More information : A temporary camp has been located at NY 929125 by St Joseph and RCHME on Bowes Moor immediately north of the supposed Roman signal-station, (SE 91 SW 4). (1)
NY 92711251 Probable Roman camp, first identified from the air, (CUCAP CKQ 4-8) in 1979. (2)
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.
Immediately to the N of the signal station or watch-post on Bowes Moor which was occupied in the late 3rd or early 4th century (Annis forthcoming (3a)) are the very slight remains of a small square camp, first identified from the air in 1979 (CUCAP CKQ 4-8 (3b). Measuring only 56 m across inside the ditch, the camp lies at 400 m above OD, on almost level ground which slopes very gently to the SE. Its S side is about 60 m from the line of the Roman road from York (Eburacum) to Carlisle (Luguvalium), now the A66, and it is separated from this main route over the Stainmore Pass by the earthworks of the signal station, as little as 8 m away. The two enclosures are axially offset from one another. Although there are good views from the site along the road, to Rey Cross in the W and to the Vale House in the E, the valley of the River Greta lies in dead ground to the S.
On the surface much of the perimeter is reduced by a thin layer of overlying peat to a single scarp of minimal height. The line of the ditch is just traceable as a faint depression no more than 0.2 m deep; a short length of the inner scarp of the internal bank survives as a slight earthwork along the S side. the E perimeter was sectioned, close to the SE corner, in 1990 (Annis forthcoming (see auth 3a)). This revealed that the ditch here was 0.9 m wide and 0.2 m deep; the bank was found to be 1.9 m wide and 0.3 m high, the upcast material being held in place by a turf revetment. There are now no signs on the surface of any gates. A short length of ditch, which may be a later drain, extends southwards for a few metres from
the SW corner.
The rounded corners of the earthwork, its layout parallel to the Roman road and its proximity to the signal station are not in
themselves sufficiently strong criteria with which to argue for a Roman date. Association with the signal station is, however, suggested by the position of the larger enclosure; unless it is also Roman in date there would seem to be no need not to set it in a more convenient position beside the road. Camp and signal station may, therefore, have been in contemporary use. Full information is included in the NMR Archive. (3)
Additional references. (4-5)
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