Rectangular enclosure with rounded corners - Ro camp ? (or field). (1)

Cropmarks of a Ro marching camp of simple plan, c 200m x 155m and 3.1Ha in area. The S part of the camp slopes down towards the River Meden. (2)

Morph: 80/13/1 Ro temporary camp; 80/12/1 linear system - U Preh field system. (3)

The cropmarks of a camp immediately W of Gleadthorpe Plantation were recognised on aerial photographs taken in 1979 (Riley 1980; NMR AP SK 5970/4). At just over 60 m above OD, it occupies the summit and slopes of an isolated hill on the N side of the valley of the River Meden. The N corner of the camp is a little to the N of the summit of the knoll, while the S corner is less than 55 m from the river and lies at the bottom of a marked scarp; some of the area enclosed may thus have been unsuitable for tents. The site commands extensive views W and E along the valley, and also to the S and N where the ground slopes away more gradually. No Roman road is known in the vicinity, but the camp at Farnsfield lies about 16 km to the S and is broadly similar in its size and proportions.
The camp is nearly rectangular, measuring about 162 m from NE to SW by 204 m transversely, and covers an area of about 3.3 ha (8.1 acres). No entrance can be identified with certainty although there is some evidence for one in the centre of the NE side. Some of the other interruptions in the cropmark of the ditch seem to be caused by the differetial land use of the many small plots into which the field has been divided by the adjacent Ministry of Agriculture Experimental Husbandry Farm. No earthwork evidence for the E corner survives in Gleadthorpe Plantation itself, but the area has been disturbed by quarrying and tree-planting.
Other cropmarks in the vicinity comprise slight traces of a possible pre-Roman field system, part of which has been recorded in the same valley farther to the W (Riley 1980). (4)

See L4416 for adjacent features, cross refs.
See SMR map.

Data Held: Aerial Photograph (Aerial photograph). SNT2645.

CCX 3208/21

Riley DN, 1980, Early Landscapes from the Air (Published document). SNT1197.

RCHME, 1988, Gleadthorpe/Pencil AP Transcription (Map). SNT6475.

Humphrey Welfare and Vivien Swan, 1995, Roman camps in England: The Field Archaeology, p. 148-9 (Unpublished document). SNT6490.

Historic England, 2021, National Record of Historic Environment (Digital archive). SNT5271.

<1> Riley DN, Air photos (Aerial photograph). SNT1194.

Other Refs: 1538/3,8 (NLAP SK 5968/2, 5970/4)

<2> Society for … Ro Studies, 1980, Britannia, pp 330-5 (Serial). SNT126.

<3> RCHME, National Mapping Programme, Notts - Morph Data (Unknown). SNT1470.

<4> Humphrey Welfare and Vivien Swan, 1994, Roman Camps in England Project (Unpublished document). SNT6489.