Campfield (tower 2b) and associated parallel ditches and Roman road, 350m south west of Campfield Farm part of Roman frontier defences along Cumbrian coast

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

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1014918
Date first listed:: 17-Jul-1961

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1014918
Date first listed:: 17-Jul-1961
Date of most recent amendment:: 19-Nov-1996

Location

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

District:: Cumberland (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Bowness
National Grid Reference:: NY 19031 60785

Reasons for Designation

Hadrian's Wall marks one of the frontiers of the Roman Empire. The international importance of the surviving remains has been recognised through designation as a World Heritage Site. The military importance of the Tyne-Solway route across the Pennines was recognised by the Romans in the second half of the first century AD when a military road, the Stanegate, was constructed along with a series of forts. There is evidence that the Tyne-Solway route was being recognised as a frontier by the start of the second century AD, but the line was consolidated in the early second century AD by the construction of a substantial frontier work, Hadrian's Wall, in c.120 AD. Subsequent attempts to establish the boundary further north, between Clyde and Forth, failed by c.160 AD. Hadrian's Wall then remained the frontier of the Roman Empire in Britain until c.400 AD when Roman armies withdrew from Britain. For most of its course, the 70 miles of Hadrian's Wall running from coast to coast comprised a continuous stone wall (which in places was first temporarily built of turf) with permanent structures sited at intervals of one Roman mile (milecastles) and at third of a mile intervals (turrets) between the milecastles. At a later date, the Wall was strengthened by 16 full-size garrison forts built either on, or close to, the Wall. To the north of the Wall, for most of its length, lay a substantial defensive ditch and to the south a complex of banks and ditches provided east-west communication and demarcated the frontier zone from the province. To the west of Bowness-on-Solway, where the Wall reached the sea, however, the frontier had a different character and served a slightly different purpose. At the western end of the Wall a system of milefortlets and towers, spaced similarly to the milecastles and turrets along the Wall, extended the frontier system for at least 27 miles down the Cumbrian coast and helped control movement across the estuary of the Solway Firth. In places these milefortlets and towers were supplemented by lengths of palisade fences. Throughout its long history the Wall was not always well maintained. It was often neglected and sometimes overrun, but it remained in use until the late fourth century when a weak and divided Roman Empire finally withdrew its armies from the Wall and Britain. The frontier works along the Cumbrian coast survive as earthworks or buried archaeological remains, the latter sometimes visible on aerial photographs. They survive in this form largely as a result of the more ephemeral materials of which they were built (timber and turf instead of the stone of Hadrian's Wall land frontier) rather than because of poor survival of archaeological remains. Components of the coastal frontier which have surviving archaeological remains, whether visible or not, will generally be considered of national importance.

A combination of aerial photography and limited excavation has shown that buried remains of three phases of Campfield tower 2b and an associated defensive system of parallel ditches and a Roman road survive reasonably well. The monument will contribute to any further study of the Roman frontier defences along the Cumbrian coast.

Details

The monument includes the buried remains of a sequence of three Roman towers together with the buried remains of a c.220m length of the linear defensive system, here comprising parallel ditches and a Roman road aligned north east - south west. The linear defensive system has been identified in part by a combination of aerial photography, excavation and geophysical survey along the Cumbrian coast, but in particular between Bowness-on-Solway and the northern shore of Moricambe. Within the sequence of towers along the Cumbrian coast Campfield has been identified as 2b. The monument is located on the low ridge of a former storm beach between Campfield Farm and Pasture House Farm and it was first identified on aerial photographs taken in 1949. Further aerial photographs taken in 1975 clearly show crop marks of a stone tower and indications of two buried ditches. Limited excavation by Jones in 1993 found a sequence of three towers; the first was constructed of timber, measured 2.7m square, and was protected on its eastern side by a timber fence. This early tower was replaced by a second larger timber tower measuring 4m by 3.6m situated a short distance to the east, and this second tower was itself replaced by an even larger third tower built of stone and measuring 5.7m square externally. Some 9.5m to the north of the stone tower the excavation located the forward of the two parallel ditches which measures c.3.9m wide. Part of the rear ditch had largely been obliterated by construction of the second timber tower and the stone tower but enough survives to indicate that it measures c.1m wide and runs along the crest of the storm beach approximately 14m south of the forward ditch. The Roman road was found during the excavation to lie immediately to the south of the stone tower. It measures 4.8m wide and has two periods of construction; the first indicated by a surface of gravel bedded directly onto the old ground surface, the second indicated by re-paving with red sandstone chippings at the time of the construction of the stone tower. Roman pottery and coins found during the excavation suggest a lengthy period of occupation extending well into the third century AD. The stone tower was eventually demolished and robbed of its masonry in antiquity. All gateposts and post and wire fences are excluded from the scheduling but the ground beneath these features is included.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:: 27731
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Jones, G D B, 'Britannia' in The Western Extension Of Hadrian's Wall: Bowness To Cardurnock, , Vol. 7, (1976)
Jones, G D B, 'Manchester Archaeological Bulletin' in Excavations On A Coastal Tower, Hadrians Wall, Campfield T2b, , Vol. 8, (1993), 31-9
Jones, G D B, 'Manchester Archaeological Bulletin' in Excavations On A Coastal Tower, Hadrians Wall, Campfield T2b, , Vol. 8, (1993), 31-9
Jones, G D B, 'Manchester Archaeological Bulletin' in Excavations On A Coastal Tower, Hadrians Wall, Campfield T2b, , Vol. 8, (1993), 31-9
Jones, G D B, 'Manchester Archaeological Bulletin' in Excavations On A Coastal Tower, Hadrians Wall, Campfield T2b, , Vol. 8, (1993), 31-9
Jones, G D B, 'Manchester Archaeological Bulletin' in Excavations On A Coastal Tower, Hadrians Wall, Campfield T2b, , Vol. 8, (1993), 31-9
Other
AP no. DI 013, St Joseph,J.K., Campfield tower 2b, (1949)
AP no. DI 013, St Joseph,J.K., Campfield tower 2b, (1949)
AP No. MUCS 57, 10, Jones,G.D.B., Campfield tower 2b, (1975)
AP No. MUCS 57, 10, Jones,G.D.B., Campfield tower 2b, (1975)
AP No. MUCS 58, 15, Jones,G.D.B., Campfield tower 2b, (1975)
AP No. MUCS 58, 15, Jones,G.D.B., Campfield tower 2b, (1975)
RCHME, Cumberland Coast Events Record, (1995)
RCHME, Cumberland Coast Events Record, (1995)
RCHME, Cumberland Coast Events Record, (1995)

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.