Talk:List of scheduled monuments in Cheshire dated to before 1066

Upton-by-Chester Roman Camps
Reference: A Note on New Evidence from Aerial Reconnaissance for Roman Military Sites in Cheshire by Robert A Philpott in Britannia xxix (1998) pp.341-353;

Temporary Marching Camps Upton-by-Chester, Cheshire NGRef: SJ4169 OSMap: LR117 Type: Six Marching Camps and one enclosure. The Upton Group consists of seven camps, the northernmost of which lies at Picton, about a third of a mile (c.600m) ENE of Upton Camp 5, while the southernmost (Camp 6) at Upton County Officers Sports Centre lies just 660 feet (200m) north of the main Roman road between Chester and Wilderspool about two miles north-east of the fortress.

Upton 1, Cheshire 53.21989°N, -2.87225°W Discovered on aerial photographs taken on 18th August 1986, this camp was investigated on the ground in July 1987, when trial trenching revealed a typical Roman military V-shaped ditch 4¾ feet (1.45m) deep and 5¼ feet (1.6m) wide, with evidence of rapid silting. An earthwork survey conducted by the RCHME in 1989 recorded the ditch surviving as a slight depression between 8 inches and 1 foot deep (0.2-0.3m), fronted by a low counterscarp bank, with the internal rampart surviving to the dizzying height of around 12 inches (0.3m). About 70% of the perimeter of this camp can be traced, including the SW, SE and NE corner-angles, each with attached lengths of rampart. No gateways may be readily identified.

Upton 2, Cheshire 53.22012°N, -2.86761°W Discovered from the air on 18th August 1989, the entire perimeter of this camp is recorded, apart from a short section of the W side. There are no traces of any gateways.

Upton 3 53.2169°N, -2.86929°W Found sometime before 1964, this camp was at first thought to be a "Civil War redoubt", occupied during the siege of Chester in 1645?. The camp is known only from its NE corner-angle, with about 280 feet (c.85m) of the N side and 380 feet (c.115m) of the E. An earthwork survey published in 1994 showed that the angle had survived as a slight earthwork standing 1 foot (0.3m) high. Evaluation excavations the same year recorded a V-shaped ditch about 3¼ft. deep and 6¼ft. wide (0.97 x 1.9m), which showed evidence of rapid silting.

Upton 4, Cheshire 53.22341°N, -2.87126°W Discovered on aerial photographs taken on 8th August 1990, the entire perimeter has been traced, aside from short gaps in three of its sides. None of these gaps may be positively identified as gateways.

Upton 5, Cheshire 53.21686°N, -2.86446°W Graham Soffe in 1989 was the first to recognise the Roman origins of this existing monument. The ditch of a small temporary camp was seemingly flooded during the Medieval period to form a Moat, which now survives only on the east side of the present Grange. The entire perimeter of this square camp may still be traced on the ground, apart from the NW angle which lies beneath the Grange buildings.

Upton 6, Upton County Officers, Cheshire 53.21391°N, -2.86364°W Discovered from the air on 8th August 1995. The entire defensive perimeter of this camp apart from the SE angle is recorded on A.P.'s or may be extrapolated. The south side of this camp was evaluated in August 1996. Sections across the defences revealed evidence of deliberate dismantling of internal timber structures followed by a period of rapid silting. Radiocarbon dating performed on samples taken from the bottom of the ditch gave calibrated readings of 115BC - AD405, giving a mean somewhere around AD145. Pollen analysis of samples taken on site in 1997 revealed that at the time the camp had been built the area was a patchwork of both wet and dry secondary woodland interspersed by open moorland, dominated by Oak, Alder, Hazel and Heather.

Upton 7, Picton Gorse, Cheshire 53.22552°N, -2.86264°W Discovered from the air on 8th August 1995, this camp is the northernmost of seven camps in the Upton Group, and lies about a third of a mile (c.600m) ENE of Upton Camp 5. Aside from the defences on the north-east, almost the entire outline of this rectangular camp is known. Other than a centrally-placed gap in the southern defences, none of the other breaks visible on the A.P.'s may be positively identified as gateways. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.162.194.86 (talk) 18:31, 8 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the information, it looks like we need an article on the subject. No promises when I'll be able to do it, but I'll try to find the journal and take a look at the article. Nev1 (talk) 18:35, 8 August 2009 (UTC)

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