Sources for Willowford Wall, Turrets and Bridge
The main accounts of the excavation of these sites are RC Shaw, ‘Excavations at Willowford’, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, 2nd series, 26 (1926), 429–506, and P Bidwell and N Holbrook, Hadrian’s Wall Bridges, English Heritage Archaeological Report 9 (London, 1989).
Material Sources/Collections
The archives of these excavations are in the collections of the Tullie House Museum, Carlisle, as are the objects. The sites produced significant amounts of pottery but few other objects. None of the material is displayed.
Published Inscriptions
Collingwood, RG and Wright, RP, The Roman Inscriptions of Britain, vol 1: Inscriptions on Stone (Oxford, 1965), nos. 1–2400
Tomlin, RSO, Wright, RP, and Hassall, MWC, The Roman Inscriptions of Britain, vol 3: Inscriptions on Stone 1955–2006 (Oxford, 2009), nos. 2001–3550
Visual Sources
For photographs of the Wall under consolidation between 1956 and 1960, see Leach, S, and Whitworth, A, Saving the Wall: The Conservation of Hadrian’s Wall 1746–1987 (Amberley, 2011).
Historic England Archive
Items in the Historic England Archive relating to Willowford include:
- photographs by FG Simpson, taken in 1927–8 (P37145–61)
- album of photographs taken in 1956–60 showing the Willowford sector before and after excavation and clearance (AL1213), a selection of which is published in Leach and Whitworth (see above)
- prints of Charles Anderson’s photographs of work on Hadrian's Wall (AND02/01; see photograph above). The negatives are held by the Vindolanda Museum.
Fuller details can be found in the online catalogue. Some material is not yet listed online, including a large collection of aerial photography; for a full search, please contact the enquiry service. Copies of images and documents can be ordered through the website or by contacting the archive. For details of current charges for these services see the archive price list.
Antiquarian Accounts and Early Excavations
Bruce, JC, Handbook to the Roman Wall, 3rd edn (London and Newcastle upon Tyne, 1885), 195 [description of ‘land breast’, actually the easternmost river pier of the road bridge; accessed 28 Sept 2012]
Jenkinson, HI, Jenkinson’s Practical Guide to Carlisle, Gilsland, Roman Wall and Neighbourhood (London, 1875), 199 [description of partial robbing of the bridge for building materials in the 1830s; accessed 28 Sept 2012]
Shaw, RC, ‘Excavations at Willowford’, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, 2nd series, 26 (1926), 429–506
Recent Publications
Bidwell, P and Holbrook, N, Hadrian’s Wall Bridges, English Heritage Archaeological Report 9 (London, 1989)
Brewis, P, ‘Notes on the Roman Wall at Denton Bank, Great Hill and Heddon-on-the-Wall – Northumberland’, Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th series, 4 (1927), 120–21
‘Hadrian’s Wall’, House of Commons debate, 2 April 1958 [accessed 28 Sept 2012]
Hill, PR, The Construction of Hadrian’s Wall, BAR British Series 375 (Oxford, 2004), 144–51
Simpson, FG, ‘Proceedings’, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, 2nd series, 41 (1941), 214
Simpson, FG, Watermills and Military Works on Hadrian’s Wall, ed G Simpson (Kendal, 1976), 64–7 [describes excavations in 1927 at Gilsland vicarage]
Whitworth, AM, ‘Recording of Hadrian’s Wall at Willowford farm’, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, 2nd series, 97 (1997), 57–61
Whitworth, A, ‘Charles Anderson and the consolidation of Hadrian’s Wall’, in Hadrian’s Wall: Archaeological Research by English Heritage 1976–2000, ed T Wilmott (London, 2009), 59–61 [includes Anderson’s photographs of the Willowford sector of the Wall being excavated/consolidated, one of which is reproduced above; accessed 28 Sept 2012]
Wilmott, T, Birdoswald: Excavations of a Roman Fort on Hadrian’s Wall and Its Successor Settlements, English Heritage Archaeological Report 14 (London, 1997), 183–7
Secondary Sources (Unpublished)
Wilthew, P, ‘Examination of mortar samples from Willowford Bridge, Hadrian’s Wall’, unpublished English Heritage report, AML Reports (old series), 4786 (undated)
Yorke, L, ‘Holocene River Valley Development; a geoarchaeological investigation of the river Irthing at Willowford Roman Bridge, Cumbria’, unpublished MSc dissertation (University of Durham, 2000)
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