| Description | Poss. extension of Roman settlement PRN 2245? The summit and adjacent slopes of the modern Black Hill have long been the subject of speculation concerning the poss. of Roman remains. Jeffreys' map of 1775 places a symbol denoting an antiquity in this area (although the exact placement is ?able, since the alignment as given of Bramhope Road now King's Road does not correspond to the modern alignment). In the early 1920s, F. Villy published a note in the YAJ reporting a straight swell of ground bounding the southern verge of the plateau...very suggestive of a rampart, and a feature running for a few yards in the rough field to the west which looked very like the ridge of a road; he also stated that just to (the summit's) east...the plough turns up masses of mortar, occasionally adherent to stone. This mortar contains broken brick. He uses these facts to support a contention that the Roman camp which is used as a reference point in early accounts of the discovery of the Roman settlement is not PRN 2208, as generally believed, but rather a previously undetected camp on the summit of Black Hill, and that the modern Black Hill is identical to that which Thoresby says is the very place where these Roman monuments were lately discovered with the implication that the Roman settlement was located not between Adel Dam and High Leas Farm, but to the east of Black Hill. The presence of Roman remains in the former area was later proven by excavation and geophysical survey, but the poss. still exists that Ro. settlement extended northwards into the area identified by Villy. WYAS SMR records compiled in the 1980s recording 18th c. finds of Roman material at Blackhill or Black Hill (now revised PRNs 2255, 1908) assign to the finds a tentative grid ref. centred around the modern Black Hill. It should be noted, however, that the OS 1st edn. map labels three adjacent hills as Black Hill the N most is the modern Black Hill, while the S most lies immediately to the NE of PRN 2245; also, the area of PRN 2208 and the field immediately to the N are labelled as Lousy Hill (with the same meaning??) on the 19th c. tithe award map. It is by no means certain to which Black Hill any pre 20th c. refs. relate. The only find of Ro. date certain to have come from this area is fibula PRN 2254. PRN 3774 as defined on location map is the only area on or near the summit of Black Hill which has not been planted, quarried, or eliminated by evaluation. Further evaluation required in advance of development. Current (1994) investigations resolving some of this issues ... Sensitive) |