Coupar Angus Abbey
Enclosure (Roman), Temporary Camp (Roman)(Possible)
Site Name Coupar Angus Abbey
Classification Enclosure (Roman), Temporary Camp (Roman)(Possible)
Alternative Name(s) Thorn Alley
Canmore ID 30555
Site Number NO23NW 12
NGR NO 223 397
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/30555
- Council Perth And Kinross
- Parish Coupar Angus
- Former Region Tayside
- Former District Perth And Kinross
- Former County Perthshire
NO23NW 12 223 397.
(NO 223 397) Roman Camp (R) (Site of)
OS 6" map (1938)
An earthwork which Maitland says was 400 yards square, with two strong ramparts and large ditches on the E and S sides and on part of the N, that on the W having been destroyed by agriculture. By 1845 (New Statistical Account [NSA]) only the E rampart (immediately E of the churchyard) remained.
Maitland calls it Roman, but Crawford considers it to be the boundaries of Coupar Angus Abbey. None of the finds seem to be Roman.
O G S Crawford 1949; W Maitland 1757; Statistical Account (OSA) 1796
Field Visit (11 February 1969)
The raised way (no a FP), 1.0m maximum height, extending from NO 2244 4001 to NO 2254 3975 is more likely to be the grassed-over footings of a substantial wall (c 3.0m thick) than a bank or rampart; this would confirm Crawford's interpretation. Elsewhere there is no trace of this feature, the scarp shown at NO 2234 3999 on Crawford's plan being a sub-rectangular mound of no apparent significance.
Revised at 25".
Rev W Cochrane, of Abbey Church Manse, Cupar Angus, considers this feature to be a causeway spanning former marshland, which had been reclaimed by the monks (see NO23NW 13).
Visited by OS (EGC) 11 February 1969.
Field Visit (25 January 1993)
Situated about 80m ENE of the burial-ground adjoining the 19th century parish church of Coupar Angus (NO23NW 13.00), and extending a distance of 280m from NNW to SSE, there are the turf-covered remains of what may have been a substantial stone wall. It is the surviving portion of what was thought by antiquarians to be a Roman military earthwork, and described by Maitland in 1757 as 'an equilateral quadrangle of four hundred yards, fortified with two strong ramparts and large ditches, still to be seen on the eastern and southern sides, and on part of the northern; but the western, by agriculture, is demolished'. The Statistical Account describes it as 'nearly a regular square of 24 acres'.
The earthwork may have been a monastic enclosure around the Cistercian Abbey, but it is also possible that it originated as a Roman temporary camp.
Information from RCAHMS (JRS) 25 January 1993.
Publication Account (17 December 2011)
Maitland claimed that the earthwork at Coupar Angus Abbey was Roman (1757: i, 199–200) but Crawford felt it delimited the Abbey precincts (1949: 82–5). However, the possibility that the earthwork originated as a Roman camp cannot be completely discounted. It measured around 370m from NNW to SSE by possibly 350m transversely and may have enclosed some 13ha (32 acres).
R H Jones
