Publication Account
Date 17 December 2011
Event ID 921640
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/921640
The large Roman camp at Channelkirk was spotted by Sir John Clerk in 1724 (Keppie pers comm; in prep), and later also recorded by General Melville (1755) and subsequently planned by Roy in 1769 (Roy 1793: 61, Pl. VI; Macdonald 1917: 178–9). Further information was also provided by Chalmers (1807: i, 142). It lies on the line of Dere Street, with the fortlet and camps of Oxton a short distance to the east. Stretches of the camp’s perimeter still survive as an earthwork, with a section of the western side surviving under a modern stone dyke. Parts of three sides have now been recorded as earthworks and cropmarks, suggesting that the camp was large but irregular in form. Its northeast side measures around 1058m and some 512m of its transverse dimension is known. Roy recorded that an additional line of earthwork connected the camp to a ‘small post, or redoubt’, now interpreted as an Iron Age fort, to the south on an extremely irregular route (1793: 61, Pl. VI). This line was excavated by Hewat-Craw, who noted that it ran in a straight line as shown by Roy, parallel to a plantation (1930: 324). However, he failed to give any dimensions that would confirm this feature as Roman, although he interpreted an earthwork across the fort as representing the Roman rampart constructed across the fort before turning to the east (1930: 324–5). There is no further information to support or deny this claim. The discovery of the east corner and a short stretch of the south-east side at Channelkirk Church confirmed the claim by Chalmers that the camp was now occupied by the ‘church, churchyard and minister’s glebe’ (1807: i, 142). It also emphasised the large size of the camp, which enclosed at least 47ha (117 acres), probably at least 55ha (136 acres) and is generally regarded to be closer to 66ha (165 acres), owing to its location and similarity with other camps on Dere Street (St Joseph 1969, 118; see also Chapter 9).
Entrances protected by tituli are visible on the WNW and NNE sides of the camp. That on the WNW side was excavated in 1921 by Hewat-Craw, and its ditch was just under 1m deep (1930: 324). Excavations on the south-east side of the camp near the church revealed a ditch which measured some 2.6m wide and 1.4m deep (RCAHMS St Joseph Collection: Notebook 2). Other excavations on the north-east side in 1897 gave no dimensions (Allan 1900: 645). St Joseph reported excavating a line of cropmarks where the ditch was cut in rock, but it is unclear exactly where his excavations took place (St Joseph 1957: 13).
R H Jones
