CHEW GREEN
Northumberland, England.
Beside the Roman road from York to the Forth, a short
distance before it enters Scotland, there is a fine group
of Roman earthworks comprising a fortlet, a semipermanent camp, and two temporary camps. The remains
are clearly not all of the same date.
Excavations in 1936 showed that the earliest occupation was an almost square temporary camp of 7.2 ha,
capable of holding a legion on the march and probably
built at the time of Agricola's invasion of Scotland. This
was succeeded by a small fortlet (no surface traces)
which produced Flavian pottery; a second temporary
camp of 5.6 ha followed, whose occupants constructed
the semipermanent camp. The defenses of the latter enclose only 2.4 ha but are stronger than those of the other
two camps; the four gates were originally equipped with
both claviculne and traverses, while on the NW the rampart was furnished with catapult platforms. Although the
troops were housed in tents, roads were laid down in the
interior. Finally, in the Antonine period, the early fortlet was leveled to make room for a larger one; the garrison had the task of guarding and assisting convoys negotiating the very steep inclines leading to the site. About
64.5 m square, this fortlet is protected by triple ditches
on all sides except the S, which is covered by two enclosed wagon parks; the internal buildings were halftimbered structures on rubble sills.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Arch. Ael. 14 (1937) 129-50.
K. A. STEER
