Whitley Castle, as drawn by Thomas Sopwith in
The Roman Wall by John Collingwood
Bruce, (1853). North is to the right!
Whitley Castle Roman Fort – or, more properly, Epiacum – lies on the Northumberland side of the county border with Cumbria a couple of miles NW of Alston. It is, of course, one of many such Roman remains scattered across the North-East, but this one is rather special in two ways.
Firstly, it is lozenge-shaped, as opposed to the standard playing-card set-up. This is due to the lie of the land hereabouts – a 1,050-ft high remote spot in the foothills of the Pennines – and the distorted ground plan is accentuated by the similarly skewed layout of the internal buildings. Its potted history is a familiar one: Iron Age site, followed by a Roman camp, then a full-blown fort c.120AD. There appear to have been rebuilds in c.200AD, then again around 300AD.
Its shape is, we think, unique in the Roman world. Additionally, it has the most complex system of defensive earthworks of any known fort in the Empire – an astonishing claim to fame. There are multiple banks, ditches and folds in the landscape outside the stone ramparts of the fort itself – it being suggested that the main purpose of the stronghold was to control and protect lead and silver mining in the area.
Despite its rather special features the fort has never been fully excavated and to this day lies largely undisturbed under permanent pasture. It is perhaps the greatest archaeological monument in the north of England yet to be uncovered.
Oh, and one other (quite) special thing: it is the highest stone-built Roman fort in Britain…
The last piece of information is mostly the main part of it all.
ReplyDeletecheap dancing with the stars tickets
discount dancing with the stars tickets
The Romans were very much living in the future.
ReplyDeletemeet and greet Stansted
meet and greet at Stansted
Thanks for sharing such great info about meet and greet stansted
ReplyDeleteIt is very important to have good thoughts in mind to write a beautiful post and your mind seems very clear only then you have written such a beautiful post, this post is worth praising, it will be less than the praise of this post.
ReplyDeleteCall Girls in Sector 58
escort services in gurugram
Escort Service 59
Call Girls in Gurgaonr
Call girls in Gurugram
Call Girls In sector 67
Escort Service Gurgaon
call girls in gurugram
ordinary call girls in gurugram
Independent Call Girls in Gurugram