Border - Crawford - Inveresk (?)
Roman Road (Roman)
Site Name Border - Crawford - Inveresk (?)
Classification Roman Road (Roman)
Canmore ID 47383
Site Number NS92SE 32
NGR NS 9669 2000
NGR Description NS 9669 2000 to NS 9500 2318
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/47383
- Council South Lanarkshire
- Parish Crawford
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Clydesdale
- Former County Lanarkshire
NS92SE 32 9669 2000 to 9500 2318 RR 1
Formerly RR7f and RR 7g.
From sheet edge (NS 9669 2000) a modern cart track meanders across the Roman line, sometimes running to the E of the causeway, sometimes on top of it, or crossing to the other side. A length of the causeway remains in good order where it passes a streamlet opposite Bellfield farm (NS 9644 2047); rammed gravel forms the foundation for a road nearly 7 yds wide with a camber of 2 ft. At the field-wall N of Bellstane Craig, the centre-line of the causeway passes under the NE gatepost (NS 9627 2079). Just past the gate, the road turns N and again NW 150 yds ahead. Approaching Midlock Water, the modern track meanders across the mound, keeping mainly on the W slope, then turns N (at NS 9602 2106), the Roman causeway continuing in a straight line to the S bank of the stream as a cambered mound, 7 yds wide and 9 ins high, marked in dry weather as a belt of parched grass. Slight traces of a side-ditch remain on the NE side. A spread of large stones of road-metalling underlies the turf at the top of the stream bank (NS 9592 2119). There is then no trace of the road for some 200 yds, but the low mound of the causeway reappears in the same line in the paddock W of Midlock farm (NS 9578 2127 - NS 9571 2133). The road is leading towards Crawford Roman fort (NS92SE 2), but no traces can be seen in the low meadows by the Camps Water. The road reappears near the weir across the Camps Water (NS 9563 2170) where a large stony hump is cut off by river-erosion. This continues N in the form of a low broad mound, visible from the air in June 1939 as a belt of burnt grass, across two fields to an old plantation (NS 9563 2202). The road then ascends Raggenhill Hill in a series of carefully engineered zigzags, but descending the N side of the hill in a more gentle curve, its course indicated for most of the way (to sheet edge) by a broad shelf, although the metalling intermittently visible is probably that of the modern track that overlies it.
J K St Joseph 1952; I D Margary 1957; RCAHMS 1978.
NS 9669 2000 - NS 9627 2079 Farm track on line. (BS)
NS 9627 2079 - NS 0616 2092 Shelf 3m wide on E side of farm track. (BS) NS 9616 2092 - NS 9602 2106 Farm track on line. (BS)
NS 9602 2106 - NS 9592 2119 Agger 8.5m wide, 0.5m high. S side ditch visible as a vegetation mark.
Surveyed at 1:2500 scale. (JRL)
NS 9592 2119 - NS 9578 2127 No trace. (BS)
NS 9578 2127 - NS 9571 2133 N side of agger 0.5m high through pasture.
Surveyed at 1:2500 scale. (JRL)
NS 9571 2133 - NS 9563 2202 No trace. (BS)
NS 9563 2202 - NS 9500 2318 Old trackway on line. (WW)
Visited by OS (WW) 2 July 1955; (BS) April 1975; (JRL) 20 September 1978.
NS 958 212. Excavation in advance of the erection of a telegraph pole and the digging of a service trench beside the River Clyde, 500m SE of Crawford Roman fort, on the line of the Roman road, revealed no trace of cobbling or other archaeological traces.
L J F Keppie 1996
NS 9580 2127. The erection of a telegraph pole c 10m to the W of the line of a known Roman road (NS92SE 32) caused no disturbance. A ground wire was laid into a trench c 0.75m deep, cutting across the line of the Roman road. No road remains were exposed, due to earlier shallow quarrying on the site.
Sponsor: Scottish Power.
K Speller 1996.
Geophysical Survey (February 1990)
Detailed survey of several sites in the area prior to the M74 motorway.
Watching Brief (1 August 2010 - 1 September 2011)
A watching brief was carried out during ground breaking works associated with the construction of the grid connection for the Clyde Windfarm. The work was carried out during the laying of the interconnect cables from the Clyde Windfarm Substations to the grid. One previously unknown feature of archaeological significance, a pit containing prehistoric material, was identified during the watching brief. Pre-construction excavations and evaluations were carried out on sections of the cable route where it crossed the projected line of the Border - Crawford - Inveresk, Roman Road and the Torwood - Dalswinton - Crawford, Roman Road and a MoLAR farmstead and field system. The results of this pre-construction work are described under separate covers. The effect on the upstanding remains of the lazy beds was kept to a minimum and a section across a few of them indicated that they had been spade dug, due to the sharp profiles on the edges of the beds. The beds were 3.8m wide with the intervening drainage channels being 1m wide. An evaluation was undertaken along the route of the Clyde Winfarm Cable, and was required where the cable route crossed the supposed line of a Roman Road (Site 20 - RR4, NMRS No. NS91NE 31, SMR No. 12129), which runs from Torwood to Dalswinton to Crawford. A single continuous trench measuring c.400m by 2m was excavated. No traces of any such remains were found.
Information from Oasis (cfaarcha1-78625) 26 March 2013
Field Visit (11 November 2014)
This Roman road (Margary 7f) is visible as a low swelling, measuring about 10m wide and 0.2m high, running NW to SE from the edge of the river cliff on the SE bank of the Camps Water (NS 95707 21361) across to the far side of a small improved paddock immediately west of Midlock. Metalling is visible in section where a tree has been uprooted on the river cliff. The line of the road is lost as it drops down on to the floodplain of the River Clyde but it reappears on the river cliff above the Midlock Water, where its course is marked by a distinct swelling measuring about 10m wide and 0.4m high.
Visited by RCAHMS (ATW, AMcC) 11 November 2014
