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Publication Account

Date 17 December 2011

Event ID 922031

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/922031

The two Roman camps at Dullatur were first recorded from the air in 1961 as linear cropmarks by St Joseph, but it was several years later that the evidence was sufficient to classify the cropmarks as Roman (St Joseph 1969: 108–9). The camps lie on a north-facing slope, 400m south of the Antonine Wall, between Westerwood and Croy Hill. Only the south part of the two camps is known, with one inside the other, sharing part of the south-west side. The north part of the camps disappears under The Lane, a modern road. The larger camp (I) measures about 230m along its south-east side, with over 60m of the north-east and southwest sides recorded. Of the inner camp, (II), its south-east side measures some 146m, with 44m of its north-east side known.

The camps have been excavated on two occasions; in 1975–6 Keppie undertook trial excavations (Keppie 1978); and in 1998 a large area of the camp was excavated prior to the site being developed as a housing estate (Lowe and Moloney 2000). The 1975–6 trial excavations determined the relationship between the two camps. The smaller, inner camp (II) reuses the south-west perimeter of the outer. Keppie suggested that the area of the camps was 4ha and 1.7ha. The 1998 excavations uncovered the known perimeter of the camps, confirming their relationship, but, significantly, the entrance on the north-east side, recorded by Keppie (1978: 9), could not be confirmed because the ditch continued unbroken. The entrance on the southeast side was reconfirmed east of the centre, and measured 6.5m in width; no traverse was located.

The ditch of the outer camp was V-shaped and measured up to 2m wide and up to 1m deep, with an ‘ankle-breaker’ slot, 0.3m wide, sometimes recorded at its base (Lowe and Moloney 2000). The inner camp was of similar dimensions, but its profile was more rounded and U-shaped.

Roman pottery was found in the ditch of camp I and dated to the late Hadrianic–early Antonine period, therefore suggesting that the camp dated to the time of the Antonine conquest and construction of the Wall (Swan 2000). In addition, there were two well-defined turf stabilisation horizons in some areas, suggesting fairly rapid silt formation. The outer camp appeared to have silted up to a natural point of rest before the defences of the inner camp were recut. The presence of the two turf horizons in other sectors of the camp could suggest that the minimum time lapse between the construction of the second camp after the first was abandoned could have been as little as two years. However, this argument rests on the assumption that the south-east and south-west sectors silted up at the same rate (Lowe and Moloney 2000: 248).

The failure to relocate Keppie’s north-east entrance in the later excavations led to the suggestion that it may be represented by the line of the modern road, The Lane, because this changes direction at the point at which it enters the camp from the east. This suggestion could mean that The Lane represents the centre point on this side, as the entrance gap on the south-east side was slightly towards the north-east side, and possibly, therefore, a side gate. This would mean an increase in the size proposed for the camp, now measuring about 230m from north-east to south-west by up to 200m transversely, enclosing an area of up to 4.3ha (10.6 acres) (slightly more than the 4.2ha suggested in 2000 (Lowe and Moloney 2000: 249)).

The dimensions of the inner camp are less easy to determine because, while it utilises the south-west side of the larger camp, it need not necessarily utilise its north-west side (for example, Hillside Dunblane – illus 143). However, if the location of the north-west side of the outer camp is correct, and if the inner camp did reuse it, the camp would be almost square in shape, measuring about 146m from north-east to south-west by up to 150m, enclosing a maximum area of 2.18ha (5.4 acres).

R H Jones

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