This site is entirely user-supported. See how you can help.
We don't have any photos of this monument yet. Why don't you be the first to send us one?
If Google Street View is available, the image is from the best available vantage point looking, if possible, towards the location of the monument. Where it is not available, the satellite view is shown instead.
Latitude: 52.5115 / 52°30'41"N
Longitude: -2.2143 / 2°12'51"W
OS Eastings: 385551.15075
OS Northings: 290418.839004
OS Grid: SO855904
Mapcode National: GBR 1B8.JZD
Mapcode Global: VH918.K4RJ
Entry Name: Roman camp 600yds (550m) WSW of Swindon iron works
Scheduled Date: 22 April 1975
Source: Historic England
Source ID: 1006079
English Heritage Legacy ID: ST 228
County: Staffordshire
Civil Parish: Swindon
Traditional County: Staffordshire
Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Staffordshire
Church of England Parish: Swindon St John the Evangelist
Church of England Diocese: Lichfield
Roman camp 250m WNW of Chasepool Cottages.
Source: Historic England
This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 10 June 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.
The monument includes a Roman camp situated on the eastern slope of a slight spur just above the western bank of the Smestow Brook. It has been identified as a cropmark from aerial photography defined by its defensive ditch, roughly rectangular in plan with rounded corners. The camp measures internally up to 490m (WNW-ESE) by 360m (NNE-SSW), enclosing an area of approximately 16 hectares. The camp commands good views to the north, east and south, along the valley of the Smestow Brook. A Roman road just over 150m to the west of the camp is thought to have ran from Droitwich (Salinae) to Wroxeter (Viroconium), via the Roman camps and forts at Greensforge which lie only 2km to the SSE.
Source: Historic England
Roman camps are rectangular or sub-rectangular enclosures which were constructed and used by Roman soldiers either when out on campaign or as practice camps; most campaign camps were only temporary overnight bases and few were used for longer periods. They were bounded by a single earthen rampart and outer ditch and in plan are always straight-sided with rounded corners. Normally they have between one and four entrances, although as many as eleven have been recorded. Such entrances were usually centrally placed in the sides of the camp and were often protected by additional defensive outworks. Roman camps are found throughout much of England, although most known examples lie in the midlands and north. Around 140 examples have been identified and, as one of the various types of defensive enclosure built by the Roman Army, particularly in hostile upland and frontier areas, they provide an important insight into Roman military strategy and organisation. All well-preserved examples are identified as being of national importance.
The Roman camp 250m WNW of Chasepool Cottages survives as buried archaeological remains which will contain important evidence about the occupation and use of the site as well as Roman military strategy and organisation during the Romano-British period of occupation.
Source: Historic England
Books and journals
Welfare, H, Swan, V, Roman Camps in England: The Field Evidence, (1995)
Other
Pastscape: 116996
Source: Historic England
Other nearby scheduled monuments