Last Dig of the 2021 Season
Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th October
We had achieved a great deal over the 8 days of excavation in August but felt that the southern part of the area of investigation was still poorly understood as we had concentrated on the area close to the fort’s east gate. Therefore, unusually, we had a final two days on site in October to enable a more even coverage across the area of our study and to facilitate completion of work at the eastern end of Trench 2 where more complex archaeology had been encountered.
DAY 9
Saturday 9th October
Lovely weather for archaeological excavation: warm and dry, lightly overcast and a very light breeze. 17 volunteers helped out on the day.
Our focus was on the landscape adjacent to the disused hollow way called Drycroft Lane, which runs westwards from Dirty Lane alongside the fort’s southern rampart. A series of test pits and trenches were dug to examine the potential for a potential defended annexe attached to the east side of the fort.
The start of the day – de-turfing trenches and test pits. The fence lies just beyond Drycroft Lane and the post on the far right is just beyond the south-east corner of the Agricolan fort rampart.
Nick and Gill extended the narrow trench (10) that they dug on 29th August when they discovered a potential ditch hidden under a mound formed by landscaping the adjacent area.
The 3.3 metre trench extension quickly yielded impressive results, with the dark brown ditch fill on the left, dark yellow natural clay in the middle and much reduced rampart material on the right.
Mike and Steve re-visited a narrow test trench cut near the south east corner of the fort rampart to look for the ditch. This involved widening and extending the trench.
Roy was back to help and excavated a new trench, 12, across the earth mound running alongside the former Drycroft Lane. He was ably assisted by Katy and Janet.
Meanwhile, two test pits were excavated against the fence behind the site of Husteds Cottage (which had been excavated in the 2014 community excavation). We were looking for potential Roman remains beyond the footprint of the cottage. Cliff and Tim are digging the further test pit.
Margaret and Jayne excavating this test pit immediately behind the cottage site.
Whilst no Roman remains were evident, they did find a wall, floor and threshold of a structure attached to the rear of the cottage and shown on 19th century mapping.
This revealed a stepped gritstone wall and a floor formed of a flagstone and ‘crazy paving’ made of beautifully laid gritstones.
Sonia and Kurt set about completing excavation and recording of two features at the east end of Trench 2 that weren’t finished last time round.
Sonia revealed a classic post hole. With the post hole packed round with lighter clay and grit stones set on edge.
This is it half-excavated , with some of the clay fill evident to the right. The post hole appears to be set into or cutting a possible building foundation slot.
Kurt’s feature was more pit-like and contained a mix of medium-to-large jumbled stones – but frustratingly still no Roman finds…
Carol and Marlene opened up a test pit over the projected line of a possible annexe rampart.
Mark was given the task of digging a test pit in a dense patch of rushes to see if their concentration related to a feature of archaeological interest. Sadly, this was not the case as only natural clay was encountered.
DAY 10
Sunday 10th October
Our last day produced lovely weather again, but this time sunny and more breezy – great for backfilling but not so good for photography and seeing soil colours in the low-angled, bright sunshine and long shadows! We had another good turn-out, with 15 volunteers helping out.
Here are Mike and Steve are looking from the south east corner of the fort defences across the area of investigation, with the former rush-filled Drycroft Lane on the right before the fence. The earth bank running alongside the lane is being sectioned by Roy in the middle distance, whilst Marlene and Carol’s test pit is being dug on the higher ground to the left of a linear depression.
Their test pit produced a good result with a ‘marbled’ pattern of light grey and orange clay visible across the whole test pit and revealed to be 10-15 cm deep in the sondage. This is considered to be the remnants of rampart material.
A couple of test pits were dug in a previously un-investigated area towards the mound where Nick and Gill are excavating the possible ditch and rampart (seen in background). Margaret and Tim excavated the test pit in the foreground and found mainly orange clay and stone but with some patches of compact cream-coloured clay possibly representing rampart material.
Fivemetres to the south, Mark’s test pit revealed the cut of a ditch along its north side. This is probably the same ditch revealed in Nick and Gill’s trench 10.
And here is Trench 12 showing the now-excavated ditch at 1.5 metres depth beneath the turf. So here the landscape is totally misleading – the ditch being obscured by a much later mound of dumped material.
Roy’s trench 12 through the bank was not completed due to the water table being reached! But again, the earth work flattered to deceive as once more a negative linear cut, probably a ditch, has been covered over by upcast (from the adjacent Drycroft Lane). This photo shows the ditch cut on the left whilst on the right some stones were found which might relate to a stone drain for which a cut line was visible in the section (marked by the two pitched stones). The bottom of the ditch has not been reached due to water ingress and the right-hand side of the ditch is not visible within the confines of the trench. This probable ditch is an intriguing feature worthy of further investigation.

Another large ditch was revealed in Mike and Steve’s trench at the south east corner of the fort’s defences. We know that the east side of the fort has no ditch and wanted to see if it existed at this point as it follows the corner of the rampart. This trench revealed the orange and white clay of the rampart (top of photo) which gave on to a softer, mixed white, grey and orange/yellow silty clay deposit with lots of charcoal flecks. This deposit was sealed by a consistent mid-brown more compact silty clay. The soft mixed deposit was not bottomed and appears to go considerably deeper. It is interpreted as infill of the fort ditch and comprises material derived from slighting of the rampart when the fort was abandoned in the mid-AD 90s. At the moment we do not know where the ditch terminates and, indeed, it may continue straight eastwards to form the defensive ditch for an eastern annexe.
The final test pit of 2021 was dug by Cliff c 4 metres west of the test pit with the ‘crazy paving’ dug yesterday. This was to help determine the extent of the stone surface. A dense spread of stones was revealed, but of different character. Are these associated with the cottage and farm of Husteds nearby or are we seeing re-used remnants of the Roman road which has exited the east gate and is running to join up with the main highway. Certainly, the alignment is good in relation to the road revealed near the east gate during our dig in August, but much more investigation is needed in this area to form a better understanding of the character and origin of this stone spread.
Finally, back to Trench 2 where Sonia and Kurt continued to excavate a post-hole and pit-like feature. Sonia’s feature showed clear evidence for post setting and dense stone packing. Interestingly, this was at the terminus of a short linear, stone filled feature.
Kurt’s feature now fully excavated within the confines of the trench. It is a pit or terminus of a flat-bottomed ditch. This area, within the eastern extension of Trench 2, has a marked concentration of post holes, slot and pit/ditch which suggest an area of timber buildings and more than one phase of use/construction. These features are sealed under a mixed clay deposit which might represent trample or weathering which is in turn overlain by a stone path or track. Are we looking at structures within the annexe related to the fort, followed by later activity belonging to the fortlet phase, and possibly a post medieval phase as well? This is an intriguing area which we hope to return to in the future.
After lunch we had a final site tour from Norman, seen here pointing to the archaeology in Nick and Gill’s Trench 10 (thanks to Jayne for taking these pics)
And the final act – the inevitable backfilling, undertaken with commendable enthusiasm and efficiency.
This has been a great season and we have achieved an astonishing amount in the 10 days on site. Whilst there has been very little in terms of Roman finds, the range and quality of archaeological features has made up for this and provided a very significant contribution to our understanding of this fascinating site.
Many thanks to all the volunteers for their hard work. After a year lost to the pandemic it has been so invigorating to get back on site. All the information now needs to be pulled together, analysed and assembled in a report of the results – so watch this space! Norman will also be giving an update talk at the Friends’ AGM the date of which will be announced to members and on the website.
Goodbye to Castleshaw 2021 and huge thanks to all who were there, as well as to all of you who are reading about it here!