Eassie

Eassie, Temporary Camp NO 351 466 NO34NE 26

This temporary camp, which has been associated with the campaigns of the emperor Septimius Severus (c. AD 208-11), is situated on sloping ground some 300m S of Eassie farmhouse. It measures about 635m from NW to SE, and the position of the NW gate, the only one to be identified so far, suggests that the cross-dimension was not less than 400m, the area enclosed thus being about 25ha.

RCAHMS 1983.

(St Joseph 1969, 111; DES, 1970, 4; St Joseph 1973, 224).

The camp at Eassie was first discovered from the air by St Joseph in 1968 (St Joseph 1969: 111). It lies in Strathmore, 5km east of the camp and fort at Cardean, on land that slopes northwards to the Dean Water.

Parts of three sides have been recorded through cropmarks, and the camp measures about 650m from north-west to south-east by at least 365m transversely. An entrance with titulus is visible on the north-west side. If this is central, this would suggest that its transverse dimension is about 400m, and the camp would enclose some 25ha (63 acres). There appears to be a corresponding entrance gap in the south-east side. St Joseph placed a trench through the north-west side in 1968, recording that the ditch was a very gentle V-shape, some 2.4m wide and 0.6m deep (RCAHMS St Joseph Collection: Notebook 5; DC 37354). Robertson also placed a trench through the camp in 1970, recording that the ditch had an irregular profile (Robertson 1970b: 4).

R H Jones