Hunting a Roman road in England

[Urien of Rheged]

Up this morning from the deep on an old Roman road I've been focusing on recently.
The construction of this road from England's north West coast to York has been estimated to have been sometime from 70AD - 120AD
I think this sword scabbard chape is post medieval possibly Tudor or maybe even as late as the English civil war. Lancashire saw a lot of fighting in that decade long conflict and Cromwells troops are known to have come through this area from Yorkshire to do battle against a Scots royalist army in 1648 and would have undoubtedly used this old highway to get there.

 

[Urien of Rheged]

I'd be buzzing to! Once the ground dries out, consider digging a few test pits then sift the dirt through a screen, to see what non-metallic things you find.

Sounds like hard graft if not full blown archaeology.
And this is northern England, it hasn't dried out since the Romans where here.😆

 

[invent4hir]

Sounds like hard graft if not full blown archaeology.
And this is northern England, it hasn't dried out since the Romans where here.😆

Hard graft perhaps, but probably no harder than digging in the road bed, and no where close to full blown archaeology. That said, you might have to wait until global warming catches up to northern England (or vice-versa). Enjoys your outings and may your success continue!

 

[invent4hir]

Not sure what the mystery artifact is. Part of it appears to have a decorative "layer". The areas outlined in yellow in the pics below show a bit depth where the layer is missing.

 

[Urien of Rheged]

Not sure what the mystery artifact is. Part of it appears to have a decorative "layer". The areas outlined in yellow in the pics below show a bit depth where the layer is missing.

Thanks for the well wishes pal and interest especially regarding that object as it is has just about defeated me trying to figure out what it is.

 

[Gene Mean]

Keep us updated on the mystery item

 

[Urien of Rheged]

Keep us updated on the mystery item

I will but don't hold your breath. It will go to the the finds liason officer at the portable antiquities scheme and I'll have to then wait for an ID. That's if it can be of course but surely something like that would be instantly recognised by an expert in these things.
Back again tomorrow for a few hours early rising gone and back home again before the family are ready to have me do Saturday things.
I haven't visited yet the place yet without returning with something but even if I don't I enjoy the ambience of the place and can sense the history of it all.
Roman legionaries, Arthurian bards, Viking marauders, Scottish invaders, civil war soldiers, they've all crossed this little piece of ground in Lancashire over the past 1800 years.

 

[Chilli]

Up this morning from the deep on an old Roman road I've been focusing on recently.
The construction of this road from England's north West coast to York has been estimated to have been sometime from 70AD - 120AD
I think this sword scabbard chape is post medieval possibly Tudor or maybe even as late as the English civil war. Lancashire saw a lot of fighting in that decade long conflict and Cromwells troops are known to have come through this area from Yorkshire to do battle against a Scots royalist army in 1648 and would have undoubtedly used this old highway to get there.View attachment 2193521View attachment 2193522View attachment 2193523

Love it. Wish we had history here that we could find things from so so long ago.

 

[Blewfur]

Up this morning from the deep on an old Roman road I've been focusing on recently.
The construction of this road from England's north West coast to York has been estimated to have been sometime from 70AD - 120AD
I think this sword scabbard chape is post medieval possibly Tudor or maybe even as late as the English civil war. Lancashire saw a lot of fighting in that decade long conflict and Cromwells troops are known to have come through this area from Yorkshire to do battle against a Scots royalist army in 1648 and would have undoubtedly used this old highway to get there.View attachment 2193521View attachment 2193522View attachment 2193523

Awesome find

 

[searcher]

Watching this thread because it's interesting.

Is there an online resource(maps) that show where Roman roads are?
Anything that you use?
Being in the USA I'll probably never set foot on one but I'd still like to look at the maps.

Have you a mapped out where you have found things to see if there is a pattern?
To show a battlefield, dump, etc.

Thanks for posting the landscape pictures. It lets us see what it is now and what it would have been then.
Also gives us the feel of the land.

 

[Gare]

Urien you are doing AMAZING over there Keep on finding and POSTING THEM :O) Thank you for sharing with us !!

 

[invent4hir]

Watching this thread because it's interesting.

Is there an online resource(maps) that show where Roman roads are?
Anything that you use?
Being in the USA I'll probably never set foot on one but I'd still like to look at the maps.

Have you a mapped out where you have found things to see if there is a pattern?
To show a battlefield, dump, etc.

Thanks for posting the landscape pictures. It lets us see what it is now and what it would have been then.
Also gives use the feel of the land.

Searcher, that is an excellent point. Urien, if you don't have a way to map your finds, consider Google Earth. The 1st picture is an example. Another option is Google MyMaps. The 2nd pic shows a map I created of the readable gravestones in the cemetery where my great-great grandmother's grave was robbed, whose surnames begin with "S". If you need help, send the latitude/longitude measurements to me, and I can try to make a map for you.

 

[Urien of Rheged]

I meticulously record every decent find I make so don't worry folks about that.
OK so the first image shows the Roman road network in my area.
Our road is the one west to east beginning at Kirkham where there was a fort and onto Elslack in Yorkshire and then York.
The Roman road has actually been traced heading north from Kirkham where it just seems to disappear towards Fleetwood on the coast.
A 2nd century geographer named Ptolemy mapped the area but his latitudes and longitudes where dodgy and so there's always been debate which places he was referring to but it is generally accepted that there was a Port (Portus Setantorum) that is believed to have been claimed by the sea long ago near Fleetwood and this road went headed to it.
That area was known as "The Danes pad", a theory why is that the area was used by Norsemen who would sail into the two river esturaries from the Isle of Man and Dublin. Moor up (both rivers are too shallow to sail far inland, and then use the old roads to get to cities towns and hamlets for some of that old rape and pillage.
A literal launch pad for them. On the river bank near Preston Victorian labourers found what is still the largest horde of Viking silver ever found in England buried in a lead box. Estimated to have been "lost", deposited and somehow forgotten around 900AD. There where coins in it from as far afield as Iraq.
Anyway I digress all too easily.

Back to the road and of you look at the second image there it is connecting the fort at Ribchester to the fort at Elslack. It remains straight in sections but stays in the Valley avoiding Pendle Hill which would be an arduous trek. And so rather than bend it moves around the hill in straight sections. And tends to change course on summits.
Our section is the first part of that straight bit from Whalley to Chatburn.

And in the next image is an aerial photo where you can see the roman road here straight as an arrow as it cuts through the valley. It takes up hedgerows for much of it but the bit where I have permission is from the bottom of the picture up to where the railway line intersects. As you can see the Roman line here isn't actually where the hedge is but slightly to the right in the open field where we see the agger on the ground and where ive been hunting.
The yellow squiggly area indicates the hollow, that gateway and where the scabbard chape, Sestertius, Charles II and mystery relic all came up from
I hope that gives you folks an even better understanding of where I'm at folks. And if you're ever passing gimme a shout and as long as you'll stay quiet if you happen to be a democrat. You can tag along.

 

[searcher]

@Urien of Rheged Excellent.

 

[invent4hir]

Sir, well done! Glad to hear that you meticulously record every decent find you make.

 

[Urien of Rheged]

Sir, well done! Glad to hear that you meticulously record every decent find you make.

I just wish there where more sections of that road that aren't under the hedgerows and also where I could be granted more access but not all landowners are willing. I have access to a small area where the same road crosses a field a few miles to the east close to Clitheroe on the map. It's marked in green on the image below whereas the area im cutrently hunting is marked in blue.
It had supposedly been done by detectorists previous and though less than only a few hundred yards and not visible on the ground,.after careful study of lidar images, I stuck to the line like a glue for hours and hours and was rewarded with a Lucilla Augusta Denarius circa 166AD and a 1st century Romano British Fibula. Can't imagine what would be in those hedges but horrendous places to try and swing a coil wirh barbed wire and deep watery trenches.

 

[invent4hir]

Urien, way to be persistent and thorough! Getting permission can often be challenging. Sometimes, I have to ask a few times over a 3-4 years before getting approval. Other times, I have to wait until there is a new owner - then ask them. Regarding the hedgerows, I wonder if using a small oval-shaped coil might get you more access along the periphery. Maybe someday you'll be able to rent a ground penetrating radar!

 

[Gare]

URIEN you sure are an ASSET to this forum Thank you for sharing with us

 

[Urien of Rheged]

I've been back and hunted approximately another 7 hours on the road and its vicinity.
Always listening for those faint scratchy deep signals I ve been fooled by horse shoes and fragments too many times. Two of the shoes look to be of a fair age though, one for a big horse the other from a pony, no expert on shoes but I think the broader they are the older??

Couple of spindle whorls and a yard weight. Can only speculate on the age of them though, most likely medieval.
Couple of buckles, again no expert so feel free to correct me but I believ 16th-17th centuries. Again not sure with that button but that one is a keeper.

A few "thingies" the iron spike kinda looked cool at first but the more i look, the more I think it's probably nothing really. Any ideas on that one would be appreciated. It was vert deep which on this road suggests real antiquity.

Best till last and just look at the size of that coin. My God they must have had better eye sight in the 13th century than now. Perched on my forefinger it's ridiculously small.
I'm pretty sure it's an Edward I (the baddie off braveheart) farthing dating between 1275 - 1300.
It's absolutely superb and the tiniest artefact I've ever dug. So happy with the little blighter.
If you look at the reverse carefully you can see the Latin "Civitas" This is telling us where the coin was struck. Unfortunately the name of the city is worn and we can only just make out the last couple of letters. I'm pretty sure it would read "Civitas London.
Not massively deep or I doubt my machine would havr picked up on it so well, maybe 5 inches in the field right beside the little stream.

 

[Gare]

ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC

 

[Derbyshire Detectorist]

Hello Urien. Well done on saving this piece of history. Yes you are correct to speculate that this depression could have been the site of an ancient ambuscade. Yes perhaps many of these events only lived on in tales in native tribes, or in retired Roman Soldier or Auxillary Villages. But there are some clues from rescued items that the Detectorist can look for to provide evidence of skirmish sites.

You see in the later Roman Republic and Emperoriships the Roman Army was a very formal military industrial institution, and everything was tightly controlled and regulated. Their drill instructors/ staff sargeants, commanding officers were very strict and they fought to order under commands as units. You didnt have soldiers or auxillaries acting individually at the start of combat. So if visibility was good a good Centurion would have ordered group sling shot , group pilius ( spear throwing) then group swords ....all done in groups for better effect and to reduce the morale of the attackers.
So if you find an area with a lot of small stones , small pieces of oval lead ( check for marks or lettering) , this could be an indicator group sling shot, of an ambuscade site. You might find some broken metal objects which could be the slender remains of the Roman Spears.
Roman Soldiers / Auxiliaries had to pay for repairs to their weapons and kit and if an item was beyond repair they would have probably left it , provided that the attackers could not retrieve it later.
So hope this information from a Detectorist with a little experience is of some help to you.