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Roper Castle Roman signal station, on the western flank of Moudy Mea, 700m south of Summit Reservoir

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

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1007200
Date first listed:: 26-Oct-1938

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1007200
Date first listed:: 26-Oct-1938
Location Description:: Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

Location

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

County:: Cumbria
District:: Eden (District Authority)
Parish:: Stainmore
National Grid Reference:: NY 88208 11130

Reasons for Designation

Roman signal stations were rectangular towers of stone or wood situated within ditched, embanked, palisaded or walled enclosures. They were built by the Roman army for military observation and signalling by means of fire or smoke. They normally formed an element of a wider system of defence and signalling between military sites such as forts and camps and towns, generally as part of a chain of stations to cover long distances. In northern England stations were used in particular to augment the main frontier formed by Hadrian's Wall, but elsewhere stations were constructed along the coast to keep lookout over the sea and to signal information both along the coast and to inland sites. Signal stations were constructed and used in Britain mainly during three distinct periods. The earliest examples were built between AD 50 and AD 117 for use during the earliest military campaigns during the conquest period. Signal stations at this period took the form of a wooden tower surrounded by a ditch and bank and possibly a slight timber palisade. After AD 117 towers were more usually built in stone, some on the same site as earlier timber towers. The latest series, in the mid-4th century AD, were more substantial stone signal stations built mainly along the Yorkshire coast. These had a tower up to 30m high which was surrounded by a curtain wall and external ditch. Signal stations survive as low earthworks, or their below ground remains may be identified on aerial photographs. Fewer than 50 examples have been identified in England. As one of a small group of Roman military monuments, which are important in representing army strategy, government policy and the pattern of military control, signal stations are of importance to our understanding of the period. All Roman signal stations with surviving archaeological remains are considered to be nationally important. Roper Castle Roman signal station is preserved as an earthwork and will contain archaeological deposits relating to its construction, use and abandonment. The monument provides insight into Roman military strategy and the importance of communication in the military occupation of the north of England.

Details

The monument includes the remains of a Roman signal station, situated on the western flank of Moudy Mea some 1.6km south of the Roman road which crosses the Penines via Stainmore. The signal station, which is also known as Round Table, includes a sub-rectangular enclosure surrounded by slight bank and outer ditch with traces of a causewayed entrance on the south side. The interior of the enclosure is divided into two raised platforms by a slight north to south ditch.

SOURCES PastScape Monument No:- n/a NMR:- n/a Cumbria HER:- 1841

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:: CU 209
Legacy System:: RSM - OCN

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.