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Roman camp, 900m NNE of Featherwood

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1008881
Date first listed:: 22-Mar-1962

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1008881
Date first listed:: 22-Mar-1962
Date of most recent amendment:: 15-Feb-1993

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Northumberland (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Alwinton
National Park:: NORTHUMBERLAND
National Grid Reference:: NT 82017 05629

Reasons for Designation

Roman camps are rectangular or sub-rectangular enclosures which were constructed and used by Roman soldiers either when out on campaign or as practice camps; most campaign camps were only temporary overnight bases and few were used for longer periods. They were bounded by a single earthen rampart and outer ditch and in plan are always straight-sided with rounded corners. Normally they have between one and four entrances, although as many as eleven have been recorded. Such entrances were usually centrally placed in the sides of the camp and were often protected by additional defensive outworks. Roman camps are found throughout much of England, although most known examples lie in the midlands and north. Around 140 examples have been identified and, as one of the various types of defensive enclosure built by the Roman Army, particularly in hostile upland and frontier areas, they provide an important insight into Roman military strategy and organisation. All well-preserved examples are identified as being of national importance.

The Roman temporary camp near Featherwood survives in an excellent state of preservation and is a good example of its type. It is one of a group of camps constructed along Dere Street, one of the principal routes northwards, and greatly contributes to our understanding of the Roman occupation of northern Britain.

Details

The monument includes a Roman temporary camp situated on a spur of land which shelves gently to the south. It lies immediately east of Dere Street, the Roman road from Corbridge to Newstead in Scotland. The camp, almost square in shape with rounded corners, measures a maximum of 396m east to west by 400m north-south within a substantial rampart 3.8m wide and surviving 1.2m above the bottom of an external ditch 2.6m wide. The western side of the camp is markedly convex. There is a gateway 5m wide in each side of the camp; those in the east and west sides are placed centrally whilst those in the north and south are offset slightly to the west. Each gateway is protected externally by a detached length of rampart and ditch, known as a traverse, placed across it approximately 10m from the entrance and blocking the direct line of access into the camp. The camp dates from the Roman occupation of Britain in the first century AD. It is large enough to have been used periodically on a temporary basis by soldiers advancing northwards and may also have been used by smaller groups engaged in routine maintenance. The road surface which crosses the camp from south-west to north-east is excluded from the scheduling, but the ground beneath it is included.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 20917
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Richmond, I A, 'Northumberland County History xv' in The Romans in Redesdale, (1940)
Other
NT 80 NW 04,

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.