Motherwell, Airbles

NS75NW 9 7480 5576.

(NS 7480 5576) Camp (R) (Remains of)

OS 6" map (1864)

Early writers mention the existence of a camp in Dalziel parish, in the ditches of which were found 'cinders of the Roman forges'. The plateau is sufficient to accommodate a small fort, but remains are scant. On the E is a 50ft stretch of a substantial mound, 30ft wide and about 6ft high. About 30 yds along the S side are slight indications of a mound, but this is difficult to substantiate as it is in a garden. A railway cuts across the W corner of the earthworks. The N side is covered by a tip. Some half dozen trial trenches were cut across the mound. No relics were found; there was no indication of period or date, and no trace of foundation work or stratification of the material was evident. In a hollow to the E of the mound, a trench encountered no trace of artificially constructed ditches. The evidence of this excavation was therefore purely negative.

J M Davidson 1952

Immediately E of the eastern fence of the garden there is the mound and ditch referred to by Dr St Joseph. All dimensions given agree. On the S is a steep slope to the River Clyde. Nowhere else was any vestige of an earthwork seen. The area to the E is covered in vegetation and that on the W covered by a garden. Although in a predominant situation, there is no evidence to suggest that this earthwork is Roman.

Surveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (JLD) 28 August 1953

(NS 7480 5576) Earthwork (NR) (remains of)

OS 1:10000 map (1978)

A watching brief was carried out during the development of part of the site of this enclosure. No archaeological remains were encountered. Strathclyde Regional Council 1991.