stirling-1963-vol-1/05_129

Transcription

No. 111 -- ROMAN MONUMENTS -- No. 111
were normally attached to the S. side of the Rampart.
These were probably 19 in number and were
planted at intervals of about 2 miles. Between each pair
of forts there may have been a smaller post, or block-
house, similar to those discovered by air-photography
at Wilderness Plantation and Glasgow Bridge, and by
excavation at Watling Lodge (No. 114).
(iv) The Military Way. Communication between the
forts was maintained by a well-built road, the so-called
Military Way, which generally ran parallel to the Rampart
and within 50 ft. to the S. of it. It was about 18 ft. wide
and had a cambered surface of rammed cobbles covered
with fine gravel and resting on a foundation of large
stones set in clay.

[Plan Inserted]
Fig. 30

The Wall enters Stirlingshire on the W. bank of the
River Avon, opposite Inveravon farm (950796), and
leaves the county again at Castlecary (787782), 10 miles
further W. For much of the distance it is now no longer
visible on the surface, but its course is marked with great
precision on the O.S. 6-inch maps, and the condition of
the surviving remains has undergone little material
change since the entire work was fully described in the
second edition of The Roman Wall in Scotland by
Sir George Macdonald in 1934. In these circumstances
it will suffice to state here the points where changes have
occurred since 1934, and also to indicate the places
where the Wall can still be seen to best advantage.
Following the practice adopted in the Inventory of
Midlothian and West Lothian, the Wall-forts, of which
there were probably five in Stirlingshire, are described
in separate articles (Nos. 112, 113, 115-117).
The only portions of the Wall in Stirlingshire which
have totally disappeared since 1934 are a stretch of
300 yds. on the W. side of Falkirk, between Blinkbonny
Road (871799) and the entrance to Glenfuir House
(869798), and another stretch of the same length behind
Allandale Cottages (803788-800787). midway between
Seabegs amd Castlecary. Elsewhere the remains have for
the most part been either obliterated by cultivation long
ago, or are still comparatively well preserved in woods or
in parkland. The best-preserved sectors, enumerated
from E. to W., are as follows:
(i) Although the Rampart is no longer visible, the
Ditch is still conspicuous for a distance of some 600 yds.
in Callendar Park (901795 - 897796). It measures 40 ft. in
width and in places is still as much as 9 ft. in depth
(Pl. 8B).
(ii) From the point where it emerges from the network
of roads and railways in the neighbourhood of Lock
Sixteen (866798) to Watling Lodge (862798), a distance
of 350 yds., the Ditch is in remarkably fine preservation
(Pl. 8 A). It is 40 ft. broad, and scarp and counterscarp
measure up to 15 ft. and 11 ft. in height respectively.
There are now no surface indications of the Rampart in
this sector, but the outer lip of the Ditch is heightened
by a bold upcast-mound. Watling Lodge itself is built
on the site of an opening in the Wall through which
passed the Roman trunk road (No. 124) that led to the
fort at Camelon (No. 122), three-quarters of a mile away,
and thence northwards into Perthshire. The exit was
protected by a fortlet ¹ which abutted against the S. side
of the Rampart and measured about 130 ft. by 100 ft.
within a wall or rampart some 15 ft. in thickness. It was
here, too, that the change in the structure of the Rampart
has been thought to have taken place, turf being un-
questionably used W. of this point, whatever materials
were used further E.
(iii) The finest surviving stretch of the entire Wall is
from the E. end of Tentfield Plantation (857798) to
Bonnyside House (834798), a distance of nearly 1 1/2 miles.
Throughout this sector, which includes the fort of
Rough Castle (No. 115), both Rampart and Ditch are
traceable with only minor interruptions, the former
standing to a height of 5-6 ft. in some places. The Ditch
is uniformly 40 ft. in width, and at Woodside Cottage its
depth is 11 ft.: elsewhere, however, it is for the most part
filled with water. Former cultivation and the dumping of
refuse from abandoned pits have obliterated nearly all
traces of the Military Way, but a short stretch, hitherto
unnoticed, can be seen in a fine state of preservation
600 yds. E. of Rough Castle, emerging from the W. side
of the mineral railway cutting and running thence west-

1 R.W.S., 345 and fig. 51.

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