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Field Visit
Date 13 August 1913
Event ID 1115567
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1115567
Fort, Mavisbank House.
Situated in the grounds of Mavisbank House, this fort occupies the levelled summit of a knoll in the angle formed by the junction of the Bilston Burn with the river North Esk, about 100 yards southwest of Mavisbank House, at an elevation of 350 feet above sea-level and 100 feet above the North Esk, which flows about 250 yards distant. To the west, across a slight hollow, the ground rises with a steep slope, but elsewhere, from a distance of 50 feet from the steeply scarped sides of the fort, the descent to the low ground on the left bank of the two streams is very sharp. No trace of a wall or rampart surrounding the enceinte is left, and the only artificial work remaining is the scarping and a terrace 12 feet broad, which runs round the fort, except for a short distance on the western arc. On the north-west the scarp above the terrace rises 12 feet in height and the scarp below falls 10 feet, while on the east the corresponding measurements are 8 feet and 7 feet. The enceinte is almost circular, but measures slightly more from east to west than from north to south, the dimensions being 156 feet and153 feet respectively.
‘Several articles of brass, and of ancient form’ were found here in the 18th century (1). This led Sir John Clerk to conclude that the fort had been ‘a Roman station’. Despite the fact that there is nothing in its appearance to suggest a Roman origin, General Roy accepted Clerk's view, and based upon it the erroneous theory as to the course of the Roman road, which is referred to in the Introduction (p. xxix).
RCAHMS 1929, visited 13 August 1913.
(1) Stat. Acct., x, p. 287.
OS map: iii S.W.
