Roman road discovery is ‘missing link’ in Huddersfield history

Jul 4 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

“We believe it was a road used to link the Colne Valley with Halifax and as such it was recorded in a diary kept by the curate at Slaithwaite, Rev Weekes. He regularly travelled from Slaithwaite to Halifax to buy new robes.

“We set out to find out how the Romans circuited Wholestone Moor to get to the fort and this could well be the final piece in the jigsaw.”

The Roman fort at Slack was excavated many years ago.

It was thought to have been built about AD80 but subsequently rebuilt and enhanced over the years.

Historians believe it could have been part of a settlement called Cambodunum, which means The Fortress of the War God, but other experts have given it similar variations of the name.

The fort itself was 78m square and defended by a 20-foot wide turf rampart, topped by a wall and with two outer ditches.

The excavations began in 1969 and many significant finds have been made, including the remains of an aqueduct and evidence that the fort was at least visited by military forces, even though it may not have been a regular base.

There was evidence of cooking using small fireplaces, and in one of the trenches a quantity of bone was found near to two large urns and a roof tile with the stamp of the cohort which had occupied the fort.

Tomorrow’s open day gets under way at 10am.

Officials of the Archaeological Society will be on hand to show people around the site.

The site is easily accessed by a public footpath that runs from the nearby Quebec Road, off New Hey Road, to the summit of Wholestone Moor.

Cars should park up on Quebec Road.