Witch Knowe

The watch-towers in this sector were intended to control movement on the road between Strageath and Bertha, and the system may have been continued south to Ardoch and perhaps further. They should be seen as a sort of linear frontier, an early precursor of more complex barriers such as the Antonine Wall, but they were also distinct elements in a surveillance system of roadside installations which controlled movement of the native population into and out of Fife. For example, it has been suggested that the towers between Ardoch and Kaims Castle (no. 82) may also have served as a forward line of communication for the fort at Ardoch; these watch-towers have two ditches and thus appear to belong to a group distinct from the Gask Ridge series. The towers, separated by intervals which range from about 0.8km to 1.5km were some 3.5m square with stout corner-posts, and excavations have revealed that some of these posts were connected by sleeper-trenches to provide additional support for the superstructure-a two-storey signalling tower of the type clearly illustrated on Trajan's Column; the pits in which these posts stood may be seen on the air photograph of Westerton (NN 873145); in some examples the tower was surrounded by an earthen rampart, probably surmounted by a timber breast-work, and by a ditch (over 3m wide and at least 1m deep), occasionally with an outer bank. The ditch was interrupted opposite the entrance (also visible on the air photograph) to allow access from the road; an indication of the road-line is given on the photograph by the roadside quany-pits seen as dark patches. The general appearance of the watch-towers is shown in the reconstruction drawing, reminding us perhaps that although the surviving traces are slight, the towers once formed part of an effective military communications-system, which successfully imposed Roman control over east-central Scotland.

Among the best preserved and most accessible sites are those listed below.

Witch Knowe (NN 997195). Park at the entrance to the forestry track opposite the lodge to Gask House at NN 996194; a little to the east on the north side of the road there is an overgrown track; the watch-tower is in trees 90 m north of the broken gate. The ditch, causeway and outer bank can still be seen. Four postholes of the watch-tower were discovered during excavations in 1900, each about 0.45 m in diameter and 0.6 m deep.

Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Fife and Tayside’, (1987).