having been almost entirely levelled. However, sections of the bank survive comparatively well in two places where a hedgerow crosses the Roman perimeter. At the E angle, on the S side of the lane to Long Marton, the fragment of the bank in the hedgerow stands 0.9 m high externally and 0.5 m high internally. Similarly, to the WSW of the N angle, in the hedge beside the A66, the bank is 0.6 m in height. Elsewhere, however, the defences are reduced to no more than a broad swelling which is 0.3 m high at most. When surveyed in 1975, the ditch could still be seen along the S half of the SW side and round the S angle, and also as a cropmark just to the W of the N angle. Its course was also observed in 1975 when the culvert for the Gaylock Sike was cut.
The gates of this camp, each defended by a traverse, are particularly noteworthy. The traverse mounds are now broad, low earthworks and none of them is more than about 0.2 m high. From Roy's observations, and from the RCHME survey in 1975, ten gates have been identified. On the NE, which was presumably the principal side of the camp, the gates were regularly spaced at intervals of about 60 m. This interval is repeated between the two gates in the E half of the SE side, but elsewhere the pattern varied. On the SW , the two gates are about 90 m apart but no third one has been identified to the N. A gate at the SW end of the SE side, close to the S angle and to the crest of the convex slopes into the gully, provided additional access to the habitable ground on the SW side; another entrance probably lay in an equivalent position on the NW side just to the NE of the W angle. The hedgerow on the W side of the A66 seems to have preserved the remains of another traverse as a very gentle and barely surveyable rise, up to 0.7 m high and at least 3 m wide; its position is now marked by a field gate. The mound is greatly spread and its centre lies about 12 m outside the foot of the rampart. The evidence for this traverse was unaccountably rejected by Richmond and McIntyre (1934, 58) (6c) in spite of Roy's explicit statement that one half of it survived beside the turnpike in 1769. Its position suggests that this was the only gate in the NW side to the E of the gully. Allowing for one extra gate to the S of Powis Cottage, there may originally have been at least twelve gates in the perimeter. Full information is included in the NMR Archive. (6) |