Horncastle Roman walls

Horncastle Roman walls
Type	Ancient Roman defensive walls
Coordinates	53.2081°N 0.1155°W / 53.2081; -0.1155
Listed Building – Grade I
Official name	Roman wall now in lobby of public library
Designated	7 December 1966
Reference no.	1262504
Listed Building – Grade I
Official name	Roman wall
Designated	7 December 1966
Reference no.	1262704
Listed Building – Grade I
Official name	Roman wall embedded in clinic building
Designated	7 December 1966
Reference no.	1251668
Listed Building – Grade I
Official name	Roman wall to rear of the manor house
Designated	7 December 1966
Reference no.	1262720
Listed Building – Grade I
Official name	Section of Roman wall to rear of No. 5
Designated	7 December 1966
Reference no.	1063769
Listed Building – Grade I
Official name	Roman wall
Designated	25 March 1987
Reference no.	1251946

The Roman walls at Horncastle form the remnants of the defensive wall of a Roman castra in the town of Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England. The six remaining parts of the wall are all Grade I listed structures, and are collectively a scheduled monument.

History

A settlement existed at Horncastle since Neolithic times. In the late 3rd century, or the early 4th, the Roman occupiers of Britain established a fort at the site, at the intersection of the River Bain and the River Waring. The name Banovallum (Wall on the River Bain) was suggested as the name of the fort in the 19th century, but this may refer to the nearby town of Caistor.

William Stukeley mapped the site in 1722 when the walls were in a more complete state of preservation. At this time the walls stood in a more-or-less continuous run, and parts were up to four yards high.

In 1998 the wall was placed on Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register having decayed over many years, in part due to weather erosion and in part due to the illegal removal of stones. In 2021 a decade-long fundraising campaign allowed the completion of a major conservation project supported by Historic England which aimed to conserve and preserve the walls. Further work was undertaken in 2023, and more is planned.

Description

The fort followed the standard plan for a Roman castra, a rectangular site with four corner towers and gates giving access on three sides. The enclosed area amounted to about seven acres. Nicholas Antram, in his Lincolnshire volume of the Pevsner Buildings of England series, revised and reissued in 2002, notes that there is currently little archaeological understanding of the internal layout of the fort. The walls exist as standing masonry structures with further elements buried underground. Most of the standing elements have been incorporated into later structures, such as the best-preserved accessible section which now forms part of a wall in Horncastle Library. The six sections of remaining wall have separate Grade I listings, and are collectively a scheduled monument.

Sources

• Pevsner, Nikolaus; Harris, John; Antram, Nicholas (2002). Lincolnshire. The Buildings of England. New Haven, US and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-09620-8.