| Summary : The site of a Roman fort with annexe, visible as cropmark; measuring internally 365ft by 430ft, estimating the width of the rampart as 20ft and defended on three sides by two ditches, on the south-east side by a single ditch. Trenches dug in 1947 established the position of the ditches. These were Y-shaped, the inner 10ft to 12ft wide and 6ft deep, the outer 9ft wide and 5ft deep. No remains of the rampart were found in position and a trench dug within the enclosure revealed no structures or finds. The gates were not located. Two small fragments of pottery (AD 50-200) were found in the filling of the inner ditch on the north-east side. |
More information : (SJ 89711108) Roman Fort. Discovered and plotted from air photographs by Dr J K St Joseph in 1946. It was situated N of Watling Street at Stretton Mill, measuring internally 365ft by 430ft, estimating the width of the rampart as 20ft and defended on three sides by two ditches, on the SE side by a single ditch. Trenches dug in 1947 established the position of the ditches. These were Y-shaped, the inner 10ft to 12ft wide and 6ft deep, the outer 9ft wide and 5ft deep. No remains of the rampart were found in position and a trench dug within the enclosure revealed no structures or finds. The gates were not located. Two small fragments of pottery (AD 50-200) were found in the filling of the inner ditch on the NE side. (1)
There are no extant traces of this earthwork. (2)
To the NE of the site of the Roman fort in the adjacent field, APs (a) show crop marks of three rectangular features, two of which display clearly rounded corners, and which are probably Roman practice camps.
A: SJ 8989 1119. The SE side approximately 80.0m in length, with fairly sharp right-angled S and E corners.
B: SJ 8995 1112. Large, rounded N corner and parts of the NE and NW sides approximately 60.0m and 40.0m in length respectively.
C: SJ 8998 1117. Large rounded SW corner and part of the S side, approximately 100.0m in length.
Nothing is visible on the ground, which is arable land at present under pasture. (3)
Air photographs by Arnold Baker are known to show two forts of different sizes on the same site at Stretton Mill (4). Re-examination of NMR AP's (3a) revealed the rounded NE angle of one of these forts and a length of the defences consisting of 2 close-set cropmarks, the innermost being very narrow. Of the cropmarks to the N of this "A" has a clear entrance close to its SE corner and is unlikely to be a Roman military earthwork. The date and function of the other cropmarks also seems uncertain. (4)
RCHME's Roman Camps Project has classified cropmarks "B" and "C" as Roman temporary camps, SJ 81 SE 23 and SJ 81 SE 24 respectively. The former is centred to SJ 8995 1113 and the latter to SJ 9000 1120. Cropmark "A" was rejected as a camp. In addition, a further temporary camp, SJ 81 SE 22, has been identified at SJ 8982 1112. These three camps are assigned the Project names Water Eaton (Stretton Mill) 3, 4 and 5. (5)
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.
A large group of military installations, comprising a vexillation fortress, two forts and a number of camps, lies in the vicinity of Water Eaton and Stretton Mill (St Joseph 1965, 76-7 (6a)), near the point where Watling Street, the early Roman road from London to the legionary fortress of Wroxeter (Viroconium), crosses the River Penk (Margary 1973, 291-2 (6b)). This strategic location developed into a nodal point in the Roman road system from which roads left Watling Street for Chester, Wroxeter, Greensforge, and perhaps Metchley. In the later Roman period a small defended settlement, probably a posting-station, called Pennocrucium, was laid out astride Watling Street. The camps lie on either side of the Penk Valley, N of Watling Street. For the most part, the valley sides are quite gentle, but they are broken in places by steeper natural scarps. These have been exploited to good effect by the positioning of the various military installations which are all intervisible. Virtually all the features have been levelled by ploughing and most are covered with the marks of former ridge-and-furrow.
Within the whole Water Eaton complex none of the camps occupy positions as good as those utilised by the two forts and the vexillation fortress. The presumption must be that, with the possible exception of camp 3, each of them was dependent upon one of the permanent establishments. Full information is included in the NMR Archive. (6)
Published source. (7) |