Monument record 1970/8 - Roman Camp on Fox Covert Lane 650m north-west of Picton Gorse

<1> Various, Aerial photographs, Collens J 1995 (Aerial Photograph). SCH128.

Cropmark photographed in July 1995 of a rectangular enclosure with straight sides and four rounded corners. One of a group of possible practice camps (see also 1970/1-7) all showing as cropmarks. The presence of claviculae at the enclosure at Hoole Hall (see 1970/7) confirms the Roman date of this group of sites.

<2> English Heritage, Various, Schedule Entry (Scheduled Ancient Monuments Amendment), English Heritage 2000, 27597 (Scheduling Record). SCH2950.

The monument includes a Roman camp visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs. These reveal a rectangular enclosure bounded by a ditch and divided into two separate areas, lying in two fields on either side of Fox Covert Lane. The camp is one of a group found in the fields to the east of Chester City and is close to the camps at Upton. They are interpreted as practice camps built by troops from the Roman garrison at Chester. The camp measures 170m from north to south and 150m from east to west and is overlaid by the lane surface running from the north east corner to a point midway along the southern side which has destroyed the remains at this point. Each of the remaining corners has the rounded shape of a typical Roman earthwork camp. By analogy with other camps the ditch would have had a V-cut about 3m wide inside of which there would have been a rampart of earth about 6m wide at the base. The rampart has been spread and the ditch infilled by later ploughing. The interior will contain traces of temporary buildings and pits for latrines and rubbish disposal.

<3> Philpott, R A, 1998, New Evidence from Aerial Reconnaissance for Military Sites in Cheshire, Brittania, Vol XXIX. 1998 (Article in Journal). SCH5632.

No. 1 One of a group of a series of subrectangular enclosures within a few kilometres of Chester. A discussion about the interpretation of these features can be found in this article. New discoveries from aerial photography and excavation support a Roman Military origin.