[NY 6560 6560] Roman Camp [G.S.] Ditch [G.S.] [Twice] (1)

A Roman temporary camp at Glenwhelt Leazes measuring some 495 by 264 feet over the ramparts, has gates combining an internal clavicula with external traverses. (2)(3)

Generally as described, but in poor condition. Re-surveyed at 1:2500. (4)

Glenwhelt Leazes surveyed by RCHME (Newcastle). (5)

Scheduled. (6)

RCHME account. (7)

Reassessment of the camp was made in 2016 by examining lidar (March 2010) to enhance the NMP mapping of 2003. (8)

This camp has been re-assessed in connection with RCHME's survey and publication of Roman camps in England. The following descriptive account is taken from the published text.
This camp is prominently situated at about 165 m above OD on the E end of a spur overlooking the gap in the Whin Sill escarpment cut by the Tipalt Burn, and has excellent views all around. It lies 850 m W of Carvoran (Magnis), 175 m S of the Vallum and only 40 m S of the Stanegate and is easily approached from all sides except the E, where the ground falls away steeply to the modern road. Formerly covered by rough grassland and improved pasture, the area is now occupied by Haltwhistle Golf Course and most of it has been extensively drained and re-seeded. Several old field boundaries have been partly uprooted and levelled, but elements of a former agricultural landscape can still be traced. As a result of all these activities the camp is now in poor condition although remarkably, most of the principal features survive in varying states of preservation: a rampart and outer ditch, and four gates, each of which has the unusual combination of an internal clavicula and an external traverse. The camp is an almost perfect rectangle, the interior of which measures some 150 m from N to S by about 80 m transversely, an area of 1.2 ha (3 acres). The defences are best preserved to the E of the N gate; here the rampart is about 4 m wide and 0.7 m high above the interior, and the outer ditch is 3.0 m wide and 0.5 m deep. The NE corner has been cut through for a path. The N end of the E rampart has been encroached upon and greatly reduced by ridge-and-furrow; a headland running parallel to the rampart overlies its E edge. To the S of the E gate the defences are crossed by a later boundary bank; farther S again the rampart has been spread to a height of only 0.2 m and the ditch has been levelled for a distance of about 50 m. The ditch is again visible around the SE corner and here the rampart is better preserved, its outer scarp surviving to a height of 0.7 m; it is crossed by another hedge bank just to the E of the S gate. From this gate along the remainder of the S side and up to the W gate, the rampart has been much reduced, surviving only to a maximum height of 0.2 m, although its general line is quite clear; the ditch has been mainly infilled. To the N of the W gate the rampart is better preserved is about 0.3 m high; in this stretch the ditch has been recut as a modern drain which slices through the NW corner of the camp, mutilating the defences. The four gates, the positions of which are clearly marked, are of exceptional interest in that each has a traverse and also an internal clavicula. The claviculae are all much reduced in height; the N example is the least damaged, being a maximum of 0.5 m high. In contrast, the W one is visible only as a slight scarp some 0.2 m high. The four traverses are in a broadly similar state. The N one is again relatively undamaged, its rampart standing about 0.7 m above the bottom of the outer ditch, whereas the bank of the E traverse, only 0.3 m high, is overlain and mutilated by ridge-and-furrow; no trace of its ditch survives on the surface. The interior, generally level, has been ploughed and drained in recent times and may once have been covered by ridge-and-furrow. Part of what appears to be a hollow-way (see NY 66 NE 248, UID 1391005), apparently earlier than the camp, cuts across the S half the interior from the NW to the SE Corner (CUCAP BEW 38). The construction of the golf course has levelled a stretch of the Stanegate for a distance of about 30 m some 250 m to the NW of the camp. Elsewhere the road is generally well preserved. To the N of the camp it curves north-eastwards, and is overlain by ridge-and-furrow, but it can be seen to turn abruptly SE on the crest of the steeper slope (CUCAP BEW 38). These changes of direction conform to the general line of the Stanegate to the W of Carvoran and are necessary in order to negotiate the crossing of the Tipalt. Whatever the exact chronological relationship between the road and the camp, it is most unlikely that the Stanegate was constructed on this more northerly line simply to avoid an occupied camp (cf Bennett 1980, 157 160). Full information is included in the NMR Archive. (9a-d)

Additional reference. (9e)

The temporary camp is visible as earthworks on air photographs. The photography dating from 1930 to 1992 enables the changing condition of the monument to be observed, as the installation of a golf course has affected the its condition and survival. A medieval hollow way, that cuts across the camp, is recorded in NY 66 NE 248, UID 1391005. Post medieval ridge and furrow impinges on the eastern side of the camp (see NY 66 NE 258, UID 1391048) and boundary banks lie adjcent to it (NY 66 NE 285, UID 1391663). (9f-g)

Located on the English Heritage map of Hadrian's Wall 2010. (9h)

The camp was reassessed using Lidar on the request of the Inspector of Ancient Monuments at Hadrian's Wall. This showed that whilst the majority of the camp earthworks were fairly denuded, they were still discernable when the lidar used for the assessment was captured (03/03/2010). The monument is as described above however it is likely that the hollow way which cuts diagonally across the centre of the camp predates the camp and is Iron Age in date as the banks still appear to be extant. A golf tee has been constructed over the south east corner of the camp, the construction of which may also have altered the outer ditch at this location. The south west corner is almost imperceptable and is in very poor condition. (9i)

General association with HER 12391 (Stanegate), HER 30674 (hollow way), HER 30682 (ridge and furrow), HER 33340 (field boundary banks). (9)