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Desk Based Assessment
Date 18 May 1960
Event ID 714014
Category Recording
Type Desk Based Assessment
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/714014
(NT 3036 0471) Roman Signal Station (R)
OS 6" map (1965)
An earthwork, highly reminiscent of the Roman signal tower at Robin Hood's Butt [Cumbria], though the latter was shown by excavation to be an earthwork of indeterminate nature, occupies the summit of Craik Cross Hill, 22 yds N of the Roman road (NY29NW 17). It comprises a circular ditch 40 ft in diameter over its centre line with a bold mound inside it, 4 ft high and some distance away from the lip of the ditch, but unlike a tumulus or cairn (Richmond 1948).
A trial trench cut in June 1946 revealed a mound of turf and peat sods to a maximum height of 16 ins, surmounted by a layer of broken rock of similar thickness, both layers cut into by a modern excavation. 'No direct evidence of date was thus obtained. The construction, of gravel and turf, and the plan, a platform within a circular ditch, is quite normal for Roman work, while the single cross-trench might easily have missed the post-holes of a timber watch-tower. But if the site and the association with the road are considered, the case for a Roman date becomes stronger. The view from the mound is the most extensive that can be obtained anywhere along the line of the road, including as it does the Eildon Hills, Rubers Law and Burnswark. Indeed it would not be possible to organise a signalling system along the road without making use of the Craik Cross summit' (Joseph 1947).
Information from OS (ES) 18 May 1960
Sources: J K St Joseph 1947; I A Richmond 1948
