The Roman Fort at Colwyn Castle, Powys (Radnorshire) Author(s): Sheppard Frere Source: Britannia, Vol. 35 (2004), pp.

115-120 Published by: Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4128623 Accessed: 06/12/2008 10:48
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The

Roman

Fort

Powys

Colwyn Castle, (Radnorshire)

at

By SHEPPARD FRERE
he presence of a Roman fort beneath the Norman motte-and-bailey castle, itself under modem farm buildings at Colwyn Castle (Fforest Farm), Hundred House (SO 1075 5396), was first suggested by C.J. Spurgeon in 1974,1 and was confirmed the following year by excavation in the south-western bailey2 and again in 1982 by further observations, when 54 stanchion-holes were dug by machine for the uprights of a large new sheep-shed.3 The 1975 excavations examined deposits immediately to the rear of the north-west rampart(FIG.1). Fragments of Roman pottery were associated with the primary deposits which overlay the gravelly clay subsoil. Unfortunately, torrentialrain precluded furtherexcavation. Peter Webster'sreport on the scanty sherds recovered in these excavations, kindly made available by J.L. Davies, suggests a date for the occupation of the fort 'in the mid to late first century, and occupation into the early second century can certainly not be ruled out'; the few Roman sherds of later date he considered more likely to belong to post-military agriculturalactivity. This judgement wisely left undecided the precise period of the fort's establishment but, like the majority of forts in Wales, it seems certainly to have been held in the Flavian period. In the absence hitherto of evidence of an earlierdate, it has been accepted as a Flavian foundation.4The present paper suggests an earlier date. The Norman castle, caput of the medieval lordship of Colwyn, was in existence before 1144, in which year it is recorded as having been rebuilt.5The earthworks cover c. 3.96 ha (9.8 acres) and consist of a low motte and a large bailey, the south-western part of which utilized the site of the Roman fort, new ground being taken in on the north and east. The motte and much of the ground immediately south of it are occupied today by the buildings of Fforest Farm. The surrounding rampartappearsto be of dump-construction,i.e. with a sloping front; save at one point, it completely conceals the underlying rampartof the Roman fort, which was probably of turf-construction, or certainly turf-fronted,originally providing a much steeper profile. The exception is a short length of bank (FIG. 1) turningin towards the south-east but seemingly then cut off by the motte's counterscarp bank. It is taken to mark the fort's northernangle. If so, the Norman motte is situated over the site of the NE gate in a manner reminiscent of the relationship between forts and early medieval castles at Tomen-y-Murand Beulah, whereby the fort defences formed the bailey. The size of the Roman fort is by no means certain, but on the assumption that the south-western rampartof the bailey overlies that of the Roman fort, and that the northernangle has been correctly identified, the fort would seem to be nearly square and to cover an area of c. 2.79 ha (6.9 acres). This is slightly larger than its neighbour, the similarly almost square large pre-Flavian fort at Hindwell

1 Spurgeon 1974. 2 Davies and Spurgeon 1975. 3 Musson and Bennison 1982. See also Frere 1983, 280-1; also a note in the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust's Review of Projects (November 1982), with fig. of two coarse-ware vessels from the 1982 investigation which are dated by P.V. Webster to the late first/early second century A.D. 4 Arnold and Davies 2000, 16, fig. 2.2c; Manning 2001, maps on pp. 15 and 27. 5 Hogg and King 1963, 109.

of RomanStudies2004 TheSocietyforthe Promotion reserved. ExclusiveLicenceto Publish: copyright ? World

116

SHEPPARDFRERE

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THE ROMAN FORTAT COLWYNCASTLE, POWYS (RADNORSHIRE)

117

Farm,Walton (2.46 ha), a somewhat surprisingconclusion, but one which would supportarguments that it was a pre-Flavian foundation.6 During a visit to the site in June 2003 Mr George Barstow, the present owner, showed me three sizeable sherds from a samian dish, form Dr. 15/17, together with the fragmentarybase of an offwhite jug; Mrs Barstow had found these lying on a dump of earth which had been piled over the front slope of the rampartby a badger while excavating its sett in or beneath the front of the bank, at a point where this adjoins the sheep-shed of 1982 (FIG. 1). The sett had clearly been made a considerable time previously, for the dumped soil was now hard and compact; nor were tracks of the former occupants to be seen after wet weather. Dishes of form 15/17 were in production during both the pre-Flavian and Flavian periods, but the present vessel has the distinctive glaze and fabric of the former period and could probably have been made before A.D. 60.7 In the hope of finding furtherevidence, arrangementswere made to sift throughthe badger's dump, a small-scale excavation which did not necessitate application to CADW for Scheduled Monument Consent (nowadays a cumbersome and time-consuming procedure), since it involved only a minor repair to the profile of the rampartwithout penetration of stratified levels. I am very grateful to Dr Sian Rees, the Inspector for Ancient Monuments, for arranging that the proposed work should be carriedout on 14 and 15 October 2003 by the Field Monument Wardenfor Powys, Mr Ian Halfpenney. He strove manfully with help from Geoffrey Dannell and Mr Barstow in intractablematerial (FIG.1). Unfortunately the dump proved to be devoid of finds save for a few tiny undatable sherds of Roman coarse ware, and one small badger-scratchedfragment of a pre-Flavian dish, not Dr. 15/17 but not further identifiable; this failure to recover more datable material is a matter of regret, for the foundation-date of this Roman fort may carry interesting implications concerning the Roman advance into central Wales.8 The pre-Flavian possibility implied by the presence of two samian dishes is strengthened not only by the apparentlarge size and the shape of the fort, which links it with Hindwell Farm,but also by the evident awkwardnessof location between it and the Flavian fort at Castell Collen, which lies only 10.3 km away to the north-west but without any surviving trace of a direct road between the two. The possibility, therefore, of a pre-Flavian date for Colwyn Castle seems worthy of further discussion. The original account of its discovery, indeed, suggested that Colwyn Castle lay on a road connecting Clyro with Castell Collen,9 but this now appears improbable in view of the discordant occupation-dates of the two establishments. Such a road might have run, however, from Clyro as far as Colwyn Castle. Certainly there must have been a road to the east for its course is still connecting Colwyn Castle with the pre-Flavianfort at Hindwell Farm,Walton,10 obvious from the latter site as far westwards as New Radnor,after which it probably ran up the south side of the Summergil Brook and then skirted round the east and south sides of Gwaunceste Hill, where it might have connected with the road from Clyro, if that existed (FIG. 2). That this suggested pre-Flavian road terminated at Colwyn Castle seems unlikely, for that fort, unlike Hindwell Farm, does not command a broad tract of habitable territory,such as is found in the Wye valley north of Builth Wells, only c. 7 km furtherwest, and which was supervised by the later fort at Castell Collen." It is true that the fort does block a secondary route leading from the mouth of the Wye gorge near Builth northwardstowards Penybont and the south end of the Aran valley

6 Flavian forts in Wales are normally smaller and more oblong: e.g. Castell Collen 2.04 ha, Tomen-y-Mur 1.34 ha, Caer Gai (Bala) c. 1.69 ha, Trawscoed 2.05 ha. The Flavian ala-fort at Brecon has an area of 3.14 ha. 7 Geoffrey Dannell has kindly reportedthat about a quarterof the dish survives; it has a fine paste and light-brown-red matt slip, which is typical of pre-Flavian samian made at La Graufesenque (Aveyron, France). 8 See the discussion in Frere 1987, 68-71. 9 Spurgeon 1974, 21. 10 For this site see St Joseph 1973, 239-40 with plan; and Davies 1999, 68-70. 11 For the relevance of this to the strategy of the pre-Flavian penetration into central Wales, see Frere 1987, 68-71.

118

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THE ROMAN FORTAT COLWYN CASTLE, POWYS (RADNORSHIRE)

119

(FIG. 2), but until the establishment of Castell Collen this left unguardedthe nearby more open route northwardfrom Builth towards LlandrindodWells. As a road terminus Colwyn Castle seems to lack planned purpose. The 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey map shows possible indications of a Roman road running over a low pass through the range of hills north-west of the fort as far as 'Mountain View' (SO 065 572), where it turns south-westwardsto aim at the crossing of the Wye at Penmincae (SO 005 039), being joined en route by the road which was built in Flavian times from Castell Collen to the same Wye crossing. Although the date when the fortlet at Penmincae was first established is still uncertain,12 protection of the crossing-point of this major river must have been coeval with the first construction of the road, whether this occurred in Flavian or (as here suggested) in pre-Flavian times. If we take into account the evident strategic unsuitability of the fort at Colwyn Castle as a terminal strong-point for the thrust from the east, and the probability that a road was constructed to connect it with the river-crossing at Penmincae, one might speculate that a plan had existed to drive a limes (a temporaryone, naturally)towards Llandovery and the Towy valley, so as to contain Silurian lands on the high plateau to its south. However, excavation at Penmincae and furtherexploration around Beulah (Caerau) are needed to settle the point. At present we may merely note that at Llandovery an earlier deposit has been observed beneath the rampartof the known Flavian fort,13and that at Beulah Dr Grace Simpson is reported as having identified a sherd of Dr. 11,14which should surely be of pre-Flavian date. However, today that sherd cannot be found. Dr P.V. Webster writes that the list as published reads like notes taken down when the pottery was passed in front of Dr Simpson, and he suggests that 'Dr. 11' was mistakenly printed for 'Curle 11' when the notes were written up. The printed comment 'late first century or early second, south or central Gaulish' well suits this solution. Thus, if no pre-Flavian fort can be traced near Beulah, either the suggested plan is a chimaera, or else its full implementation was perhaps interruptedby the Boudiccan crisis of A.D. 60-61. Whether or not this is so, the seemingly large garrison at Colwyn Castle was very likely to figure among the many auxiliary units recalled by Suetonius Paullinus for his campaign against the Iceni. The fort will have been evacuated and perhaps that at Hindwell Farm as well. In these circumstances re-occupation is unlikely to have been effected for ten or fifteen years, perhaps not until the governorship of Frontinus (A.D. 74-77). This probability strengthens our conviction that the samian Dr. 15/17 was not an 'heirloom' still used and discarded in the Flavian period. An absence of garrison for over a decade is bound to be reflected in the archaeological record, in repairs to the defences, in replacement of buildings, and perhaps even in a burnt layer marking demolition of the original buildings. The problem has yet to be addressed, but much of interest would be learnt from a programme investigating the closer dating of forts in Wales and the Marches.
ADDENDUM

Since this paper was written, Hugh Toller has shown me an aerial photograph of what seems very probablyto be a Roman fort (and, if so, certainly pre-Flavian) at a river-crossing only 2.5 km (c. 1?2 miles) south of Beulah fort. If confirmed,this discovery will prove the pre-Flavian origin of the road south of Beulah and will greatly strengthenthe thesis proposed above.

12 For this site and some datable evidence, see St Joseph 1973, 240 with pl. xviii, 1. 13 Information kindly provided by Dr Jeffrey Davies. 14 In Jones and Thomson 1958, 313. The sherd was found in a field just outside the fort.

120

SHEPPARD FRERE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In the preparationof this paper I owe much gratitude for advice and help to Dr Jeffrey Davies, as well as to Dr P.V. Webster and to Geoffrey Dannell, who was my partner in the excavation. This could not have been undertakenwithout the supportof Dr Sian Rees, who arrangedfor its execution by Ian Halfpenney, Monuments Wardenfor CADW in Powys. Above all I must thank Mr and Mrs George Barstow, owners of the site, for their interest and hospitality. Netherfield House, Marcham BIBLIOGRAPHY Arnold, C.J., and Davies, J.L. 2000: Roman and Early Medieval Wales, Stroud Davies, J.L. 1999: 'The historical and archaeological background to the Hindwell Roman complex', in Gibson 1999, 68-70 Davies, J.L., and Spurgeon, C.J. 1975: Archaeology in Wales 15, 67, no. 88 Frere, S.S. 1983; 'Roman Britain in 1982: I. Sites explored', Britannia 14, 280-335 Frere, S.S. 1987: 'Brandon Camp, Herefordshire', Britannia 18, 49-92 Gibson, A. 1999: The WaltonBasin, Wales, Welshpool Hogg, A.H.A., and King, D.J.C. 1963: 'Early castles in Wales and the Marches', Archaeologia Cambrensis 112, 77-124 Jones, G.D.B., and Thomson, R.D. 1958: 'The Roman fort at Caerau', Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 17, 309-15 Manning, W. 2001: Roman Wales, Cardiff Musson, C.R., and Bennison, B. 1982: Archaeology in Wales 22, 29, no. 37 Spurgeon, C.J. 1974: Archaeology in Wales 14, 20-1, no. 40 St Joseph, J.K. 1973: 'Air reconnaissance in Britain 1969-72', Journal of Roman Studies 53, 214-46