Burrow Walls Roman fort

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

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1007161
Date first listed:: 02-Nov-1961

Interpretive sign on the cyclepath — Uploaded by Neil Wheadon This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1007161
Date first listed:: 02-Nov-1961

Location

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

District:: Cumberland (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Seaton
District:: Cumberland (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Workington
National Grid Reference:: NY 00308 30078, NY 00404 30038

Summary

Burrow Walls Roman Fort and Medieval Hall, 823m and 898m WSW of New Kelsick Farm.

Reasons for Designation

Roman forts served as permanent bases for auxiliary units of the Roman Army. In outline they were straight sided rectangular enclosures with rounded corners, defined by a single rampart of turf, puddled clay or earth with one or more outer ditches. Some forts had separately defended, subsidiary enclosures or annexes, allowing additional storage space or for the accommodation of troops and convoys in transit. Although built and used throughout the Roman period, the majority of forts were constructed between the mid first and mid second centuries AD. Some were only used for short periods of time but others were occupied for extended periods on a more or less permanent basis. In the earlier forts, timber was used for gateways, towers and breastworks. From the beginning of the second century AD there was a gradual replacement of timber with stone. Roman forts are rare nationally and are extremely rare south of the Severn Trent line. As one of a small group of Roman military monuments, which are important in representing army strategy and therefore government policy, forts are of particular significance to our understanding of the period. All Roman forts with surviving archaeological potential are considered to be nationally important.

Burrow Walls Roman fort and medieval hall 823m and 898m WSW of New Kelsick Farm is reasonably well-preserved and excavation has revealed that the monument will contain archaeological deposits relating to its construction, use and abandonment. The fort provides insight into the Roman military strategy for the occupation of England. Both the fort and hall are representative of their respective periods and taken together they provide insight into the character of fortifications in the Romano-British and the medieval periods.

History

See Details.

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 23 March 2016.This record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.

The monument includes the remains of a fort of Roman date and a hall of medieval date, contained within two areas of protection on either side of a railway embankment on a west facing slope. The fort, which is preserved as a low earthwork and in places as a cropmark, includes a sub-rectangular enclosure surrounded by the foundations of an encircling wall and at least one inner and two outer ditches. Partial excavation retrieved five altars and also revealed the wall foundations to be preserved to a depth of 2.5m and the ditches to be 5m wide. The results also show that the fort has two phases with the first being a typical 2nd century AD fort with inner rampart and double ditch and the second being a smaller fort within the fortifications of the earlier fort. Within the interior of the fort are two wall sections of medieval date set at right angles to each others. The wall sections measures 13.2m and 8.8m in length and are made from reused Roman masonry. The scale of the walls suggests them to have been from a substantial building such as a hall.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:: CU 292
Legacy System:: RSM - OCN

Sources

Other
PastScape Monument No:- 9041, 1003217

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.