More information : [SJ 9025 1071] Crop mark Roman 'town' near Stretton Bridge, Staffs = Pennocrucium. Excavated by J.K.St.Joseph, 1948. (1)
..."A rectangular enclosure astride Watling Street.... The dimensions are about 700ft from east to west, by 450ft. These are three ditches, two of them broad, and the outermost narrow: on the south side the hollow of the ditches is plainly visible on the ground. No trace has been seen here of a stone rampart or of buildings in stone, and trial trenches identified only wooden buildings, lightly cobbled lanes, and rubbish pits. The distance of the site from WALL and from Wroxeter provide good grounds for identifying the place as Pennocrucium". There are similar sites at Brough [Notts. 31NW1] and Thorpe [Notts. 35SW1] and Mancetter [LEICS. 34 SE] "These places conform to a pattern, and the rather military design suggested by the shape and the rounded angles poses the question whether they can have begun as military establishments and developed into posting stations and small roadside towns". (2)
"The site has been considerably disturbed by ploughing, but in places there are two superimposed occupation layers the second being of late C2 date. Four coins so far identified are of Vespasian, Nerva, Hadrian and Pius .... The pottery ... ranges from the late first to the late third century". (3)
Pennocrucium, E of Stretton Bridge. Scheduled as an Ancient Monument. (4)
"....DR J K St. Joseph described his work on the site of the Roman village at Stretton Bridge.... He said that his first impression had been confirmed that the site was once a posting station, probably the village of Pennocrucium mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary. He described the lay-out of the village and said that there was evidence of timber buildings along WATLING STREET, lying within a defensive system enclosing 7 acres. Small finds indicated that the village flourished from towards the end of the first century until late in the third century". (5)
The southern defences of Pennocrucium are visible in a meadow on the south side of Watling Street. They comprise a large depression with traces of the complex of ditches described by Authy. 2 - see section. A slight causeway about the middle of the southern side marks the entrance of the road to GREENSFORGE. The northern defences can be seen as a variation in size and colour of the cereal crops along their course and by the distinctive kinking of the 300 feet contour and a hedgerow which cross the line of the northern side, on OS 6" 1924. A slight scatter of large stones, tile and potsherds can be seen over the area. (6)
The site has been much ploughed over and the ditches to the south of Watling Street can only be identified in places. On the west side and western end of the southern side there appear to be only two ditches. The third outer ditch appears as a berm at the east end of the southern side and possibly continued around the eastern perimeter of the fort. (7)
PENNOCRVCIVM ROMANO - BRITISH SETTLEMENT [G.S] (Site of) (8)
No change. Survey of 13.8.58 at 1/2500 substantially correct - the site having been further reduced by annual ploughing. (9)
Name 'Pennocrucium' accepted for 4th. edition R.B.Map.
Pennocrucium - The sense of this place-name presents a problem.
'Chief Mound' or perhaps 'tumulus on the hill' seems obvious but Gelling found this 'inexplicable in terms of the modern topography', since the crossroads at which the settlement stands is not on a hill and there is no trace of a tumulus. Webster thought that the name 'may originally have derived from a native hill-fort on the higher ground to the south-west' or alternatively that the name 'could signify a special assembly point for the tribe, or a place of some local importance'. Gelling suggested 'that there might have been a great tumulus called "the chief mound" on the site of the town, of which no trace remains or that the name was that of a large district and the mound lay elsewhere'. (10)
An Anglian settlement with a major church succeeded a nearby Roman settlement of the same name (Pennocrucium). (11)
Pennocrucium was a defensive circuit erected from the later C2 onwards; 1.67 hectares in area. A small defensive rectangular enclosure astride Watling Street. Very little known about roadside settlement. No evidence of existence of wall. (12)
The earliest fort at Pennocrucium begins apparently in the Claudian period (AD 41-54). At Pennocrucium the timber buildings fronting Watling Street appear to have had gardens and animal pens behind them. (13)
SJ 903 108. Brewood and Penkridge. Site of Pennocrucium, E of Strelton Bridge. County Scheduled Monument No.47. (14)
Transcribed at 1:2500 during RCHME: Roman Camps in England Project. Plan available in NMR Archive. (15)
Published source. (16) |