When the Romans came to Walton-le-Dale

Oxford Archaeology has just put online its report on the excavations of the Roman site at Walton-le-Dale. It’s a lengthy document running to nearly 500 pages, and in addition there are two separate appendices.

Walton-le-Dale is described as ‘… a highly unusual site. It clearly supplied the Roman military in the far north-western extent of the empire, both with goods being brought by sea into the province and with the utilitarian needs of the army.’

Here is OA’s overview of the report:

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Winery Lane, at Walton-le-Dale, near Preston, Lancashire, is on the south bank of the river Ribble, at its confluence with the river Darwen, and is now flanked by modern development. In the nineteenth century, though, the fields there were found to contain Roman activity.

Excavations to the north of the lane, funded by English Heritage (now Historic England) between 1981 and 1983, identified an industrial purpose for the site. Proposals to develop land to the south in the mid-1990s led to a second large-scale excavation in 1996 and 1997.

The first Roman activity was in the late first or early second century, when large rectangular timber buildings were constructed, and in the south, an unusual round building, all containing industrial hearths. The sites were separated by the pre-canalised Darwen.

Activity during the Hadrianic period grew, with post-in-trench buildings, consistent in size and layout, fronting an arterial road, heading for the lowest crossing-point over the Ribble. These were associated with hearths, pits, and water, and much of the space between was metalled.

Buildings were modified or rebuilt over time, and in the mid-second century, they were replaced in the same style, undertaking the same range of industrial activities.

These buildings were superseded around the end of the second century, in a different style using large individual earthfast posts.

The later Roman site was poorly preserved, but the focus seems to have been a kiln, last fired c AD 285 producing oxidised coarsewares, similar to those from Wilderspool and Carlisle, perhaps by the same potters. There was little evidence of later activity.

Many specialists have contributed to this volume, compiled over four decades, resulting in an in-depth analysis of a highly unusual site. It clearly supplied the Roman military in the far north-western extent of the empire, both with goods being brought by sea into the province and with the utilitarian needs of the army.

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Find links to download the report and appendices here: https://knowledge.oxfordarchaeology.com/library/publications