DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22272#0098
80 glasgow archaeological society.
have begun to re-approach. The north kerb is 77 feet back from
the face of the perpendicular rock which forms the scarp of the
ditch, the bottom of which is 25 feet below the angle of berm and
scarp. All the way under the cliff from section No. 11 to section
No. 12, the scarp is a rocky precipice tending gradually to decrease
in height as it proceeds westward. From about 60 feet east of
section No. 12, and extending for over 200 feet westward, the
rock face is absolutely perpendicular. It is hard to say how
much of this is nature's handiwork, and how much that of the
Koman soldiery. There are some signs of slight disturbance by
modern hands at a point opposite the southern expansion
(section Croy No. 12a), where not only does the face of the rock
wear a totally different aspect from what it bears on each side of
that point, but there are also drill marks showing the characteristic
sign of some blasting on a small scale in recent times.1 It is evident
that, as the line of the ditch can still be traced all alon<r, these
blasting operations were trifling in extent. From section 11 west-
ward to the stone dyke the outer mound is generally not much in
evidence, and there is no longer any steep slope beyond. ,
The mound resumes its proportions as a considerable earth-
heap when the stone dyke is approached. This comparative
preservation of the outline of ditch and mound is not to be
accounted for in all probability by any real difference in its
characteristics at that point, but rather by the rock face being
there somewhat lower and less liable to atmospheric disintegra-
tion, and therefore less liable, with the talus from it, to fill in
and cover over the ditch.
Croy.—Section No. 12a. PLATE I.
[Section of vallum and southern expansion.']
The previously described sections had all been made, and were
either closed in again or on the point of being so when the
important cutting now to be described was laid open. It is
formed at a place 442 feet west of section No. II, and 80 feet
1 Mr. Park lias been told that when the North British Railway (main line to
Edinburgh) was being constructed a large number of whin blocks, then used as
railway sleepers, were taken from this place—a fact which would account for
the evidence of blasting.
have begun to re-approach. The north kerb is 77 feet back from
the face of the perpendicular rock which forms the scarp of the
ditch, the bottom of which is 25 feet below the angle of berm and
scarp. All the way under the cliff from section No. 11 to section
No. 12, the scarp is a rocky precipice tending gradually to decrease
in height as it proceeds westward. From about 60 feet east of
section No. 12, and extending for over 200 feet westward, the
rock face is absolutely perpendicular. It is hard to say how
much of this is nature's handiwork, and how much that of the
Koman soldiery. There are some signs of slight disturbance by
modern hands at a point opposite the southern expansion
(section Croy No. 12a), where not only does the face of the rock
wear a totally different aspect from what it bears on each side of
that point, but there are also drill marks showing the characteristic
sign of some blasting on a small scale in recent times.1 It is evident
that, as the line of the ditch can still be traced all alon<r, these
blasting operations were trifling in extent. From section 11 west-
ward to the stone dyke the outer mound is generally not much in
evidence, and there is no longer any steep slope beyond. ,
The mound resumes its proportions as a considerable earth-
heap when the stone dyke is approached. This comparative
preservation of the outline of ditch and mound is not to be
accounted for in all probability by any real difference in its
characteristics at that point, but rather by the rock face being
there somewhat lower and less liable to atmospheric disintegra-
tion, and therefore less liable, with the talus from it, to fill in
and cover over the ditch.
Croy.—Section No. 12a. PLATE I.
[Section of vallum and southern expansion.']
The previously described sections had all been made, and were
either closed in again or on the point of being so when the
important cutting now to be described was laid open. It is
formed at a place 442 feet west of section No. II, and 80 feet
1 Mr. Park lias been told that when the North British Railway (main line to
Edinburgh) was being constructed a large number of whin blocks, then used as
railway sleepers, were taken from this place—a fact which would account for
the evidence of blasting.