stirling-1963-vol-1/05_128

Transcription

no. 107 -- ROMAN MONUMENTS -- No.111
passage. Within the interior the photograph shows a thin
dark line enclosing an oval space which measures about
70 ft. from NE. to SW. by about 50 ft. transversely. This
line may represent the course of a palisade, possibly
forming the outer wall of a house.
No close parallel to such a structure occurs in the
vicinity, but a general resemblance to the Early Iron Age
homestead at West Plean (No. 104) may be noted.

927797 -- NS 97 NW (unnoted) -- 20 December 1955

CRANNOGS

107. Crannog, Strathcashell Point. This crannog is
situated in Loch Lomond at a point 450 ft. E. of the
cashel at Strathcashell Point (No. 164) and 30 yds. off
shore. It consists of an artificial mound formed by
dumping large boulders, the level top of which measures
about 85 ft. from E. to W. by about 65 ft. transversely.
The sides slope down for some 8 ft. to the bottom of the
loch. At the date of the visit most of the mound lay just
below the water level, but an area roughly 15 ft. in
diameter, located a little NE. of the central point, was
protruding to a height of about 1 ft. Part of a beam, laid
horizontally from NW. to SE., could also be seen
embedded in the boulders in the SW. sector at a distance
of 15 ft. S. of the centre of the crannog.
It was recorded in 1724 ¹ that the crannog then had
"large square joysts of oak firmly mortis'd in one
another, two of which of a prodigious bigness, in each
of which were three large mortises, were disjoyn'd from
the ffloat in the year 1714 and made use of by a gentleman
in that country, who was then building a house".

395930 -- N xiii (unnoted) -- 7 July 1955

108. Crannog (probable), "The Kitchen", Loch
Lomond. The islet known as "The Kitchen", lies
100 yds. off the NE. point of Clairinch (cf. No. 584).
Though featureless, it is probably a crannog as it consists
of stones and boulders, not of solid rock like a natural
islet such as Ceardach (No. 583). Nimmo refers to what
is evidently this islet as the "ruins of a castle" lying
below the surface of the loch. ²

414901 -- N xiii (unnoted) -- 30 July 1957

109. Crannogs, Loch Lomond (Sites). The following
crannogs are recorded in the Stirlingshire portion of
Loch Lomond, ³ but have not been located. (1) "The
Mill Cairn", Ross Bay; 366966, N vii S.W. (unnoted).
(2) Two crannogs S. of Inchcruin; 385908, N xiii (un-
noted). (3) An unspecified number immediately S. of
the point called Rowchoish; NN 3303, N iv S.E. (unnoted).

110. Crannog, Loch Laggan (Site). The somewhat
vague record ⁴ of an artificial island in Loch Laggan
cannot now be verified, as the surface of the water has
been raised by a dam. More recently, however, a record
has been made ⁵ of a stony causeway, 7 ft. wide, which
could once be seen to run "in a south-westerly direction,
which causeway is lost in the loch and lost in the soil".
This too, is now submerged.

625925 -- NS 69 SW (unnoted) -- 29 August 1952

ROMAN MONUMENTS

111. The Antonine Wall. One of the earliest acts of
frontier policy in the principate of Antoninus Pius was
the appointment of a new governor of Britain. Q. Lollius
Urbicus, whose task it was to erect a new frontier barrier
between the Firths of Forth and Clyde and to win the
associated northern victory. His governorship had already
begun in A.D. 139, and the acclamation which marked
the victory, itself figured upon the dedication-tablets of
the Wall, came in A.D. 142. The Antonine Wall, as it is
commonly termed, was laid along the brink of the almost
continuous scarp that borders the trough-like valley of
the isthmus on the S., and extended from Bridgeness on
the Forth to Old Kilpatrick on the Clyde, a distance of
just over 37 miles (Fig. 30). It comprised the following
four main elements:
(i) The Rampart. This was set on a heavy stone
foundation, some 14 ft. in breadth, and for the greater
part of its length was constructed, as the Historia
Augusta says, ⁶ of turf. From the Forth to a little beyond
Falkirk, however, it has been thought that adequate
supplies of good quality turf were not available, and that
in this sector the Rampart was accordingly built either
wholly of clay, brought from the Carse, or of earth
sheathed in clay. ⁷ The original height of the Rampart is
not likely to have been less than 10 ft., and it was no
doubt crowned by a wooden breastwork.
(ii) The Ditch. At an average distance of 20 ft. in front
of the Rampart there was a ditch. It was V-shaped in
section and generally about 40 ft. wide and 12 ft. deep
in the centre. The upcast from the ditch was deposited
on its northern margin and was either spread out to avoid
giving cover when the ground is flat, or was heaped up in
a ridge to form a counterscarp when ground level at the
N. side of the ditch is by nature lower than that at the S.
(iii) The Forts. As on Hadrian's Wall, the garrison of
the Antonine Wall was housed in a series of forts which

1 Geogr. Collections, i, 346.
2 History (1817 ed.), ii, 747.
3 P.S.A.S., xlvii (1912-3), 265 f. Crannogs in both Stirling-
shire and Dunbartonshire are recorded in this paper, though all
under the heading Stirlingshire.
4 Stat. Acct., xviii (1796), 327.
5 "Kippen", 8.
6 Vita Antonini Pii, 5, 4.
7 R.W.S., 87. On the other hand, no trace of clay was
observed in a section cut 100 yds. to the W. of the fort of
Mumrills (No. 112) in 1958.

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