Archaeology Sites

Scheduled Ancient Monument - Castle Hill and Vicarage Fields

District: Lancaster
Name: Castle Hill and Vicarage Fields, Lancaster.
Description: Site of Roman fort. Bathhouse and 4th century fort wall exposed. Museum in central Lancaster.

The Wery Wall is a surviving fragment of Roman walling on the east slope of Castle Hill adjacent to the rear of Mitre House. It measures 4.0m by 3.0m by 3.0m high and is situated on a very steep bank running north south. Only the rubble core of the wall remains, with no facing stones. Historical documents suggest that there was considerably more of this wall in existence in the 18th century, but its full course cannot now be traced. The remains represent a section of a bastion of the last Roman fort on the site, which probably dates to the fourth century.

The visible earthwork rampart in Vicarage Field follows the line of the earlier Roman defences but is not itself apparently Roman. In the west, its highest point, it overlies the Roman ditches. The rampart consists of a thick mound of black earth up to 4ft deep, and west of which there had been an attempt to build a stone revetment from material robbed from the Roman wall. Medieval green-glazed pottery found suggests that this rampart is medieval. In 1316 Lancaster had a single grant of Murage and these earthwork defences may be connected with the Priory or Castle, which both stand on the plateau of the hill within part of the area of the Roman fort.

Adjacent to the Wery Wall are the remains of a small bathhouse. This was excavated and preserved by excavations in 1973 prior to re-development of the site.

SD: 47310,61910