Trial Trench

Date 26 October 1966 - 30 October 1966

Event ID 633670

Category Recording

Type Trial Trench

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/633670

The most prominent of the linear cropmarks previously reported (St Joseph 1965) has been excavated and found to be a large V-shaped ditch, 6' deep, and characteristically Roman type. Cropmarks establish two sectors of its course, 975ft and 625ft in length, inclined at an obtuse angle, probably defining the NW and W sides of a larege camp, lying on carefully chosen ground protected on these sides by a scarp sloping down to the River Esk, and to the E by the extensive Howe Mire, now converted to arable land. Repeated search has failed to reveal a corresponding ditch to E and SE. However the E-W dimension is unlikely to be less than 1550ft, and there is space for a camp of the largest size. The position is six miles from Pathhead, and it may be noted that this is the last space S of the fort in Inveresk village on which it is possible to lay out, on level ground, a camp of 120 acres or more.

J K St Joseph 1969