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Geophysical Survey

Date 2010

Event ID 883814

Category Recording

Type Geophysical Survey

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/883814

NN 727 012

Resistance and magnetic surveys were conducted on the parts of the Roman fort which have not been built upon, along with an external area to the E. The data obtained was partly obscured by interference from modern features, such as fences, pipes, paths and a cricket square, but a reasonable view was obtained.

The work revealed the SW and NW gates, to add to the known SE gate and although the remaining (NE) gate could not be covered, it was possible to extrapolate its position to beneath the main entrance gate to Doune Primary School. Past aerial and excavated indications that the fort had a triple ditch system were confirmed and, unusually, this now seems likely to have passed around all four sides. Moreover, the NW gate had a so-called ‘parrot beak’ ditch

break, to parallel that already known at the SE gate. The SW gate was located approximately one third of the way along the fort’s long axis from the E, which suggests that the praetentura lies in the E and that the fort faces SE, down the Teith valley. Sections of the rampart were visible in the magnetic data, and appeared to show inward turns at the gates, so that the gates themselves would have lain at the end of rampart re-entrants. This seems to be becoming a regular feature of forts with parrot beak ditch breaks and makes sense as a defence mechanism; since the ever narrower funnel produced would disrupt an attacking formation. Inside the fort, areas of what seemed to be the internal street grid

could be identified. A series of circular features immediately behind the rampart were probably ovens. A radar timeslice (15 x 15m) and profile (25m) in the SE corner of the fort confirmed the line of an internal street and a section of the

intervallum road. Outside the fort, a small group of ring features at the top of a steep bank that slopes down to the Ardoch Burn may represent roundhouses.

Archive: RCAHMS and The Roman Gask Project

Funder: Historic Scotland

DJ Woolliscroft and O O'Grady 2010

People and Organisations

References