stirling-1963-vol-1/05_123

Transcription

No. 104 -- HOMESTEADS -- No. 104

[Plan Inserted]
Fig. 26 Homestead, Woodside (No. 103)

from E. to W. by 120 ft. transversely within a single
ruinous wall. The latter consists for the most part of a
substantial grass-grown, rubble bank from which pro-
trude numerous boulders which once formed parts of
the faces, and the wall may originally have been about
5 ft. or 6 ft. thick. The part of the wall that forms the
chord runs on the brink of a scarp some 4 ft. in height,
but in the absence of excavation it is impossible to tell
whether this scarp is of natural or artificial origin. The
entrance, 10 ft. in width, lies in the centre of the N. arc,
and on the inside it is flanked by two roughly circular
huts bounded by stone-faced, rubble walls about 4 ft.
in thickness, and measuring respectively 40 ft. and 35 ft.
in diameter internally. Both huts incorporate portions
of the main wall of the homestead and appear to be
contemporary with it. Several curved, stony banks lie in
the SW. and SE. parts of the interior.
Immediately outside the homestead to the E. there
are two lines of earthfast boulders, the uppermost of
which is linked by a scarp to a lightly walled enclosure,
now ruined, measuring 50 ft. by 45 ft. internally. The
relationship of this enclosure to the homestead is
uncertain.
That part of the modern field which lies SE. of the
homestead has been cleared of boulders and ploughed,
but the part to the NW. has not been so thoroughly
cleared and the plough-rigs are fewer in number. In this
part, some stone field-walls, probably not as old as the
homestead but now long disused, still survive.

753912 -- NS 79 SE -- 21 November 1956

104. Homestead, West Plean. On the crest of Common
Hill, 150 yds. NW. of the mansion of West Plean, there
is a nearly circular enclosure measuring about 90 ft. in
diameter within a ditch varying from 7 ft. to 12 ft. in
width. Outside the ditch, particularly round the SW.
half of the circuit, there are some slight traces of a bank.
On account of the wide view obtainable from this
enclosure, and its proximity to the Roman road from
York to Stirling and beyond (No. 124), it was once con-
sidered that the work was a Roman signal-station of the
type found on the Gask ridge, near Perth, where a
wooden tower was surrounded by a circular earthwork. ¹
Excavations conducted by the Commission in the years
1953-5 showed, however, that the remains were those
of a native homestead of Early Iron Age date (Fig. 27).
The following description is a summary of the published
report. ²
The principal feature of the homestead was the farm-
house which stood in the centre of the enclosure and
exhibited two periods of construction. The first house
(Fig. 28, I) was a simple round hut, 23 ft. in diameter,
consisting of a ring of eleven evenly spaced wooden posts,
with an additional post in the centre to support the roof.
The wall was probably formed of wicker-work covered
with clay or skins, and the roof thatched with straw or
rushes. Subsequently this house was taken down, and a
new one built on the same site to a radically different
plan. The later house (Fig. 28, II) was 38 ft. in diameter
and had a framework consisting of two concentric
settings of wooden posts, the outermost setting being
bedded in a continuous trench. The entrance, on the
ENE. side, was protected by a porch, and sunk into the
centre of the floor there was a flagged hearth. In spite
of the differences between the two houses, there was
evidence to suggest that they were built by the same

1 Crawford, Topography of Roman Scotland, 18. For the
Gask signal-stations, cf. P.S.A.S., xxxv (1900-1), 25-31; and
Collingwood, The Archaeology of Roman Britain, 58-9 and
fig. 14.
2 P.S.A.S., lxxxix (1955-6), 227 ff.

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