'EXCAVATION of CASTLECAEY FORT on the ANTONINE VALLUM. PART I.-HISTORY and GENERAL DESCRIPTION. the Attention of the Society
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EXCAVATIO F CASTLECAEO N E ANTONJNY TH FOR N O T E VALLUM1 27 . IV. 'EXCAVATION OF CASTLECAEY FORT ON THE ANTONINE VALLUM. PART I.-HISTORY AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION. B. CHEISTISONYD , SECRETARY. The attentio e Societth f no y having been e riscalle f publith o k o t d c works being erected clos Castlecaro et y Fort e Councith , l resolved that, continuancn i theif eo r investigation f Romao s n sites nexe th , t woro kt be undertaken should be there. Permission to excavate having been freely granted by Lord Zetland, the proprietor of the ground, and every facility given by Mr Charles -Brown, the factor, the direction of the CunninghamH. wor committe J. kwas Mr dto Thoma ,Mr C.E.and s, Boss, architect. Mr Mungo Buchanan again volunteered to fill the arduous post of surveyor; and with Mr Alexander Mackie as clerk of works, an efficient staff was made up, every member having had a large •experience in conducting operations of the kind. As previously, not more than two or three workmen were usually employed at a time, in order to ensure a strict supervision of the output. Ground was broken •early in March 1902, and the work proceeded, with but little interrup- tion froweatherd mba , tilfollowine th l g November. Position of the Fort.—The Roman fort of Castlecary, so named, perhaps, fro anciene mth t kee f Castlecaro p y s situatei nea , it r d about six miles west of Falkirk. Remains of eight forts on the line of the Antonine Vallue th mo t f stilonle o wese lon yd th f exisitan o t,o t t «ast. But filling in the blanks supposed to have been caused by the total disappearance of the others, necessary to complete the chain, •Castlecary would originally be the twelfth from the west and the eighth fro easte mth , accordin Stuart'o gt s char n Caledoniai t Bomana. e positioTh considerabls • nha e natural strength s thui d s an describe, d Ijy Mr Buchanan, who has also drawn up the accompanying map, fig. 1, to illustrate it. The fort stands upon a rounded knoll, which is the highest part and the western end of a low ridge, rising slightly above E COUNTRTH f O R Y MA ABOUE TH T FOR CASTLECftRYT TA - SHOWING j^VWTO/1l/1E VAILUM.AMDTHE Fig. 1. EXCAVATIO CASTLECARF NO YE ANTONIN TH FOR N TO E VALLUM3 27 . the 200 contour line. The centre of the fort is 227 feet above the groune th sead dan , falls l awadirections al e east n th yr i alon o ,n O g. the ridge, the depression is very gradual and uniform, but on the west rapi s deei a t i o dt p ravine throug s outlehit d Bur s whicEe t nha e hth e northfro th e Glen n mlow-lyinth a ,O . g valley stretches out, along which the Bonny Water winds, at a distance from the fort of about lowea t yards0 a rd 40 levee sout an , th nearly e b ln th h0 feet O y10 . slope terminates abou 0 yard10 t s froe for whan mth i s tformerl ha t y been a morass enveloping nearly the whole of the southern front. FORMER NOTICE F THO S E FOBTIFICATIONS. The earliest notice of Castlecary is probably in an anonymous letter of 1697, describing an excursion to the west of Edinburgh (Historical MSS. Commission, xiii, App. ii., Portland MS. ii. 56), but the author tells us nothing more than that the fort is a large castellum of hewn masonry, containing many stone buildings. r KoberSi t Sibbald (Historical Inquiries, s 1707evei ) n30 , more curt, being content with calling Castlecary " a great fort with much building." Pennant, Pococke, Stukely, Clerk of Eldin, and Camden do not mentio t alla .t ni Alexander Gordon (Itinerarium Septentrionale, 1726) calls it a magnificent fort "which seems to have been surrounded with a wall of hewn freestone, whose vestiges still appear." "On the south end of this wal triple ar l e ditche d fousan r row ramparts.f so plans Hi ", how- ever (fig , reproduce2 . d a smalleher n o e r scale fro s Platmhi e xxiv.), gives only two ditches and three ramparts on that 'side, as well as on the east and west. The defence on the north side is the only one represented as of stone, and is figured as a single wall, separated from e Antoninth yardsw e fe Vallu a ' intervaly m b e onl Th y . entrance show fros ni southe mth . Horsley (Britannia Romana, 1732 . p 170)o explore, wh ,e th d Antonine Wall not long after Gordon, tells us that the Vallum as usual forme norte dth h rampar e fortth ,f o thate otheth t r three sides VOL. XXXVII. 18 274 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, APRIL 13, 1903. ha triplda e rampar ditchd d thaan te rampart an th ,t s have been built of stone and mortar. His only other observation is that the fort seems havo t e been well supplied with water s smalHi . l plan (reproducen di fig. 3) agrees with the description, and shows two entrances, one on the Fig . Gordon'2 . s Pla Castlecarf no y Fort. eastVallue southe othee s charth th th ,Hi f n o o mr.t shows, emerging from the north side of the fort to join the Bonny Water, a streamlet, of whic trace0 11 h .w therno s ei Maitlaiid (The History d Antiquitiesan f Scotland,o 1757, i. 173) followo »onn gt a sinterval e give H e forth . s t triple rampartd an s ditche soute th n hso side sayd an ,s doubtha0 11 t t they existed formerly EXCAVATION OF CASTLECARY FORT ON THE ANTONINE VALLUM. 275 011 the east and west sides also. He does not seem to have seen any stone wall, as he says that the innermost rampart is said to have been faced with stone walls " of a height not mentioned, but," as he rather •obscurely remarks, " I take them to have been about four feet high and three feet thick, like that facin lowee gth e rnorther th par f o t n sidf o e wale th l adjoinin whicf ditche o last gth e h th ou thert,s timwa e e I the y were digging stones to erect out-houses at the mansion-house of Fig. 3. Horsley's Plan of Castlecary Fort. •Castlecary. Thi rougf so wals h wa l ashlar, consistin f larggo e freestones laid in clay running along the face of the rampart as a security to the foundation." y (TheEo Military Antiquities e Romansth f o n Northi Britain, p. 123) only tells us that Castlecary "has been one of the principal 'Stations on the Wall of Antonine, as is evident from its dimensions, and e numbeth f antiquitieo r s found d findinan , g there every day.s Hi " plan (fig. 4, on a reduced scale) gives the Wall of Antonine as the northern defence, directly up to which run the east and west ramparts and ditches. On these sides, as well as on the south, there are two 276 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, APRIL 13, 1903. ramparts and two trenches. On the east side the outer rampart is less distinct. "Walls, south-ease th t "a t anglename cottaga th f s eo i , e that stood timee therth t e.a Koy doet speciallno s y describ e rampartsth e , t elsewherbu e states generally that althoug e Vallu th e fort hth n o ms were probably originally f eartho , , "the Romans doubo n , t wishino gt I'l'i'i'i'i'i'iii'i'i'i'i'i'i'n'i'i'i'i'i'i'!"""""'"1""""'1'"1'1'1'1"1"''"'1 i&iSSilfliiliS'SiViiiiffi^ l.lllll.lilii.lilill mmi i|H[JJjplWWlll;W .100 £00 300 400 Fig. 4. Roy's Plan of Castlecary Fort, render these points of appuy more respectable and permanent, appear at some future period to have almost universally reveted them, or at least their inner ramparts, with stone." Eeve Th . William Nimmo (History f Stirlingshire,o 1777) says that the fort " is surrounded with a wall of stone and mortar"; also that " the outer wall hath been surrounded with a double ditch or vallum EXCAVATION OF CASTLECARY FORT ON THE ANTONINB VALLUM. 277 still filled with water on the south side, where the entry hath been by a large causeway intersecting the ditch." He gives a very small, meagre plan, which is not the least like the place, and by no means tallies with his own description. The Old Statistical Account of Scotland, 1797, merely says that the Account,w Ne e th e sitseen 1845b d s stil i e o an ,t l , tha t i covert x si s acres, is vaulted underneath, and that "part of the foundation still continues." Stuart (Caledonia Romana, 1852, p. 344) states that scarcely a vestige existed when he saw it, and attributes the destruction, first, to improvements of the highway; secondly, to the removal of stones in 1769, and again in 1771 during the construction of the Union Canal; and thirdly operatione th o t Nort,e th f sho British Railwa 1841n yi , whereby the line was carried on an embankment obliquely across it. His plan • is taken from Eoy. GENERAL DESCRIPTIO E FORTIFICATIONSTH P O N .