Field Visit

Date 28 May 1957

Event ID 925085

Category Recording

Type Field Visit

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/925085

RCAHMS Marginal Land Survey

A description of this earthwork is given by Crawford in his ‘Topography of Roman Scotland' (p.78) but the following points should be noted:

1) Crawford’s compass-points are not always reliable,

2) As the Commission’s plan shows, the earthwork is not ‘a squarish structure’ but is definitely oblong,

3) The inner bank is obviously secondary since it lies 5 ft. back from the margin of the ditch on the W and N sides. The so-called ‘ditch’ behind it is merely the trench from which the upcast material used for the bank has been obtained. It is possible, in fact, that the mound has been stone faced.

4) The causeway on the E side looks secondary, and like the inner bank may be the result of a later adaptation of the site. The original causeway is in the N side, and has dammed up the silt deposited by the burn that formerly flowed into the NW corner of the ditch, with the result that the level of the ditch to the W of the causeway is 5 ft higher than it is to the E of it.

5) The round ‘stone structure’ in the SE corner is simply a fragment of a turf-covered wall. It is not round, and, although its purpose is uncertain, it is clearly of no great antiquity.

Visited by RCAHMS (KAS) 28 May 1957.