Archaeology Notes

Event ID 704152

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/704152

NS67SE 12.00 67763 74920

(NS 6775 7495) Roman Fort (R)

OS 6" map, (1967)

NS67SE 12.01 NS 674 750 Enclosures

See also NS67SW 22.

The area of the Roman fort at Auchendavy is now bisected by the Kilsyth road, which here may override the Military Way, and within it there lies the farmhouse of Auchendavy, north of the road, with the farm steading south of the road. It is probable that the Forth-Clyde Canal has partly destroyed the southern defences of the fort. Horsley states that the fort was enclosed by a triple rampart and ditch, but it is now almost obliterated. However, enough remains to confirm Roy's measurements of about 370' x 330' internally. Air photography (St Joseph 1951) has revealed two ditches along part of the E and S sides, and the SE angle of the fort. Coins, including a gold aureus of Trajan (98 - 117), a deposit of ballista bullets, five altars, four of which were set up by a centurion of the Second Legion, Marcus Cocceius Firmus, a stone bust, and two iron mallets, have been found here, also a small intaglio (now in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland [NMAS]). (See also NS67SE 18.)

J Horsley 1732; W Roy 1793; G Macdonald 1934; J K St Joseph 1951; A S Robertson 1973.

A broad, shallow, ill-defined depression represents the E side and SE corner of the Auchendavy Roman Fort. The hollow measures 20.0m - 30.0m in width, and 1.0m in maximum depth. A broad, unsurveyable mound follows this on the outer side. There are no surface indications of the ditches noted by St Joseph (1951) and no information regarding any fresh discoveries was obtained locally.

Visited by OS (J L D) 11 January 1957.

NS 677 749. During ploughing operations, a quantity of Roman sherds - pieces of amphora, coarse ware, samian ware, and flue tiles, were recovered.

Cumbernauld Hist Soc 1974.

NS 6775 7493 A magnetic survey of 2.8ha to the E and W of the fort in May 2006 continued previous work at the site. Anomalies detected to the E of the fort were unlikely to be Roman in origin, but those abutting the NE corner were more encouraging. On the W side further detail was obtained on the area enclosed by the fort's ramparts and a possible second, more westerly, line of defences. Conductivity was used on an experimental basis.

Location of archive to be determined.

Sponsor: EU Culture 2000.

Richard Jones, 2006.

NS 6775 7493 The magnetic survey carried out in July 2007 extended the work previously carried out (see DES 2006) in the large field W of the fort, giving an overall coverage of 5.5ha. The course of the ditch was followed across the full extent of the field. Survey N of the ditch towards the River Kelvin revealed nothing that could be clearly regarded as Roman; in particular, in the area excavated in advance of the sewer pipe line (Dunwell et al PSAS 2002, 13) little evidence was found for the presence there of Roman period ditches. The most interesting location was the c100m W from the fort's western ditches. Work now continues in two directions, first in distinguishing features of Roman origin

from those of later date among the plethora of features detected in this area. Second, the rich GPR data set from the same area is being interpreted; the subsurface plans obtained at different depths appear most promising and should be informative.

Archive location not yet decided.

Funder: EU Culture 2000: Frontiers of the Roman Empire project.

Richard Jones, 2007.

Scheduled [from NS c, 6734 7488 to NS c. 6782 7503] as 'Antonine Wall and fort, 130m NE to 375m WSW of Auchendavie Farm...'

Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 23 November 2010.