Peebles - Castledykes - Loudoun Hill - Irvine (?)

NT24SW 91 from 2353 4142 to 2000 4057 RR 6.

Formerly RR 79a.

Definite traces of this road, which doubtless provided a link between the fort at Newstead (NT53SE 20) and the west of Scotland, probably Irvine, first appear at the S end of Standalane Wood, 500 yds N of Jedderfield farm.

It begins as a series of quarry-pits which cross the plantation from E to W (NT 235 414 - NT234 414). Obliterated for a short distance in cultivated ground, the pits reappear just inside the perimeter of the plantation at NT 232 413, while from NT 231 413, where it enters open moorland, the road-mound is well marked, descending into the head of the side-valley that runs northwards from Edston farm. Some 80 yds SE of the corner of the Upper Kidston enclosures a small watercourse has removed the road-surface and revealed much of a solid bottoming of large and carefully laid stones (RCAHMS 1967, plate 143B). At the head of the valley it coincides with the wall of the Upper Kidston enclosures, and then swings round the north-western bay of the valley on to a south-south-westerly course.

The road-mound is here somewhat indistinct, as a result of past cultivation, but about 500 yds beyond the turn a much better preserved stretch begins, 250 yds in length and evidently once provided with a drainage ditch on its upper side. This stretch is also accompanied by a row of quarry-pits for the supply of road metal; more than twenty pits are visible, some separate but many coalescing. Then follows a further length of 100 yds where the mound is considerably flattened and spread by old cultivation; it has, however, been boldly cambered and was at least 20 ft broad. It disappears in the cultivated fields at about NT 219 406, and is not seen again in the lower part of the valley. This section of the road is well engineered and graded throughout its length. After crossing the Meldon Burn, the road makes for the fort at Lyne (NT14SE 4). (See RX 2 for the portion of road between Newstead and Peebles.)

I A Richmond and A Graham 1945; 1953; RCAHMS 1967.

NT 224 416 - NT 209 410: The re-identification of the road-terrace on the east flank of Edston Hill as a mineral road (see NT24SW 89) makes it probable that the Roman road-terrace across the head of the Edston Burn continues on a course westwards along the south flank of South Hill Head. The search for the roadway on this line is hampered by later land uses but a broad roadway with massive cutting, terracing and banking for 150m from NT 211 411 to the Meldon Burn at NT 209 410 probably marks the course of the road. From the Meldon Burn a broad well-graded terrace, largely obliterated by cultivation, rises south-westwards to NT 205 408.

W Lonie, F Newall and H Sinclair 1988