Excavation

Date 1993

Event ID 571979

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/571979

NS 8858 7969 The SW corner of the defensive ditches of the Roman fort at Falkirk were found immediately to the N of the old course of the Goat Burn. The excavated area included two ditches and the stream itself. The inner ditch measured c.6m wide on the turn and was 1.5m deep from the level of the surrounding natural. 4m down the hillslope a second ditch occurred, 4.0m wide and 1.9m deep. Its V-shaped profile had been preserved by a lining of clay, from which an amber bead was recovered. Crossing these ditches at right angles was another, flat-bottomed ditch, 1.4m deep and 1.9m wide. The location suggests that it served as a sewer drain. It was subsequently modified by inserting a clay brick wall along its western side, narrowing the channel to only 0.3m at the bottom.

When the fort was abandoned, only the inner ditch appears to have been partially backfilled using rampart material. It and the outer ditch then slowly silted up. After a considerable accumulation of soil over the outer ditch had occurred, a blacksmithing establishment was placed here. There was no pottery associated with this horizon, and it was sealed by a cultivation soil containing 13th-17th-century pottery. Presumably, therefore, the blacksmith's shop dates to around the 10th century AD. The overlying cultivation soil averaged 0.8m deep and represents the infield of the late Medieval burgh of Falkirk.

Sponsors: Historic Scotland, Falkirk Museum

G B Bailey 1993