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Note
Date 9 December 1992
Event ID 1105660
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1105660
Cutting off the SW portion of the plateau and obiquely traversing the NE third of the larger temporary camp (NO13NW 5.01) there is a linear earthwork, comprising a bank and an external ditch. Traditionally known as the 'Western Vallum', it was first planned by Roy in 1755. During the 1901 excavations (by Abercromby) the height of the rampart was recorded as 1.5m, but in more recent times cultivation has reduced it to a low bank with a barely-detectable hollow on its SW side.
Facing SW, this turf-revetted gravel rampart was originally 6.7m thick, fronted by a V-profile ditch 5.2m wide and 1.7m deep; the rampart and ditch extended unbroken from the very edge of the scarp on the SE, through the SE gate of the labour-camp, to terminate 424m away on the crest of the NW escarpment, with only a slight change of alignment about 180m from the NW end. Its form, position and relationship to the labour-camp show that it is of Roman date but constructed after the evacuation of the camp. The purpose of the work was thus purely tactical, to provide additional protection to the fortress and its occupants while it was still some way from completion.
Information from RCAHMS (JRS) 9 December 1992.
W Roy 1793; J Abercromby, T Ross and J Anderson 1902
