| Summary : The earthwork remains of Roman temporary camp Bean Burn 2. This very small camp is situated on level ground at 221 m above OD, near the bottom of a gentle S-facing hill slope, 120 m W of Bean Burn 1. Though at present under pasture the field has recently been ploughed and traces of ridge-and-furrow are still just discernable, orientated approximately N to S. The camp survives as a square, low, earthen-banked enclosure, measuring only 19 m across internally and covering an area of less than 0.04 ha (0.09 acres). The remains of the rampart are only about 0.2 m high on average and have been spread to a width of about 6 m all round. It is best preserved at the N end of the E side where it stands 0.5 m in height. No characteristic Roman features are now visible but in 1966 the Ordnance Survey recorded the presence of 'four opposing gates and traces of claviculae on the S and E sides'. Only two entrances can now be identified with any certainty. The best preserved is in the E where there is a roughly central gap, about 4 m wide, the N side of which has a slightly wider swelling on its inner edge. In the centre of the S side of the camp a less well defined gap also has, on its E side, a suggestion of an internal swelling to the rampart. These may be the remains of claviculae but they are now too indefinite for classification as such. There are very slight depressions in the rampart roughly central to the other two sides which could mark the positions of gates. A later field bank runs beside the rampart, parallel with the modern road. |
More information : NY 7552 6600. Found during Field Investigation, the remains of a small Roman (practice ?) camp, with four opposing gates and traces of claviculae of the south and east sides. The ramparts, though well-defined, are mainly reduced to the state of ground swellings only. Surveyed at 1/2500. (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.
This very small camp is situated on level ground at 221 m above OD, near the bottom of a gentle S-facing hill slope, 120 m W of Bean Burn 1. Though at present under pasture the field has recently been ploughed and traces of ridge-and-furrow are still just discernable, orientated approximately N to S. The camp survives as a square, low, earthen-banked enclosure, measuring only 19 m across internally and covering an area of less than 0.04 ha (0.09 acres). The remains of the rampart are only about 0.2 m high on average and have been spread to a width of about 6 m all round. It is best preserved at the N end of the E side where it stands 0.5 m in height. No characteristic Roman features are now visible but in 1966 the Ordnance Survey recorded the presence of 'four opposing gates and traces of claviculae on the S and E sides'. Only two entrances can now be identified with any certainty. The best preserved is in the E where there is a roughly central gap, about 4 m wide, the N side of which has a slightly wider swelling on its inner edge. In the centre of the S side of the camp a less well defined gap also has, on its E side, a suggestion of an internal swelling to the rampart. These may be the remains of claviculae but they are now too indefinite for classification as such. There are very slight depressions in the rampart roughly central to the other two sides which could mark the positions of gates. A later field bank runs beside the rampart, parallel with the modern road. Full information is included in the NMR Archive. (2)
Additional references. (3-4)
Bean Burn 2 Roman temporary camp is visible as a slight earthwork on air photographs and was mapped as part of Hadrian's Wall National Mapping Project. The only entrance which was positively identified was that in the eastern side where the entrance gap, an internal clavicula and the suggestion of an external clavicula are visible. In the west side there is an apparant widening and flattening of the rampart which may represent that entrance, this is centred at NY 75518 66001. As observed above, the camp is overlain by ridge and furrow cultivation. (5)
Located on the English Heritage map of Hadrian's Wall 2010. (6)
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