Hadrian's Wall NMP - Brampton
This block of the survey comprises ten 1:10,000 scale OS quarter sheets extending from Gilsland in the east to Warwick Bridge (NE of Carlisle) in the west, covering a 20km length of Hadrian’s Wall and associated military zone. Here can be seen the most westerly upstanding masonry remains of Hadrian’s Wall and the last vestiges of substantial earthworks of the wall ditch, the Vallum, Stanegate and the Military Way. Westwards beyond this point these frontier features can only be discerned as low earthworks and cropmarks. Within this block of maps the stone, earthwork and cropmark remains of four potential new forts and camps have been added to the six that had previously been recorded.
The remains of the Roman frontier have been the subject of intensive study for nearly 400 years, and a vast amount is known about this period in the region's history. In stark contrast, and to a certain extent because of the rich Roman remains here, relatively little is known about the pre-Roman settlements in the area, how the frontier affected society at the time of occupation and how this boundary influenced subsequent settlement patterns.
Highlights for the block include the discovery of further Roman temporary camps at White Moss (also known as Moss Side). Here, several camps constructed at different times, occupy an area of slightly elevated ground above the 30m contour equidistant between Hadrian’s Wall and the Vallum, to the north, and the course of Stanegate to the south. The high ground affords good views westwards towards the River Eden and the Solway Plain. All of the camps at this location had been completely levelled and were only discovered through aerial survey. The cropmark remains of two superimposed camps and an annexe to the larger camp were initially identified by St Joseph (Cambridge University photographs), and mapped and recorded as part of the RCHME Roman camps volume (1995). The more recent NMP survey utilised NMR photographs taken in August 1995 after the RCHME Roman Camps volume had gone to press. These showed the known camps in greater detail, but also revealed the cropmark remains of at least three further possible superimposed camps. The reuse of a site for subsequent camps was a common practice, especially when the location had been chosen for its strategic positioning. Contemporary camps were also constructed adjacent to one another. At White Moss it was also possible to see the outer ditch traverse structures of at least nine entrances that appeared as short lengths of ditch positioned opposite and outside breaks in the camps' ditches.
The most significant and well preserved prehistoric site recorded in this survey is that of a scheduled enclosure on Denton Fell known as the Curricks. The site, thought to be an Iron Age settlement, lies at around 240m OD and appears as an irregular rectilinear enclosure defined by the remains of two banks and a ditch, with an entrance in the eastern side. Within the enclosure are the traces of platforms and internal dividing banks. The settlement has not been excavated, but has been surveyed by the Ordnance Survey (OS) and the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME) and is thought to have been a small Iron Age/Romano British farmstead. What is believed to be a medieval shieling has been built into the bank near the entrance. The field survey recorded ditches to the north and south of the main settlement enclosure and RAF aerial photographs taken in 1946 showed that these ditches extended westwards beyond the county boundary, forming a large polygonal sub-divided enclosure, probably a field system attached to the settlement. This part of the site had subsequently been obscured by forestry plantation. The term “Curricks” refers to small stone enclosures used by shepherds as lookout points. The name almost certainly results from medieval or post medieval reuse, probably related to the construction of the shieling within the site. The Curricks settlement and field system appear to lie within a landscape of possible contemporary settlements, burials and cord rig cultivation. Some 450m due south of The Curricks are the earthwork remains of a second probable farmstead enclosure. Two cairn fields, thought to be prehistoric in date, have been recorded with cup marked stones.
On the northern edge of Denton Fell, south of the farm at Temon, the slight earthwork remains of a small D-shaped enclosure (24m x 26m) and associated field-like enclosures were seen on RAF photographs taken in 1946. This site appeared morphologically similar to the Curricks, approximately 3km to the south-east, and has no known previous record. The D-shaped enclosure is attached to a linear bank which survives as a field boundary and also marks the Parish boundary between Upper Denton and Nether Denton. Both have been surveyed by the OS as existing boundaries. Ditches extending north and south of this linear appear to make up a large sub-divided enclosure similar in size and form to the supposed field system associated with the Curricks. On the basis of this morphological similarity it is possible to suggest that these two sites are contemporary.
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