| Description | Excavations of roads at Clough House, Slaithwaite (SE 06698 14464). Alternate route to Roman Road 712 as proposed by Huddersfield and District Archaeological Society in 2012.
The route connects the Roman forts of Castleshaw (in Lancs.) and Slack (PRN 61).
The route passes to the south of Castleshaw fort running SW/NE. Heading north east the route is demonstrated by visible agger and ditches before turning right and heading east at Brown Rough. The road crosses 'Thieves Clough' which is evidenced by excavation. To the south of Pule Hill, the road passes east to north onto Pule Bents by Worlow which is again evidenced by excavations (see PRN 2558). Once at Marsden the route is speculated as passing in one of two ways forking at Manor House Farm. The speculated routes of the road join again south of Slaithwaite Hall where there is the contemporary railway line. Passing north east, yet to the south of Booth Bank the road passes the site of a Roman Milestone which was found in 1587. The road then heads North toward Wilberlee passing through Upper Holme and then Clough House Bridge; this route is evidenced by excavation (PRN 3543). The road turns right at Wilberlee and continues north east, bending round to the left heading north towards Waller Clough. The route is evidenced by a series of excavations at West Top, Nursery Nook, Moorside Edge, Bunkers Hill, and Waller Clough (PRN 4926). Heading North the route passes to the West of Wholestone Moor where its is evidenced by excavations. However there are speculated links between the excavations due to the deviated nature of the route at this point. Continuing North the route is speculated until at Springhead Farm due to modern construction of the M62 Motorway. Agger in nearby gardens demonstrate the present of the Roman Road from this point heading north east to the north of Slack Fort (PRN 3512). The route then follows a previously determined Roman road route across Lindley Moor as evidenced by excavations and visible agger (PRN 3513 and PRN 3544). The route is speculated to pass directly through Ainley Top. The route is then continued on the East side of Ainley Top as demonstrated by Lidar mapping (extracted from Huddersfield and District Archaeology Society. 2008. 'The Romans Came This Way').
There is multiple evidence of a road at Clough House, Slaithwaite.
To the south of Merry Dale Clough brook is a distinct linear earthwork with an apparent agger runs down the valley in a north west/south east alignment for c.140m parallel to the west side of North Lane, Slaithwaite (from SE 06801 14169 to SE 06710 14272 and possibly beyond). The agger appears to be at least as wide as North Lane. This is treated as a separate record (see PRN 7136).
An archaeological assessment of the road's proposed crossing point of the brook at Merrydale Clough was made by the Huddersfield and District Archaeological Society in 1989 (at SE 06617 14341). An area of stream bed adjacent to the present bridge was identified as containing vertically pitched stones which formed an apparent road surface (Huddersfield and District Archaeology Society. 2008. 'The Romans Came This Way'. Page 27).
An excavation was undertaken by the society in the field between Clough House and Wilberlee in 1989 (SE 06698 14464 [exact location not provided in text]). Two clearly defined road surfaces of flat stones and rubble running side by side, both with north south alignments were identified. One was well constructed and was around 3.5m wide. The other was not so well made and was c.7m wide. The 2008 publication by the Huddersfield and District Archaeology Society, 'The Romans Came This Way', contains excavation photographs and a description of the excavation/survey (page 27 28).
The above features provide physical evidence of a former route way and are positioned in a logical alignment with other features on the proposed alternate route of Roman Road 712. |