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ROMAN COMMUNICATION E TWEETH N I SD VALLEY3 6 . III. ROMAN COMMUNICATIONS IN THE TWEED VALLEY. BY A. GRAHAM, F.S.A., F.S.A.ScoT., AND I. A. RICHMOND, LL.D., F.B.A., F.S.A., F.S.A.ScoT. It has long been assumed that Trimontium and Dere Street must have been linked, by a lateral road, with the communications in the Clyde valley, but the paucity of material remains of any such road, especially between Trimontium and Peebles, has remained a serious puzzle. Within the last few years, however, some fresh discoveries have been made near Peebles,1 at Innerleithen,2 and in the area west of Kirkurd,3 and more recently still the Ancient Monuments Commissioners have come across some further facts in the course of their surveys in Peeblesshire and Selkirkshire. The Com- missioners welcome the opportunity for reviewing the whole of the evidence, published and unpublished alike, in advance of their regular Inventories of the counties in question; and the present paper, which includes the results of field-work 4 done between 1945 and 1954, has accordingly been prepared with their concurrence. In dealing with the section between Newstead and Innerleithen, at which latter plac positioe eth marching-came th f no lefe th t Tweee n banpo th f ko d suggests lefe tha th roae alsts th n tbanko do wa scarcite th , f materiayo l evidence makes it necessary to discuss probable courses rather than to describe remains. The primary question is consequently one of topography, configuratioe soos th a s nd a Tweean e th f no d valle examineds yi diffie th , - cultie direca f so t course alon lefe gth t rivere banth f k,o followin crossinga g made perhaps somewhere near Abbotsford, immediatel ye eye leath .o pt northere Th n slopes exampler fo , , fall abruptl rivee th ro y t belo w Fairnilee Hill, Neidpath Hill,6 Laidlawstiel Hill, Thornylee Craigs and Pyat Hill, with resule th t that side-cuttin terracind gan vasa n tgo scale would have been needed over great parts of these sections, while to the Romans the tactical disadvantage a cours f o sf thi eo s kind would als doubo on t have seemed serious. Nor would it have been possible to improve matters by taking a 1 P.S.A.S., LXXIX (1944-5), pp. 170 f. 2 J.R.S., xij (1951), p. 57. 3 The Roman Occupation of South-western Scotland, pp. 58 f. 4 Localitie describee sar 6-incterme n di th f Peeblesshiref so ho O.Sp .ma ed.d ,2n , 1900, referenceo st sheets concerned being give necessars na footnotesyn i . National Grid reference 100-kilometro t l al e sar e square 36 (N in forthcoming editions), as shown on sheet 80 of the 1-inch O.S. map of Scotland, Popular Edition. confusee b o t t d No wit6 Neidpate hth h Gorge mila , e wes Peeblesf o t. 67 whic. n p o , e hse 64 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, 1952-53. right-bank cours crossind e lefean th t o bangt t Innerleithenka s soma , e equally awkward slopes occur on the south side of the river—for example overlooking Yair Bridge, and below Caddon Shank, Scrogbank Big and Cadon Bank. And it is quite out of accordance with Roman practice that a road should have made frequent crossings ove formidablo rs riverea looo ,t k for easy groun otherbane e dthed th on firs kn an nn .o o t An alternative course for a road which readily suggests itself is one which keeps south of the Tweed to above the inflow of the Ettrick, crosses the Ettric t Ettrickbankka thed an n, follow e "ridgewayth s " over Peaw La t and Minch Moor, ultimately descending to the right bank of the Tweed at Traquair and there crossing to Innerleithen. This route was certainly in use in the Middle Ages and later, but careful examination of its whole extent failes ha reveao dt lease lth t trac Romaf eo saie nb sam de worky th ed ma ,an of the "Minchmoor Road" proper—a route which rises from the Yarrow at Yarrow Ford and coalesces with the ridgeway just west of Wallace's Trench. This negative evidence grounn o , freo ds e from interference s sufficieni , o t t ridgewae th rul t eou y completel alternativn a s ya e route. There remaine sth possibility that the road ran westwards from Newstead through Darnick, crossed the Tweed at some convenient point near Abbotsford, continued through Galashiel somewhero st e near Torwoodlee, turned south-westwards throug valley dr ye h th betwee n Main Meigld san e Hills, crosse Caddoe dth n 1 Water near Clovenford passesouth-westerd e th an s p du n valleys sidit f eo , and regaine Tweee dth d Valley propesaddle th y t Laidlawstieerb a l (421369). It could thus have avoided the gorge below Caddonfoot and the steep south- western slope of Laidlawstiel Hill, in much the same way as it avoids the Neidpath Gorge by the detour described below (p. 67). Difficult places would still have had to be passed below Thornylee Craigs (c. 397372), below Pyat Hill (380378) and at Walkerburn; but as to the first of these something will be said shortly, and for the rest it must be remembered that the Tweed may well have changed its course locally since Roman times, with the result that where it now runs close to the foot of a slope there may once have been an area of haughland giving easy passage for a road. While the case just put seems attractive on a basis of topography alone, alss i ot i possibl supporo et t witi t h some fairly definite evidencee th n I . first place, notice should be taken of a road marked as running "from Peeble Laudero st 1747—55f o Roy'n "o p sma . This road traco t , t ebacki - wards, crosse Gale sth a Water near Torwoodlee, passes throug Clovene hth - fords gapcrossed an , Laidlawstiee sth l saddle l veral , y line mucth e n jusho t suggested; thereafte t i crosser e southerth s n slope f Caulo s d Faced an , e Tweeth . s bridge s e RomanA *dwa th y db t Newsteadsa r Derfo , e Street (B.C.A.M., Inventoryf o Roxburghshire, p. 469), Torwoodlee might equally well have been reached by the left bank of the Tweed and of the Gala Water. Choice of this route would have avoided the necessity of bridging the Tweed again as suggested above, but the Allan and Gala Waters would have had to be bridged instead and tie terrain is in general less easy. ROMAN COMMUNICATION E TWEETH N DI S VALLEY5 6 . Peeblee descend th line f th eo so t shighwa y e shoulde(A72th t a ) r below Thornylee Craigs. this A smiddle 1 e routth evidentlth s n f i eo wa e us n yi ' 18th century, befor e openin eth e campaig th f go r roanfo d improvemenn i t general, it is quite possible that traffic was here still following a traditional line once indicated by the wreck of a Roman road. That somethin thif go s kin happenes dha strongls di y suggeste tracey db s still remainin grounde th n sectiogo A . Roy'f no recognisee s b roa n dca n di a farm track which branches off the by-road from Thornylee to the Caddon Wate t 42343715ra , nea Ne .rth corneLaidlawstiee th f o r l policiesn i d an ; the field immediately below this point deep ploughing disclosed a strip of massive stones, which ran obliquely across the field at a rather lower level than Roy's road2 . This strip strongly suggest a Romas n road-foundation, and its alignment would agree very well with a course along the side of the valley towards Clovenfords. Againe otheth n e rLaidlawstie o ,th sid f eo l ridge e Thornyleth , e sectio f Roy'no seee sb roa nn divergindca g froe mth NW e Caddo. sidth f eo n Water by-road besid esmala l swamp (41753665), about 40 yds. below B.M. 660-3 or 90 yds. above the end of a farm road from fielde th s above Thornylee. After being obliterate quarrya y db t joini , s latterfare e th th mindicationf e o roa ,th d yds.5 den 7 e westh s f beino t g that fare th m recenroaf o s di t constructio rund nan s alon olden ga r terrace which seems unnecessarily wide for it. Farm tracks of this character are commonly . wideever s ft o i . wide0 . t ni 2 ft ft ; t thi 0 8 1 bu 1 ,s fro o terraco t t m8 p u s ei also very solidly constructed, with plent heavf yo y stonework showing along its lower margin, and there are also a number of very old quarry-pits to be seen eitheuppes it t ra hillsidre margith n t o shore a r no t distances abov. eit A typical example occurs just where Roy's roadway join terracee sth d an , it is noteworthy that two of the other pits coalesce in a way which is often seen in Roman work. The combination of all these facts tempts us strongly to attribute a Roman origin to the terrace. On reaching the first of the Thornylee fields, which it enters by a gate 50 yds.