OSMap: LR127
Type: Fort
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NGRef: SJ8911 OSMap: LR127 Type: Fort |
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see PENNOCRVCIVM (Water Eaton, South Staffordshire) | |
| N.G.REF | DIMENSIONS | AREA |
|---|---|---|
| SJ896111 | (c.131 x 111 m) | (c.1.4 ha) |
This small fort lies 1,000 feet north of Watling Street and occupies a level platform on the west side of the small river Penk. The tactical position is good: on the East the ground slopes down to the river, while on the South and West a streamlet flows in what used to be a marshy hollow. Almost square in shape, defenses consisted of two V-shaped ditches on the south-west, north-west and north-east and by a single ditch in the south-east. The inner ditch 10-12 ft. wide and 6 ft. deep, the outer 9 ft. wide and 5 ft. deep. Because of the sandy subsoil in the area, the walls of the ditches were covered by a layer of clay up to 2 ins. thick in places. Up to a foot of silt was found in the bottom of the trenches. Evidence of a turf rampart was found, and if a width of 20 ft. is allowed for this within the vallation, the enclosure would measure 430 by 365 ft. (131 x 111 m), an area of just over 3½ acres (c.1.4 ha), large enough to house a five-hundred strong auxiliary infantry unit, a cohors [peditata] quingenaria. The fort was evidently only a temporary structure as no finds of any brickwork or post-holes were found within the defenses. The only finds of any nature being the neck of a small red flagon and a minute piece of Samian, possibly from a cup, located in the filling of the inner ditch on the north-east, both datable only to between A.D.50-200 (JRS 1953 p.84; RCHME 1995 fig.146 pp.178/9).
