2006 PROJECT SELECTION
High Street Roman Road, Kentmere Horseshoe, Cumbria: Evaluation and Topographic Survey
As part of a programme of footpath repairs Greenlane Archaeology was commissioned by the Lake District Upland Paths Landscape Restoration Project, which is run as a partnership of the Lake District National Park Authority, the National Trust and Natural England with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, to survey and evaluate part of the High Street Roman road. High Street is the most elevated Roman road in the country, and reaches approximately 2600ft (approximately 792m) above sea level at its highest point. The modern footpath runs along the route of the Roman road and as a large excavator was being used during the footpath repairs, it was considered possible that the road might be affected. The survey and evaluation were therefore intended to record the extent of extant earthworks associated with the road and investigate the fabric and make-up of the road itself in order to assess its condition and the likelihood that it would be damaged by the work.
High Street was not identified as a Roman road until the early 19th century, although it is named in 14th century documents as ‘Bretstrett’ or ‘street of the Britons’, and so was evidently considered to be of some antiquity even at this date. It is recorded on several maps during the 19th century, but there has always been considerable debate over its purpose and ultimate destination at its southern end. Sections were excavated through it to the north during the mid and late 19th century, although the accounts are not detailed, and give somewhat contradictory descriptions. It was still used by peat cutters as a packhorse track until the middle of the 19th century, and as a result of this, and its popularity as a place for walkers, it has been heavily eroded.
The survey recorded three areas of earthworks. The northern section included probable areas of quarrying, although the line of the road was not obvious in this location, and had been truncated by a collapsed ravine. The central section comprised a low bank cut into the hillside to form a terrace, which appeared to denote the position of the road, and the southern section was made up of similar earthworks. Other features were also present on the hillside, specifically a number of shallow depressions thought to represent the remains of areas of peat cutting.
The evaluation comprised three small trenches. In each trench the heavily eroded remains of the road surface was identified, and in each case it was associated with other features. In the first trench the road surface was found to be constructed from several layers laid on a shallow terrace cut into the hillside. Along its west side was a wide ditch filled with loose gravel, which was presumably intended to keep water off of the road surface. A shallow linear feature, thought to represent the position of a line of curb stones, was also present along the side of the road surface. In the second and third trenches the road surface comprised a single layer, flanked by a low bank built of gravel and clay. This seems to have been constructed to act as a dam to prevent the boggy ground to the west from encroaching on the road. This boggy area was evidently present when the road was constructed and may have been cut back to accommodate it, although once the road was abandoned it was gradually covered by the peat, a problem that was perhaps made worse by the peat extraction near by.
This work has confirmed the presence of the High Street in this area and, although it did not provide any dating evidence or detailed information about its route beyond the area of investigation (earthworks are visible to the south, however), it did reveal some interesting features used in its construction and the extent of subsequent erosion. Clearly the difficult conditions of the site, its location and the wet ground, made the construction of the road difficult and led to some unusual techniques being used.
