Summary
Roman fort with outworks 480m WSW of Canon Frome Court.
Reasons for Designation
Roman forts served as permanent bases for auxiliary units of the Roman Army. In outline they were straight sided rectangular enclosures with rounded corners, defined by a single rampart of turf, puddled clay or earth with one or more outer ditches. Some forts had separately defended, subsidiary enclosures or annexes, allowing additional storage space or for the accommodation of troops and convoys in transit. Although built and used throughout the Roman period, the majority of forts were constructed between the mid-first and mid-second centuries AD. Some were only used for short periods of time but others were occupied for extended periods on a more or less permanent basis. In the earlier forts, timber was used for gateways, towers and breastworks. From the beginning of the second century AD there was a gradual replacement of timber with stone. Roman forts are rare nationally and are extremely rare south of the Severn Trent line. As one of a small group of Roman military monuments, which are important in representing army strategy and therefore government policy, forts are of particular significance to our understanding of the period. Despite cultivation, the Roman fort and outworks 480m WSW of Canon Frome Court survives comparatively well and the presence of the outworks serves to make it more unusual. It will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction, longevity, development, social, political, strategic and territorial significance, domestic arrangements, abandonment and overall landscape context.
History
See Details.
Details
This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 21 May 2015. This record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records. As such they do not yet have the full descriptions of their modernised counterparts available. Please contact us if you would like further information.
This monument includes a Roman fort with outworks situated on a slight rise within the wide valley of the River Frome just above the floodplain and immediately south of the river. The fort survives as entirely buried structures, features and deposits visible as crop and soil marks on aerial photographs. The fort is rectangular in plan with rounded corners and measures approximately 152m long by 137m wide and is defined by double ditches with entrances at the mid point on the west and east sides. Those to the west are very unusually further protected by a pair of staggered outer ditches. Field walking at various times has produced scatters of coarse red, Samian and 2nd century Romano-British pottery, stone, tile, oyster shells and iron slag.
Further archaeological remains in the vicinity are scheduled separately.
