dumfries-1920/04-107

Transcription

CANONBIE.] -- HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. -- [CANONBIE.

followed with ease, till it makes a return in a
north-westerly direction close to the railway
from Riddings Junction to Langholm. With
the railway line it gradually converges, and is
eventually lost beneath it. On the north-
west flank it has been greatly interfered with
in the formation of a road, ditch, and hedge,
which more or less occupy its position, leaving

[Plan Inserted]
FIG. 28. - Roman Camp, Gilnockie (No. 45).

it only partially and intermittently recog-
nisable. On the south-east side, at 520 feet
from the east angle, is a well-defined entrance
some 72 feet in width, which is covered at a
distance of 36 feet in front by a traverse, a
mound 56 feet in length and 22 feet in breadth
at base of centre, tapering slighly to each end
and 3 feet 7 inches in elevation, with a ditch
ai its base on the outer face. At 126 feet to
the north-east of this entrance is a gap in
the vallum 10 feet wide, which, if not original,
does not seem to be modern. At 400 feet
further to the southward, and 478 feet from

the south angle, is another entrance 40 feet
wide, which is likewise covered 30 feet in
front by a traverse 50 feet long and 33 feet
broad at the centre, tapering slightly to
either end and 3 feet 6 inches in elevation.
Any entrance which may have formerly
existed through the south-west end does not
seem now to be recognisable, the rampart
being destroyed at a number of places and
the ditch much filled in. Near the centre
of the north-east end, immediately in rear
of the cottages, a slight break is apparent
in the rampart; and some 25 feet in front lies
a circular area, measuring in diameter some
33 feet by 27 feet, on which the vegetation is
markedly poorer than elsewhere in its vicinity
- a condition which may possibly be due to the
former existence of a traverse on the spot,
the clay from which has deteriorated the soil.
The greatest existing height of the rampart
above the ditch is about 5 feet. There are no
indications of any foundations in the enceinte;
and, though the woodland area has been
trenched in all directions for drainage, there
is no record or tradition of any traces of
buildings having been observed or of relics
recovered.
liii. N.E. ("Earthwork"). -- 16 July 1012.

ENCLOSURE.

46. Enclosure, Macrieholm Knowe. - Cut
through by the old road which, traversing the
moorland, leads from Old Irviine to solway-
bank, is a circular enclosure measuring some
120 feet in diameter, surrounded by a trench
20 feet wide and 3 feet deep, without any
conspicuous mound on scarp or counterscarp,
though on the north-west there is a slight
swelling on the outside, and along the north
half the level of the crest of the counterscarp
is higher then that of the scarp and interior.
The site is the west end of a hillock dropping
some 20 feet on the north face to boggy ground.
There are numerous excavated hollows be-
tween the construction and the edge of the
bank on the north, probably made however
for the purpose of obtaining soil or gravel for
the road.
liii. N.W. -- 17 July 1912.

47. Long Cairns, Small Cairns, and Standing-
Stones, Windy Edge. - This group of monu-

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