Douglas Park

Historic Environment Scotland undertook gradiometer survey of 3.43ha at Douglas Park, Bo’ness, Falkirk, on 10 December 2020. The survey, which forms part of a wider Antonine Wall Geophysical Survey project, was undertaken to: (a) establish whether the Antonine Wall ran through the area; (b) identify any features of potentially Roman date; and (c) to explore the park for other previously unrecorded archaeological features.

Fieldwork was undertaken by Dr Nick Hannon and Dr George Geddes, and processing and data interpretation by Dr Nick Hannon.

The gradiometer survey was conducted using a hand-propelled Sensys MXPDA system mounted on a Sensys F-type non-magnetic cart, with standard profile wheels. This system utilised five Sensys FGM650/3 sensors operating at 100hz, mounted at a 0.5m sensor separation with bases positioned 0.05m from the surface and walked as a series of parallel traverses in a zig-zag pattern, with traverses aligned east-west and positioned 2.5m apart.

The geophysical survey produced good quality results which give a high level of confidence that the methodology and survey strategy was appropriate to assess the archaeological potential of the survey area.

The survey produced the following results:

• No trace of the Antonine Wall was identified within the survey area.

• The southern half of the survey area has seen a significant amount of disturbance during landscaping for

the two football pitches and their associated drainage. No features of archaeological, possible

archaeological or historical origin were identified in this area.

• The locations of two possible prehistoric ditched round barrows have been identified [1] [2], occupying

similar topographical positions to cists and a tumulus discovered in the 19th century around 1km to the

east of the park (NRHE ID: 49532 [3] & 49543 [4]). The identification of the barrows adds to the

scattered evidence for prehistoric activity in the area.

• What may be a small enclosure has been identified in the north east part of the survey area [5].

• In the north of the survey area there is a patch of rig-and-furrow in which the individual rigs

(still visible as surface features) are orientated N and S.

The survey archive includes a survey report [6] and the spatial data and layers created during data processing and interpretation. These include the unprocessed survey data, processed survey data [7], survey area extents which contain the survey metadata, and point, line, and polygon interpretations [8].

Visited by HES Survey and Recording (NH, GFG), 10 December 2020.

[1] http://canmore.org.uk/site/367880

[2] http://canmore.org.uk/site/367881

[3] http://canmore.org.uk/site/49532

[4] http://canmore.org.uk/site/49543

[5] http://canmore.org.uk/site/367885

[6] http://canmore.org.uk/collection/2169112

What are probably the remains of a prehistoric ditched round barrow have been identified in gradiometer data captured within Douglas Park. An anomaly comprising a circular band of raised magnetic response has been interpreted as a discontinuous ring-ditch with an overall diameter of 10m; further anomalies, interpreted as possible pits, are evident in the interior.

Information from HES Survey and Recording (NH) 24 February 2021.