Maryport and the Artificially Levelled Area at Hardknott, and Those with Flagged Areas Which Have Been Interpreted As Parade-Grounds, Such As Ambleside and Gelligaer
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Durham E-Theses A re-examination of the evidence for parade-grounds at auxiliary forts in Roman Britain Waldock, Shirley Ann How to cite: Waldock, Shirley Ann (1998) A re-examination of the evidence for parade-grounds at auxiliary forts in Roman Britain, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/4995/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Shirley Ann Waldock A Re-Examination of the Evidence for Parade-Grounds at Auxiliary Forts in Roman Britain This Thesis examines the underlying evidence for parade-grounds at auxiliary forts in Roman Britain. Firstly by examining the evidence supporting forts with actual physical remains, such as the altars and the tribunal at Maryport and the artificially levelled area at Hardknott, and those with flagged areas which have been interpreted as parade-grounds, such as Ambleside and Gelligaer. The literary evidence of ancient authors is examined with particular reference to training and exercising and where this might have been undertaken. The occasions when a parade might have been appropriate in Roman times are examined, as is the possibility of a modern concept being superimposed on an ancient action. A RE-EXAMINATION OF THE EVIDENCE FOR PARADE-GROUNDS AT AUXILIARY FORTS IN ROMAN BRITAIN Shirley Ann Waldock M A. THESIS UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY 1998 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without the written consent of the author aud information derived from it should be acknowledged. 1 1 MAY 1999 l ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I acknowledge the help and assistance of many during the preparation of this thesis and, foremost, that of my Supervisor, Dr. Jennifer Price. Advice and information has been given freely by many others within the Department of Archaeology. Dr. David Breeze has been helpful, particularly regarding the Roman fort at Maryport. Mr. Peter Hill has been generous in our many discussions and conversations about altars in general and those at Maryport in particular. Mrs. Jane Watkinson has helped with references and Mrs. Audrey Eccleston has accompanied me on visits to some of the fort sites. 1 am particularly grateful to Mr. Frank Brudenell for his translation of Arrian's Ars Tactica. Mrs. Sarah Waldock has assisted in the preparation of the illustrations. In addition to the University Library, I have used the facilities of Palace Green Library, the City of Durham Library and its branch at Brandon, the Library of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne, Carlisle City Library, Maryport Library and Workington Town Library. 2 DECLARATION No part of this thesis has previously been submitted by Shirley Ann Waldock for a degree in the University of Durham or any other university. 3 STATEMENT OF COPYRIGHT The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without their prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. 4 ILLUSTRATIONS Page No. Maryport: Roman Site and Surroundings 17 Maryport: Plan of Find Spots near the Fort 18 Maryport: I.O.M. AJtars 21, 22 & 23 Maryport: Plan of Buildings discovered near the Fort 25 Keston Court Farm, Kent: Plan of Roman foundations 26 High Rochester: Roman Tombs 27 Maryport: Section of Pudding Pie Hill 36 Hardknott: Plan of Roman Fort and surroundings 47 Hardknott: Sketch of Fort and the ScafFell Range 53 Chew Green: Plan of Roman works 58 Hardknott: A Fort in Cumberland 59 Tomen-y-Mur: Plan of fort and surroundings 68 Ambleside: Plan of Roman fort 80 Ambleside: Plan of east gateways 81 Slack: Plan of Roman fort and surroundings 92 Chester-le-Street: Plan of Roman fort 94 Chester-le-Street: Plan of east gateway 95 Cavalry Sports Equipment: 121, 122 & 123 Practice Camps: Llandrindod Common 131 & 132 Practice Camps: Dolddinas 134 Practice Camps. Cawthom Camps 137 Practice Camps: Haltwhistle Burn 139 Practice Camps: Woden Law 141 Practice Camps: Burnswark 144 5 CONTENTS Page No. Acknowledgements 2 Declaration 3 Statement of Copyright 4 List of Illustrations 5 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 10 CHAPTER D 16 AUXILIARY FORTS WITH SUGGESTED PARADE-GROUNDS 1 Maryport, Cumberland 16 1.1 Introduction 16 1.2 I.O.M. Altars 19 1.3 Temples 24 1.4 Altar Hoards 28 1.5 Vicus North of Fort 30 1.6 Annual Dedications 31 1.7 Pudding Pie Hill 35 1.8 Roman Turf 38 1.9 Heads & Hooves Burials 39 1.10 South Parade-Ground and Tribunal 40 1.11 Conclusion of Maryport 43 2 Hardknott, Cumberland 46 2.1 Introduction 46 2.2 Parade-ground and Tribunal 46 2.3 Water Supply 54 6 2.4 Roman Road 54 2.5 Pre-Roman Settlement 55 2.6 Alternative Purposes 55 2.6.1 Wagon Park 56 2.6.1.1 Hardknott 56 2.6.1.2 Maiden Castle, Stainmore 56 2.6.1.3 Chew Green, Coquetdalehead 57 2.6.2 Possible Vicus 60 2.6.3 One-offParade 61 2.7 Post-Roman 62 2.8 Conclusion 62 3 Tomen-y-Mur, Merionethshire 64 4 South Shields, Tyne & Wear 69 5 Birdoswald, Hadrian's Wall 73 6 Ambleside, Cumberland 76 7 Beckfoot, Cumberland 82 8 Low Borrow Bridge, Cumberland 84 9 Gelligaer, Glamorgan 87 10 Slack, Yorkshire 90 11 Chester-le-Street, Co. Durham 93 12 Alchester, Oxfordshire 96 13 Carlisle, Cumberland 97 14 Conclusion of Chapter II 98 CHAPTER III 102 TRAINING, EXERCISES AND CAVALRY SPORTS, AND PARADES 7 1 Introduction 2 Training 2.1 Infantry Training 2.2 Cavalry Training 3 Exercising and Cavalry Sports 3.1 Cavalry Sports Equipment 4 Marching 5 Practice Camps 5.1 Llandrindod Common 5.2 Dolddinas 5.3 Gelligaer Common 5.4 Loughor 5.5 Bootham Stray 5.6 Cawthorn 5.7 Chew Green 5.8 Haltwhistle Burn 5.9 Woden Law 5.10 Burnswark 6 Parades 6.1 Caerleon, Monmouthshire 6.2 Chester, Cheshire 6.3 Campus Martius 7 Conclusion of Chapter III CHAPTER IV CONCLUSION OF THESIS 8 Appendix 'A' Literary Evidence for Maryport Altars 158 Appendix 'B' Hadrian's adlocutio to the Legion III Augusta at Lambaesis (ILS 2487) 160 Bibliography 162 9 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The basis of this thesis formed part of a BA dissertation for the Department of Archaeology, University of Durham in 1995 (Waldock, 1995, 72) where it was suggested that the evidence did not support the parade-ground to the north of the Roman auxiliary fort at Maryport. This suggestion has since been adopted by other writers (for example, Breeze, 1997, 69; Hill, 1997, 93; Lax and Blood, 1997, 52). The original purpose of this MA thesis was to investigate the possible locations of the parade-grounds associated with all the known auxiliary forts in Roman Britain. To this end, one summer vacation was spent collecting information for a data base, from excavation reports and literary evidence and by personal observation. During that time research into the other parade- ground at Maryport, that to the south, continued: this, too, proved to be unsupported by evidence. (See the discussion in chapter II. 1) The first part of this thesis will examine the evidence for all suggested parade-grounds at auxiliary forts in Roman Britain as mentioned by Davies (1968, 77-80 and listed in 1989, Index 334). Some reference will be made to the possible parade-grounds of legionary fortresses where they are known in Britain and elsewhere in the Roman empire, as well as a reference to the Campus Martius in Rome. The second part of the thesis will deal with the training and exercising of auxiliary soldiers, both infantry and cavalry, from references made by ancient authors including Vegetius (Epitoma Rei Militaris) and Arrian (Ars Tactica). This will include the cavalry sports exercises as described by Arrian and the special equipment used on these occasions. The question of parading, and where any training or exercising might have taken place, will also be examined. 10 The third part of the thesis will examine the physical evidence for practice camps in Britain, including those on Llandrinddod Common in Wales, Cawthorn Camps in Yorkshire, and Woden Law and Burnswark in Scotland. The first reference to a parade-ground at Maryport was that to the south, made in 1891 by the Rev. J.I. Cummins (Cummins, 1891, 14) based on an area of flat ground with a mound of earth on one side, which he described as the "playground of ancient Glanoventa", the name then thought to be the Roman name of Maryport fort. In fact, this mound was, by then, a much-truncated round barrow, known as Pudding Pie Hill, which had been opened and examined in 1742 (Head, 1773, 55). In 1939 Wenham (Wenham, 1939, 22) suggested that the altars found in 1870 buried in several pits approximately 350 yards (320 metres) to the north-east of Maryport fort, were annual dedicatory altars which had been buried beside the parade-ground.