The Afterlife of Roman Forts
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The afterlife of Roman Forts: a case study of the Hadrian’s Wall region by Laura Caygill-Lowery A thesis submitted for the requirements for the degree of (Master of Science by Research, MSc (by Research) at the University of Central Lancashire April 2019 STUDENT DECLARATION FORM Type of Award Masters of Science by Research (MSc by Research) School School of Forensic and Applied Sciences Sections marked * delete as appropriate 1. Concurrent registration for two or more academic awards Either *I declare that while registered as a candidate for the research degree, I have not been a registered candidate or enrolled student for another award of the University or other academic or professional institution ________________________________________________________ 2. Material submitted for another award Either *I declare that no material contained in the thesis has been used in any other submission for an academic award and is solely my own work _______________________________________________________ 3. Collaboration Where a candidate’s research programme is part of a collaborative project, the thesis must indicate in addition clearly the candidate’s individual contribution and the extent of the collaboration. Please state below: _______________________________________________________ 4. Use of a Proof-reader or *No proof-reading service was used in the compilation of this thesis. Acknowledgements I would firstly like to say thank you to my supervisor Dr Duncan Sayer, for his guidance and patience throughout this thesis. Duncan has kindly encouraged and guided me through this work, even at times when I could not see through the fog of unbalance, his patience in me has hopefully paid off. Thank you. I would also like to convey my gratitude to Viki Le Quelenec and Miguel Gonzalez for their unpaid help and encouragement while compiling this thesis, and Zoe Ainsworth for comradery through this process. I wish to thank James Morris and David Petts as examiners for my Masters by Research thesis and viva meeting. Finally I would like to acknowledge the patience, encouragement and support of Mike Lowery, an ever devoted and chivalrous husband, who has dealt with a busy and often stressed partner with the manners of a saint. Abstract This project studies the re-use of Roman fortification sites in the Anglo-Scottish border region, from 410 AD to the end of the 18th Century, to critique and identify any patterns for monument re-use. A singular methodology of collection and categorisation of public downloadable data for architectural and artefact evidence for the project region was completed for analysis and discussion. Two buffer zones around the Roman fortifications were created to set boundaries for evidence collection and analysis, 0.25 kilometres for the immediate area of the fortification and 3 kilometres for the proximate area of the fortification. Therefore a distinction could be made as to whether it was the Roman fortification itself which was important, or the landscape location for the monument re-use. The data is reviewed in two chapters; architectural evidence, the siting of fortified dwellings and ecclesiastical sites; and artefact evidence, the siting of find spots, both in relation to the Roman fortifications. The archaeological record and theoretical discussions of the re-use for Roman fortifications displays connections to the Early Medieval Christian church and Norman military tactics. This study revealed a significant concentration of architectural and artefact evidence located within 3 kilometres of many Roman fortifications, with certain time periods having high numbers of statistical evidence and locations having more than one associated piece of evidence. Therefore this project has revealed a High Medieval association with Roman fortification sites for architectural evidence, and artefact evidence for Early Medieval usage of some fortification sites. Therefore the evidence aids the archaeological record in a wider understanding of Roman fortifications heritage and their agency through historic time periods. Page i of 263 Contents: Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... i Contents: .................................................................................................................................. ii List of Figures: .......................................................................................................................... v List of Tables: ......................................................................................................................... viii 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Project Framework ......................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Project Aim and Questions ............................................................................................. 3 2. Literature Review ................................................................................................................. 4 1 Afterlife – a brief history of the region ............................................................................. 4 2.2 Roman fortifications ....................................................................................................... 7 2.3 Roman fortification studies ............................................................................................ 8 2.4 Monument Studies ......................................................................................................... 9 2.5 Castle Studies ............................................................................................................... 12 2.6 Church Studies ............................................................................................................. 17 2.7 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 21 3. Methodology and Approach .............................................................................................. 23 3.1 Data Types .................................................................................................................... 23 3.2 Project Region .............................................................................................................. 23 3.3 Project Sites .................................................................................................................. 23 3.4 Buffer Zones ................................................................................................................. 24 3.5 Collecting and categorising Data .................................................................................. 25 3.6 QGIS .............................................................................................................................. 26 3.7 Fisher’s Test .................................................................................................................. 27 3.8 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 28 3.9 Source Criticism ............................................................................................................ 28 4. Data Analysis ...................................................................................................................... 31 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 31 4.2 Chapter 1: Architectural evidence ............................................................................... 34 4.2.1 Distribution of sites ............................................................................................... 34 4.2.2 Fortified Dwellings ................................................................................................ 37 4.2.3 Ecclesiastical Sites ................................................................................................. 52 4.3 Chapter 2: Artefact Evidence ....................................................................................... 70 4.3.1 Distribution of Sites ............................................................................................... 70 4.3.2 Find spots .............................................................................................................. 73 4.4 Summary of evidence ................................................................................................... 87 Page ii of 263 4.5 Heat mapping evidence ............................................................................................... 97 Roman Fortifications ...................................................................................................... 97 Fortified Dwellings ......................................................................................................... 98 Ecclesiastical Sites .......................................................................................................... 99 Artefact Find Spots ....................................................................................................... 101 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 104 5. Discussion ........................................................................................................................