Summary
The below ground remains of a Roman temporary camp of probable mid to late-1st Century AD date. There is evidence of alteration through re-use to its north-east side.
Reasons for Designation
The Roman temporary camp at Uffington, Shropshire is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Rarity: this is a rare site type nationally, one of 134 camps confidently identified in the RCHME inventory of temporary Roman Camps in England, it is one of a group of 18 camp sites in and close to Shropshire centred on Wroxeter, and is the fourth largest known camp in England;
* Documentary: the camp is well documented by aerial photography and has been the subject of investigation through geophysical survey and archaeological excavation;
* Group value: the camp has strong historical and spatial group value with the scheduled Roman remains at Wroxeter, as well as with three other temporary camps of similar size located at regular marching distances heading north-west through Shropshire and into Wales;
* Survival: almost the entire perimeter of the monument appears in cropmarks, and excavation has proven that the monument survives well in the form of buried archaeological deposits with Roman layers surviving to over 700mm below the base of topsoil within cut features;
* Diversity: the clear evidence for altering the north-eastern side and re-using the other three sides of the monument is an important in distinguishing Uffington from other scheduled camps; it is a clear known example of a camp demonstrating such re-use;
* Potential: the buried deposits may retain significant information relating to the dates of construction and re-use, and illustrate the nature of the occupation and re-use.
History
A 1975 aerial photograph of Manor Field, Uffington, showed a large rectangular cropmark which is, on the basis of comparison with other known examples, interpreted as a Roman temporary camp. A cropmark is an anomaly formed by crop growing to different heights due to variances in the moisture and nutrient levels between soil which has covered an archaeological feature and the undisturbed soil surrounding the feature. The Manor Field cropmark has rounded corners and encloses an area of around 16 hectares, with an alteration to the north-east boundary enclosing a further two hectares. The north-eastern alteration is thought to represent a resizing of the camp on re-use. The cropmark has appeared in subsequent aerial photographic surveys, along with cropmarks of medieval and post-medieval ridge and furrow and other ditches likely to be post-medieval field boundaries.
Although common in Scotland, Roman temporary camps larger than 15 hectares are very rare in England, accounting for less than 10 percent of those camps well preserved enough to deduce their area. At 18 hectares for its larger phase, Uffington is amongst the very largest English camps. As Roman camps were constructed very quickly to be defensible positions, it was expedient to build no larger than necessary and utilise the full extent of the interior. Therefore, Uffington’s size suggests that it could have been used by a force in the region of two full legions, or just over 10,000 soldiers.
As part of archaeological investigation in advance of construction of the A49 road bypass of the early 1990s, a trench was excavated over the camp’s northern perimeter ditch where the main ditch and alteration to the north-west appeared to join. However, this excavation was not able to sequence the two phases of the camp as at the point the trench was located the ditches ran parallel to one another, less than 1m apart, rather than one cutting the other. Both ditches were ‘V’ profiled, measuring around 1.2m wide and 0.65m deep with a single context fill, and they in turn cut an earlier ditch with an irregular profile. Further excavations in 2021 confirmed that the southern camp boundary ditch also displayed a ‘V’ profile, here displaying another characteristically Roman feature, an ‘ankle-breaker’ slot at the base; this is variously interpreted as an aid for drainage or to provide additional defence. The ditch fill again was a single context, surviving to a depth of 0.73m below base of topsoil.
The camp perimeter ditches uncovered in the earlier excavations were sealed beneath the topsoil by a layer described by the excavator as a buried plough soil containing medieval and post-medieval pottery. This layer, in combination with the traces of ridge and furrow shown in aerial photographs, provides further evidence of post-Roman use of the land and gives a useful time before which the ‘V’ profile ditches must date. Two prehistoric flint tools were recovered from the topsoil during the excavation suggesting a very long history of human activity on the site.
A geophysical survey was carried out in August 2021, the results of which corroborated the features identified from aerial photographs and informed the location of six evaluation trenches excavated in September 2021. These 2021 trenches revealed the northern and southern perimeter ‘V’ profile ditches of the camp as well as confirming an entrance in its long north side. No Roman finds were recovered during this or the earlier excavation, though given the small area excavated and brief occupation of camps by soldiers carrying material goods limited to the necessities of campaigning, this is not unexpected.
The size and location of Roman temporary camps in England was determined by one of a variety of short term uses: a training exercise for soldiers, for housing whilst constructing more permanent sites, laying siege to an enemy position, or for temporary defence and shelter for an army travelling during a campaign. Topography, proximity to a road and access to a water source were further factors in determining location and orientation. These camps are typically defined by a single earthen rampart and outer ditch, and in plan are almost always rectangular with straight-sides and 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. The defences could comprise a combination of detached linear ‘traverse’ sections of bank and ditch, and spurs either angled in or out from the main bank and ditch.
The Roman military presence in Britain is thought to have spread from the south-east to the north and west, probably in a complex series of campaigns and movements over decades rather than a linear progression. This north and western movement is reflected in the distribution of known Roman temporary camps in England where there are two main clusters: one around Hadrian’s Wall, the other in the West Midlands. The temporary camp at Uffington is in this West Midlands cluster, in the hinterland of Wroxeter, one of Roman Britain’s largest cities. Roman occupation here had its origins in Wroxeter Roman Fort (National Heritage List for England 1003713) which was established to hold and control crossing points of the River Severn during the Claudian invasion around AD 50. In the late 50s AD the fort was replaced by a larger fortress (NHLE 1003705: Site of Roman town of Wroxeter [Viroconium]) around 800m to the north which, by around AD 90, had developed into a civilian settlement. There are six positively identified Roman temporary camps close to Wroxeter: Cound Hall around 3.5km south of the fortress, and the other five including Uffington all to the north. Of this northern cluster four camps are within 1km of Wroxeter (Norton I and II, Attingham Park Camp and Ismore Coppice), with Uffington being an outlier around 5km the north-west of the fortress. There are further potential temporary camps associated with the fort at Leighton around 5km to the south-east of Wroxeter.
The size and location of the Uffington camp indicate that it was a staging post for an army marching en-route to Wales. Supporting this interpretation, Uffington has been linked with a series of camps running in a route north-west from Wroxeter via Whittington near Oswestry in Shropshire, then on to Pen Plaenau and Penrhos in Wales. All four camps are of similar distinctively large size (between 15 and 18 hectares) and could have accommodated a similar number of soldiers. Use as a marching camp could have occurred during the initial Claudian invasion from the late-40s AD, the second wave of activity under Nero in the late-50s (coinciding with the move from fort to fortress at Wroxeter), or the campaigns of Agricola in the later-1st century AD.
Details
PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS: the monument includes the buried remains of a Roman temporary camp which are visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs. The cropmarks define all four sides of the camp and an adjustment to its north-eastern boundary. The camp is situated on a low-lying sand and gravel terrace within a bend of the River Severn on its east bank, just south of the village of Uffington and east of Shrewsbury. The location provided access to fresh water and defence through the river acting as a physical barrier to the north and west. The camp is bisected by the A49 road which runs roughly north/south through its east end.
DESCRIPTION: the camp survives as the buried remains of its outer ditch which shows clearly as cropmarks in aerial photographs. There is no trace of a bank within the ditch which may have been degraded through the ploughing that the site has experienced. This agricultural activity has truncated the archaeological remains, though the interior still has the potential to preserve deeper cut features such as latrine and rubbish pits.
The camp is rectangular in plan with rounded corners, and is orientated with its shorter sides facing to the north-east and south-west. All four sides are defined by the ditch which is relatively narrow at just over a metre wide. The shorter, north-eastern side has two parallel ditches on this orientation around 50m apart suggesting re-use of the camp involving extension or reduction of its size. The approximate measurements of the camp are 330m in width, and measuring to the inner of the two north-eastern ditches 480m long (enclosing 16 hectares), or to the outer ditch it is 542m long (enclosing 18 hectares). Excavation has confirmed the width of the ditch to be around 1.2 metres, and that it has the distinctive ‘V’ shaped profile of Roman work, with one section in the southern perimeter having another Roman feature; an ‘ankle breaker’ slot at the base of the ‘V’.
A gap at the east end of the camp’s north boundary ditch was confirmed as an entrance by the 2021 evaluation excavations. There is no indication of defensive features at any of the potential entrances.
EXTENT OF SCHEDULING: the area of protection is based on current evidence and understanding arising from the aerial photograph assessment and transcription of the monument undertaken in 2021. The area of scheduling has been drawn to exclude the A49 road and its verges, leaving two separate areas of protection; a smaller triangular area east of the A49, and a larger trapezoidal area to the west. Each area has a buffer of 4 metres on all sides except those against the road verges. The buffer has been applied around the perimeter of the archaeological features as it is considered necessary for the support and preservation of the monument.
