Castleshaw Roman Fort

Coordinates: 53°34′59″N 2°00′11″W / 53.583°N 2.003°W / 53.583; -2.003
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Castleshaw Roman fort
A ditch of Castleshaw Roman fort
Castleshaw Roman Fort is located in Greater Manchester
Castleshaw Roman Fort
Location within Greater Manchester
General information
Architectural styleRoman fort
Town or cityCastleshaw
Saddleworth
Greater Manchester
CountryEngland
Coordinates53°34′59″N 2°00′11″W / 53.583°N 2.003°W / 53.583; -2.003
Completed79

Castleshaw Roman fort was a castellum in the Roman province of Britannia. Although there is no evidence to substantiate the claim, it has been suggested that Castleshaw Roman fort is the site of Rigodunum, a Brigantian settlement. The remains of the fort are located on Castle Hill on the eastern side of Castleshaw Valley at the foot of Standedge but overlooking the valley.[1] The hill is on the edge of Castleshaw in Greater Manchester. The fort was constructed in c. AD 79, but fell out of use at some time during the 90s. It was replaced by a smaller fortlet, built in c. 105, around which a civilian settlement grew. It may have served as a logistical and administrative centre, although it was abandoned in the 120s.

The site has been the subject of

Scheduled Ancient Monument,[2] recognising its importance as a "nationally important" archaeological site or historic building, and protecting it against unauthorised change.[3]

Location

View from Castleshaw Roman fort looking towards Delph

The fort and fortlet at Castleshaw are situated on a step of

Roman road. The road crosses the Pennines at Standedge where the area dips and narrows, creating a traversable pass which would have been guarded by the Castleshaw fort.[4] The nearest forts are Mamucium (Manchester) 16 miles (26 km) to the west and one at Slack 8 miles (13 km) to the east, both on the line of the Roman road.[5] There was also a small Roman military installation, possibly a fortlet or signal station at Worlow, between Slack and Castleshaw.[5][6] The later fortlet is on the same site as the fort (grid reference SD99880965).[4]

History

Roman

The fort at Castleshaw, constructed from turf and timber, was built around AD 79 and guarded the

auxiliary cohort,[7] and fell out of use during the mid AD 90s.[1] Rather than allow the defences to fall into potentially hostile hands or be used against Rome, the fort was slighted
.

The fort was replaced by a fortlet, also built using turf and timber, in AD 105. Although the fortlet was built on the same site as the fort, it did not use the same foundation trenches.

vicus grew around the fortlet in the early 2nd century.[9] It probably would have been home to those who benefited from trade with the garrison or hangers on of the soldiers. Since it is unlikely that a garrison of under 100 could have supported a vicus, it has been suggested that the fortlet was a commissary fortlet, one which was the administrative and logistical centre of part of the Roman army.[9][11] With soldiers regularly arriving to collect pay and orders, a vicus could have been supported.[9] The fortlet fell out of use in the mid 120s. The fort and fortlet of Castleshaw were superseded by the neighbouring forts at Manchester and Slack.[12] The vicus was abandoned around the same time as the fortlet fell out of use.[13]

According to

Slack, and Ebchester, indicating these forts were linked.[16]

Post-Roman

A plan of Castleshaw drawn by Thomas Percival in 1752 showing the fort and the later fortlet

After being abandoned by the Romans, Castleshaw was rediscovered by antiquarian

spoil heaps from the 1907–08 dig were never levelled, leaving a series of misleading modern earthworks on the interior of the site.[19]

Under the supervision of the

vicus associated with the fort.[21] Surveys revealed a settlement triangular in shape and to the south of the fort.[21] The vicus is listed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument with the fort and fortlet.[22]

Layout

A plan of Castleshaw drawn by Francis Bruton in 1908 showing the fort and the later fortlet in detail

The fort was rectangular in shape and had sides of 115 metres (377 ft) and 100 metres (330 ft), covering an area of approximately 1.2 hectares (3.0 acres).[1][2] The fortlet was built over the south of the fort, making it difficult to discover what lay beneath.[19] It has been possible, however, to ascertain that barrack buildings lay on the east side of the fort, a granary on the north, and the principia and praetorium to the south west.[7][23]

The fortlet was rectangular, with sides of 50 metres (160 ft) by 40 metres (130 ft), and covered 1,950 square metres (0.48 acres).[1][2] It was originally thought to be surrounded by a single Punic ditch but investigation revealed there to be two Punic ditches separated by a 2 metres (6.6 ft) wide berm.[24] The inner ditch was 3.9 metres (13 ft) wide and 1.3 metres (4.3 ft) deep while the outer ditch was 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) wide and 0.9 metres (3.0 ft) deep.[25] A Punic ditch is a defensive v-shaped ditch with one side much steeper than the other; the ditches surrounding the fortlet had an outer face at 27 degrees and the inner face at 69 degrees.[25] The rampart behind the ditches only survives to 0.5 metres (1.6 ft) at its highest point.[10] It was built from turf on top of sandy clay with a rubble foundation.[10] The fortlet ramparts to the south lay on top of the slighted fort ramparts.[26] Whether corner towers were a feature of the fortlet is unknown, no evidence remains aside from a single posthole, although only the north and east corners survive in good condition.[27] There were two gateways, one to the north and one to the south.[28]

A civilian settlement is located to the south of the fortlet's defences.[29] The extent of the vicus is uncertain,[30] however, test pits have indicated that it probably extends 12 metres (39 ft) west to east and between 25 metres (82 ft) and 35 metres (115 ft) to south.[29]

See also

  • Scheduled Monuments in Greater Manchester

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Redhead (1999), pp. 74–81.
  2. ^ a b c Historic England. "Castle Shaw (45891)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 29 December 2007.
  3. ^ "The Schedule of Monuments". PastScape. Archived from the original on 23 February 2009. Retrieved 30 December 2007.
  4. ^ a b c d e Walker (1989), p. 5.
  5. ^ a b Walker (1989), p. 15.
  6. OCLC 268619222.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link
    )
  7. ^ a b c d e Walker (1989), p. 20.
  8. ^ a b Walker (1989), p. 21.
  9. ^ a b c d Redhead (1999), p. 81.
  10. ^ a b c Walker (1989), p. 25.
  11. ^ Walker (1989), p. 79.
  12. ^ Nevell and Redhead (2005), p. 59.
  13. ^ Brennaud (2006), p. 65.
  14. ^ a b Walker (1989), p. 13.
  15. ^ Rivet (1980), p. 18.
  16. ^ a b Walker (1989), p. 78.
  17. ^ Walker (1989), pp. 5–6.
  18. ^ Walker (1989), p. 6.
  19. ^ a b c Walker (1989), p. 7.
  20. ^ a b Walker (1989), p. 2.
  21. ^ a b Redhead (1999), p. 75.
  22. ^ Historic England. "Monument No. 1130466". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 1 July 2008.
  23. ^ Walker (1989), p. 18.
  24. ^ Walker (1989), pp. 22–23.
  25. ^ a b Walker (1989), p. 23.
  26. ^ Walker (1989), p. 27.
  27. ^ Walker (1989), p. 28.
  28. ^ Walker (1989), p. 29.
  29. ^ a b Redhead (1999), pp. 76–77.
  30. ^ Redhead (1999), p. 80.

Bibliography

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