Roman dig at Carlisle Cricket Club uncovers more tiles with 'rare' stamp

[Imperial Dave]

https://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/19564644.roman-dig-carlisle-cricket-club-uncovers-tiles-rare-stamp/

pretty exciting stuff

[Duncan Head]

Interesting; does it change our picture of Severus' British expedition at all?

[DBS]

Not sure it changes the picture of the expedition - on one level it makes sense for there to be a headquarters and court further north than York.  On the other hand, it may, say, enhance the picture of emperors on the move: a certain spendthrift approach to building a suitably imperial residence in an otherwise strategically unattractive location to meet relatively short term and ephemeral needs.

[Imperial Dave]

the Roman equivalent of a little blue plaque...

[DBS]

A thought that has struck me is whether there has ever been any evidence found of a Roman port in the area.  If you are going to have even an expeditionary imperial court at Carlisle, you might want something better than ox carts across the Pennines for your logistics...

[Mark G]

I was hoping it would show that the Romans brought cricket to these islands.

That would be a great story Indeed

[Imperial Dave]

Brockian or Krikkit?

[Jim Webster]

A thought that has struck me is whether there has ever been any evidence found of a Roman port in the area.  If you are going to have even an expeditionary imperial court at Carlisle, you might want something better than ox carts across the Pennines for your logistics...

Lancaster was a Roman fort and Port,  Maryport had a fort and a large town so probably a port, Bowness on Solway had a fort (the 'end' of the wall') and there could well have been 'port facilities'
Ravenglass also had a fort and probably a Roman port.
One problem is lack of excavation in the area.

Jim

[Imperial Dave]

a whole network of ports up the western coast therefore is fairly evidenced

[DBS]

Thank you Jim.  I would be very surprised if there was not a west coast maritime network, just unsighted on the evidence or lack thereof. I suspected a lack of excavation might well be part of the issue.  A good friend of mine, who used to command the Army's "navy" and retired home to Cumbria, has also mentioned Bouth as a possible spot on the southern edge of the Cumbrian land mass.  Not necessarily saying used in Roman times, but a rather suitable location for smaller craft.

[Jim Webster]

Thank you Jim.  I would be very surprised if there was not a west coast maritime network, just unsighted on the evidence or lack thereof. I suspected a lack of excavation might well be part of the issue.  A good friend of mine, who used to command the Army's "navy" and retired home to Cumbria, has also mentioned Bouth as a possible spot on the southern edge of the Cumbrian land mass.  Not necessarily saying used in Roman times, but a rather suitable location for smaller craft.

There is a fair bit of interest here as you can well imagine. Given that the 'Pile of Foundry' or the harbour at Barrow-in-Furness is the best deep water port between Milford Haven and the Clyde, the area isn't short of potential harbour sites. Part of the problem is that there hasn't been much excavation because people know there is nothing there and it's a long way from universities 

[Imperial Dave]

agreed, all you need is for a housing estate to be planned and whoosh there will be a survey and dig

[Jim Webster]

agreed, all you need is for a housing estate to be planned and whoosh there will be a survey and dig

I remember one Archaeologist interested in the period commenting that originally the thoughts on villa distribution and the division of Britain into a military zone in the north, and civil zone in the south made sense because of the finds. And then there was this wave of rescue archaeology due to the work on the A1M and the M1 and this produced a large amount of information which meant the military zone couldn't just be 'the north'.

[Imperial Dave]

the A1 is north to me 

[DBS]

The A1's junction with the M25 is north to me...