Watching Brief

Date May 1999

Event ID 568825

Category Recording

Type Watching Brief

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/568825

NS 680 752-NS 638 738 An archaeological watching brief was undertaken for selected sections of the wayleave of the Kelvin Valley sewer: Stage 2, Phase 1 between Wester Shirva and Dryfield, and passing to the N of Kirkintilloch. Features of archaeological interest included:

NS 674 750 Manholes 27 to 31. Shallow ditches and other cut features were identified at the foot of the slope to the N of the Antonine Wall just to the W of the fort at Auchendavie. At least three of the ditches appear to be of Roman date and contained a small assemblage of Antonine pottery and some slag. They form the northern end of a rectangular enclosure 80m wide. The majority of the ditches are of a later date but stratified artefacts were limited to one sherd of medieval pottery. These ditches also appear to form the northern ends of enclosures, presumably with some agricultural function.

Access to the pipeline between Manholes 27 and 31 required two temporary roads to be laid over the Antonine Wall. Under the terms of Scheduled Monument Consent the line of each road was evaluated before construction began. A 1.5m wide trench was stripped of topsoil in order to locate the precise position of the wall base and ditch. Detailed measurements were made of the topsoil and markers inserted to monitor the impact of construction traffic using the road on the underlying deposits. At Access Road 16 (NS 6817 7516) the wall base survived as a few scattered cobbles and the ditch was identified 13-14m wide; both features were in their expected locations. At Access Road 14 (NS 6741 7490), only the ditch was identified as an 18m wide band roughly 25m S of its expected position. The wall base is believed to lie beneath the B8023 road at this point.

Sponsors: Historic Scotland, West of Scotland Water.

A Hunter-Blair 1999