Publication Account
Date 1986
Event ID 1017432
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1017432
This small fort stands on a plateau just above the confluence of the River Esk and Rae Bum at Eskdalemuir, close to the point where the Roman road to Newstead can be assumed to have crossed the Esk and its flood plain. Raeburnfoot was probably a roadside station characteristic of Antonine organisation, and provided quarters for patrols, signallers or convoy guards. Excavation confIrmed that the fort was of the early Antonine period, but the evidence indicated only a single and brief phase of occupation.
The fort is unusual in having an outer parallel enclosure, and in having no man-made defences on the steeply scarped western edge. It was once believed that this outer circuit was the original work and that its western defences had been lost to river erosion. However, this natural scarp remains probably much as it was in Roman times, and the two enclosures appear to have been contemporary, the outer one, which yielded no evidence of buildings, possibly having been an annexe.
The site was chosen primarily to suit the inner enclosure. It has a rampart and twin ditches (except on the west), and the interior, which covers an area of about 0.6 ha, contained at least nine wooden buildings, mostly identifIable as barrack blocks. Two of the central group may have had a different, possibly administrative purpose, hence the classifIcation as a small fort rather than a large fortleti a fortlet is usually made up exclusively of barrack accommodation.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Dumfries and Galloway’, (1986).
