The CAS has been working in this area since 1981. The analytical stage of this programme has been extended to incorporate the results of previous work by Professor J S Wacher in 1959 and 1972, and Professor R J Cramp in 1966, in addition to research and salvage excavations undertaken by the Richmondshire Excavation Group and others. The combined results represent one of the most extensive explorations of a Roman small town and its hinterland in Britain. A report on the important early medieval evidence for the various sites has been completed and the Roman-period evidence is now in the final stages of preparation for monograph publication.
The importance of the Catterick sites reflects not only the scale of work over the last 37 years, but also the exceptional quality of some the data. The 1959 excavations provide a transect through the town of Cataractonium, the northern part of which included a sequence that incorporated the complete plan of a Flavian/Trajanic military bath-house, a 2nd-century mansio, and a 4th-century civilian bath-house. South of the mansio complex an extensive exploration of the late 3rd to early-4th-century town was undertaken in areas that also produced evidence of the 1st2nd-century vicus. Evidence of 5th-century occupation was also found. Work in 1990 and 1993 provided further evidence relating to the Antonine fort which was first located in 1959.
The 1972 excavations revealed evidence relating to an Antonine defended enclosure straddling Dere Street on the north bank of the river. It overlay possible Flavian occupation and was sealed by 3rd4th-century ribbon-development. Much of the CAS work has investigated extra-mural occupation on the north bank of the Swale and to the south of the town. This has demonstrated shifts in occupation, with 2nd-century ribbon development southwards along Dere Street being abandoned in favour of 3rd4th-century expansion on the north side of the river.
Some 2km to the south of the town a roadside settlement developed alongside Dere Street within some 10 years of the establishment of the Flavian fort in about AD 80. This settlement, which was entirely Romanised in character, with rectilinear buildings from the start appears to have reached its greatest extent in the mid-3rd century, but continued to be occupied into the 4th century. Limited evidence has also been recorded for a probable villa within 400m of the roadside settlement, during the later 3rd to 4th century.
The structural sequences are complimented by extensive finds assemblages including one of the largest groups of Roman pottery from the North, a major glass assemblage, some 90 graffiti, extensive leather finds and working debris, copper alloy assemblages, with evidence for metal-working on site, a range of military metalwork, and a variety of architectural fragments including a Jupiter column.
The urban characteristics of Catterick which include the provision of defences, the development a street grid, the absence of a permanent fort, and the presence of prosperous civilian buildings are in contrast with most settlements in the region. The location of Cataractonium on the periphery between the civilian and military zones of Roman Britain is itself of interest and will form a key element in the consideration of the site. The analytical programme is also designed to address a number of broader themes including the military deployment and functions of forts, the impact of the military presence, the interaction between Roman and native, the presence of mansiones and the Cursus Publicus, the development of civilian settlements in Northern Britain, the changes in northern Britain during the 4th century, and the survival of Roman cultural attributes during the 5th century.
