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Publication Account
Date 1985
Event ID 1016238
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016238
At Tow Ford on the Kale Water the main Roman trunk road (and the Dere Street of medieval times) comes down from the Cheviots on its way north. Passing between the best preserved group of temporary Roman camps in Scotland, it continues upwards again past prehistoric cairns and a stone circle, and between drovers' dykes to Whitton Edge (a fine broad ridge
walk); thence to Shotheids, Rennieston and the now vanished fort at Cappuck. It crosses the Teviot, in the vicinity ofMonteviot House, and thus to Newstead, Lauderdale, Soutra and the Forth.
There are four camps bleakly situated at Pennymuir. One right down by the Kale Water (NT 757138) is badly eroded by both the river and by subsequent cultivation. A second camp (NT 756144) is bisected by the Pennymuir-Hownam road-though the western third survives sufficiently to show a trapezoidal rather than rectangular plan. The lie of the ground would not have required this; rather may it have been due to a misuse of sighting lines or to the availability of only short measuring rods!
The most visible camp, and the largest, lies to the west of the Roman road (NT 754138)-here the line of the little road from Pennyrnuir to Tow Ford. Most of the south side and the south part of the east side have been obliterated by rig-cultivation, but sufficient remains to show that this corner of the camp contained a separate smaller camp. Since the ditch of the latter cuts across the rampart of the larger camp it must be secondary, but like the larger version it seems to have had six gates, each of them protected by a 'traverse'-a blocking banier set outside the entrance, allowing access only round its ends. Both camps were enclosed by a rampart formed from the upcast from a single, outer ditch.
It may be assumed that these temporary camps were training bases, providing tented accommodation for troops on exercise, most commonly perhaps on Wo den Law (no. 83). The largest camp spreads over some 17 ha and could certainly have accommodated two legions-GOOD men or more. It may, however, simply have been a temporary marching camp.
Information from 'Exploring Scotland's Heritage: Lothian and Borders', (1985).
