| Summary : The earthwork remains of a Roman temporary camp at Seatsides. Seatsides Farm stands at about 245 m above OD on the E shoulder of a ridge which is aligned from E to W. The buildings occupy part of the W third of a camp which measures about 252 m from N to S by about 282 m transversely and encloses an area of about 6.7 ha (16.6 acres). The camp lies only 80 m to the S of Seatsides 2. The view to the W, up the ridge, is restricted to about 300 m but elsewhere the outlook is extensive, especially to Hadrian's Wall, 1.5 km to the N, and eastwards down the Stanegate towards the fort at Vindolanda. In this section of its course, the agger of the Roman road, 11 m wide and up to 0.9 m high, follows the crest of the ridge and passes through the camp. The camp may originally have been constructed before the road and seems to have had more than one period of occupation. The N and S sides each lie about 11 m below the crest of the ridge but are, nevertheless, parallel. The E and W sides may also have been parallel to one another but the NE and SW angles are slightly obtuse, thus forming a parallelogram. The rampart is now spread to a width of about 6 m and stands up to 0.4 m high on the N and NW. An external ditch survives on the NW where it is still 0.5 m deep, but this is due largely to its incorporation into a later drainage system. On the E side, to the N of the modern road to the farm, there is a substantial field boundary bank, its E face revetted with drystone walling; this bank probably incorporates the rampart of the camp. A fragmentary outer ditch, partly overlain by the field bank, seems to have been kept open by natural scouring. To the S of the farm road, the rampart is poorly preserved, being no more than about 0.2 m high, but its general line is clear. Along the S side the defences have been severely reduced by ridge-and-furrow, which crosses them almost at right angles, and the bank is now only 0.3 m high at best. |
More information : [NY 7514 6623] Roman Camp [GS] (1)
Roman temporary camp approximately 125 paces N-S and 300 paces E-W. Four gates, all with traverses. That at the south gate is beside the north ditch of the Stanegate, here in fair order. Condition obscured by fence, but on the whole good. Position of south gate surveyed at NY 7513 6618. (2-3)
Centred at NY 7513 6617 and surveyed at 1/2500. The area of this camp is considerably larger than described above, and extends to both sides of the Stanegate, which practically forms an axis east and west. The feature identified by both preceding authorities as the south side of the camp is in face a prominent field bank (unbroken at the surveyed position of the 'gate') and the 'traverse' is a fortuitous mound in a general area of uneven and broken ground. The condition of the camp north of the Stanegate is good, with well-preserved ramparts on the west and north sides. The southern half has, however, been reduced by ploughing to little more than an outline emphasised by a ground swelling beneath rig and furrow. (4)
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.
Seatsides Farm stands at about 245 m above OD on the E shoulder of a ridge which is aligned from E to W. The buildings occupy part of the W third of a camp which measures about 252 m from N to S by about 282 m transversely and encloses an area of about 6.7 ha (16.6 acres).
The camp lies only 80 m to the S of Seatsides 2. The view to the W, up the ridge, is restricted to about 300 m but elsewhere the outlook is extensive, especially to Hadrian's Wall, 1.5 km to the N, and eastwards down the Stanegate towards the fort at Vindolanda. In this section of its course, the agger of the Roman road, 11 m wide and up to 0.9 m high, follows the crest of the ridge and passes through the camp. The camp may originally have been constructed before the road and seems to have had more than one period of occupation. The N and S sides each lie about 11 m below the crest of the ridge but are, nevertheless, parallel. The E and W sides may also have been parallel to one another but the NE and SW angles are slightly obtuse, thus forming a parallelogram. The rampart is now spread to a width of about 6 m and stands up to 0.4 m high on the N and NW. An external ditch survives on the NW where it is still 0.5 m deep, but this is due largely to its incorporation into a later drainage system. On the E side, to the N of thre modern road to the farm, there is a substantial field boundary bank, its E face revetted with drystone walling; this bank probably incorporates the rampart of the camp. A fragmentary outer ditch, partly overlain by the field bank, seems to have been kept open by natural scouring. To the S of the farm road, the rampart is poorly preserved, being no more than about 0.2 m high, but its general line is clear. Along the S side the defences have been severely reduced by ridge-and-furrow, which crosses them almost at right angles, and the bank is now only 0.3 m high at best. To the SW of the farm the rampart is crossed obliquely by this cultivation and is visible only as a fragmentary but unusually high sections of the ridges.
The ground within the interior slopes gently to the N and to the S on either side of the ridge, which steadily declines in height towards the E. The S defences are set at the foot of the slope there and those on the N occupy a slight change of slope. There is little level ground, except along the crest of the ridge itself and inside the NE angle, but nowhere are the slopes steep enough to make the pitching of tents difficult.
Four gates are identifiable. On the NE and NW each is defended by a traverse, 0.3 m high, the W one retaining traces of its ditch. There are also the remains of a traverse outside the N gate but its mound is reduced to a single scarp, 0.3 m high, trimmed at either end by natural drainage channels. One of these channels runs obliquely through the gateway and appears to cut through the neck of an internal clavicula. This survives as a mound, 0.4 m in height. A simillar clavicula, 0.3 m high, can be seen underlying the ridge-and furrow on the S side. An everted external scarp on the W side of this S gate is probably the result of scouring down the furrow that runs through the gate. There is no evidence to suggest the presence of a double clavicula or of an external traverse here. The absence of any clavicula at the W and E gates could result from later land use but, equally, it may indicate that the presence of both types of defence at the N gate is due in this case to reuse and remodelling.
The S halves of the E and W sides are too poorly preserved for it to be certain that they did not possess gates in a mirror image of their N portions. Nevertheless, the impression that the earthworks give is that the camp always faced E. The establishment of the Stanegate took place after this large camp had been constructed and abandoned, although the topography probably dictated that the road cut through central gates on the E and W. The provision of gates protected by simple traverses suggests that the N half of the camp was reoccupied, providing a defended area of about 3 ha (7.5 acres) immediately alongside the Stanegate. This postulated S side of a smaller camp would lie in the zone disturbed by the braided hollow-ways close to the fence and the revetted boundary bank that run E from the farm buildings. Its general line may even be represented by the field boundary itself which lies on the S skyline of the camp and which has a ploughing headland on its N side. Only excavation could substantiate this circumstantial evidence. Full information is included in the NMR Archive. (5)
Additional reference. (6)
Published reference. (7)
This camp is visible as slight earthworks on air photographs and was mapped as part of the Hadrian's Wall National Mapping Project. It is much as described above, although the eastern side of the camp could not be identified with any certainty from the air photographs, the northern half being overlain and obscured by later bank boundary and ditch. The northern half of the bank and ditch of the west side similarly have been remodelled to form a later boundary, so are not in their original form. (8)
Located on the English Heritage map of Hadrian's Wall 2010. (9)
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