St Charles' Institution

NS94SW 40.02 9382 4437.

The stretch of causeway lying in the gully at NS 9382 4437 was sectioned in 1969.

Initial clearing uncovered a handsome cambered roadway, between 5.5m and 5.8m in width, with its upper metalling - rammed cobbles and grit - virtually undisturbed. Apart from a narrow channel for a modern field-drain which passed through the north end of the section, the kerbing on the uphill side of the road was still in situ; it consisted of large sandstone slabs. On the south, however, the kerbs had been removed, probably by ploughing. The bottoming consisted of rounded boulders and sandstone blocks of varying size, which were firmly bedded into a basal layer of sand or a mixture of sand, gravel and clay. Below this lay a second road, less markedly cambered than the first, and not in such a good state of repair; no kerbing was visible and the surface was less even. It measured a little less than 5m in width, but was constructed in the same way as the upper level, exhibiting a bottoming-layer of boulders and blocks with two bedding-layers of sand. Both roads were of the same maximum thickness, about 0.35m. Beneath the lower road along the entire length of the trench the old land-surface was overlain by a layer of sand and gravel with occasional blocks of turf to an average depth of about 0.3m. As this layer was not present in trial pits dug in the vicinity of the section it seems reasonable to assume that it represents an attempt by the road-builders to construct a 'raft' across the soft ground in the bottom of the gully; deeper digging at two points in the trench showed that there was in fact an average accumulation of about 0.8m of soft brown soil immediately above natural. It is possible that the less even surface of the lower road was the result of subsidence into this easily yielding material. (For section, see Maxwell 1976, fig. 2.)

G S Maxwell 1976; RCAHMS 1978.

Site recorded during an archaeological evaluation conducted on 30 alternative route elements, with a combined length of c84km, for a proposed road linking the M8 near Whitburn, Lothian Region with the M6/M74 near Douglas, Clydesdale District.

NS94SW 40.02 RR6 Roman road

An illustrated report will be deposited with the NMRS.

Sponsor: Roads Directorate of The Scottish Office Industry Department, managed on its behalf by Historic Scotland.

A J Dunwell and R J Strachan 1995.