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Epiacum
#1
When I was searching Google Earth recently I discovered that the name of Epiacum taken from the the map of Ptolemy has now been given to the Roman Fort of Whitley Castle between Northumberland and Cumbria.
I wonder if anyone knows any reason for this to have been done, or indeed any other archaeological evidence that would support Google now using this piece of questionable information.
Brian Stobbs
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#2
Quote:When I was searching Google Earth recently I discovered that the name of Epiacum taken from the the map of Ptolemy has now been given to the Roman Fort of Whitley Castle between Durham and Cumbria.
I wonder if anyone knows any reason for this to have been done, or indeed any other archaeological evidence that would support Google now using this piece of questionable information.
Rivet and Smith use it in Place-Names of Roman Britain (p.360), as do English Heritage, so they're in pretty good company. Nick Hodgson (in The Roman Army in Northern England p.128) says

Quote:Most often equated with the Epiacum of of Ptolemy... purely on grounds of general location.
Google have a bigger problem than that in their inability to get placenames in the correct position sometimes. For the UK I always check with an OS map via Streetmap (who have the proper 1:25,000 series, not the grotty ones the OS site serves up).

Mike Bishop
You know my method. It is founded upon the observance of trifles

Blogging, tweeting, and mapping Hadrian\'s Wall... because it\'s there
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#3
Quote:I wonder if anyone knows any reason for this to have been done.
Thinking about it again, I wonder if it comes down to the Google Mapmaker scheme whereby anybody can use Mapmaker to contribute placenames (hence much furore when a street in Latakia in Syria was renamed several times recently by anti- and pro-government forces). Basically, it might not be Google doing it.

Having said that, all I can see on GE with placeneames turned on is Kirkhaugh just to the north and Ayle to the east. The red placemarker is my own from my sites and roads database.

[attachment=3205]whitley.jpg[/attachment]

Mike Bishop


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You know my method. It is founded upon the observance of trifles

Blogging, tweeting, and mapping Hadrian\'s Wall... because it\'s there
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#4
Thank you Mike for the maps however as Nick Hodgson says purely on the grounds of general location I think could be anyones guess, then Rivet and Smith may well be as incorrect as even Ptolemy himself appears to have been with his map.
Then as far as English Heritage and my personal memories having worked for them I would be very inclined to take their opinions with a pinch of salt.

There is another interesting place for it as my late friend Raymond Selkirk also thought and that was Hexham the home of the ALA PETRIANA.
Brian Stobbs
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#5
Quote:Hexham the home of the ALA PETRIANA.
And here's me thinking it was Corbridge ;-)

Mike Bishop
You know my method. It is founded upon the observance of trifles

Blogging, tweeting, and mapping Hadrian\'s Wall... because it\'s there
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#6
The evidence of them that came from Hexham cannot put them at Corbridge surely.
Brian Stobbs
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#7
Quote:The evidence of them that came from Hexham cannot put them at Corbridge surely.
Just teasing :lol: Mind you, when you look at the amount of cavalry equipment that comes from Corbridge compared to Hexham... Confusedhock:

Still doesn't explain where your Epiacum name came from. Could you have downloaded a GE file of places in Roman Britain? I've found a few over the years, most of them full of errors.

Mike Bishop
You know my method. It is founded upon the observance of trifles

Blogging, tweeting, and mapping Hadrian\'s Wall... because it\'s there
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#8
Mike it was the old style of GE where they had these little blue type clicks and pop up info' on things, found one over Whitley Castle one time when looking after Scalesclough Hall one day. The one at Scalesclough at one time would put me straight into the EH partscape but that appears to have all changed now.
Anyway just had my computer up graded with new hard drive so need to re-do GE some time after I get around to it.
Brian Stobbs
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#9
I was horrified when checking Google Earth recently, not having used it for a couple of years. I discovered that where I believed I had found the Roman camp outside of Adrianopolis, now modern Edirne in Turkey by using Google Earth, on checking again last week there are new buildings on the same area, oh woe is me!!!
Adrian Coombs-Hoar
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#10
Mike .

Where you mention the amount of cavalry equipment that has been found at Corbridge,could much of this have been produced in fabrica there.
Brian Stobbs
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