Summary
Buried archaeological remains of a Roman fort established in the late 1st century, along with an associated vicus (civilian settlement) that continued into at least the 4th century.
Reasons for Designation
Adel Roman fort and settlement is included on the Schedule for the following principal reasons:
* Period: as a good example of a late 1st century Roman fort and associated civilian settlement, this importance being heightened by the survival of a very similar site at Slack near Huddersfield;
* Potential: extensive remains indicated by geophysical survey, the western part of the monument including waterlogged organic deposits;
* Documentation: being the subject of a wide range of reports and records including antiquarian observations, geophysical surveys, notes and reports of excavations. Adel may also be Cambodunum, recorded in the early 3rd century document, the Antonine Itinerary.
History
The Roman site at Adel appears to have been first identified in the early C18 by the antiquarian Ralph Thoresby. He noted in his diary of 1702 and in subsequent writings that ploughing had brought up extensive, substantial remains of a Roman settlement, including two inscribed memorials and a life-sized statue, along with walling of houses standing up to four courses high and parts of an aqueduct. As further areas were brought into arable agriculture, later antiquarians in the C18 and C19 reported additional remains including cremation and inhumation burials, along with smaller finds such as pottery and metalwork. For instance the land to the east of Eccup Lane was brought into cultivation in the early C19, uncovering ‘vestiges of buildings forming streets’ and finds including three stone altars, one dedicated to the goddess Brigantia, this find suggesting Roman military occupation on the site. The substantial upstanding earthwork bank to the south of the monument on the west side of Eccup Lane, which had been interpreted as the remains of a Roman camp by Thoresby, was archaeologically investigated by Donald Atkinson in 1913. These sample excavations and subsequent investigations suggest that this earthwork is post-medieval rather than Roman in origin, hence its omission from the area of the monument. However in situ Roman archaeology, including remains of a number of buildings, has been identified elsewhere across the monument via small-scale excavations by the Leeds Roman Research Committee in the 1930s, by Brian Hartley of Leeds University in 1956-1958 and then by a local amateur group from 1986 until about 2002, latterly known as the Adel Excavation Group. The University of Bradford has conducted several geophysical surveys across the area from 1982 onwards and there have also been various metal detecting, fieldwalking surveys and other investigations by various individuals and by the West Yorkshire Archaeology Service (WYAS). Only a proportion of this archaeological work has been formally published, however a synthesis of research is in preparation (2020) by Pete Wilson, Rarey Archaeology.
The monument includes a section of the Roman road linking Tadcaster to Ilkley, this road known as Margary 72b, being part of one of the cross-Pennine routes thought to have been established around AD 80 during the governorship of Agricola. In the western part of the monument, the route crosses an area of damp ground through which flows the Adel Beck and the Adel mill race. Excavation by the Adel Excavation Group and WYAS has shown that the road across this damp ground was built up on a foundation formed from round wood timbers closely laid at right angles to the roadline (known as corduroy construction) which appears to have been capped with clay and other compacted material and then paved with stone. In 2002 WYAS carried out a small scale evaluation excavation of the road line, and retrieved timber samples from the underlying corduroy construction which were dated by radiocarbon dating to the 1st century BC indicating that the Roman road re-used at least part of a pre-existing route. Roman roads were constructed by the Roman army to facilitate both the conquest of the province and its subsequent administration, known elsewhere to have taken advantage of pre-existing routes. Their main purpose was to serve the Cursus Publicus, or Imperial mail service: express messengers could travel up to 150 miles per day on the network of Roman roads throughout Britain and Europe, changing horses at wayside 'mutationes' (posting stations set every 8 miles on major roads) and stopping overnight at 'mansiones' (rest houses located every 20-25 miles). In addition, throughout the Roman period and later, Roman roads acted as commercial routes and became foci for settlement and industry.
Archaeological information indicates that the monument represents a small but significant Roman ribbon settlement along the road that appears to have been established in the early 2nd century, perhaps developing from an official way-station that has been tentatively identified as Cambodunum recorded in the Antonine Itinerary in the early 3rd century. In the eastern part of the monument, geophysical survey has identified an almost square enclosure that lies across and is aligned with the road line. This is interpreted as a Roman fort which was probably of timber construction, its now infilled outer ditch being the main identifying feature from the geophysical survey.
Roman forts served as permanent bases for the auxiliary troops of the Roman Army. Although built and used throughout the Roman period, the majority of forts in England were constructed between the mid-1st and mid-2nd centuries AD, this example is thought to have possibly been built about AD 80, but possibly later, sometime in the early 2nd century. Some forts were only used briefly, but others were occupied for extended periods on a more or less permanent basis. In outline, they were normally straight sided rectangular enclosures with rounded corners, defined by a single rampart of turf or earth, with one or more outer ditches. Although varying in size according to the number and type of troops that they were built to accommodate, internally forts were typically laid out with a headquarters building (principia) to the centre, flanked by a house for the commander (praetorium) on one side and one or more granaries (horrea) on the other, with most of the rest of the fort's interior being taken up with ordered rows of barrack blocks with a scattering of ancillary buildings. Geophysical survey at Adel indicates archaeological survival of structures within the interior of the fort’s enclosure, its size indicating that it was probably constructed for a cohort of around 500 men. In earlier forts these buildings, along with the gateways, towers and breastworks built to strengthen the ramparts, were constructed of timber, gradually switching to stone construction from the 2nd century AD. Many Roman forts attracted civilian settlement (known as a vicus) typically extending along one of the approach roads to the fort. Some of the inhabitants may have been families of troops stationed at the fort, although it was not until the 3rd century that soldiers on active duty were officially permitted to marry. Many residents of a vicus are thought to have been traders, merchants and craftsmen attracted to the commercial opportunities provided by the fort. Where these settlements successfully developed in serving the wider populace they typically outlived the life of the original fort.
At Adel, the civilian settlement of the vicus appears to have extended mainly westwards from the fort with ‘strip buildings’ extending back from the road frontage. These buildings, a typical form for Roman urbanised settlements, had a narrow street frontage extending to the rear to produce a long, narrow plan form thought to have accommodated both commercial and domestic use. Excavation by Brian Hartley of Leeds University in 1956-1958 identified two of these buildings (recorded as ‘P1’ and ‘P2’) both being stone-built and sited to the west of Eccup Lane. The Adel Excavation Group, investigating the lower lying ground in the western part of the monument, uncovered evidence of a timber building as well as the remains of another substantial stone ‘strip building’ fronting onto the south side of the Roman road. This building, associated with 3rd and 4th century pottery, included an oven or small furnace and was adjacent to areas of paving that may have been external yard surfaces or floors of further structures. Finds known from these excavations and other investigations, along with those noted by antiquarian writers, appear to indicate a relatively prosperous settlement of Roman military origin in the early 2nd century that may have declined into the 3rd century, but prospered again in the 4th century. If this was the settlement known as Cambodunum, it is thought to have continued until AD 633 when Bede recorded that it was destroyed by Penda of Mercia after defeating King Edwin, Edwin having a royal residence at Cambodunum with a church built by the early Christian missionary Paulinus.
Adel Roman fort and settlement has close similarities to the scheduled monument at Slack, west of Huddersfield, in terms of the size and dating of the Roman fort and the development of a vicus, an associated civilian settlement. The monument at Slack (National Heritage List for England 1005804) is the main alternative candidate to be identified as Cambodunum in the Antonine Itinerary.
Details
PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS: Roman fort and vicus (civilian settlement) extending along nearly 0.5km of Roman road, all surviving as buried archaeological deposits.
DESCRIPTION: the square enclosure interpreted as a Roman fort lies on a gentle south-facing hillside, the Roman road with the vicus forming a roadside settlement extending westwards, crossing Eccup Lane to drop downhill to the shallow valley of Adel Beck.
The square enclosure (the Roman fort), its infilled outlining ditch identified via geophysical survey, has rounded corners and is about 120m across, its north eastern corner lying within the grounds of High Lees. The fort is bisected by the Roman road which runs roughly east to west, just north of the centre line of its enclosure. Geophysical survey also indicates the survival of archaeological remains of buildings and other structures both within the fort and either side of the road as it continues westwards, appearing to generally extend some 60-70m back from the road frontage. Finds from field walking surveys and various excavations suggest that the settlement - the vicus - was established in the eastern part of the monument, east of Eccup Lane, in the early 2nd century and expanded westwards. Evidence from the damper ground adjacent to Adel Beck, which includes the remains of both timber and stone-built buildings as well as evidence of industrial activity, mainly appears to date to the 3rd and 4th centuries.
Excavations of sections of the road have found it to be generally between 5.5m and 6m wide, typically formed as a raised agger (embankment) flanked by drainage ditches. The timber corduroy structure forming the foundations of the road in the damp ground close to Adel Beck in the western part of the monument was about 1m below the current ground surface. Records from excavations indicate that the upper surfaces of Roman archaeological deposits generally lie immediately below the topsoil, with further stratified archaeological remains extending beyond the very limited areas investigated by archaeological excavation. In the damper ground of the western part of the monument, this is expected to include water-logged deposits likely to retain preserved organic material.
EXTENT OF SCHEDULING: this has been defined to include the full known and expected extent of the settlement, mainly derived from geophysics data, including the parcel of land to the east of Adel Beck found to retain preserved organic remains. Where possible the scheduling has been drawn to follow, but not include, modern boundaries, so that walls and fence lines used as boundaries lie immediately outside the scheduling. There are three principal places where the boundary of the scheduling does not follow modern boundaries: in two places the scheduling boundaries cut across modern fields (the fields either side of Eccup Lane). This is designed to include the areas indicated by geophysical survey as retaining archaeological remains, but to exclude those parts that appear to lack evidence of the in situ survival of Roman archaeology. The 3rd point where the boundary does not follow modern lines is where the scheduling extends as a roughly triangular area into the grounds of High Lees. This is designed to ensure that the full extent of the square enclosure forming the Roman fort is included in the scheduling, together with a 5m margin for its support and protection.
It is possible that further Roman remains survive outside the area of the scheduling, particularly to the east of the Roman fort, but this is not known. Geophysical survey to the west of the scheduled area appears to indicate that the settlement did not extend beyond Adel Beck to the west.
EXCLUSIONS: road surfacing, fences and boundary walls within the area of the monument are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath is included.
