Roman Station Research Articles

CULTURAL HERITAGE THROUGH TIME: A CASE STUDY AT HADRIAN’S WALL, UNITED KINGDOM

Abstract. Diachronic studies are central to cultural heritage research for the investigation of change, from landscape to architectural scales. Temporal analyses and multi-temporal 3D reconstruction are fundamental for maintaining and safeguarding all forms of cultural heritage. Such studies form the basis for any kind of decision regarding intervention on cultural heritage, helping assess the risks and issues involved. This article introduces a European-wide project, entitled "Cultural Heritage Through Time", and the case study research carried out as a component of the project in the UK. The paper outlines the initial stages of the case study of landscape change at three locations on Hadrian’s Wall, namely Beckfoot Roman Fort, Birdoswald Roman Fort and Corbridge Roman Station, all once part of the Roman Empire’s north-west frontier. The main aim of the case study is to integrate heterogeneous information derived from a range of sources to help inform understanding of temporal aspects of landscape change. In particular, the study sites are at risk from natural hazards, notably erosion and flooding. The paper focuses on data collection and collation aspects, including an extensive archive search and field survey, as well as the methodology and preliminary data processing.

The roman station Timacum Maius (?) evidence of urbanization and communications

The 2009 archaeological campaign at Nisevac, eastern Serbia, has provided important evidence for the urban growth of a Roman settlement, such as drains and a section of the Roman road traversing the settlement. Along with a sumptuous structure furnished with a wall heating system discovered in 2008, the latest excavation results provide clues as to the importance of the settlement which, containing all elements of Roman urban architecture, offers further corroboration to its presumed identification as the Roman station of Timacum Maius on the Lissus-Naissus-Ratiaria road.

Excavations on the Site of the Roman Signal Station At Carr Naze, Filey, 1993–94

Excavations in 1993 and 1994 on Carr Naze, Filey, occasioned by the threat of coastal erosion, revealed remains of the late Roman signal station previously examined in 1857 and 1923. Details of the plan and structures were recorded. Occupation deposits in the courtyard produced a number of stratified coins and other artefacts. Study of the animal bone assemblage has suggested systematic provisioning of the site from a regional base. In the post-Roman period, a massive and hitherto unrecorded earthwork was erected to the east of the signal station.

The Roman road station of Aquaviva, southern Etruria

LA STAZIONE STRADALE ROMANA DI ACQUAVIVA, ETRURIA MERIDIONALEAcquaviva era una piccola stazione stradale romana sulla via Flaminia a nord di Roma. Ricognizione intrapreso nel 1967–8 rivelò che in epoca repubblicana ed alto imperiale l'insediamento si addensava intorno ad un importante nodo stradale; nella parte bassa, a sud, fu identificato un altro complesso, con un notevole mausoleo alto imperiale che conteneva un'iscrizione. Nel periodo tardo-romano quest’area divenne il centro dell'insediamento principale, che può essere associato ad una diocesi di cui è nota l'esistenza nel periodo che va dal 465 al 502 d.C, ma non susseguentemente.

Eric Birley: Corbridge Roman Station (Corstopitum), Northumberland. (Official Guide, H.M. Office of Works.) Pp. 26; 4 plates, 1 plan. London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1935. Paper, 6d.

Eric Birley: Corbridge Roman Station (Corstopitum), Northumberland. (Official Guide, H.M. Office of Works.) Pp. 26; 4 plates, 1 plan. London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1935. Paper, 6d. - Volume 50 Issue 1

Research Items

The Severn Crossing in Roman Times.—During the course of the present year Dr. C. Scott Garrett and Mr. Frank H. Harris, 23 Newerne St., Lydney, Glos., have discovered the foundations of extensive Roman buildings in three fields known as the ‘Chesters’ on the land between the Severn and Woolaston Pill. In a communication sent to NATURE they suggest that this gives ground for a revision of the current idea that the Roman station of Abone was Sea Mills on the Avon. This identification is supported by Haverfield, Collingwood and the Ordnance Survey map of Roman Britain. It must be remembered that the water level of the Severn was considerably higher in Roman times than it is now, and even to-day the low land behind Caerwent is sometimes flooded, so that the station itself must have been very near to the water when it was built: of this there is abundant archaælogical evidence. On the other hand, the erosion on the right bank of the river has been so extensive that only half of Sudbrook camp remains. But this loss has been more than compensated for by the deposition of alluvium on the left bank. Supposing that the Severn once flowed not far from the foot of Shire-hampton Hills, then the Roman port was probably either at Sea Mills or on the Severn just to the east of it because the Roman road from Bath to Bitton and on to the north crossed Durdham Downs in the direction of Sea Mills, and if the point of departure had been elsewhere, for example, at Oldbury, it would have been as easy for the road from Bath to go there direct as via the Avon. A road from Sea Mills to Gloucester is marked on the ordnance map, but this would have been an indirect approach to Oldbury, unlike the usual Roman method of road planning. It has long been known that there was a Roman station at Sea Mills, and when the Portway, the new low level road along the Avon was cut, a few years ago, a great deal more Roman material, including the foundations of buildings, was discovered. On the whole, this site fits well into the position of Abone given in the itinerary of Antonine, though the problem of “Trajectus” has been variously solved by scholars. However, no more distant site would meet the requirements of the twenty-four miles allowed between Bath and Caerwent.

Roman Malton: a Yorkshire Fortress and its neighbourhood*

Except for some trenches dug in 1865-6, when the Thirsk and Malton railway was constructed, no systematic excavation of the Roman station at Malton has ever been made until 1927. Although casual Roman finds have been plentiful, few of them have been published and little is definitely known about the site and its history, the current Ordnance Survey map merely marking the Fortress as ‘Supposed Roman Camp’. Many of the statements made about it in the past have been purely conjectural. As a result of recent investigations, the writers believe that the time has come when some general statement can profitably be made as to the extent of the site, its importance in Roman times, and the nature of the occupation of the neighbourhood.Amongst those who have written of the antiquities of Malton in the past, one writer, Rev Dr Young (History of Whitby, 1817) shows unusual judgment and penetration in an age when antiquaries were only too ready to repeat the guesses of their predecessors. The exact position and extent of the Malton fort were unknown before 1927, and few finds are recorded before the 19th century, yet Dr Young recognized it as a place of importance and guessed its position correctly.

Notes on the Roman Remains at Grassy Walls and Bertha, near Perth

Portions of the fortifications on the two sites mentioned still survive. That the remains are the work of the Romans is no recent discovery, as they have been recognised as such for at least a century and a half. The camp at Grassy Walls was discovered in 1771 by General William Roy, when he was engaged in investigating sites connected with the Romans in Scotland, and the fort at Bertha was described as a " Roman Station " by William Maitland in 1757. Grassy Walls is bordered on the north, west, and south by steep banks, while on the east there is a slight fall in the ground before it begins to rise again towards the hills. When the Romans constructed a camp covering such a large area of ground as at Grassy Walls, we know that it was only a temporary fortification, made to protect an army on the march, and never occupied for very long. Only a single coin has been recovered. The descriptions given of the fort at Bertha by Maitland and Roy disagree and it is argued here that Maitland's description is the more accurate. Artefacts from Bertha include pottery vessels, the remains of a helmet and a spear.

THE ANALYSIS OF ILKLEY SPA WATER

Modern Ilkley occupies the site of the Brigantian stronghold of Llecan, which subsequently became the Roman station of Olicana. “Ichley Fountaine,” has been in repute for bathing for about two centuries, a small bath-house having been built in 1699* Hearne’s edition of Leland’s Itinerary contains a letter written by Dr. Richardson in 1709 stating, “Ilkley … chiefly famous for a cold well, which has done very remarkable cures in scrofulous cases by bathing, and in drinking of it.” In 1734 Dr. Short wrote, “Ichley Spaw springs out of the middle of a mountain, a Mile high. … The Water is very clear, brisk and sparkling, has no taste, colour nor smell different from the common Water, is of the same weight. Its Basin and Course are of no other Dye than that of a common Spring. … Five pints of this Liquor exhaled left seven Grains of sediment. … Therefore, though this Water is of the greatest Esteem and Repute of any in the North of England, in the King’s Evil and other old Ulcers; yet it derives these Effects neither from its fixt nor volatile Parts, but wholly from the Coldness and Purity of the Element.”† Dr. Rutty in 1757 quotes from another treatise of Short’s specifying the virtues of the “Ichley Water.”† Dr. Adam Hunter’s examination in 1819 gave:— Temperature, of water, 48° F. Temperature in shade, 64° F. Sp. Gr. at 55° F., 1.00015. A wine gallon was found to contain:— | Muriate of Lime | … | … | 6.50 | ||

Account of the Excavation of the Roman Station at Inchtuthil, Perthshire, undertaken by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1901

Account of the Excavation of the Roman Station at Inchtuthil, Perthshire, undertaken by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1901

Account of the Excavation of the Roman Station at Inchtuthil, Perthshire, undertaken by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1901

Account of the Excavation of the Roman Station at Inchtuthil, Perthshire, undertaken by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1901

Account of the Excavation of the Roman Station at Inchtuthil, Perthshire, undertaken by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1901

Account of the Excavation of the Roman Station at Inchtuthil, Perthshire, undertaken by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1901

Account of the Excavation of the Roman Station of Camelon, near Falkirk, undertaken by the Society in 1900

Account of the Excavation of the Roman Station of Camelon, near Falkirk, undertaken by the Society in 1900

Account of the Excavation of the Roman Station of Camelon, near Falkirk, undertaken by the Society in 1900

Account of the Excavation of the Roman Station of Camelon, near Falkirk, undertaken by the Society in 1900

Braughing: Roman Station and Antiquities Found Thereat

Journal Article Braughing: Roman Station and Antiquities Found Thereat Get access W. B. Gerish W. B. Gerish Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Notes and Queries, Volume s9-VI, Issue 144, 29 September 1900, Page 251, https://doi.org/10.1093/nq/s9-VI.144.251d Published: 29 September 1900

Notice of the Remains of a Mediaeval Chapel found in the Roman Station at Ardoch

Notice of the Remains of a Mediaeval Chapel found in the Roman Station at Ardoch

Account of the Excavation of the Roman Station at Ardoch, Perthshire, undertaken by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1896-97

Account of the Excavation of the Roman Station at Ardoch, Perthshire, undertaken by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1896-97

Account of the Excavation of the Roman Station at Ardoch, Perthshire, undertaken by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1896-97

Account of the Excavation of the Roman Station at Ardoch, Perthshire, undertaken by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1896-97

Account of the Excavation of the Roman Station at Ardoch, Perthshire, undertaken by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1896-97

Account of the Excavation of the Roman Station at Ardoch, Perthshire, undertaken by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1896-97

Meeting notes

Meeting notes for 10 January 1898 and 14 February 1898.
 [The journal notes that an 'Account of the excavation of the Roman station at Ardoch, Perthshire', will be printed later in the Proceedings.]