More information : (SK 09120654) Cropmark of rectangular enclosure. (1)
The air photograph shows what appears to be the northrn half of a
rectangular crop-mark (c40m. long) bisected by Watling Street.
It cannot be made out on the ground but since the photograph
was taken the road has been widened and a section of the ditch
shows up in a drainage ditch near the northern limit of the road.
It shows as a dark saucer-shaped depression, 3.5m.wide and
0.7m.deep, cut into the red sub-soil: the top-soil here has been
removed to a depth of c.1m.so the ditch must have been larger
than shown in the section.
The long dark mark to the west of the enclosure in the air
photograph is presumably an old hedgerow. (2)
The ditch section is no longer visible and has probably been removed
by further roadworks. (3)
This monument 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.
A small rectangular ditched enclosure, perhaps associated with the
Roman road and adjacent to its N side, appears to overlie the SE
corner of the camp (NAR SK 00 SE 12); their relative chronology
cannot be determined without excavation. An extensive area W of the
forts and N of the Roman road is known to have contained cemeteries
(NAR SK 00 NE 4), and it is possible that this enclosure, and a very
small square cropmark with a possible central pit visible in the NE
corner of the camp, may represent burials. Full information is
included in the NMR Archive. (4) |