Archaeology Notes
Event ID 679845
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/679845
NO01NW 7 02508 15025
Roman Camp (R)
(site of)
OS 1:10,000 map, 1994.
Extends onto map sheet NO01SW.
In April 1940 O G S Crawford noted at the S end of Kincladie Wood (NO 023 152) a bank and ditch, 430' long with the top of the bank about 3' - 4' above the bottom of the ditch which is on the N side. He considered it a cross-dyke barrier across the NE approaches to Dunning, but commented that "the possibility that it might be a Roman camp cannot be excluded." He further identified it with the "trench" mentioned by Macfarlane in 1723 as being situated in a level muir NE of Dunning and "capable to contain several thousands of men." (The writer, William Hepburn, schoolmaster of the parish of Dunning, uses the word "trench" to mean entrenchment or earthwork enclosure).
Air photographs reveal very little in the way of reliable crop- or soil- markings, but sufficient survives to suggest that the remains are those of the greater part of one half of one side of a Roman temporary camp of the 'Stracathro' class, the straight element (oblique) of the entrance defences peculiar to this class being identifiable on the E edge of the wood, the road from Forteviot to Dunning having destroyed the tip of the feature, and with it the entrance gap and complementary clavicula.
The place-name "Duncrub" about 1 mile to the W raises the interesting possibility that this may be the site of the Battle of Mons Graupius (Mons Graupius = Dorsum Crup = Duncrub is an acceptable equation.) Furthermore, the local topography fits very well the description by Tacitus.
R W Feachem 1970; D R Wilson 1970.
NO 025 148. Air reconnaissance and excavation during the last three years of this 115 acre camp (of the 1st campaign (83 - 84 AD), not of Stracathro type) has revealed axial dimensions of 2.200' E-W by 2,300'. Six gates with titulum have been postulated, two each on the N and S sides and a central one on the E and W. The only extant remains, on the N side in Kincladie Wood, is a rampart 400' long, 10' wide and 2' high with a V-shaped ditch 11' wide and originally 3 1/2' deep. The E end of the rampart terminates at the titulum of the western of the two gates.
J K St Joseph 1973.
The only remains are those in Kincladie Wood.
Visited by OS (J P) 30 April 1975.
No trace of the remainder of the camp can be seen. A gas pipeline has cut through the N defences just E of the visible N gateway. Two phases of use were discerned. Excavation showed that the ditch hereabouts, which was 3m wide and 0.75m deep, had lain open long enough for a layer of 0.17m of silt to accumulate, before its width was reduced by the insertion of a clay bank to 2.4m.
L J F Keppie 1988.
NO 021 149. A trench measuring 35m by 32m was excavated in October/November 1992 over the western entrance to the Roman camp at Dunning. The work was conducted in advance of a housing development. This part of the camp perimeter appears as a cropmark, and the trench was positioned from the rectified plot of an aerial photograph.
The western entrance to the camp was identified by excavation to be 15.5m wide. It contained no evidence for any gateway features, and was guarded by a titulus c14.3m long which lay c12m W of the alignment of the perimeter ditch of the camp. The ditch of the titulus was up to 3.3m wide at the surface and 1.6m deep, with a V-shaped profile and a squared channel running along the base. There was no evidence for recutting of this feature. Eleven joing sherds of a mid-2nd-century BB2 bowl were recovered from the second fill from bottom at its southern terminus.
The perimeter ditch of the camp was up to 3.5m wide and 1.5m deep. Where excavated, it had a V-shaped profile with a squared channel at the base. To the N of the entrance, the perimeter ditch had been constructed in two discrete lengths, containing the same sequence of fills and separated by a 0.8m-wide unexcavated rib of subsoil. The surface of this rib lay c. 0.4m beneath the preserved surface of the ditch, which narrowed noticeably in width to c. 2m at this point. A narrow channel extended transversely across the surface of the rib. Recutting of the perimeter ditch was identified in the terminus sections to either side of the entrance, but nowhere else. The layered sequence of fills within the perimeter ditch and the titulus indicates gradual infilling. No trace survived of the ramparts of the camp.
An irregular tapering depression, up to 5.3m wide and containing the discontinuous remains of two superimposed pebbled surfaces, ran from adjacent to the S end of the titulus to the centre of the camp entrance. A sherd of 16th to 17th century AD pottery was recovered from the layer sealing the pebbled upper surface. These surfaces are not necessarily Roman in origin, and may be associated with the continuing use of the entrance as a natural route through the disused defences of the camp.
Sponsor: A & J Stephen (Builders) Ltd.
CFA 1993.
(Centred at NO 0229 1519). The surviving portion of the N side of this temporary camp lies within the S part of Kincladie Wood and there is no change to the existing description.
Visited by RCAHMS (JRS, IF), 24 October 1995.
NO 023 146 Investigation in September 1997, by machine-stripping, of a site due for development as housing within the SW corner of the Roman temporary camp by Dunning (NMRS NO01NW 7) revealed no features or finds of Roman origin. The area had been a garden in recent decades, and a fertile garden soil overlay natural to a depth of 0.3-0.4m below present ground level. Finds from the soil include pottery and glass sherds of recent origin, except for two tiny sherds of glazed medieval pottery, and a small number of animal bones and teeth.
Towards the SE of the area two stone features were uncovered: an irregular setting of flat stones and the base of a drystone dyke. The setting was sunk into a hollow or cut into natural, and the hard-packed earth between its individual stones contained charcoal and two tiny sherds of medieval pottery. The feature was not fully investigated due to lack of time, but may have been a setting for fires, or a stack base. The wall was not fully uncovered, but it ran WNW-ESE across the southern corner of the site, and appeared to have no obvious relationship to the modern property boundaries. No dating evidence was found associated with it. A 1.15m wide gap in the wall was presumably a gateway. Both features are likely to have been of medieval or later agricultural origin.
A sandstone slab, 360 x 305 x 70mm, was found by chance a few metres NE of the excavated area on the surface of the adjacent field. A rounded hollow 120mm across and 20mm deep has been pecked in the upper surface, probably with a stone tool. The peck marks inside the hollow have been worn down by grinding. The slab has many recent plough scratches.
Sponsor: Abertay Property Co Ltd.
N M Robertson 1998.
Scheduled as 'Dunning, Roman camp 420m NW of Haughend... the remains of a Roman temporary camp surviving as a cropmarked structure and a linear earthwork.'
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 5 June 2009.
