Summary : In 1984 a well-defined cropmark of a camp was photographed on the E side of the Petteril valley, some 520 m S of Barrockside Farm and just over 1 km NW of Low Hesket. The Roman road from Old Penrith (Voreda) to Carlisle (Luguvalium) passes about 600 m to the E. The camp, which has a N to S alignment, is positioned on almost level ground at 80 m above OD towards the end of a broad ridge which slopes very gently down to the NNE. A shallow gill with a stream, now mostly piped underground, runs for a short distance along the E side of the enclosure and then swings north-westwards immediately N of the camp, ultimately joining up with the Petteril valley. The views from the camp are extensive to the NW, W and SW along the valley of the Petteril, but to the N, NE and SE are restricted by distant ridges. To the S, however, a crest only 300m away blocks the view. The perimeter of the camp is irregular in its layout, for its S side, which is approximately 73 m long, measures about 5m less than the roughly parallel N side. This N side bows slightly inwards towards the entrance. The E and W sides, both about 107 m long, are not quite parallel, the NW and SE corners being slightly obtuse and the NE and SW corners being slightly acute. The W ditch is set back c.30m from a steepening of the valley side, but there is no apparent topographical reason for the asymmetrical shape of the camp, which encloses an area of about 0.8 ha (2. 0 acres). All four sides appear to have opposing entrances. The positions of the E and W entrances, in a ratio of 2:3 along the E and W ditches, indicate that the camp faced S. Only the gate on the S side has a clear traverse, its ditch lying about 10 m beyond the causeway; another seems to have been provided at a similar distance outside the W gate, but possible indications outside the other entrances are too faint for certainty. |
More information : A temporary camp has been located at NY 4471, Barrockside by T Clare. (1)
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. In 1984 a well-defined cropmark of a camp was photographed on the E side of the Petteril valley, some 520 m S of Barrockside Farm and just over 1 km NW of Low Hesket (2a).The Roman road from Old Penrith (Voreda) to Carlisle (Luguvalium) passes about 600 m to the E. The camp, which has a N to S alignment, is positioned on almost level ground at 80 m above OD towards the end of a broad ridge which slopes very gently down to the NNE. A shallow gill with a stream, now mostly piped underground, runs for a short distance along the E side of the enclosure and then swings north-westwards immediately N of the camp, ultimately joining up with the Petteril valley. The views from the camp are extensive to the NW, W and SW along the valley of the Petteril, but to the N, NE and SE are restricted by distant ridges. To the S, however, a crest only 300m away blocks the view. The perimeter of the camp is irregular in its layout, for its S side, which is approximately 73 m long, measures about 5m less than the roughly parallel N side. This N side bows slightly inwards towards the entrance. The E and W sides, both about 107 m long, are not quite parallel, the NW and SE corners being slightly obtuse and the NE and SW corners being slightly acute. The W ditch is set back c.30m from a steepening of the valley side, but there is no apparent topographical reason for the asymmetrical shape of the camp, which encloses an area of about 0.8 ha (2. 0 acres). All four sides appear to have opposing entrances. The positions of the E and W entrances, in a ratio of 2:3 along the E and W ditches, indicate that the camp faced S. Only the gate on the S side has a clear traverse, its ditch lying about 10 m beyond the causeway; another seems to have been provided at a similar distance outside the W gate, but possible indications outside the other entrances are too faint for certainty. Full information is included in the NMR Archive. (2)
Other reference. (3)
This temporary camp is visible as cropmarks on the photographs used for the above description and more recent aerial imagery. These suggest that the enclosure is more regular than described above, with the north and south sides measuring 71-72m and the east and west sides measure 102-103m. The north-east and south-west corners are slightly less than 90degrees and the other two are slightly more, which does give the overall outline of the fort a slightly slanted appearance. The two sets of opposing entrances are as described and the traverse across the southern entrance is fairly convincing, the eastern example, less so. Some of the smaller features depicted around the perimeter on the Figure 15 (see source 3) including the hinted clavicular are though more likely to be natural variations in the crop. A fine ditch running near parallel with the southern side of the camp is of unknown date. (4-5) |