lanarkshire-1978/03_177

Transcription

No. 266 -- MISCELLANEOUS EARTHWORKS AND ENCLOSURES -- No. 270

for much of its course by modern roads and railways,
sufficient evidence has survived to indicate the approxi-
mate alignment. For a distance of about 1.5 km NE of
Elvanfoot the road appears to have kept close to the left
bank of the river as it makes a great bend to the E, but
some 400 m NNE of Rowantree Pool (958187), where
the river flats become more extensive, it inclines to the
N, pursuing a more direct course across the lower SE
slopes of Ellershie Hill. Before the Glasgow-Carlisle
road (A 74) was converted into a dual carriageway in
1963, the Roman causeway could be seen to converge
gradually with it, the point of junction being about 450 m
SSW of Stoneyburn farmhouse.
No further traces have been recognized, but if Roy
is correct in his assertion ¹ that the road was aiming at a
crossing of the River Clyde near Crawford Castle, its
course beyond this point cannot have lain far from that
of the main street of Crawford village, which runs in a
straight line to the NNW for more than 1.3 km and
passes within 60 m of the temporary camps at Bellfield
(cf. No. 255). About 400 m S of Crawford Castle the old
line of the village street is crossed by the main railway
line from Glasgow to Carlisle, and the truncated portion
of road to the N, here bearing the name of Watling
Street, inclines further to the NW to take advantage of
a convenient spur which leads down to the bank of the
River Clyde. Hereabouts, some distance to the SW of
the fort No. 255, the Roman road was presumably
carried across the river by a bridge, but the precise
location of the crossing is still unknown. On the far
bank, probably to the NE of the fort, the road will have
rejoined the main trunk route from Annandale (No.
263).

916059- -- NS 90 NW, NS 91 SW, NS 91 SE, -- Various
954214 -- NS 91 NE, NS 92 SE -- dates 1969-71

266 Supposed Roman Road, Roberton to Castle-
dykes. It has been suggested ² that a Roman branch-road
left the main Crawford-Inveresk road (No. 263) in the
vicinity of Roberton and ran thence NW to the fort at
Castledykes (No. 252). The remains cited in evidence
have been examined by the Commission's officers, and
adjudged to be simply parts of the medieval and later
road-system connecting Upper Clydesdale with Lanark
by way of Tinto and Hyndford Bridge. ³

943287- -- NS 92 NW, NS 93 SW, -- July 1969
926376 -- NS 93 NW, NS 94 SW

MISCELLANEOUS
EARTHWORKS AND
ENCLOSURES

267 Enclosure, Airbles (Site). It is recorded ⁴ that
until the 18th century a ditch enclosed an oblong area
of about 0.1 ha (0.25 acres) on the edge of the steep
slope above the River Clyde. When the ditch was cleared
out no finds were made except for some clinker, but to
mark the site the existing dwelling called 'The Summer
House', was built and the area landscaped.
A mineral railway and tip now cover part of the over-
grown and derelict area outside the garden of The
Summer House, which lies immediately W of the railway
viaduct and cutting on the N bank of the River Clyde.
Excavations into a putative bank and ditch running
parallel to the SE side of the garden revealed no indi-
cation of an artificial origin. ⁵

748557 -- NS 75 NW -- March 1975

268 Earthwork, Bank Farm, Dolphinton (Site). No
visible traces remain of the earthwork that was formerly
situated 1.6 km SW of Dolphinton village at Bank
Farm; partly destroyed by the construction of the
Edinburgh-Biggar road, it was obliterated when Bank
Farm was built. ⁶ From this site may have come the small
bronze figure of a bull (Pl. 5H) and the 'trumpet' brooch,
now missing, that were donated to the National Museum
of Antiquities of Scotland in 1882. ⁷

094453 -- NT 04 NE -- July 1969

269 Enclosures, Biggar (Sites). At the SE corner of
an arable field immediately N of the Biggar-Broughton
road, and opposite the house called 'Murrayfield',
the presence of two adjacent ditched enclosures is
disclosed by crop-marks on an air photograph (CUCAP
no. DN 27). The larger enclosure is sub-circular,
measuring about 36 m in diameter over the ditch, while
the smaller is square in shape, measuring about 12 m
across. Near its SW angle, the ditch of the larger en-
closure appears to merge with that forming the E side
of the smaller. There is no indication of an entrance
through either ditch.

049378 -- NT 03 NW -- July 1969

270 Enclosure, Bizzyberry Hill. In the saddle 150 m
E of the fort No. 215 there is an enclosure which
measures about 12 m over all and consists of a central
area, about 6.2 m in diameter, surrounded by a ditch up
to 2.9 m wide and 0.4 m deep. The ditch is interrupted
on the ESE by a causeway 1.7 m wide. Ploughing has
removed the outer lip of the ditch for a short stretch on
the S. The possibility that this enclosure was made for
ritual purposes is discussed in the Introduction, p. 8.

049393 -- NT 03 NW -- February 1975

1 Military Antiquities, 105.
2 TDGAS, 3rd series, xxxi (1952-3), 30-4.
3 The route, shown on Roy's Military Survey (sheet 6/4),
appears to be that followed by Pococke in 1760 (Pococke,
Tours, 43-4).
4 Stat. Acct., iii (1792), 456; ibid. (reissue), vii (1973), 241.
5 South-western Scotland, 77-8
6 Name Book, No. 22, p. 18.
7 PSAS, lxvi (1931-2), 380; Irving and Murray, Upper
Ward, i, pl. ix, 2.

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