Alleged Roman fort (Allendale)
(Centred NY 81435794) Roman Station (Site of). (1)
Old Town (sited as above) was claimed by Camden (2a) as the Alione of the Notitia and the Alone of the tenth Antonine Iter. The identification was based solely on place and river names Old Town : River Allen (then spelt Alon). Camden subsequently dropped the claim, but it was perpetuated by later writers. Wm (later Bishop) Nicholson (1695), reported many Roman antiquities but gave no details. Warburton (1717) referred to a rectangular Vallum with paved port way seven yards wide. Horsley (2b) favoured Galava rather than Alone. 'There are some ruins and remains of antiquity' and a military way, 'is very visible near old town'. Wallis (2d) refused the idea of a Roman station. Hodgson (2e) searched the area but found no Roman evidence. The existing mound and ditch are not earlier than medieval. (2)
The site is on the southern end of a ridge overlooking the valley of the River Allen : the south west corner is on a steep slope. No trace of Roman occupation was found. There is a mound, 34m x 28m by 2.2m high, at NY 81455787; from the evidence of an excavation on its south side it is clearly natural. Immediately to the south east is a boundary bank; probably Hodgson's 'mound and ditch. (3)
Excavations for electricity pylons, in and around the 'fort', produced no Roman material nor trace of ramparts. (4)
Nothing visible on Air photos (RAF 1946). No further information. (5)
No earthworks are visible except for some ridge-and-furrow and the mound noted by Authority 3 to the south-east of the farm, which contains some stone and is of an amorphous shape. There is a small quarry adjacent to the mound. No squared stone is visible in the field walls and a rapid inspection revealed no obviously Roman masonry in the farm buildings. (6a)
The site was visited briefly as part of the EH: Miner-Farmer Landscape Project whilst investigating antiquarian claims of a Roman road (NY 75 SW 1) between Whitley Castle and Corbridge. Very much as described by previous authorities. Most/all of the fields surrounding Old Town contain narrow ridge and furrow ploughing, and no evidence of anything obviously Roman was seen. (6b)
Old Town (sited as above) was claimed by Camden (2a) as the Alione of the Notitia and the Alone of the tenth Antonine Iter. The identification was based solely on place and river names Old Town : River Allen (then spelt Alon). Camden subsequently dropped the claim, but it was perpetuated by later writers. Wm (later Bishop) Nicholson (1695), reported many Roman antiquities but gave no details. Warburton (1717) referred to a rectangular Vallum with paved port way seven yards wide. Horsley (2b) favoured Galava rather than Alone. 'There are some ruins and remains of antiquity' and a military way, 'is very visible near old town'. Wallis (2d) refused the idea of a Roman station. Hodgson (2e) searched the area but found no Roman evidence. The existing mound and ditch are not earlier than medieval. (2)
The site is on the southern end of a ridge overlooking the valley of the River Allen : the south west corner is on a steep slope. No trace of Roman occupation was found. There is a mound, 34m x 28m by 2.2m high, at NY 81455787; from the evidence of an excavation on its south side it is clearly natural. Immediately to the south east is a boundary bank; probably Hodgson's 'mound and ditch. (3)
Excavations for electricity pylons, in and around the 'fort', produced no Roman material nor trace of ramparts. (4)
Nothing visible on Air photos (RAF 1946). No further information. (5)
No earthworks are visible except for some ridge-and-furrow and the mound noted by Authority 3 to the south-east of the farm, which contains some stone and is of an amorphous shape. There is a small quarry adjacent to the mound. No squared stone is visible in the field walls and a rapid inspection revealed no obviously Roman masonry in the farm buildings. (6a)
The site was visited briefly as part of the EH: Miner-Farmer Landscape Project whilst investigating antiquarian claims of a Roman road (NY 75 SW 1) between Whitley Castle and Corbridge. Very much as described by previous authorities. Most/all of the fields surrounding Old Town contain narrow ridge and furrow ploughing, and no evidence of anything obviously Roman was seen. (6b)
N7285
Roman (43 to 410)
UNCERTAIN
UNCERTAIN
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1956; A S Phillips
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1966; R W Emsley
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1966; R W Emsley
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