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The Western Extension of Hadrian's Wall: Bowness to Cardurnock

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2011

G. D. B. Jones
G. D. B. Jones
Affiliation:
University of Manchester
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Extract

The western end of Hadrian's Wall has received relatively far less archaeological study than the central and eastern sectors, and in the Solway area there is room for re-assessment. The final section of the stone-built wall was observed on 29 August 1707 running into the Solway some quarter mile west of the terminal fort at Bowness. Beyond this further forts along the Cumberland coast as far as Moresby and beyond have long been recognised along with a number of apparently isolated milefortlets in the northern section. To this picture, largely through the work of Bellhouse, has been added a growing collection of free-standing towers similar to the turrets of the mural system. Yet the system as hitherto known could be thought in-complete. For although Bowness marks the position of a ford, there is no major break in the southern Solway coastline until Moricambe, the combined estuary of the Rivers Waver and Wampool; that broad estuary marks a far more obvious point at which to terminate a linear defence system (FIG. I).

Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 7 , November 1976 , pp. 236 - 243
Copyright
Copyright © G. D. B. Jones 1976. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

1 Diary of Bishop Nicholson, see E. Birley, Research on Hadrian's Wall, 214.

2 E. Birley, op. cit., 211 ff.; Potter, T. W., CW lxxv (1975), 29 ff. for the latest excavations.Google Scholar

3 R. S. Ferguson's and J. Robinson's earlier work was synthesised in Collingwood, R. G., CW xxix (1929), 138 ff.Google Scholar; cf. further his article in CW xxxvi (1936), 76 ffGoogle Scholar. For the first detailed treatment of milefortlets and towers in the Bowness-Cardurnock sector see Simpson, F. G., CW xlvii (1947), 78 ff.Google Scholar

4 Bellhouse, R. L., CW liv (1954), 28 ff.; lvii, 18 ff.; lxii, 56 ff.; lxx, 9 ff.Google Scholar

5 Bellhouse, R. L., CW lxii (1962), 56 ff.Google Scholar

6 Higham, N. J. and Jones, G. D. B., Arch. Journ. 132 (1975). 16 ff.Google Scholar

7 The survey and test excavation was made possible through the kind permission of the landowners involved: Mr. Little of Maryland, Mr. T. Graham of Campfield and Mr. R. Graham of Cardurnock. To them, as well as to Mr. Jefferson of Biglands, particular thanks are due along with Mr. Brian Berry who made the initial discovery possible. The test excavations were conducted by Messrs. R. Bewley, P. Hudson, P. Bennett and P. A. James, together with other students from Manchester University, Dept. of Archaeology. Without the generosity of the Vice-Chancellor of Manchester, who underwrote part of the flying costs, this work would have had to be entirely financed from private sources. Miss C. Turnock, Miss S. Wilde and Mr. N. J. Higham have assisted in the production of this report; to them and to Mrs. V. A. Jones grateful thanks are expressed.

8 Ferguson, R. S., CW I, i (First Series) (1880), 130Google Scholar; for Tower 2B see CW xlvii (1947), 83.Google Scholar

9 For Roman turf levels see (at Herd Hill) CW liv (1954), 54 ff.Google Scholar

10 Notably in 1902. Information from Mr. T. Graham of Campfield.

11 Simpson, F. G. and Hodgson, K. S., CW xlvii (1947), 78 ff.Google Scholar

12 See note 8.

13 O. G. S. Crawford, Roman Scotland, 74 f.; Richmond, I. A., PSAS lxxiv (1940), 45 ff.Google Scholar

14 Which could be as late as A.D. 128, and possibly later, on the evidence of a building inscription from the coastal fort at Moresby (RIB 801).

15 Webster, P. V., Arch. Ael. 1 (1972), 191 ff.Google Scholar

16 F. G. Simpson and K. S. Hodgson, op. cit. (note n), 123.

17 E.g. ORL Bd. I, Tafel 7 for the arrangements at Tower 27.

18 The similar situation that ensued in the medieval period is implied in Leges Marchiarum, or Border Laws, ed. Bishop W. Nicholson, London (1705), 222. Included in the Order of the watches upon the West Marches, dated to 1553, is the statement: ‘Cardronocke shall watch to Bowness.’

19 SHA Hadrianus xi. For discussion of this idea in other frontier contexts see A. Alfoldi, ‘The Moral Barrier on Rhine and Danube’, The Congress of Roman Frontier Studies, 1949 (ed. E. Birley), 1 ff.

20 In 1975 some one hundred and seventy settlements were located in the area between the wall and the Carlisle-Papcastle road, see now Higham, N. J. and Jones, G. D. B., Arch. lourn. 132 (1975). p. 16.Google Scholar