Archaeology Notes

Event ID 703099

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/703099

NS47SE 52 480 729.

NS 480 730 - NS 482 730 (NS 479 730 - NS 481 729 ?) Excavations at Carleith in 1980 to prove the line of the Antonine Wall also sought evidence of a possible fortlet which on the grounds of spacing might be expected hereabouts. Search for a fortlet was concentrated at three points:

(i) on high ground in front of Carleith farm (area NS 4813 7296);

(ii) where the Wall turns northwards (area NS 4805 7298), and

(iii) on lower ground beside the Carleith Burn where enigmatic structures, including "a wall base 9ft wide which leaves at 90 degrees to the southern edge of the Antonine Wall", were observed in 1971 (area NS 4796 7300).

Further work at (i), the most likely position, where fragments of the stone base on two apparently conflicting alignments were located, is in prospect.

L Keppie and J Walker 1980; MS and oral information from L Keppie and J Walker, May 1980.

Features associated with the Antonine Wall (NS47SE 83) and the Antonine period fortlet, (NS47SE 52) have been identified in gradiometer data captured at Carleith Farm.

The line of the Antonine Wall (NS47SE 83) follows that depicted on the 2022 edition of the digital OS MasterMap, running from E to W though through the amenity land N of Carleith Primary School and turning to the NW as it passes to the S of Carleith Farm. This supports the results of earlier excavation (Keppie & Breeze 1981: 242). The ditch has been recorded as a single linear negative anomaly measuring 7m across. It is visible in the E of the survey area but is difficult to identify with certainty towards the W due to magnetic disturbance. Fragmentary traces of the Rampart base are visible in the extreme S of the survey area, and parts of the Outer Mound are visible to the N of and parallel with the Ditch.

Two linear features of raised magnetism projecting at right angles from the line of the rampart of the Antonine Wall represent the remains of the fortlet (NS47SE 52). It is located immediately W of the excavations undertaken in the 1980s (Keppie & Breeze 1981) and measures about 20m from NNW to SSE within ramparts about 3m thick. Its N to S dimensions could not be confirmed. No defensive ditches associated with the fortlet were identified in the survey data, so it cannot be established if the fortlet had a freestanding phase.

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Information from HES Archaeological Survey (N. Hannon), 14 June 2022.