Epiacum or Whitley Castle Roman fort (Knaresdale with Kirkhaugh)
[NY 6950 4870] Whitley Castle Roman Fort. (1)
A lozenge-shaped fort of about four acres, with a well-defined multiple ditch system. The internal plan has not be recovered, but traces of the principia and angle towers survive. An inscription c.AD213 and pottery (3) attest 3rd and 4th century occupation. (2)(3)
Scheduled. (4)
Remains of the bath-house were excavated prior to 1810. (5)
Generally correctly described, and in good condition. The interior is much disturbed by surface quarrying, and no identifiable remains exist there. A few exposed foundations of the bath-house survive. ('A') Re-surveyed at 1/2500. (6)
As described and planned. (7)
EPIACUM. Probably the Roman fort at Whitley Castle. (8)
The position of the bath-house excavated c.1810 interrupts the line of the outer ditches. Air Photographs (11, 12) indicate that the fort had been smaller than it later became and that the bath-building was originally intended to lie beyond the north west corner of the fort. The rampart south west of the portae principales is much more massive and upstanding than that round the praetentura, which is likely to represent a later extension. The denuded remains of the line of the original north east rampart may be visible within the fort just north east of the via principalis. Various other internal structures, including part of the principia, show as shadow marks in unploughed rough pasture. Faint indications of small rectangular plots may belong to the vicus of the fort. The sinuous course of a leat to supply water to the bath-house may also be visible running from the ravine north of the fort. (9)(10)(11)
NY 695486. Knaresdale with Kirkhaugh. Whitley Castle listed under Roman remains. (12)
Scheduled No 12. (13)
Multiple defences extend 46m beyond the rampart. [Photograph]. (14)
Altar set over a spring near extramural bath-house. Mid 3rd century date. Spring may have fed an aqueduct. (15)
Roman pottery from Whitley Castle. In Museum of Antiquities, Newcastle, 1985.28, given by J F Edgar. (16)
A detailed study is being carried out by the Archaeological Survey and Investigation Team of English Heritage. The fort seems to have been the only one on the Maiden Way and must have been provided to act as a secure base for troop movements. It may also have controlled production of lead in the area. The fort plan is skewed to fit its location on a spur above the South Tyne, as are the internal features. The defences are more elaborate than any other fort in Roman Britain and comprise four massive circuits of ramparts around the three outward faces of the spur, increasing to seven on the remaining uphill side. The current investigations will include the results of geophysical surveys in and around the fort. (17)
In 2009 a geomagnetic survey of about 36ha and an electrical resistance survey over about 8ha were carried out. A range of anomalies were successfully detected which helped to characterise the former landuse in different areas at different times, eg. the anomalies variously reflect the remains of the fort wall and ramparts, intra-mural buildings, areas of probable vicus and official extra-mural buildings, several roads within and outside the fort, possible pre-Roman settlement, agricultural features including probable 18th/19th century potato-beds and ridge and furrow, post-medieval buildings and possible evidence for mining activities.
Several phases of activity can be interpreted, including at least two phases of significant re-modelling of defences and other structures around the fort's southern corner. (18)
Documentary research and detailed analytical earthwork survey of Whitley Castle and its immediate surroundings was undertaken in 2007-8. The original external dimensions of the fort are estimated to be 136m by 108m, creating a maximum internal space of about 1.24ha. The elaborate encircling defences comprise: two complete circuits of embanked ditches, forming the innermost defences, are separated from the wall by a narrow berm. Along the north-west side are two similar outer lines of defence. The ramparts on the south-eastern side form terraces rather than ditches. Along the south-west side at least seven banks and ditches were formed. Field evidence suggests the fort had at least six wall towers (one at each corner and two on the longer arms of the fort wall). Those in the corners had a circular plan and were no more than 8m in diameter; the two interval towers appear rectangular in plan. Each arm of the fort had a gateway, although these have been greatly robbed.
The interior of the fort shows no evidence of wholesale clearance for cultivation or later settlement within the fort walls, although there has been stone robbing. Consequently earthworks provide a clear impression of the layout. The plan follows the usual deployment of buildings in relation to roads. An earlier suggestion that the fort was smaller with a bath house lying outside has been refuted by earthwork and geophysical evidence that shows the bath house remains overlie the levelled course of all four ramparts surrounding the northern corner of the fort. Buildings in the interior include, the headquarters, the commandant's house, a granary and buildings to the rear, and barracks.
Outside the fort walls, as well as the bath house there is a midden, temples suggested by the dicovery of altars, a possible burial ground, and vicus. (19)
The earthworks of Whitley Castle Roman fort have been recorded as part of the National Mapping Programme. The earthworks are extensive and occupy a natural knoll situated just to the west of the Mainde Way between Castle Nook and Whitlow. The fort defences survive as complicated earthworks of multiple banks and ditches. The earthwork remains are for the most part clearly defined and visible from the air, but in the northern-most corner they are slightly denuded where an extractive piut and the remains of the bath house are located. The buildings of the interior also survive as earthworks which are also similarly visible from the air as buildings and building platforms, though some of these may be of Medieval or Post Medieval imposition. (20)
The outlines of post-medieval buildings can be seen as earthworks within the circuit of the forts defences. These include the original Castle Nook farm where the historian John Wallis, author of The Natural History and Antiquities of Northumberland, was born. These buildings were removed after Wallis's biirth and the present Castle Nook built after the construction of the adjacent turnpike road in the 1790s. (An extensive series of original documents, including deeds, relating to this Castle Nook and the adjancent Whitlow buildings - which formed part of the same holding - survive from the mid-17th to later 19th century). (21)
The remains of Whitley Castle Roman fort are visible as earthworks on air photographs and lidar, at NY 6949 4868. The fort has been topographically surveyed by English Heritage as part of the Miner-Farmer Landscapes of the North Pennines AONB. The earthworks of the fort indicate that the interior of the fort is largely conventionally arranging, though squeezed into the more unusual lozenge-shaped outline of the fort. This has been an adaption of the oval-shaped natural knoll. The individual Roman buildings survive as earthworks of the stone walls and also the robbing of the stone walls. These ground features reveal that the buildings are angled in line to the defences and that these may survive in a good state of preservation. The earthwork ramparts are clearly defined - though denuded at the northern most corner. Here an extractive pit and the remains of the fort's bath house are located. The fort's vicus has now been recorded separately (see NRHE UID 1530980), as have the associated Roman roads (NRHE UID 1530892 and NRHE UID 1530959). Two post medieval field boundaries (NRHE UID 1530730 and 1530905) cut across the fort . A post medieval extractive pit and spoil heap (NRHE UID 1530881) is cut into the southern corner of the ramparts. The earthwork remains of a post medieval building (NRHE UID 1530989) are situated within the fort. The features are extant on the latest 2009 lidar. (22)
Between November 2007 and July 2008, English Heritage's Archaeological Survey and Investigation team undertook an analytical field survey of Whitley Castle (the Roman fort of Epiacum) in Northumberland. The investigation of this well-preserved site was intended to inform its management and presentation to visitors, and was undertaken in part as a 'figurehead' for English Heritage's multidisciplinary investigation of the impacts of lead-mining in the region, entitled `Miner - Farmer Landscapes of the North Pennines AONB' (Event record 1501202). The analytical field survey, in combination with documentary research and aerial photographic analysis, was carried out at Level 3 standard; the fort was surveyed at 1:500 scale and 19.5 hectares of its environs at 1:1000, using survey-grade GPS and `Total Station'. The earthwork survey was followed up by two extensive geophysical surveys undertaken between January and March 2009 by Archaeological Services Durham University (Hale et al 2009). The first, a magnetic susceptibility survey, covered an area of c. 35ha centred on the fort, while the second, a detailed earth resistance survey, examined a total area of 7.5 ha including the interior of the fort and a selection of areas around the perimeter. The position of the bath-house, excavated in around 1810, interrupts the line of the outer ditches. Air Photographs indicate that the fort had been smaller than it later became and that the bath-house was originally intended to lie beyond the North West corner of the fort. The rampart South West of the portae principales is much more massive and upstanding than that round the praetentura, which is likely to represent a later extension. The denuded remains of the line of the original North East rampart may be visible within the Fort just North East of the via principalis. Various other internal structures, including part of the principia, show as shadow marks in unploughed rough pasture. Faint indications of small rectangular plots may belong to the vicus of the fort. The sinuous course of a leat to supply water to the bath-house may also be visible running from the ravine North of the Fort. A full report, part of the Research Department Report Series, is available from the NMR, reference RDRS 89/2009. The analysis presented in this report incorporates the results of the 2009 geophysical surveys and earlier geophysical surveys within the fort and to the west carried out by GeoQuest Associates in 2003 and 2006 (Noel 2006). (23a)
The fort appears to have been built in the mid 2nd century however it is possible that there was an earlier Roman camp on the spur and possibly even an earlier Iron Age fortification. In around AD 200 the fort appears to have been partly or wholly demolished and rebuilt soon after, before being largely altered or rebuilt once more in around AD 300. In the early third century a temple was dedicated on the site to the Emperor Caracalla by troops belonging to the Second Cohort of Nerivians who were occupying the fort at this time. The purpose of the fort appears not only to have been a base for troops but its location was to also enable them to exert control over the local population and, in particular, over the production of lead.
The main elements of the fort visible in the earthworks include the principal roads which divided the interior, a central headquarters building, a commandant's house, barrack blocks and granaries. While it follows the usual fort layout, Whitley Castle is considered to be an exceptional example of its kind. Not only was its design altered to suit the site's geographic location but it is thought to have the most elaborate defences of any fort in the Roman Empire. (23b)
This article provides an overview of a 5-year landscape survey project English Heritage has been undertaking since late 2008 to investigate the miner-farmer landscapes of the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Whitley Castle is within the study area and has been the subject of a detailed earthwork and geophysical survey. The full results of the survey are available in the English Heritage Research Department Report Series. Please see article for further details. (23c)
The remains of Whitley Castle Roman fort are visible as earthworks on air photographs and lidar, at NY 6949 4868. The fort was mapped as part of the Miner-Farmer landscapes of the North Pennines AONB NMP. The earthwork ramparts are clearly defined - though denuded at the northern most corner. Here an extractive pit and the remains of the fort's bath house are located. The fort's vicus has now been recorded separately (see UID 1530980), as have the associated Roman roads (UID 1530892 and UID 1530959). Two post medieval field boundaries (UID 1530730 and 1530905) cut across the fort . A post medieval extractive pit and spoil heap (UID 1530881) is cut into the southern corner of the ramparts. The earthwork remains of a post medieval building (UID 1530989) are situated within the fort. The features are extant on the latest 2009 lidar. (23d)
General association with HER 24883, HER 31267, HER 31268, HER 31269, HER 24895, HER 31270, HER 24885 and HER 24891. Is referred to by HER 5968, HER 24899, HER 24900 and HER 24884. (23)
A lozenge-shaped fort of about four acres, with a well-defined multiple ditch system. The internal plan has not be recovered, but traces of the principia and angle towers survive. An inscription c.AD213 and pottery (3) attest 3rd and 4th century occupation. (2)(3)
Scheduled. (4)
Remains of the bath-house were excavated prior to 1810. (5)
Generally correctly described, and in good condition. The interior is much disturbed by surface quarrying, and no identifiable remains exist there. A few exposed foundations of the bath-house survive. ('A') Re-surveyed at 1/2500. (6)
As described and planned. (7)
EPIACUM. Probably the Roman fort at Whitley Castle. (8)
The position of the bath-house excavated c.1810 interrupts the line of the outer ditches. Air Photographs (11, 12) indicate that the fort had been smaller than it later became and that the bath-building was originally intended to lie beyond the north west corner of the fort. The rampart south west of the portae principales is much more massive and upstanding than that round the praetentura, which is likely to represent a later extension. The denuded remains of the line of the original north east rampart may be visible within the fort just north east of the via principalis. Various other internal structures, including part of the principia, show as shadow marks in unploughed rough pasture. Faint indications of small rectangular plots may belong to the vicus of the fort. The sinuous course of a leat to supply water to the bath-house may also be visible running from the ravine north of the fort. (9)(10)(11)
NY 695486. Knaresdale with Kirkhaugh. Whitley Castle listed under Roman remains. (12)
Scheduled No 12. (13)
Multiple defences extend 46m beyond the rampart. [Photograph]. (14)
Altar set over a spring near extramural bath-house. Mid 3rd century date. Spring may have fed an aqueduct. (15)
Roman pottery from Whitley Castle. In Museum of Antiquities, Newcastle, 1985.28, given by J F Edgar. (16)
A detailed study is being carried out by the Archaeological Survey and Investigation Team of English Heritage. The fort seems to have been the only one on the Maiden Way and must have been provided to act as a secure base for troop movements. It may also have controlled production of lead in the area. The fort plan is skewed to fit its location on a spur above the South Tyne, as are the internal features. The defences are more elaborate than any other fort in Roman Britain and comprise four massive circuits of ramparts around the three outward faces of the spur, increasing to seven on the remaining uphill side. The current investigations will include the results of geophysical surveys in and around the fort. (17)
In 2009 a geomagnetic survey of about 36ha and an electrical resistance survey over about 8ha were carried out. A range of anomalies were successfully detected which helped to characterise the former landuse in different areas at different times, eg. the anomalies variously reflect the remains of the fort wall and ramparts, intra-mural buildings, areas of probable vicus and official extra-mural buildings, several roads within and outside the fort, possible pre-Roman settlement, agricultural features including probable 18th/19th century potato-beds and ridge and furrow, post-medieval buildings and possible evidence for mining activities.
Several phases of activity can be interpreted, including at least two phases of significant re-modelling of defences and other structures around the fort's southern corner. (18)
Documentary research and detailed analytical earthwork survey of Whitley Castle and its immediate surroundings was undertaken in 2007-8. The original external dimensions of the fort are estimated to be 136m by 108m, creating a maximum internal space of about 1.24ha. The elaborate encircling defences comprise: two complete circuits of embanked ditches, forming the innermost defences, are separated from the wall by a narrow berm. Along the north-west side are two similar outer lines of defence. The ramparts on the south-eastern side form terraces rather than ditches. Along the south-west side at least seven banks and ditches were formed. Field evidence suggests the fort had at least six wall towers (one at each corner and two on the longer arms of the fort wall). Those in the corners had a circular plan and were no more than 8m in diameter; the two interval towers appear rectangular in plan. Each arm of the fort had a gateway, although these have been greatly robbed.
The interior of the fort shows no evidence of wholesale clearance for cultivation or later settlement within the fort walls, although there has been stone robbing. Consequently earthworks provide a clear impression of the layout. The plan follows the usual deployment of buildings in relation to roads. An earlier suggestion that the fort was smaller with a bath house lying outside has been refuted by earthwork and geophysical evidence that shows the bath house remains overlie the levelled course of all four ramparts surrounding the northern corner of the fort. Buildings in the interior include, the headquarters, the commandant's house, a granary and buildings to the rear, and barracks.
Outside the fort walls, as well as the bath house there is a midden, temples suggested by the dicovery of altars, a possible burial ground, and vicus. (19)
The earthworks of Whitley Castle Roman fort have been recorded as part of the National Mapping Programme. The earthworks are extensive and occupy a natural knoll situated just to the west of the Mainde Way between Castle Nook and Whitlow. The fort defences survive as complicated earthworks of multiple banks and ditches. The earthwork remains are for the most part clearly defined and visible from the air, but in the northern-most corner they are slightly denuded where an extractive piut and the remains of the bath house are located. The buildings of the interior also survive as earthworks which are also similarly visible from the air as buildings and building platforms, though some of these may be of Medieval or Post Medieval imposition. (20)
The outlines of post-medieval buildings can be seen as earthworks within the circuit of the forts defences. These include the original Castle Nook farm where the historian John Wallis, author of The Natural History and Antiquities of Northumberland, was born. These buildings were removed after Wallis's biirth and the present Castle Nook built after the construction of the adjacent turnpike road in the 1790s. (An extensive series of original documents, including deeds, relating to this Castle Nook and the adjancent Whitlow buildings - which formed part of the same holding - survive from the mid-17th to later 19th century). (21)
The remains of Whitley Castle Roman fort are visible as earthworks on air photographs and lidar, at NY 6949 4868. The fort has been topographically surveyed by English Heritage as part of the Miner-Farmer Landscapes of the North Pennines AONB. The earthworks of the fort indicate that the interior of the fort is largely conventionally arranging, though squeezed into the more unusual lozenge-shaped outline of the fort. This has been an adaption of the oval-shaped natural knoll. The individual Roman buildings survive as earthworks of the stone walls and also the robbing of the stone walls. These ground features reveal that the buildings are angled in line to the defences and that these may survive in a good state of preservation. The earthwork ramparts are clearly defined - though denuded at the northern most corner. Here an extractive pit and the remains of the fort's bath house are located. The fort's vicus has now been recorded separately (see NRHE UID 1530980), as have the associated Roman roads (NRHE UID 1530892 and NRHE UID 1530959). Two post medieval field boundaries (NRHE UID 1530730 and 1530905) cut across the fort . A post medieval extractive pit and spoil heap (NRHE UID 1530881) is cut into the southern corner of the ramparts. The earthwork remains of a post medieval building (NRHE UID 1530989) are situated within the fort. The features are extant on the latest 2009 lidar. (22)
Between November 2007 and July 2008, English Heritage's Archaeological Survey and Investigation team undertook an analytical field survey of Whitley Castle (the Roman fort of Epiacum) in Northumberland. The investigation of this well-preserved site was intended to inform its management and presentation to visitors, and was undertaken in part as a 'figurehead' for English Heritage's multidisciplinary investigation of the impacts of lead-mining in the region, entitled `Miner - Farmer Landscapes of the North Pennines AONB' (Event record 1501202). The analytical field survey, in combination with documentary research and aerial photographic analysis, was carried out at Level 3 standard; the fort was surveyed at 1:500 scale and 19.5 hectares of its environs at 1:1000, using survey-grade GPS and `Total Station'. The earthwork survey was followed up by two extensive geophysical surveys undertaken between January and March 2009 by Archaeological Services Durham University (Hale et al 2009). The first, a magnetic susceptibility survey, covered an area of c. 35ha centred on the fort, while the second, a detailed earth resistance survey, examined a total area of 7.5 ha including the interior of the fort and a selection of areas around the perimeter. The position of the bath-house, excavated in around 1810, interrupts the line of the outer ditches. Air Photographs indicate that the fort had been smaller than it later became and that the bath-house was originally intended to lie beyond the North West corner of the fort. The rampart South West of the portae principales is much more massive and upstanding than that round the praetentura, which is likely to represent a later extension. The denuded remains of the line of the original North East rampart may be visible within the Fort just North East of the via principalis. Various other internal structures, including part of the principia, show as shadow marks in unploughed rough pasture. Faint indications of small rectangular plots may belong to the vicus of the fort. The sinuous course of a leat to supply water to the bath-house may also be visible running from the ravine North of the Fort. A full report, part of the Research Department Report Series, is available from the NMR, reference RDRS 89/2009. The analysis presented in this report incorporates the results of the 2009 geophysical surveys and earlier geophysical surveys within the fort and to the west carried out by GeoQuest Associates in 2003 and 2006 (Noel 2006). (23a)
The fort appears to have been built in the mid 2nd century however it is possible that there was an earlier Roman camp on the spur and possibly even an earlier Iron Age fortification. In around AD 200 the fort appears to have been partly or wholly demolished and rebuilt soon after, before being largely altered or rebuilt once more in around AD 300. In the early third century a temple was dedicated on the site to the Emperor Caracalla by troops belonging to the Second Cohort of Nerivians who were occupying the fort at this time. The purpose of the fort appears not only to have been a base for troops but its location was to also enable them to exert control over the local population and, in particular, over the production of lead.
The main elements of the fort visible in the earthworks include the principal roads which divided the interior, a central headquarters building, a commandant's house, barrack blocks and granaries. While it follows the usual fort layout, Whitley Castle is considered to be an exceptional example of its kind. Not only was its design altered to suit the site's geographic location but it is thought to have the most elaborate defences of any fort in the Roman Empire. (23b)
This article provides an overview of a 5-year landscape survey project English Heritage has been undertaking since late 2008 to investigate the miner-farmer landscapes of the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Whitley Castle is within the study area and has been the subject of a detailed earthwork and geophysical survey. The full results of the survey are available in the English Heritage Research Department Report Series. Please see article for further details. (23c)
The remains of Whitley Castle Roman fort are visible as earthworks on air photographs and lidar, at NY 6949 4868. The fort was mapped as part of the Miner-Farmer landscapes of the North Pennines AONB NMP. The earthwork ramparts are clearly defined - though denuded at the northern most corner. Here an extractive pit and the remains of the fort's bath house are located. The fort's vicus has now been recorded separately (see UID 1530980), as have the associated Roman roads (UID 1530892 and UID 1530959). Two post medieval field boundaries (UID 1530730 and 1530905) cut across the fort . A post medieval extractive pit and spoil heap (UID 1530881) is cut into the southern corner of the ramparts. The earthwork remains of a post medieval building (UID 1530989) are situated within the fort. The features are extant on the latest 2009 lidar. (23d)
General association with HER 24883, HER 31267, HER 31268, HER 31269, HER 24895, HER 31270, HER 24885 and HER 24891. Is referred to by HER 5968, HER 24899, HER 24900 and HER 24884. (23)
N5934
EXCAVATION, Excavation at Whitley Castle 1810; HODGSON, J
EXCAVATION, Whitley Castle 1959
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1966; R W Emsley
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1978; I S Sainsbury
TOPOGRAPHIC SURVEY, Whitley Castle 2008; English Heritage
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY, Whitley Castle 2009; Archaeological Services Durham University
AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH INTERPRETATION, English Heritage: Miner-farmer landscapes of the North Pennines AONB NMP 2011; English Heritage
EXCAVATION, Whitley Castle 1959
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1966; R W Emsley
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1978; I S Sainsbury
TOPOGRAPHIC SURVEY, Whitley Castle 2008; English Heritage
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY, Whitley Castle 2009; Archaeological Services Durham University
AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH INTERPRETATION, English Heritage: Miner-farmer landscapes of the North Pennines AONB NMP 2011; English Heritage
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Please note that this information has been compiled from a number of different sources. Durham County Council and Northumberland County Council can accept no responsibility for any inaccuracy contained therein. If you wish to use/copy any of the images, please ensure that you read the Copyright information provided.