A Charity registered in England and Wales, no. 1163854 Mille NO. 5 NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2017 Welcome to our fifth Newsletter, keeping all our members in touch with recent events, research, excavation, etc. organised by ourselves and by other groups. This is now a quarterly publication from the RRRA sent initially to members before being made available · Viae on our website. We are happy to consider articles and papers for inclusion in future editions - please contact the Editor. In this edition…….. · ducunt The RRRA and the Roman road at Holtye 2 Mike Haken reports on the current condition of an important site in East Sussex which was excavated and saved for posterity by Ivan Margary. Whispers from the Wolds 4 Alison Spencer tells us a little about a new community archaeology group in the Yorkshire Wolds, their first excavation and future study which RRRA is proud to support. · homines Possible “new” Roman road north of Ebchester near the County 5 Durham/ Northumberland border John Poulter gives a brief outline of the research being carried out on the putative “Proto Dere Street” by Northern Archaeology Group, and invites members to visit the site to see for themselves. Braided Tracks 7 David Staveley takes a look at this phenomenon and how it relates to research into Roman roads using examples from Hampshire and Sussex · per A Roman road through Longdendale 11 Roger Hargreaves describes the discovery of this “new” trans-Pennine Roman road, and presents some of the evidence. · secula Edition No. 6, Autumn 2017 will include Two items scheduled for this edition have been held over until the Autumn. The Life of Ivan D Margary Dr. David Rudling of the Sussex Archaeological Society gives an account of the life and work of this fascinating and intensely private man. This article builds on David’s · Romam presentation at our conferences last year. Whitley Castle to Corbridge Mike Haken will present all the evidence for this road, completing a piece started by Hugh Toller which was intended for publication in Britannia but never completed. RRRA Newsletter No.4, Spring 2017 1 R·R·R·A NEWSLETTER NO.5, SUMMER 2017 The RRRA and the Roman road at Holtye Mike Haken In 1929, whilst undertaking an aerial survey of the Ashdown Forest, Ivan D. Margary made a chance discovery of part of what is now known as the London to Barcombe Way, a previously unknown Roman road (Margary, 1932), to which some years later he allocated the number RR14 (Margary, 1973, pp. 59-62). The road runs roughly north south, branching off Watling Street near New Cross, Peckham. Its purpose has been suggested as a route for moving the products of the Roman Wealden iron industry (Margary, 1932) and it is Fig. 2. Looking along the “exposed” Roman road in late 2016 believed to be late 1st century or 2nd century AD in date (Historic England, 2016). regarded, to those charged with its care, as just the 40m long fenced section, leaving the remaining During the early 1930s, Margary excavated a short, 210m to become ignored and disregarded. exceptionally well preserved length of the London to Barcombe road near Holtye Common (Margary, Late in 2016, RRRA member and Projects Manager, 1932) which he purchased in 1938. Later that year, Jayne Knight and I visited the site and found it to he exposed some 250m of road (fig 1.) which he be in a lamentable state of preservation. Our full gave to the Sussex Archaeological Trust (now the report is available to our members on request. Sussex Archaeological Society) on the 12th July Listed below are the key findings from the visit. ● There is no signage on the road edge (A264 Tunbridge Wells to East Grinstead), the entrance being marked by a dilapidated sign set well back from the road, now entirely hidden by vegeta- tion which also impedes entry over an old, dilap- idated and unsafe stile. ● Access to the scheduled site is down an over- grown 200m public footpath with encroaching Fig. 1. 1938 Excavation showing the heavily rutted road surface hedges forming a dark and forbidding tunnel, which then opens into the Scheduled area. What 1939. Most of the road was later covered over for should be the unique educational experience of its protection, but a 40 yard length was left ex- a preserved 1900 year old Roman road is actual- posed for public viewing (Margary, 1940). The en- ly an unpleasant visit to a small dark wood be- tire site, (excluding the footpath to the north giving tween dense overgrown hedges, the unfenced access), was later made a Scheduled Ancient Mon- portion of Scheduled Roman road now being ument. (List entry Number: 1002277 (Historic Eng- entirely overgrown with established ash and land, 2016)). other trees growing on (and presumably through) the road surface. English Heritage re- It seems that the site, under Margary's supervision, ports indicate that this progressive growth of was kept in good repair, but after Margary's death trees has been noted since at least 1984. in 1976, maintenance by the Sussex Archaeological Society become more sporadic. It is also clear that ● After negotiating 210m of the Roman road, the for reasons we can't be sure of, the "site" became visitor reaches a rusty fence of wire and con- 2 RRRA Newsletter No.5, Summer 2017 R·R·R·A NEWSLETTER NO.5, SUMMER 2017 The RRRA and the Roman road at Holtye cont…. Mike Haken crete posts, which encloses the 40 yards of "ex- RRRA proposes to: posed" road surface which has not been cleared ● fund an exploratory excavation to assess the or maintained for many years, but is not yet damage to the once perfectly preserved road encroached upon by trees. The other end of the caused by more than thirty years of tree growth. fence cannot even be seen due to nettles, bram- bles, and other vegetation. ● Fund clearance of the site, along with new and appropriate signage and better access. ● Fund maintenance directly from RRRA for five years. ● Establish a trust which would take over mainte- nance after five years, with sufficient funding for the next hundred years. RRRA are in a position to be able to fund the first three items of these proposals out of existing re- sources, should that prove necessary, although we Fig. 3. Hazel trees growing within the Scheduled area at Holtye. do of course aim to attract external funding and sponsorship for this and for future projects. ● This is today's visitor experience of a site of Until last week, Sussex Archaeological Society has national importance, owned and maintained by been extremely slow to respond positively or with Sussex Archaeological Society, which was discov- any degree of enthusiasm to our offer to discuss ered, excavated, and protected in perpetuity by this matter. The CEO informed us on the 15th May Ivan Margary. Holtye is one of a small number of that he and two trustees would visit the site and scheduled lengths of Roman road and one of then "be in touch to look at next steps" but we very few saved for posterity. It is the only Roman then heard nothing further. A more positive com- road constructed of iron slag viewable by the munication from the vice-Chairman last week as- public. sured us that the topic of our approach was to be Early this year, we attempted to begin discussions discussed at last week's Council meeting. The RRRA with the CEO of the Sussex Archaeological Society, is extremely serious in its desire to preserve this with a view to RRRA taking over responsibility for nationally important stretch of Roman road, and the guardianship of the site, bearing in mind the halt its terminal decline; we hope and trust that we Sussex Archaeological Society's obligatory expend- will receive a positive response in the very near iture on its six other properties which has resulted future. In the meantime, we would welcome mem- in the acknowledged at Holtye. In outline, the bers' views on this issue. References Historic England, 2016. Section of Roman road 270yds (250m) in length SE of Holtye Common; National Heritage List for England/Section of Roman road 270yds (250m) in length SE of Holtye Common. [Online] Available at: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1002277 Margary, I. D., 1932. A new Roman road to the coast. Sussex Archaeological Collections, pp. 33-82. Margary, I. D., 1940. Excavation of the London - Lewes Roman Road at Holtye. Sussex Archaeological Collections, pp. 42-53. 3 RRRA Newsletter No.5, Summer 2017 R·R·R·A NEWSLETTER NO.5, SUMMER 2017 Whispers from the Wolds Alison Spencer Alison tells us a little about a new community archaeology group in the Yorkshire Wolds, their first excavation and future study, which RRRA is very proud to support. To those in the know, the experience of walking on the Yorkshire Wolds has long been recognised as a hidden gem. An even greater secret, however, is the vast amount of ‘hidden’ archaeology lying beneath the beautiful landscape of our dry valleys and rolling hills. For example, take the triangle of land encom- Margary 811 passed by Fridaythorpe, Fimber and Wetwang, Margary 813 and three Roman roads. The Wetwang and Gar- ton Slack Chariot Burials are well known in ar- chaeological hierarchy and although the best Margary 810/ 811 known, they are far from the only important Margary 810 archaeological sites in the area. The excellent work carried out by Catherine Stoertz in her “Ancient Landscapes of the Yorkshire Wolds: Aerial Photographic Transcription and Analysis” illustrates many of the area’s other archaeological treasures, such as the deserted medieval village of Holm (just south of Fridaythorpe) and the many distinctive late Iron Age/Romano-British settlements based on linear trackways, known as ladder settlements from their characteristic form frequently seen as cropmarks, which are a major archaeological feature of our area.