SORVIODUNUM - A REVIEW OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE 



13 



Fig. 4. Part of Stratford-sub-Castle 1840 Tithe Award Map. The diagonal line added to the map shows the course of the 

 Roman road 



village of Stratford-sub-Castle. While most of the 

 photographs provide some small clues to the 

 archaeology of the area the most valuable ones 

 were taken in the very dry summers of 1975 and 

 1995 (NMR 881/319, 881/321, 881/324 and NMR 

 15375-16, 15365-61). These show not only the 

 Roman road but also what would appear to be 

 elements of a laid out street grid system and 

 buildings (Figure 2, NMR 15365-61). 



Mark Corney has plotted evidence of cropmarks 

 and parchmarks from air photographs of Stratford- 

 sub-Castle taken in the late 1980s and early 1990s 

 (Corney 200 1,1 9-2 1; Fig. 2.7). He suggests that 

 although the marks are fragmentary they are 

 sufficient to indicate there may be a core area of 

 Sorviodunum with a planned, regular grid (Figure 

 3). In addition the photographs show other 

 rectangular areas of parching close to the line of 

 the Roman road 4c which could be interpreted as 

 the floors of Roman structures and also two ditches 

 (Figure 3, d and e) that might have been elements 

 of a defensive system around the settlement at some 

 period (Corney 2001, 21-2). 



Land Boundaries 



Examination of the Tithe Award Map for 1840 

 shows that a number of field boundaries in the 

 Stratford-sub-Castle area are aligned with the 

 Roman road (Figure 4). In particular fields 

 numbered 68 and 69, and also possibly 62 and 63, 

 exhibit the general shape and dimensions of early 

 Roman forts. Another interesting feature is the strip 

 fields numbered 79, 80, 81, and 113 lying virtually 

 at right angles across the line of the Roman road. 

 They could be remnants of the early land 

 boundaries that are also shown on sketch plans of 

 burgages in the period around or before 1700 (Hill 

 1962, 66). 



DISCUSSION 



Key Archaeological Indicators 



Earlier attempts by researchers to identify the 

 location and function of Sorviodunum were 



