Archaeology Notes

Event ID 750903

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/750903

NT71SE 5.01 754 139

Camp A: (RCAHMS 1956, plans, figs), the largest of the group, lies close to the W side of Dere Street on a platform of moderately even ground which slopes gently to N and E. Its S end lies on the edge of a small, dry gully. Approximately rectangular in shape, it encloses 42 acres, an area sufficient for the accommodation of two legions. The E and W sides are each 1705' long, the N side 1080' and the S side 1155'. The southern half of the E side, and practically the whole of the S side, have been obliterated by rig-cultivation, but the missing sections are, for the most part, revealed by vegetation marks on air photographs. Elsewhere the defences have not been ploughed and are in a fine state of preservation. The rampart, which is formed of upcast material from the ditch, measures some 15' in thickness at the base and up to 4' high, while the ditch is 15' wide and occasionally attains a depth of 4'. There is little or no berm. Five gates are now visible and a sixth may be assumed to have existed in the E side, matching the southernmost of the two W gates. The gates vary from 57' to 68' in width and are all protected by traverses: their relationship suggests that the camp faced northwards. The earthworks shown on the OS map both inside and outside the SW corner of the camp are not of Roman date: two of them are sheep-folds while the third is a land boundary.

RCAHMS 1956, visited 1949

Centred NT 755 139. The remains of Camps 'A' and 'B' have been fully described above. As stated, the earthworks within and without the SW angle are later works: two sheepfolds and an old turf (? field) bank.

Visited by OS (JLD) 11 August 1960

Generally as described by previous authorities.

Visited by OS (RD) 30 May 1968.

No change to the previous information.

Visited by OS (BS) 8 September 1976.