Elslack (Burwen Castle) is an auxiliary fort in the Aire Gap on the trans-Pennine route between Ribchester and Ilkley, occupying a low rise above the Elslack Beck. Excavation has demonstrated two superimposed forts: an earlier, smaller establishment of probable later 1st- or 2nd-century date, overlain by a larger fort of roughly 2.4 ha attributed to the late 3rd or 4th century, suggesting reoccupation in the late Roman period after a period of abandonment.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The fort controlled the western approach to the Aire Gap, one of the few easy east–west crossings of the Pennines, linking the Lancashire forts with the Wharfedale system. It is one of the candidates (alongside Old Carlisle and Old Penrith) for the Notitia Dignitatum's Olenacum, garrisoned in the late Empire by the Ala Prima Herculea.
The site was excavated by Thomas May in 1908–09, who recorded the stone defences, gateways and internal stone buildings of the later fort, with traces of an earlier turf-and-timber phase beneath; finds included pottery, coins and inscribed material consistent with a long occupation. Little modern excavation has taken place, and the interpretation rests largely on May's report and subsequent aerial and geophysical observation of the cropmarks.
Elslack (Burwen Castle) is an auxiliary fort in the Aire Gap on the trans-Pennine route between Ribchester and Ilkley, occupying a low rise above the Elslack Beck. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fort site from the Roman period in Britain.
Elslack Roman Fort is classified as a Roman fort — a military site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Kirk Sink (4.4 km), Bomber Camp Romano-British farmstead and associated enclosure (8.4 km), Beadle Hill Romano-British farmstead (15.7 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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