Archaeology Notes

Event ID 707858

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/707858

NT00SE 20 centred 08985 02733

(NT 0880 0270) ROMAN CAMP (R) (Site of)

OS 6" map, (1957)

See also NT00SE 45.

Crop marks of the W ditch, with gateway and tutulus, the NW angle, and the E side of a marching camp were seen from the air in 1945-6. There was no trace on the ground when visited in August 1946. The S side has apparently been eroded by the river and the surviving area is some 900 ft by 575 ft.

Site surveyed at 1:2500 scale.

S N Miller 1952

Survey of the complex of camps at Beattock has confirmed that the interpretation of the structures on the E side of the Roman road as a large camp enclosing an elongated secondary work was correct. The crop-mark of a traverse lying a little distance to the N of the field boundary that masks the N side of the original camp confirmed the presence of an entrance about 150m E of the NW angle; this would divide the N side in a ratio about 2 to 1, which implies that the camp faced W, and the E and W entrances, previously noted, were centrally situated in their respective sides. The area of the camp, on this assumption would be about 15 ha (37 acres).

G S Maxwell and D R Wilson 1987.

Excavations were carried out on one of a group of Roman camps near Beattock, previously identified from oblique aerial photographs. The excavations preceded the emplacement of the North West Ethylene Pipeline. This involved the excavation of two adjacent trenches over the northern ditch of the Roman camp. The information from the two trenches shows a sequence of deposition events.

The earliest anthropogenic activity on the site is represented by two pits. One of these was immediately S of the ditch cut while the other was truncated by the ditch. They pre-date the ditch and may, therefore, be pre-Roman. The remarkable correspondence between their location and that of the later ditch does, however, suggest that they may relate to some feature, perhaps a land division or a settlement area, on which the Roman camp was aligned.

The ditch of the Roman camp was c2m wide (N-S) with a maximum depth of over 1m. The sides slope at c45 degrees to a rounded bottom. Traces of the accompanying rampart were recorded on the S (interior) side of the ditch. These had been levelled and spread by ploughing. The primary fill of the ditch seems to represent collapse of the natural sand and gravel through which the ditch was cut. This would probably have happened as a result of collapse of the ditch edges shortly after its excavation. A regular stone slignment was set on this primary fill, along the base of the ditch. The stones are consistently larger than those naturally occurring in the subsoil, and their regular, linear arrangement precludes their being tumble from a rampart kerb. They are provisionally interpreted as a defensive feature but it is difficult to provide any convincing interpretation of their function on the evidence available.

The upper ditch fills were probably in place before the construction of the adjacent drystone dyke which runs parallel to the ditch on its N side. The presence of quantities of stone in these upper fills suggests, however, that periodic rebuilding and collapse of the adjacent field boundary may have occurred during the accumulation of these deposits. Stones present in the upper fills may alternatively have derived from field clearance in adjacent land.

An intensive watching brief carried out during pipeline construction found no traces of either internal features or the southern boundary of the camp. The latter has probably been removed by erosion from the Evan Water. No artefactual material was located.

An archive report of fieldwork results has been deposited with the NMRS, and a publication report is in preparation.

CFA 1992.