Field Visit
Date 23 August 1996 - 24 September 1996
Event ID 1127526
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1127526
From the centre of Crieff the course of the military road can be followed NE along Ferntower Road and across Crieff Golf Course. At the NE edge of the golf course it crosses a gully and skirts around the E side of the Knock of Crieff before striking NNE past the East Lodge of Monzie Castle to join the present A822 road on the W flank of Milnquhanzie Hill.
There is no trace of the road as it crosses the golf course. However, at the NE edge of the course it is depicted on the 1969 edition of the OS 1:2500 map (NN 8723), running ENE from NN 8780 2306 for 130m along the S edge of a plantation before turning NE to cross a wooded gully to NN 8796 2322. On the date of visit no trace of the road could be found along the edge of the plantation, nor across the gully, which was choked with nettles and other weeds. However, a short length of hollow-way, about 6m wide and 0.6m deep, emerges from the plantation, runs E and then swings NE towards the wooded gully, a route which would have provided an easier, more staggered descent into the gully than the line indicated by the OS.
From the NE edge of the gully, at NN 8798 2324, the road is more easily followed as it runs NE along the base of the Knock of Crieff. For about 50m it measures 3.5m in breadth between slight ditches, with a bank on the NW (upslope) side; the ground then rises on the SE side and the road is levelled into this slope for about 200m, as far as NN 8818 2340, at which point a golf tee (now disused) has been built over it. From this point onwards the higher ground is again on the NW side, retained by a substantial revetment, while a second revetment, constructed of large boulders, supports the SE edge of the road, forming a terrace about 8m in breadth.
About 80m NE of the tee, at NN 8825 2345, the road becomes obscured by spoil from the construction of a forestry track that runs immediately above it on the NW side for about 100m. It re-emerges on the N side of the forestry track at NN 8831 2353, having turned to the NNE at about NN 8831 2350. For about 120m it runs through a coniferous plantation, where it measures about 7m in breadth and is flanked on the W by a stone revetment up to 1.5m high. Beyond the plantation it can be traced as a hollow-way for another 50m, as far as NN 8833 2369, where a large tree on the edge of an arable field stands directly on its line. The course of the road across this field was revealed as a cropmark in barley during August 1996, heading directly towards the lodge at the east gate of Monzie Castle (NN 8839 2409).
The road again becomes visible after it crosses the public road 100m NNE of the lodge, at NN 8841 2419. A well-defined stretch of hollow-way, 1.5m deep and 6m broad between stone revetments, climbs obliquely up the w shoulder of Milnquhanzie Hill for 250m, to converge with the A822 road at NN 8845 2446. On the E side of this stretch of the military road, at NN 8845 2436, there are two grassed-over quarry pits which may be associated with it.
Visited by RCAHMS (SDB), 23 August and 24 September 1996.
