(NU 10151133) New Roman fort. (1)

'Ditches suggested by one of St Joseph's prints. Excavation discovered much Roman stuff, including roofing tiles and Antonine pottery'. (2)

Heaps of turf and stone near the homestead of Low Learchild indicate that it was once a more considerable place. In the surrounding green are remains of old earthen enclosures. (3)

Extends from NU 10101146 to NU 10191124. The situation of the fort is on a slight rise with a fine view on all sides except where overlooked by the high ground about 600m to the east. Surface indications are very slight, the fields concerned, although now under pasture, have been ploughed many times. There is a 'bump' in the occupation road at NU 10101146 which marks the northern rampart, and another in the hedge at NU 10191139 indicates the eastern limit of the fort.
In the two fields to the east of the road the rampart is visible when viewed from a distance as a very slight bank, but none of the slopes are surveyable. The fields to the west of the road are ridge and furrow ploughed and show no traces of the rampart. There are no surface indications in the fields south of the disused railway.
Hodgson refers to old field banks in the vicinity of the present farm buildings. These are merely old enclosures attached to the farm and have no archaeological significance. (4)

The east and north sides of two successive forts were revealed during investigations by I A Richmond. The earlier, contained within the other, was defended by two double ditches 8ft wide and 8ft apart, which had been deliberately filled with turf. The east side was at least 250 feet long and the north at least 130ft long. The later fort, of which the ditch yielded some coarse ware of second century date, had an east side at least 760ft long and a north side at least 250ft long. It was defended by a single ditch 15ft wide and a clay rampart 23ft wide.
First and second-century pottery from the site was recovered by the late Sir Walter Aitchison in 1946. (5)

Although the site is at present under pasture, further ploughing in recent years has obliterated all traces of the work apart from a broad ground swelling representing the north east angle. (6)

Alauna, situated on the River Aln, Northumberland. Name 'ALAVNA'? accepted for 4th edition Roman Britain Map. (7)

'The field is currently under a crop of kale ... regularly ploughed and likely to have been further obliterated'. An American visitor to Newcastle University borrowed geophysical equipment from the Department of Geophysics and carried out a brief survey - no further information available. [See letter in A13]. (8)

Geophysical survey in 1990s was part of report testing Selkirk's theories. Report in [Archaeology] department library of Newcastle University. (9)

Scheduled. (10)

Geophysical survey in 2022 confirmed the presence of two Roman forts at Low Learchild, although what was previously thought to be the double ditched corner of the smaller fort is actually part of an annexe to it. The larger fort has previously been assumed to be the later of the two, and whilst this still seems probable, the survey did not confirm this. Whilst no extra-mural settlement has yet been located, the site appears to have been occupied after the forts were abandoned, with clear indications of structures in the south east corner, some curvilinear, on a different alignment to the Roman forts. The project also assessed finds from the site held at the Great North Museum, revealing greyware sherds that also suggest occupation later in the Roman period. The current access road appears to fossilise the line of the viae Praetoria and Decumana of the larger fort, suggesting continued use from the Roman period to the modern. North of the fort, the modern access road may be a re-alignment of a road which was found leaving the annexe heading NNE, presumably to a site that maintained importance across the centuries, Bamburgh being suggested as a possibility. (11)