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Elginhaugh

Bath House (Roman)

Site Name Elginhaugh

Classification Bath House (Roman)

Canmore ID 53519

Site Number NT36NW 83

NGR NT 32163 67204

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/53519

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Administrative Areas

  • Council Midlothian
  • Parish Dalkeith
  • Former Region Lothian
  • Former District Midlothian
  • Former County Midlothian

Archaeology Notes

NT36NW 83 NT 32163 67204

See also NT36NW 61.00.

Parch-marks in pasture S of fort NT36NW 61 revealed a bath-house measuring c.23m E-W by 7.5m; trial-trenching confirmed the identification, revealing walling standing eleven courses high in places, and suggested the source of voussoirs re-used in the long cists at Park Burn (NT26NE 28). (Information from G S Maxwell)

S S Frere 1985; Scotsman, 22 July 1985

Activities

Note (1988)

Elginhaugh, Fort, Annexes and Bathhouse NT 32 67 NT36NW 61 & 83

In 1979 air photography revealed the existence of a Roman fort on the left bank of the River North Esk to the NW of Dalkeith; it is set on the crest of a steep scarp 250m N of Elginhaugh Bridge. Subsequently an annexe was identified on the NW side of the fort and a bathhouse at the foot of the scarp to the S.

(1) NT 321 673. The fort was completely excavated in 1986 and shown to be of Flavian date. It covered an area of 1.26ha within a turf rampart from 6m to 8m thick, defended by three or four ditches. Six-post towers flanked each of the four gateways and there were also towers at the corners and at intermediate positions in the rampart. All but one of the buildings in the interior were of timber; there was a central range, comprising the headquarters building, the commandant's house and two granaries, and there were barrack-blocks and storage buildings to both front and rear. A building with stone footings, set against the back of the rampart at the NE corner, may have been a workshop; several stone-built ovens had also been set against the rampart and there was a system of stone-lined drains along the roads. The fort had been deliberately demolished, although there is some evidence for a brief re-occupation. The finds include pottery, glass, a steelyard, a bronze patera, a bronze key, an iron shield boss, a cache of unused nails and a hoard of 41 denarii, the latest of AD 77-8. The latest coin from the fort is an unworn sestertius of AD 86.

Pre-Roman material was also found during excavation; this included large numbers of Mesolithic flints from beneath the rampart on the W side of the fort, and pottery of probable late Bronze Age or early Iron Age date from a number of shallow pits sealed by part of the intervallum road on the E; the pits contained quantities of burnt material and, in one case, some grains of barley. A turf-line visible beneath the rampart and roads suggests that the area was under pasture when the fort was constructed, although ardmarks were recorded at a number of points.

In 1987 further excavations were conducted in the annex on the NW, where a complex structural sequence was revealed, but no further details are yet available.

(2) NT 3212 6718. The bathhouse, which is presumably enclosed by an annexe attached to the fort, measures 23m from E to W by 7 .5m transversely. It is divided into three square rooms with a projecting apse at the Wend. Trial excavation showed that the walls of the bathhouse still stand up to 1.1m in height in eleven courses (see also NT26NE 28).

RCAHMS 1988

(Maxwell 1983, 172-7; DES (1984), 18; Frere 1985, 264-5; Hanson 1987)

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