Publication Account

Date 17 December 2011

Event ID 923956

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/923956

The camp at Stracathro was discovered from the air by St Joseph in 1955 (1955: 87), the neighbouring Roman fort being discovered two years later (St Joseph 1958: 91). It lies on level ground on a triangular spur between the West Water to the north and the Cruick Water to the east (both tributaries of the River North Esk). Stracathro Church lies immediately to the east, within the Roman fort, the annexe of which intersects the south part of the northeast side of the camp.

All four sides of the camp have been recorded through cropmarks, and it measures 442m from north-west to south-east by 370m transversely, enclosing 16.2ha (40 acres). All four gateways are recorded, in the centre of the north-west and south-east sides, and towards the south-east end of the other two sides. The entrances are protected by an external clavicula ditch and oblique traverse, giving rise to the expression ‘Stracathro-type’ for the particular gate arrangement (despite the fact that St Joseph noticed the similarity of the gates to the camp at Dalginross (1955: 87), recorded two centuries earlier by Roy; see above, section 7b).

St Joseph excavated a series of trenches in 1967, recording that the ditch was up to 2.9m in width and up to 1.2m in depth (RCAHMS St Joseph Collection: Notebook 4). The clavicula on the north-west side was also sectioned, revealing a shallow V-shaped ditch, measuring about 2.4m in width and 1m in depth (St Joseph 1970a: 171–5). A number of pits are visible within the camp, but these are of limited regularity and their association with the camp is unknown.

R H Jones.