Roman Fortifications in Yorkshire

Abstract

RECENT evidence of the varied methods of construction adopted by the builders of Hadrian’s Wall (see NATURE, March 19, p. 505) lent additional interest to the account of the defensive system of Roman Aldborough, near Boroughbridge, Yorkshire, which was presented to the Society of Antiquaries on March 24 by Mr. J. N. L. Myres and Miss Mary Kitson Clarke. This site, known to the Romans as Isurium Brigantium, was the capital city of the British tribe of the Brigantes, an important people, whose territory covered nearly the whole of the northern part of what is now England south of the Border. The excavation was carried out by Mr. Myres and Miss Clarke for the Roman Antiquities Committee of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society. In the course of the excavation, it was found that the north-west wall did not run as shown in the Ordnance Survey map, but that its angle lay farther to the north-west. The main scheme of the defences, it was found, consisted of the wall itself, backed by a bank of clay and sand. This, however, was not constructed until the second century A.D. Previously there appears to have been no system of defence, and Roman occupation had been haphazard. Later, perhaps in the early part of the fourth century, a large bastion had been added to the angle, and at least one small bastion built on to the west wall, not far from the angle. Still preserved to a height of nine feet in parts is the lower story of an internal angle tower, which was a striking feature of the wall in its original form. This had supported some structure rising above the wall. Pottery indicates that a lean-to hut at the back of the tower was occupied in the third century. The excavations will be carried further in the coming season.