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Pathhead
Temporary Camp(S) (Roman)
Site Name Pathhead
Classification Temporary Camp(S) (Roman)
Canmore ID 53559
Site Number NT36SE 3
NGR NT 3975 6358
NGR Description Centred NT 3975 6358
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/53559
- Council Midlothian
- Parish Crichton
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District Midlothian
- Former County Midlothian
NT36SE 3 centred NT 39600 63590
See also NT36SE 17, NT36SE 34, NT36SE 37 -8.
(Name: NT 3960 6359) Roman Camps (R) (sites of)
OS 6" map (1966)
Two Roman temporary camps have been identified at Pathhead. A small camp (shorter axis about 620ft long) of approximately 13 acres shares two common sides with a larger camp of about 53 acres (dimensions 1725 ft NW-SE by 1300ft transversely). The latter has tituli on the NW and SW sides. (For a third Roman camp at Pathhead, see NT36SE 17.)
Visible on AP's (FSL/NCB 6797/9/623-4).
J K St Joseph 1958; 1961; Univ Edinburgh Extra-Mural Dept 1979.
This area is under pasture and none of these markings can be identified on the ground.
Visited by OS (SFS) 16 April 1975.
NT 395 639 Excavation ahead of a proposed housing development recovered the line of a Roman temporary camp ditch, as anticipated from aerial photographs, together with a very small sector of the annexe ditch of a 'native' enclosure. Four 10m sections and four smaller sections of the Roman camp ditch were excavated, the resultant profiles conforming to the standard characteristics previously recorded for Roman ditches at other marching camp sites. One section in particular produced potentially important palaeobotanical remains from its lower fills. A number of features believed to represent contemporary use within the camp interior were also excavated, including four possible figure-of-eight shaped ovens/hearths. Significant quantities of charcoal were recovered from these features from which it should be possible to obtain radiocarbon dates.
Examination of the native settlement annexe revealed a possible terminus of the perimeter ditch, perhaps indicating the presence of an entranceway. The only small finds of note from the site are a probable spindle whorl, recovered from the upper fills of one of the sections through the Roman camp ditch, and a small piece of slag from a small pit.
Sponsor: Stuart Milne Homes.
A Leslie and B Will 1998.
NT 395 639 An evaluation was carried out in April 2004 in advance of a proposed housing development between Roman Camp and Roman Court. Five trenches were excavated within the development area. No features of archaeological interest were identified.
Report lodged with Midlothian SMR and the NMRS.
Sponsor: John Dennis & Co Ltd for Lothian Housing Association.
R White 2004
Note (1988)
Path head, Temporary Camps NT 39 63 NT36SE 3 & 17
Aerial survey has revealed three temporary camps in the fields to the S of Pathhead. Immediately S of the village there is a camp of about 20.5ha (NT 396 636) with entrances defended by titula in the NW and SW sides; within the E portion of the interior there is a smaller camp of about 5.3ha, whose SE and NE sides coincide with the perimeter of the larger. The SE ends. of both these camps are cut across by the NW side of the third camp (NT 399 632). All that is known of this camp is the NW side, the N angle and part of the SW side, but it probably enclosed about 66ha.
RCAHMS 1988
(St Joseph 1958, 88; 1961, 121; 1969, 107; 1973, 216; 1976, 6; DES (1974), 47; Wilson 1975, 14)
Publication Account (17 December 2011)
The three camps at Pathhead lie on gently sloping ground just to the west of the A68, on the line of Dere Street. The two camps at Woodhead lie 1km to the north-west. The three intersect one another, with camp II tucked into the corner of camp I, utilising parts of its north-east and southeast sides. These two were first recorded as cropmarks in 1956 by St Joseph (1958: 88).
Camp I measures 530m from north-west to southeast by 390m transversely, enclosing 20.5ha (just over 50 acres). Two entrance gaps are visible on the south-west side protected by tituli; a probable entrance gap can be observed in the north-west side. St Joseph excavated on the camp in 1956, and although he recorded that the ditch measured up to 1.3m wide and 0.6m deep, it is not clear where his trenches were located (RCAHMS St Joseph Collection: Notebook 1). He also recorded a titulus in the north-west side (RCAHMS St Joseph Collection: DC 39405), but this could not be confirmed during appraisal of the available air photographs.
Some 160m of the ditch on the north-east side was excavated in 1997, recording that it was V-shaped with an irregular ‘ankle-breaker’ slot, up to 2.75m wide (3.8m wide in one trench) and up to 1.1m deep (Leslie and Will 1998). In places it appears to have been deliberately filled in, whereas elsewhere the ditch appears to have silted up naturally. Some 5–6m inside the camp, four figure-ofeight features were recorded and identified as Roman field ovens or hearths. The camp overlaps two probable settlement enclosures (not depicted on illus 190), but the relationship between these and the camp was not established by excavation (Leslie and Will 1998).
Camp II , occupying the east corner of camp I and sharing part of the adjacent north-east and south-east sides, measures almost 300m from north-west to south-east by almost 130m, enclosing 3.9ha (9.7 acres). A titulus is visible on the south-west side of the camp, but there is no apparent break in the ditch at this point, suggesting that the camp may have had more than one phase of use, or that there may have been a ditched feature across the entrance which would blur the cropmarks (similar to that found through excavation at Eskbank). Another possibility is that a later field drain may have been inserted into the ditch, as was the case with parts of the excavated ditch of Pathhead I on its north-east side (Leslie and Will 1998).
Camp III lies to the south of the other two, with its north-west side intersecting their south-eastern portion. It was discovered a few years later (St Joseph 1969: 107), and parts of only two sides have been recorded as cropmarks: 720m of the north-west side and 735m of the south-west with the rounded western corner between them. Nothing has been recorded east of the A68, but it is noteworthy that the road here bends where it meets the north-west side of this camp. This may be for an entrance or corner, although this is speculation. The length of the two known sides suggests an extremely large camp of at least 55ha (135 acres), and it has been grouped with the so-called ‘165- acre’ series on Dere Street. No clear entrances have been recorded; a possible titulus is visible on the south-west side, but this may relate to other cropmarks close to the side of the field where the Laird’s Entry road runs south-west from Crichton Farm. Other linear cropmarks are visible to the south-east, but none can be confidently ascribed to this camp. The cropmark to the south of the Laird’s Entry is on a slightly different alignment, but this could be due to a change at the possible gate. If the camp is 165 acres (66ha) in size (as proposed by St Joseph, 1969: 107; see above, Chapter 9), then the south-west side could measure some 900m and the titulus would be located less than 200m from the south corner. Excavations on the north-west side in 1969 revealed a ditch which was V-shaped, up to 3.6m wide and 1.5m deep (St Joseph 1973: 216).
R H Jones.
