If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Summary

Ermine Street, north of Lincoln.

Full description

Next to Watling Street this road was perhaps the most important thoroughfare in Britain, for it was designed to give direct communciation to the main centres of military occupation at Lincoln and York. It must have been designed and laid out at a very early stage in the occupation and, no doubt, this was done by the leading engineers available. It is unlikely that a direct northern track upon anything like this line had ever existed. The alignments were therefore chosen to give the most suitable and direct course almost due north from London, and this was done with great skill. {1}

There have been various excavations along the route of Ermine Street north of Lincoln, and various roads branching off it and sites associated with it. {2}

There were skeletons found beneath the agger in Hackthorn parish (see PRN 51488). {3}

It seems that most of the prehistoric and Romano-British occupation of the area was centred on a narrow belt between Ermine Street and the Lincoln edge. This could suggest that the Romano-British settlement pattern was determined more by the existence of a precursor to Ermine Street (the Jurassic Way) than it was by the road which was built (initially) for the Roman army. The average height of the agger to the north of Lincoln is up to two metres high for the first eight miles and then about 1.2 metres high. The width is approximately thirteen metres. {4}{5}

A watching brief was undertaken during groundworks on the Riseholme water mains replacement scheme. Whilst boring under the present A15 in various locations, evidence was revealed for a previous road surface, which was regarded as the Roman road. Also at the showground entrance evidence of a metalled surface leading off the A15 to the north-west was seen as being part of the Roman road thought to pass through the showground and onto Doncaster. {6}{7}

Trial trenching was undertaken during the construction of a new roundabout at the junction of Ermine Street (A15) and Till Bridge Lane (A1500). The section through the road was dug in two halves so that the road could be kept open at all times. A succession of road surfaces were uncovered, including evidence of wheel ruts, pot-hole and repairs to the road surface. The three lowest surfaces were sealed by a sherd of mid 2nd century amphora. {8}{9}

A watching brief was undertaken during groundworks on the Welton phase one watermains replacement scheme. In one of the access pits there was evidence of the Roman road surfaces uncovered. {10}{11}

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken during groundworks associated with improvements to the Norton Lane junction of the A15 at Bishop Norton (SK 9655 9162). Only one feature of possible archaeological significance was idenitifed beneath the modern road. This was an undated linear of uncertain function (PRN 55382). No further archaeological deposits were encountered. It is likely that the area had been reduced prior to the current construction works, probably removing any remains relating to the Roman road and associated features. {12}{13}

A deposit of silty sand containing limestone fragments was recorded during a watching brief in 2013, conducted to monitor the improvements made to the runway at RAF Scampton (PRN 50574a - SK 9720 8062). It is thought that the deposit could have formed part of the raised agger for Ermine Street, though this interpretation is unconfirmed. {14}{15}

<1> Margary, I.D., 1973, Roman Roads in Britain (3rd edition), pp.194-8, 236-8, fig.7 (Bibliographic Reference). SLI1094.

<2> Green C. and Rahtz P. A., 1959, 'Excavations of Ermine Street in Lincolnshire' in Antiquaries Journal, vol.39, pp.81-6 (Article in Serial). SLI234.

<3> RUDKIN, E.H., 1934-38, Letters to Mr Baker and others, 13/07/36 (Correspondence). SLI1357.

<4> J.B. Whitwell, 1992, Roman Lincolnshire, pp.3, 12, 16, 39, 44-50, 56, 147 (Bibliographic Reference). SLI1093.

<5> J.K.S. St Joseph, 1945-79, Cambridge University Collection, BS6, 1948 (Aerial Photograph). SLI175.

<6> Lindsey Archaeological Services, July 2002, Watching brief on the Riseholme water mains repleacement scheme, RVWM02 (Report). SLI9990.

<7> Lindsey Archaeological Services, July 2002, Watching brief on the Riseholme water mains repleacement scheme, LCNCC 2002.99 (Archive). SLI9991.

<8> Pre-Construct Archaeology, Mar 2002, Trial trenching at the junction of Ermine Street (A15) and Till Bridge Lane (A1500), ESTL01 (Report). SLI10032.

<9> Pre-Construct Archaeology, Mar 2002, Trial trenching at the junction of Ermine Street (A15) and Till Bridge Lane (A1500), LCNCC 2001.296 (Archive). SLI10033.

<10> Pre-Construct Archaeology, May 1999, Watching brief on the Welton phase 1 watermains replacement scheme, WWM99 (Report). SLI10034.

<11> Pre-Construct Archaeology, May 1999, Watching brief on the Welton phase 1 watermains replacement scheme, LCNCC 26.99 (Archive). SLI10035.

<12> Archaeological Project Services, Nov 2006, Archaeological watching brief of improvements to A15 near Norton Lane, Bishop Norton, BNNL06 (Report). SLI11180.

<13> Archaeological Project Services, Nov 2006, Archaeological watching brief of improvements to A15 near Norton Lane, Bishop Norton, LCNCC 2006.238 (Archive). SLI11181.

<14> Pre-Construct Archaeological Services Ltd, 2013, Runway Improvements, RAF Scampton, PCAS site code: RAFM 13 (Report). SLI14535.

<15> Pre-Construct Archaeological Services Ltd, 2013, Runway Improvements, RAF Scampton, LCNCC 2013.20 (Archive). SLI14536.

Monument Types

• ROAD (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)

Associated Finds

• SHERD (Roman - 125 AD to 175 AD)

Associated Events

• Scampton runway extension
• Field observation of part of Ermine Street on the Hackthorn/Brattleby parish boundary
• Riseholme water mains repleacement scheme
• Junction of Ermine Street (A15) and Till Bridge Lane (A1500)
• Welton phase 1 watermains replacement scheme
• Runway Improvements, RAF Scampton

Sources and further reading

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.