Dalkeith
Temporary Camp (Roman)
Site Name Dalkeith
Classification Temporary Camp (Roman)
Alternative Name(s) Smeaton; Dalkeith Northern Bypass
Canmore ID 53461
Site Number NT36NW 33
NGR NT 34540 69160
NGR Description Centred NT 34540 69160
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/53461
- Council East Lothian
- Parish Inveresk (East Lothian)
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District East Lothian
- Former County Midlothian
NT36NW 33 centred NT 34540 69160
See also NT36NW 54.
(Name: NT 3454 6916) ROMAN CAMP (R) (site of)
OS 6" map (1968)
A Roman temporary camp has been observed N of Dalkeith, represented by a length of some 950' of its N side, including a gate with tutulus.
J K St Joseph 1965
Further information has been gleaned about this camp, of which only part of the N side, including a gate, was known. The rounded NW angle and a length of some 600' of the W wide can not be added. More information can be expected under favourable crop conditions.
J K St Joseph 1973
There are no ground surface remains of this camp.
Visited by OS (SFS) 16 April 1975
Photographed by the RCAHMS in 1979.
Cropmarks on the S side of the district boundary, to the SE of Pickle Dirt steading, have revealed what may be lengths of the SE and SW side of this camp (see also NT36NW 54).
RCAHMS 1988
NT 345 692 area. An excavation was conducted between November 1994 and January 1995 across the Roman Temporary Camp (RTC) at Smeaton, within the proposed road corridor of the A68 Dalkeith Northern Bypass. Seven trenches totalling c7500 square metres in area were excavated within the c60m wide road corridor running for c400m between the River Esk and Salters Road. Archaeological features of Roman, prehistoric, post-medieval and modern origin were recorded. Those demonstrated to be of pre-medieval date were entirely restricted to the areas of gravel subsoil adjacent to the river. To the E of this, where a heavy clay subsoil was present, only a dense spread of cultivation furrows and land drains was identified.
Only the western alignment of the RTC perimeter ditch was located in Trench 1. A continuous length of 57.5m of this feature was exposed, through which 13 sections were excavated. The ditch was most substantial at the northern end of the trench, where it was 3.5m wide and 1.7m deep, with a V-shaped profile and indications of a squared channel at its base. No evidence was identified for any structural complexity within the ditch. It had not been deliberately backfilled. No trace of an adjacent rampart survived. Finds from the ditch include a carved sandstone block, a fragment of stone armlet and a chip of flint, all from the uppermost ploughsoil fill. The absence of the opposite, eastern, ditch alignment of the RTC accords with the cropmark evidence- either this feature was never dug or it has not survived later cultivation.
Three linear features and a series of pits were identified in the vicinity of the western RTC ditch. Artefact recovery and stratigraphic relationships indicate that at least some of these features are of pre-Roman origin. The linear features, c0.2m deep, were truncated by the RTC ditch: they may be some form of cultivation furrow (1018, 1113, 1125). Two large pits, 2.5m and 3.0m long and each c1.5m wide by 0.3-0.5m deep, containing primary deposits of burnt cereal grain and charcoal, are provisionally identified as cooking pits or ovens (1076, 2027). Pending further analysis, these features can be interpreted as being of either Roman or native in origin. The remaining pits were generally sub-circular, measuring between 0.5m and 1.5m across and less than 0.5m deep. Few showed evidence of multiple fills and none had been recut. Several sherds of coarse, native pottery were recovered from pits 2016 and 2017.
Sponsor: Roads Directorate of The Scottish Office Industry Department and managed on its behalf by Historic Scotland.
A J Dunwell 1995.
Site identified during an archaeological assessement carried out by CFA Archaeology Ltd.
Mhairi Hastie, 2006.
Field Visit (16 April 1975)
There are no ground surface remains of this camp.
Visited by OS (SFS) 16 April 1975
Aerial Photography (29 July 1979)
Aerial Photographic Transcription (3 August 1990 - 14 August 1990)
An aerial transcription was produced from oblique aerial photographs. Information from Historic Environment Scotland (BM) 31 March 2017.
Excavation (November 1994 - January 1995)
NT 345 692 area. An excavation was conducted between November 1994 and January 1995 across the Roman Temporary Camp (RTC) at Smeaton, within the proposed road corridor of the A68 Dalkeith Northern Bypass. Seven trenches totalling c7500 square metres in area were excavated within the c60m wide road corridor running for c400m between the River Esk and Salters Road. Archaeological features of Roman, prehistoric, post-medieval and modern origin were recorded. Those demonstrated to be of pre-medieval date were entirely restricted to the areas of gravel subsoil adjacent to the river. To the E of this, where a heavy clay subsoil was present, only a dense spread of cultivation furrows and land drains was identified.
Only the western alignment of the RTC perimeter ditch was located in Trench 1. A continuous length of 57.5m of this feature was exposed, through which 13 sections were excavated. The ditch was most substantial at the northern end of the trench, where it was 3.5m wide and 1.7m deep, with a V-shaped profile and indications of a squared channel at its base. No evidence was identified for any structural complexity within the ditch. It had not been deliberately backfilled. No trace of an adjacent rampart survived. Finds from the ditch include a carved sandstone block, a fragment of stone armlet and a chip of flint, all from the uppermost ploughsoil fill. The absence of the opposite, eastern, ditch alignment of the RTC accords with the cropmark evidence- either this feature was never dug or it has not survived later cultivation.
Three linear features and a series of pits were identified in the vicinity of the western RTC ditch. Artefact recovery and stratigraphic relationships indicate that at least some of these features are of pre-Roman origin. The linear features, c0.2m deep, were truncated by the RTC ditch: they may be some form of cultivation furrow (1018, 1113, 1125). Two large pits, 2.5m and 3.0m long and each c1.5m wide by 0.3-0.5m deep, containing primary deposits of burnt cereal grain and charcoal, are provisionally identified as cooking pits or ovens (1076, 2027). Pending further analysis, these features can be interpreted as being of either Roman or native in origin. The remaining pits were generally sub-circular, measuring between 0.5m and 1.5m across and less than 0.5m deep. Few showed evidence of multiple fills and none had been recut. Several sherds of coarse, native pottery were recovered from pits 2016 and 2017.
Sponsor: Roads Directorate of The Scottish Office Industry Department and managed on its behalf by Historic Scotland.
A J Dunwell 1995.
Desk Based Assessment (2006)
Site identified during an archaeological assessement carried out by CFA Archaeology Ltd.
Mhairi Hastie, 2006.
Publication Account (17 December 2011)
First recorded in 1962 by St Joseph from the air (1965: 80), the camp at Dalkeith lies about 3km south of the fort and camps at Inveresk on fairly level ground east of the River Esk. Parts of three sides of the camp have been recorded through cropmarks, demonstrating that it was a parallelogram; a possible rounded corner at the eastern end of the NNE side may indicate the position of the fourth side. This suggests that it measures 385m from NNE to SSW by at least 340m transversely, enclosing a minimum of 13ha (33 acres). Entrance gaps protected by tituli are visible in the NNE and WNW sides. Various excavations of the camp in advance of the Dalkeith Northern Bypass have failed to locate its eastern side (Dunwell and Suddaby forthcoming), thus the overall size of the camp remains unconfirmed, despite the identification of a ditch east of the road beside the camp; this was interpreted as probably of post-medieval origin. Elsewhere, the perimeter ditch on the WNW side measured up to 3.35m wide and up to 1.7m deep, with indications of a ‘squared channel’ at its base (Dunwell and Suddaby forthcoming).
Two possible field ovens were also identified during these excavations, one inside the camp, the second outside close to a further similar feature; these contained deposits of burnt cereal grain and charcoal; radiocarbon dating indicated a Roman date for the former and post-Roman dates for the latter. The presence of large quantities of cereal grain, primarily barley, was used to argue against the oven having been used by the Roman military (Dunwell and Suddaby forthcoming), but the argument is weak given our lack of understanding of Roman ovens, particularly from temporary camps. A piece of samian was found in the camp ditch. This was dated to the Antonine period, thereby giving a probable date for the occupation of the camp.
R H Jones
