Hardknott To Ambleside Roman Road - Blackhall Farm, Cumbria. Archaeological Survey.

Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) was commissioned by The National Trust to undertake an archaeological survey of a section of the Hardknott to Ambleside Roman Road that extends between Blackhall Farm and Cockley Beck Bridge (NY 23784 00994 – 24648 01700). The survey was intended to provide a mitigative record of the Roman road, prior to a programme of track repair comprising the addition of a top-dressing layer. The land is statutorily protected as a scheduled monument (AM 22902) and the work will inform an application for Scheduled Monument Consent to undertake maintenance of the road.
The line of the Hardknott / Ambleside Roman road extends along Wrynose Bottom and for the most part takes a different line from the modern road. The area has not been agriculturally improved and so the road survives on the surface as an earthwork. The only section of the Roman road that coincides with a modern day route way is the track between Cockley Beck and Blackhall Farm, and is the subject of the present investigation. With no evidence of a prehistoric routeway, as a precursor to the Roman road, the road appears to have been specifically constructed in order to link the Roman forts of Ambleside and Ravenglass.