In 1884 during the construction of a new road on the south side of Muncaster Fell in Eskdale, West Cumbria (grid ref. SD 131986), a Roman tile-kiln was uncovered and brought to the attention of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society. Since that date a number of chance finds of Roman material have been made and small-scale excavations have been conducted on the site. The most recent work, directed by R. L. Bellhouse from 1957 to 1960 was published in Transactions, together with a summary of the present state of knowledge concerning the site. In his excavations at Ravenglass from 1976 to 1978, Dr T. W. Potter identified a distinctive fabric type in the Roman fort which by its frequency suggested that it may have been produced locally. He also found one vessel in a fabric apparently identical to that described by Miss Fair as having been found in the fort at Ravenglass and at the kiln site itself, and thought by her to have been produced there. Potter published 22 vessels as Muncaster products from Ravenglass and one from Watercrook, as well as suggesting that vessels in an identical fabric and, therefore, presumably from the same source had been found at a number of sites in the area ranging from Watercrook in the south to Beckfoot and Papcastle in the north.

An alternative is proposed to the interpretation of the plan of Dalswinton Roman fort offered by W.S. Hanson and colleagues in their important study of the air-photographic, geophysical and LiDAR evidence published in Britannia in 2019. It is suggested that the larger, second-phase fort faced not east, but south, as previously thought, but that most of the remains of this layout have been removed by the plough. A suggestion is made concerning the possible garrison of the second-phase fort.

Recent excavation and coring of the collapsed east wall of the Saxon Shore fort of Richborough has revealed the manner in which the wall collapsed. This led to a re-evaluation of the original siting of the wall, which must have lain to the west of where it is usually depicted. Reassessment of previous excavations, including the examination of original records from the J.P. Bushe-Fox excavations of the 1920s and 1930s leads to the conclusion that the so-called ‘unfinished’ or ‘abandoned’ east wall foundation was in fact the base of the built east wall, from which the collapse derives. A revised fort plan based upon this conclusion is suggested. Supplementary material is available online (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X20000379), and includes additional backing tables and illustrations referenced in the text.

The recently published ‘Fields of Britannia’ project has lent a measure of support to the idea that the patterning of woodland and open land evident in the Anglo-Saxon period may in part have persisted since Roman times, if not before. This article explores the potential value of these woodland and open land contrasts in explaining the locations and distribution of a variety of Roman cultural material: coins, military installations and early road alignments.

During July and August 1990 several finds of Roman metalwork and other material were reported to the Milton Keynes Archaeology Unit by metal-detector-users searching on the line of the Fenny Stratford bypass, which was at that time being constructed to the south of Milton Keynes, close to the boundary of the scheduled area covering the site of the small Roman town of Magiovinium. Of particular note among these discoveries was the finding of three coarse-ware vessels containing quantities of copper-alloy coin blanks and pellets, and a pair of possible iron coin dies (PL. IA), reported to the Unit by the finder. After preliminary recording and some statistical analysis by Bob Zeepvat, samples of the coin blanks and pellets were chemically analysed by Matthew Ponting at the Institute of Archaeology, London, while conservation and cleaning of the dies, followed by chemical and physical tests, were undertaken by the Conservation and Scientific Research departments at the British Museum. This work was carried out by Janet Lang and Mike Cowell. The pottery was examined and reported on by Pauline Marney. The hoard remains the property of the landowners, Buckinghamshire County Council, and the initial stages of the watching-brief at Galley Lane were carried out by the Milton Keynes Unit on behalf of the Buckinghamshire County Museum.

An unusual copper-alloy fragment was recovered during excavations at Vindolanda in 2008. It has been identified as part of a calendar or water clock. A very similar fragment was found near Hambledon in Hampshire in 2017. Further investigation of the Vindolanda and Hambledon fragments and of similar objects from Frankfurt, Salzburg and Grand reveals that the Vindolanda and Hambledon fragments were once attached to clepsydrae to form time-keeping devices that are unattested in ancient sources, but that might be called ‘calendrical clepsydrae’.1 The links between similar artefacts and deities associated with water and healing are explored and evidence for a shrine located near sulphur springs in the Allen Valley is also discussed. The Vindolanda calendrical clepsydra is placed within this social and religious context.

Excavation carried out prior to the development of Park Lane Hospital, Musselburgh revealed the partial remains of a probable ring-groove house of first millennium B.C. date and a later sub-rectangular, post-built structure attached to a curving fence line. Although initially interpreted as a Roman granary, it now seems likely that the features were the partial remains of a timber amphitheatre associated with Roman Inveresk. Ditches and a number of negative features of unknown date and function were also recorded.

Restormel fort is a small square, bivallate earthwork located on a spur above the River Fowey in Cornwall. In 2007 a geophysical survey was carried out which showed very clearly that the site was in fact a Roman fort and closely similar in size and in the position of its entrances to Nanstallon, until then the only known Roman fort in Cornwall. The position of these two forts has prompted speculation that they were located strategically to control movement both north–south along the rivers and east–west overland along the central Cornwall ridgeway. The proximity of both sites to significant deposits of metals suggests that the role of the forts may also be linked to the Roman interest in minerals.

A silver belt-fitting from Cramond in the shape of a ring-pommel sword is linked to a class of beneficiarius equipment typical of Germania Superior. It is argued that this represents troop movements connected with the Severan campaigns.

‘et simul classis secunda tempestate ac fama Trucculensem portum tenuit, unde proximo Britanniae latere praelecto omnis redierat’.