| Summary : Earthwork remains of a Roman temporary camp. It lies 60 m W of Dere Street and 4 km SSE of the fort at Risingham (Habitancum). The site chosen is a gently rounded knoll between the twin headwaters of the Broomhope Burn at 270 m above OD, overlooking the junction of Redesdale with North Tynedale. The camp is almost square on plan, measuring about 168 m from E to W by 174 m transversely, and encloses an area of 2.4 ha (6.0 acres). It has three gates and evidently faced towards Dere Street. As a result of its location across a rounded summit the opposite sides of the camp are not intervisible. The north rampart ranges in height from 0.5 m to 0.9 m and its external ditch varies between 0.2 m and 0.4 m in depth. The E rampart stands, for the most part, up to 0.9 m high, although this is exagerated by the natural slope to a maximum of 1.7 m at the NE angle; the ditch on this side is between 0.2 m and 0.4 m in depth. The S rampart is better preserved and achieves a maximum height of 1.1 m and the ditch here is up to 0.4 m deep. The W rampart, in contrast, is only 0.5 m high and its outer ditch must now be covered by a later bank. No provision for a gate seems to have been made on the W side, but on each of the other three sides there is a single gate guarded by an internal clavicula. These are exceptionally well preserved; the curving banks of the N and S examples stand to a height of 0.8 m, and that on the E still survives to a height of 0.7 m. At several places on the N, S and E ramparts the inner edge of the bank is interrupted by a small low bulge, conceivably representing a platform. These measure up to 2.5 m across and are up to 0.4 m high. Seven of them can be seen to the S of the gate on the E side, and others occur on the N and S sides. Without excavation, the significance of these remains unclear. |
More information : (NY 9048253) Swine Hill (T.I.) Roman Camp (G.S.C.) (1)
A temporary camp with overall measurements of 515 ft. by 540 ft. The gates are placed centrally in the E, and 2/3 position N and S, there is no W gate. Each is defended by an internal clavicula. (2)
As described by Richmond and well defined. Published survey (25") revised. (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.
Camp 1 on Swine Hill lies 60 m W of Dere Street and 4 km SSE of the fort at Risingham (Habitancum). It was first recorded by MacLauchlan during his survey of the Roman road (1825, 26 (4a); Richmond 1940, 118 (see auth 2)). The site chosen is a gently rounded knoll between the twin headwaters of the Broomhope Burn at 270 m above OD, overlooking the junction of Redesdale with North Tynedale. The ground falls away on all sides except the SE where the approach is level. A gully close to the NW angle of the camp, which must greatly have increased the defensive potential, rapidly deacreases in depth until at the NE corner it is little more than a shallow fold in the ground.
The camp is almost square on plan, measuring about 168 m from E to W by 174 m transversely, and encloses an area of 2.4 ha (6.0 acres). It has three gates and evidently faced towards Dere Street. As a result of its location across a rounded summit the opposite sides of the camp are not intervisible. The north rampart ranges in height from 0.5 m to 0.9 m and its external ditch varies between 0.2 m and 0.4 m in depth. The E rampart stands, for the most part, up to 0.9 m high, although this is exagerated by the natural slope to a maximum of 1.7 m at the NE angle; the ditch on this side is between 0.2 m and 0.4 m in depth. The S rampart is better preserved and achieves a maximum height of 1.1 m and the ditch here is up to 0.4 m deep. The W rampart, in contrast, is only 0.5 m high and its outer ditch must now be covered by a later bank. No provision for a gate seems to have been made on the W side, but on each of the other three sides there is a single gate guarded by an internal clavicula. These are exceptionally well preserved; the curving banks of the N and S examples stand to a height of 0.8 m, and that on the E still survives to a height of 0.7 m. At several places on the N, S and E ramparts the inner edge of the bank is interrupted by a small low bulge, conceivably representing a platform. These measure up to 2.5 m across and are up to 0.4 m high. Seven of them can be seen to the S of the gate on the E side, and others occur on the N and S sides. Without excavation, the significance of these remains unclear.
Within the NW angle is the very much smaller camp 2, which utilises in part the ramparts of its predecessor. It measures less than 60 m across internally, and encloses an area of only 0.3 ha (0.8 acres). The S and E defences of this camp are markedly less substantial than those of the first and are no more than 0.4 m high, being formed of upcast from a shallow external ditch now no more than 0.3 m deep. Two gates in the E side are defended by traverses; the S example is the better preserved, its mound standing 0.4 m high and its ditch being 0.2 m deep. There does not seem to have been a gate through any of the other three sides.
Close to the SE corner of this second camp are the slight earthworks of three timber houses of prehistoric type. A low bank, up to 0.2 m high, possibly a field boundary, extends from NW to SE across part of the interior of the smaller camp and fades out close to the western-most of these buildings. Some poorly preserved plots of cord-rig cultivation, which may be contemporary with the buildings, can be made out within the larger camp and one portion appears to be cut by the SE angle of the smaller camp. These features, which would seem to be earlier than the camps, are so slight that it is unlikely that they would have interrupted the normal military arrangement of the interior.
In general, the earthworks are well preserved but trackways have cut through the NE corner of camp 1, taking advantage of the first point at which the gully on the N side can readily be crossed. Two banks, up to 0.6 m high, run parallel with the W side of this camp, the westerly one forming the parish boundary between Birtley and Corsenside. Two small circular depressions close to the E gate of camp 1, measuring 3 m in diameter and 1 m deep, are probably modern shell-holes. Full information is included in the NMR Archive. (4)
Published account. (5)
Roman temporary camp, 350m south-west of Fourlaws. Scheduled. (6) |