Chesters Pike |
| Hob Uid: 15443 | |
Location :
Northumberland
Greenhead
|
| Grid Ref : NY7069067170 |
| Summary : The site of Roman temporary camp at Chesters Pike, surviving as an earthwork. In gently sloping ground at the foot of the SE flank of Chesters Pike at about 198 m above OD, there are the abraded remains of a camp. It lies in permanent pasture, immediately to the N of an unnamed tributary of the Caw Burn, 350 m N of the Fort at Great Chesters (Aesica). The camp encloses an area of approximately 0.5 ha (1.3 acres). The S and E ramparts are reduced to low mounds and are barely perceptible, having been mutilated and obscured by modern fences and banks, by buried land drains and by cultivation. On the N and W sides the rampart has also been spread by ploughing, to a general width of about 8 m, but it still survives to a maximum height of 0.6 m. No ditch is now discernable, although at the S end of the W side an old watercourse or drainage channel lying parallel to the rampart must occupy the line of the original Roman ditch. No entrance can be seen in the S side where the remains are particularly indistinct; access here is restricted by the close proximity of the steep bank of the stream. There seems to have been an entrance approximately in the centre of each of the other three sides. The E example survives merely as a lowering in the fence line; the absence of a traverse may be explained the existence of ridge-and-furrow in the adjoining field to the E of the camp. Though much abraded, traverses are clearly visible on the N and W; the ditch of the latter traverse is emphasised by the presence of the later watercourse. On the E side of the N entrance the rampart bulges outwards, or appears to have turned through a right angle, for a distance of 2.5 m (cf Jones 1976, 23); this part of the rampart, however, survives only to a height of 0.2 m. The projected line of the aqueduct to Great Chesters fort crosses the field about 40 m to the N of the camp but no trace is visible on the surface. |
More information : NY707672. A Roman temporary camp at Great Chester has been found by G D B Jones. (1)
The camp lies on Chesters Pike some 300 metres NW of the fort at Great Chester (NY 76 NW 11). It is c 70m square with at least three entrances defended by tituli. (2-3)
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.
In gently sloping ground at the foot of the SE flank of Chesters Pike at about 198 m above OD, there are the abraded remains of a camp. It lies in permanent pasture, immediately to the N of an unnamed tributary of the Caw Burn, 350 m N of the Fort at Great Chesters (Aesica). The camp encloses an area of approximately 0.5 ha (1.3 acres). The S and E ramparts are reduced to low mounds and are barely perceptible, having been mutilated and obscured by modern fences and banks, by buried land drains and by cultivation. On the N and W sides the rampart has also been spread by ploughing, to a general width of about 8 m, but it still survives to a maximum height of 0.6 m. No ditch is now discernable, although at the S end of the W side an old watercourse or drainage channel lying parallel to the rampart must occupy the line of the original Roman ditch. No entrance can be seen in the S side where the remains are particularly indistinct; access here is restricted by the close proximity of the steep bank of the stream. There seems to have been an entrance approximately in the centre of each of the other three sides. The E example survives merely as a lowering in the fence line; the absence of a traverse may be explained the existence of ridge-and-furrow in the adjoining field to the E of the camp. Though much abraded, traverses are clearly visible on the N and W; the ditch of the latter traverse is emphasised by the presence of the later watercourse. On the E side of the N entrance the rampart bulges outwards, or appears to have turned through a right angle, for a distance of 2.5 m (cf Jones 1976, 23 (see auth 2)); this part of the rampart, however, survives only to a height of 0.2 m. The projected line of the aqueduct to Great Chesters fort crosses the field about 40 m to the N of the camp but no trace is visible on the surface. Full information is included in the NMR Archive. (4)
Published account. (5)
Additional reference. (6)
The camp was recorded from aerial photographs at a scale of 1:10000 as part of the Hadrian's Wall World Heritage Site Mapping Project. (7)
Located on the English Heritage map of Hadrian's Wall 2010. (8) |