LOST ROADS ON HEXHAM FELL Project Report – December 2016 ALTOGETHER ARCHAEOLOGY This Report © Altogether Archaeology It may be shared and used for non-commercial purposes with appropriate credits and indication of changes. For commercial use, please contact Altogether Archaeology. (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) Lidar information © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2015/2016. All rights reserved. Google Earth images © Google 2016. Ordnance survey map data © Crown copyright and database rights 2016. Please note: The features described in this report lie on private farm-land with no public access. Cover photo: Volunteers excavating Trench 3 at Low Stublick. The abandoned farm-house is in the background, with heather moorland beyond the valley of the Stublick Burn. In the trench, modern disturbance due to cutting of a field-drain crosses the near end of the trench diagonally. Beyond this the line of the north road kerb crosses the trench, with road surface and then the south kerb at the far end. The road surface has a zone of disturbance crossing it diagonally, probably due to ploughing. Document Control Title Altogether Archaeology 2016 Report HF16: ‘Lost Roads on Hexham Fell’ Authors Martin Green (archaeology), Greg Finch (history) Derivation Origination Date Reviser(s) Martin Green Last revision Version 3.1 Status Final version, but may be updated when ditch-fill analysis available. Circulation Required Action For printing and internet publication on www.altogetherarchaeology.org File/location Approval Contents 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 1.1 This project................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Altogether Archaeology ............................................................................ 1 1.3 Lidar data .................................................................................................. 2 1.4 Recognition of the road features .............................................................. 2 2 Archaeological Background ............................................................................... 4 2.1 The straight linear feature ........................................................................ 4 2.2 The holloway-type feature ........................................................................ 6 2.3 Local geology and mining .......................................................................... 6 2.4 Test-pit investigation ................................................................................ 7 3 Excavation ....................................................................................................... 12 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................ 12 3.2 Trench location ....................................................................................... 12 3.3 Aims of excavation .................................................................................. 14 3.4 Methods .................................................................................................. 14 3.5 Description of trenches ........................................................................... 16 3.5.1 Trench 1 .......................................................................................... 16 3.5.2 Trench 2 .......................................................................................... 17 3.5.3 Trench 3 .......................................................................................... 17 3.5.4 Trench 4 .......................................................................................... 17 3.5.5 Trench 5 .......................................................................................... 17 3.5.6 Trench 6 .......................................................................................... 18 3.5.7 Trench 7 .......................................................................................... 18 3.5.8 Summary of trench descriptions ..................................................... 18 4 Finds and Samples ........................................................................................... 20 4.1 Metal detection finds .............................................................................. 20 4.2 Other finds .............................................................................................. 21 4.3 Samples ................................................................................................... 21 5 Historical Context ............................................................................................ 23 5.1 Historical background ............................................................................. 23 5.2 Possible origins of the excavated road ................................................... 23 5.2.1 A late eighteenth-century post-enclosure road? ............................ 23 5.2.2 A pre-turnpike road to Alston and Allendale? ................................ 25 5.2.3 A monks’-road? ............................................................................... 26 Altogether Archaeology 2016 ‘Lost Roads on Hexham Fell’ Report HF16 5.2.4 A Roman road? ................................................................................ 29 6 Discussion ........................................................................................................ 32 6.1 Lidar results ............................................................................................. 32 6.2 Archaeological findings ........................................................................... 33 6.3 Comparison with other excavations of Roman roads in the region ....... 33 6.4 Historical evidence .................................................................................. 34 6.5 Summary ................................................................................................. 35 6.6 Further work ........................................................................................... 35 7 Acknowledgements ......................................................................................... 37 8 Endnotes and References ............................................................................... 38 8.1 Endnotes ................................................................................................. 38 8.2 References .............................................................................................. 38 9 Appendix 1: Trench Plans and Sections ........................................................ 40 10 Appendix 2: Trench Photogrammetry ....................................................... 47 11 Appendix 3: Table of Contexts .................................................................. 49 12 Appendix 4: Table of Levels ....................................................................... 52 13 Appendix 5: Trench Plans with Levels Shown ........................................... 53 14 Appendix 6: Photographs of trenches ....................................................... 55 Altogether Archaeology 2016 ‘Lost Roads on Hexham Fell’ Report HF16 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 This project This report describes work done to investigate two newly recognised linear features located a few kilometres south of Hexham, Northumberland. Initially these were seen on lidar images. The features are roughly parallel, running in a south-west direction from the Tyne Valley towards Allendale and Alston, across areas of rough pasture. The project is complete apart from analysis of samples of the ditch-fill in Trench 6; this report will be updated when the results are available. Historical investigation (Section 5) showed that one of the features, a holloway running for approximately 4km, could be identified as the Hexham to Alston road, probably medieval in origin. As well being a general transport route, it may have been used to carry coal from Stublick colliery. This road was replaced in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when the enclosure of this area was completed and a turnpike constructed on a different line. The holloway fell out of use and its existence was forgotten. The second feature is a straight causeway in two parts, 3km and 1km long, separated by a 1km gap where the feature is lost in an area of medieval arable cultivation. The feature does not appear on old maps and is not used in any way as a boundary or track. The likelihood was that it was ancient, predating other features of the current landscape. Subsequent archaeological investigation (Section 3) confirmed that is has a structure similar to other Roman roads in the area. In a series of trenches across the line of the feature, a six-metre wide road surface, bordered by kerbstones, was found. In one trench, it was overlain by an eighteenth-century boundary-bank. The road surface was damaged or absent in some trenches, but clear in others. The is little doubt that it is a Roman road, but its purpose is unclear; it cannot be confidently identified with the Corbridge to Whitley Castle fort (near Alston) Roman road that has previously been proposed. This is discussed in more detail in Sections 5 and 6. The excavation part of the project, was carried out by nearly thirty volunteer members of Altogether Archaeology under professional supervision. The project, including this report, was planned in accordance with current best practice including the guidance outlined in Management of Research Projects in