Wade's Causeway
Wade's Causeway is the name applied to an ancient structure in the North York Moors, North Yorkshire, England. Part of the structure, on Wheeldale Moor, is well preserved, and has been excavated.[1] The extant section uncovered by archaeologists in the 1920s runs for approximately 2 km over Wheeldale Moor.[2] However it is commonly believed that this represents a small section of a structure that ran all the way from Amotherby near Malton to Whitby passing roughly northward from Malton via Stape and crossing the River Esk at Grosmont, beyond which the structure is thought to extend eastwards to Whitby. The extant uncovered section is as of 2013 heavily covered by vegetation again.[3]
For much of the last century, the structure has popularly been thought to have been a road or causeway. As recently as 1964 this was a definitive and unquestioned narrative.[4] It was for a long time thought further to have almost certainly been constructed during the Roman period to connect the Roman camp at Cawthorne Camp with the garrison at Lease Rigg.
More recently there has been some doubt as to this narrative, since the structure does not obviously connect to the main Roman road network and there are some discrepancies of construction from what can be seen of the remains compared to known Roman roads (namely, it appears to have a surface dressing of stone flags rather than the gravel typically used on Roman roads).[5] It has therefore been suggested that the structure may be a road dating from either the pre-Roman or medieval periods.[6][7]
Even more recently, there has been some doubt as to whether the structure is actually a road or causeway at all,[8] with suggestions that it may actually be the collapsed and heavily robbed remains of a Neolithic of Bronze Age boundary wall or dyke,[9] of which there are a large number in the Moors area,[10] though none so substantial. To cover this, the term "Wheeldale Linear Monument" is used to refer to the structure, whatever its origin[8]
This uncertainty of origin is now (as of 2013) reflected by an information board at one end of the extant section of structure, which admits that the origin and purpose of the structure is unknown.
See also
References
- ^ "Wade's Causeway", www.engineering-timelines.com
- ^ http://whitbypopwatch.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/wades-causeway.html
- ^ http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/wheeldale-roman-road/history-and-research-portico/description/
- ^ http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=3tMrajZuWR0C&pg=PA160&lpg=PA160&dq=wade's+causeway+neolithic&source=bl&ots=-0wsL6c0RL&sig=RltY5fwKyzRY2WSA5pgDmLD0sBE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=g2vFUcitD6aa0QXFzYCoBA&ved=0CEEQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=wade's%20causeway%20neolithic&f=false - R Hayes and J Rutter, Wade's Causeway, Scarborough and District Archaeological Scoeity
- ^ http://www.dalesman.co.uk/places-to-visit/goathland
- ^ "WADES CAUSEWAY", www.pastscape.org.uk, English Heritage
- ^ http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/wheeldale-roman-road/history-and-research-portico/significance/
- ^ a b http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/wheeldale-roman-road/history-and-research-portico/history/
- ^ http://www.archaeologyuk.org/ba/ba29/ba29lets.html
- ^ http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/publications/iha-prehist-linear-boundary-earthworks/linearboundaryearthworks.pdf
External links
