Peebles - Castledykes - Loudoun Hill - Irvine (?)

NS94SW 40.00 from 9499 4469 to 9000 4426 RR 6.

Formerly RR 79a and RR 79b.

Continuing the alignment of Strawfrank Access Road would carry the road towards the N edge of a conspicuous conical hillock (NS 947 445), at present in the middle of a small plantation. A series of trial trenches dug across this line in the plantation (NS 9481 4460) failed to locate any evidence more positive than the presence of a scatter of stones on top of subsoil. A final alteration of alignment to a little S of W would have brought the road along the edge of an escarpment which falls away steeply on the S, then up a gentle gradient to the next local summit, about 200m NE of St Charles' Institution, originally Carstairs House, where cuttings formerly used by estate tracks may indicate the approximate course. From this high ground the road descended in a direct line, making for the E gate of Castledykes fort (NS94SW 7.01, at NS 928 442). It is visible intermittently in the field lying immediately to the W of St Charles' Institution - in two places as a ramp crossing a transverse gully (NS 9398 4440 mand NS 9382 4437), and again as a slight shelf beneath the W field-boundary (NS 937 443). In the next field to the W, as the road crosses the mouth of a narrow valley 700m E of the fort, it reappears briefly as an agger 6m wide, but no traces survive in the low-lying ground beyond. (For description of the road leaving the W gate of the fort, see NS94SW 39 - RR 5.) The point at which this road diverged from that described on NS94SW 39 is still uncertain. Greenshields believed that the junction was at the crossing of the Mouse Water near Cleghorn, but there is no evidence to support this view, and consideration of the way the road was engineered across the difficult terrain to the E of Castledykes suggests that a more suitable place would have been somewhere on the Silvermuir ridge itself, about 200m NW of the Edinburgh-Lanark highway (A743). An alteration of course to the WSW hereabout would have brought the main Roman road past Stickhill cottage, where a cutting leads round the N side of a hillock towards a low terrace, which converges with the A743 about 180m NE of Huntlygate farmhouse (913446). Between Stickhill and Lanark no remains of the road appear to have survived, but it is possible that its course in these parts may co-incide with that of the A743, which proceeds along the crest of the high ground overlooking Lanark Moor in a series of short straight alignments. J B Greenshields 1864; G S Maxwell 1976; RCAHMS 1978.

NS 902 444 to NS 900 443. Cambered mound. Continuation of line westwards is NS 895 442 visible on RAF air photographs F.22.540/1292/0125-7 (flown 1954).

F Newall and W Lonie 1984.

NS 9499 4469 - NS 9415 4444 Nothing visible on ground.

NS 9415 4444 - NS 9410 4442 Short stretch of modern farm track on line. NS 9410 4442 - NS 9395 4440 No trace.

NS 9398 4440 Low mound across gully.

NS 9398 4440 - NS 9387 4438 No trace.

NS 9387 4438 - NS 9382 4437 Low mound across gully; shelf clearly visible at NS 9382 4437.

NS 9382 4437 - NS 9295 4420 No trace, apart from traces of agger in disturbed ground at NS 9369 4432. A stony spread 3m wide in a ploughed field between NS 9356 4425 and NS 9339 4426 appears to be relatively modern (E gate of Castledykes fort is at NS 9295 4420).

Visited by OS (BS) April 1975.

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.

RR 6 Roman road

NS 938 442 Roman road (supposed course of).

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.