Roman camp, forts and a vexillation fortress 240m north of Lake Farm | earthwork (archaeology), scheduled ancient monument

 earthwork (archaeology), scheduled ancient monument

 Upload a photo

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.
www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/...
Roman vexillation fortresses are rectangular enclosures with rounded corners which were occupied on a temporary basis by a campaigning army of between 2500 to 4000 men comprised of varying proportions of legionary and auxiliary troops. They were constructed as part of Roman military strategy immediately after the conquest in AD 43
The area has been excavated and surveyed in various degrees from 1959 onwards, and the results have revealed development on the site of considerable complexity. Work in 1972-3 suggested there had been four successive forts or camps ranging in date from 44-65 AD. The earliest was a temporary camp; the second or third phase was represented by a legionary fort or vexillation fortress. This excavation also located other military features such as ditches, ramparts and timber defences which did not appear to correspond well to any particular phase of occupation. Pits and gullies were discovered which, according to magnetic surveys, were all aligned in a NNW-SSE direction. In 1978-9 further excavations revealed additional ramparts around the encampment with external industrial activity. Within the interior roads, rubbish pits, timber-built barracks, the centurion's quarters and possible administrative buildings were located. Further fieldwork in 1980 revealed an additional building, a cess pit, wells and dumps which included tiles from a previously unknown bath house. A fluxgate magnetometer survey defined the south and south east defences and showed the fort was internally approximately 11.7ha in extent. Another small excavation revealed the external ditches to be V-shaped in profile and up to 1m deep and 1m wide. Further excavations in 1980 produced a well which contained early Roman material including an amphora. A leat which approached the fortress from the south was also found to divide into two and it has been speculated one branch served an industrial area whilst the other fed the suspected bath house. It is believed that the fortress was occupied by the Legio II Augusta and finds included pottery, tiles, hooks, buckles and fragments of armour.