Tollpark

Field under young crop when visited; no trace of circular cropmark but it is sited slightly below the highest point of a prominent E-W ridge at a height of 300ft OD which, together with the dimensions, suggests that it is a barrow-circle.

Visited by OS (AC) 29 April 1959

Tollpark NS 779 779 NS77NE 22

Cropmarks reveal the site of a possible barrow (about 20m in diameter within its ditch) between the rampart of the Antonine Wall and the Military Way, immediately NE of the industrial estate that occupies the site of Tollpark farm. On the SSE the Military Way and the barrow ditch intersect, but the relationship between the two is unclear.

RCAHMS 1982, visited June 1977

(St Joseph 1965, 81)

There is no evidence of this feature on the ground. No further information.

Visited by OS (MJF) 2 June 1980

NS 780 779 Excavations were carried out between the forts of Castlecary and Westerwood and its importance lies in it being the only point on the Wall line able to see both forts simultaneously, from the height of a Roman tower. The excavations fall into two sections: the W area to study the circular feature, possibly a Roman tower, and an eastern area to look at anomalies detected during resistivity and probing surveys and to check on the exact course of the Wall. The Wall base was found close to its expected line. Only slight traces of turf work survived, but the southern side of the stone base was well preserved with a stone drain. Plough damage was progressively worse as the Ditch was approached whereas in some sections the northern part of the base had vanished altogether.

A series of three sub rectangular pits were found on the berm. These were c.1m E-W by 50cm N-S by 15cm - 20cm deep and were separated by c.45cm gaps. They ran in a line parallel to the Wall base, c.1.5m north of the projected line of the north kerb of the [wall base]. Two of the pits had well preserved stake holes in their bottoms, with one pit also being stone packed. These may well represent the Roman pit traps known as "Lilia", groups of which had already been found on the Antonine Wall at Rough Castle (NS87NW 6) and Callendar Park (NS97NW 46.01). Extensive plough damage may explain why only a single row of pits was discovered rather than the usual chequer board pattern.

Two trenches confirmed the position of the ring ditch seen in the aerial photograph. It was found to consist of a re-cut "V" shaped ditch of standard Roman military type, c.1m deep and 2.3m wide. This ditch surrounds an interior area of c.14m in diameter making the structure as a whole remarkably similar to the Roman towers on the Gask Ridge (Westerton) (NN81SE 7). A third trench in the interior revealed a closely grouped series of three postholes which may represent the south-east corner of a Roman timber tower which has been subject to several re-buildings.

D J Woolliscroft 1993

Excavation of part of the wall at NS 780 779 revealed the stone base, crossed by a culvert, with a spread of cobbling to the S. On the berm was an E-W alignment of three rectangular pits, 1m by 0.5m and 0.15-0.2m deep; in the bottoms of two of the pits were stake holes, 3cm-4cm in diameter.

L J F Keppie 1993

This feature has a diameter of 26m and is stratigraphically earlier than the Antonine Wall and Military Way. There was evidence of more than a single entrance-break in its enclosing ditch and traces of a circular structure in the interior, when excavated by D J Woolliscroft of Manchester University. Though fragments of Roman glass were recovered from the interior and in the primary ditch silt, the date and function of the site remain uncertain.

L J F Keppie 1994

NS 780 779 A small trench opened to the S of the site confirmed its identity as a Roman tower (Woolliscroft 1994) sitting just to the S of the Antonine Wall inside its own ring ditch and linked by a track to the Military Way to its S.

Sponsors: University of Manchester and Soc Ants Scot.

D J Woolliscroft 1995.

Further work identified the last four post-holes supporting a square tower and clarified the alignment of a metalled track linking it to the military way.

L J F Keppie 1996.