Barron's Pike Roman Signal Station

Signal Station

Barron’s Pike Roman Signal Station was first noted by K.S. Hodgson in 1943, photographed from the air by C.U.C.A.P. in 1947, and examined on the ground in the 1980’s, when its initial classification as a prehistoric ditched cairn was overturned and its Roman origins proved. It stands at the extreme south-western end of a sandstone outcrop with panoramic view in almost every direction. It has a clear line of sight to the Roman station at Robin Hood’s Butts about 2¼ miles (3.75 km) to SSW, also to the Hadrian’s Wall “Northern Outpost” fort at Bewcastle which lies just over 1¾ miles (3 km) to WSW.

The site consists of a square platform surrounded by a circular ditch with an entrance causeway on the west. The rock-cut ditch with an external glacis bank enclosed an area about 55¾ ft. (17 m) in diameter, varying in width between 18 ft. on the east to 11½ ft. on the west (5.5 – 3.5 m) and in depth between 3 ft. on the east to 1¼ ft. on the west (0.9 – 0.4 m). Within these defences was a stone-built platform roughly 28 ft. (c.8.5 m) square, upon which the Ordnance Survey in it’s impotent wisdom has erected a modern triangulation pillar; the spoil-heap left by the O.S. is now visible as a small mound lining the inside of the ditch on the east.

References for Barron’s Pike Signal Station

  • A ‘New’ Signal Station in Cumbria by P. Topping in Britannia xviii (1987) pp.298-300.

Map References for Barron’s Pike Signal Station

NGRef: NY595751 OSMap: LR86

Roman Roads near Barron’s Pike Signal Station

None identified

Sites near Barron's Pike Roman Signal Station