Brampton is surrounded by ancient history. Just over a mile to the east of modern-day Brampton stands the surviving nave of Brampton Old Church, perched on a sandstone bluff overlooking a sweep of the River Irthing. Its strategic position was recognised by the Roman Army whose ‘stone road’ or Stanegate ran below the bluff at Crooked Holm while an early fort was built atop the outcrop enjoying commanding views in all directions. An embanked and cobbled lane ran east and north connecting the fort with the frontier.
The Roman fort of Brampton Old Church was one of thirteen early-Trajanic period forts built after a military withdrawal from Scotland around AD 100 when all the archaeology from southern Scottish outposts halts suddenly with charcoal and burnt timber. Brampton Old Church formed part of the Stanegate ‘frontier’, an early precursor to Hadrian’s Wall which connected the supply depot of Corbridge and the Tyne in the east to the Flavian fort at Carlisle and the Solway isthmus in the west. Brampton Old Church was occupied for 25 years by a Roman auxiliary unit of about 500 men. It was carefully dismantled in AD 125 when the new fort at Castlesteads (Camboglanna) was built to protect the Cambeck crossing of Hadrian’s Wall.
Brampton Old Church’s only period of excavation took place in 1935 and was journalled in the 1936 edition of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Transaction. Digs were positioned over the southern rampart and central administrative buildings and granaries. The section of rampart unearthed was 16 feet wide and built of a mixture of turf and clay laid upon river cobbles brought up from the River Irthing. A single ditch 13 ft wide & 5 ft deep outlay the rampart and its footprint measured 396 ft from east to west, 410 ft from north to south giving a total area of 3.7 acres.
Although relatively few finds were discovered due to the systematic dismantling of the fort, a Republican denarius of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi dated to 88 BC as well as pottery shards pointed to the early Trajanic period.
To the east of Old Church, a Roman industrial compound containing tile and pottery kilns and signs of metalworking was discovered in 1963 on land now occupied by William Howard School. Eight kilns were uncovered, four square tile kilns and four ovular pottery kilns, one of which contained a terracotta lamp stamped with the manufacturer’s name,’ FORTIS‘, a possible reference to the Legio Secunda Traiana Fortis, a Roman Legion levied by the current Emperor Trajan . Over 800 shards of coarse-ware pottery and fragments of tile were recovered during excavations, which showed activity between AD 100 to 125 confirming the dates of Brampton Old Church brief existence.
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The ecclesiastical history of Brampton can be traced back to the a brightening of the light towards the end of the dark ages with the founding of the shrine of Ninian at Whithorn in Galloway, then the Bishopric of the Northumbrian Church before Bede.
The ancient stone cross at Bewcastle, Cumbria. Its 14 ft shaft still stands, covered with 8 C Anglo-Saxon icons.
At Brampton Old Church, Ninian sited, as mentioned above, the holy well of Ninewells, dedicated to St. Martin of Tours. St. Ninian studied at Marmoûtiers and was profoundly influenced by Martin, carrying a deep love and respect for his teacher and his methods back to his Missions at Whithorn and Brampton Old Church.
The current Brampton Old Church dates from the 12th century and is partially built of robbed out stone from The Roman Wall. The Old Church lay entirely within the fort walls, its foundations abutting the north east ramparts. It was replaced as the parish church of Brampton by St. Martins in 1878. The current Nave was left standing as burials were still being taken, including those from the village of Talkin whose Parish church was in Hayton. Records show the interconnecting forests were “infested with wolves” and too dangerous for funeral parties. A hay-tithe was paid the church to provide this service, which is still paid to this day.
It is easy, with a little imagination, to walk around the gravestone strewn churchyard of Brampton Old Church and feel back into a past that was both turbulent and peaceful. On this sandstone bluff above a meander of the River Irthing time wrote the very essence of ancient Brampton into the
Further Reading:
Hadrian’s Wall (Penguin History) David J Breeze
Brampton Old Church Fort on Roman-Britain.org
Many thanks to @MorenoBerti for his permission to use his ‘Hamburger Hill’ photo of Roman Wall country from The Ridge, Brampton.
