| Summary : Earthwork remains of a Roman temporary camp. About 1.2 km NE of the fort at Risingham (Habitancum) in Redesdale, the earthworks survive in former arable land. The camp was constructed on the gentle SSE-facing slopes of a spur, around the foot of which the River Rede flows on the N, E and S. To the W the land is almost level for about 120 m but then rises to the shoulder traversed by Dere Street and to the summit of Corsenside Common. Visibility extends down Redesdale past Risingham, and southwards to the horizons on Stiddlehill and Chesterhope Commons. Some of the Lisles Burn Valley can be seen but Darney Crag blocks sightlines to the E. To the E and N the Rede is in a very narrow valley but there are restricted views that stretch northwards to Cheviot itself. The plan shows the state of the earthworks in 1982; only portions of the N, W and E sides survive. The area enclosed by the camp is, therefore, not known with certainty but there are some indications that it may have been about 11 ha (27 acres). The best preserved section of the defences, measuring about 6.7 m across overall, is the W half of the N side. |
More information : NY 896875. A temporary camp has been located at West Woodburn by Selkirk and RCHM. (1)
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.
About 1.2 km NE of the fort at Risingham (Habitancum) in Redesdale, the earthworks of a camp survive in former arable land. The camp was constructed on the gentle SSE-facing slopes of a spur, around the foot of which the River Rede flows on the N, E and S. To the W the land is almost level for about 120 m but then rises to the shoulder traversed by Dere Street and to the summit of Corsenside Common. Visibility extends down Redesdale past Risingham, and southwards to the horizons on Stiddlehill and Chesterhope Commons. Some of the Lisles Burn Valley can be seen but Darney Crag blocks sightlines to the E. To the E and N the Rede is in a very narrow valley but there are restricted views that stretch northwards to Cheviot itself.
The plan shows the state of the earthworks in 1982; only portions of the N, W and E sides survive. The area enclosed by the camp is, therefore, not known with certainty but there are some indications that it may have been about 11 ha (27 acres). The best preserved section of the defences, measuring about 6.7 m across overall, is the W half of the N side. This is set on the crest of the hill, as little as 18 m from the lip of the steep slopes down to the Rede. The slopes create some dead ground on this side but most of the haughland can be seen from the camp. Here the bank survives to a height of 0.5 m internally; it is 0.7 m above the bottom of the ditch which seems to have been recut as a more modern drain, its scarp standing 0.4 m high. Some stone is visible in the make up of the bank. The entrance is marked by a gap in the bank, a few metres to the W of the midpoint of this side. The mound of the traverse has been virtually levelled but the ditch is marked by a depression about 11 m long, the S scarp being 0.5 m high and the N one only 0.2 m high. The surviving fragment of the W side has been disturbed by tracks, and its scarps are nowhere more than 0.4 m high. There are
traces of poorly developed narrow ridge-and-furrow in the field in which this part of the camp lies but the N defences seem to have marked the limit of agricultural activity even in recent times (NMR AP 541/A/442 3315-7 (2a)).
In the field to the E, which contains the NE angle of the camp, ploughing has crossed the earthworks, spreading them to a width of 8.5 m. Much broken by trackways and natural scouring, the bank stands no more than 0.3 m high internally, and is 0.5 m above the bottom of the ditch which is 0.2 m deep. In the corner of the next field to the S there are the remains of a gate, marked only by a break in the bank and by the ditch of the traverse, the dimensions of which are almost exactly similar to those of the N example. When first surveyed in 1982 a shallow ditch containing a stone culvert could still be traced south-westwards from this gate for a distance of about 120 m. If this represented the line of the Roman ditch, as seems likely, then the E side of the camp would have been slightly realigned at the gate; this is not uncommon elsewhere although why it might have been thought necessary here is unclear. The field in which this ditch was recorded has subsequently been ploughed. Within it, in 1982, a single poorly preserved scarp could be traced, 75 m to the NW of Peel Cottage; before it was levelled by further cultivation, this scarp may have been the last surviving remains of the S side of the camp. Nothing can be seen in the improved pasture to the W of the lane, and in the field to the N the narrow ridge-and-furrow has obliterated all traces of the defences, apart from a slight hollow that seems to continue the line of the existing fragment of the W side for approximately 50 m. Full information is included in the NMR Archive. (2)
Published reference. (3) |