DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22272#0059
THE ANTONINE WALL REPORT.
41
about 40 feet in width by some 20 in depth—which extended
over hill and plain in one unbroken line from sea to sea. Behind
this ditch on its southern side, and within a few feet of its edge,
was raised a rampart of intermingled stone and earth, strength-
ened by sods of turf, which measured, it is supposed, about 20
feet in height and 24 in thickness at the base. This rampart or
agger was surmounted by a parapet behind which ran a level
platform for the accommodation of its defenders." He describes
the rampart as having been " little more than a well formed
earthen mound." As for the outer mound, it seems to have
escaped the eye of Stuart altogether.
George Waldie published at Linlithgow, in 1883, a little
volume entitled " Walks along the Northern Roman Wall,"
containing a descriptive itinerary of the vallum, and forming,
in spite of its author's •pencliant for dubious explanations of
Celtic place-names, a very interesting and useful booklet. As
regards the structural characteristics of the work, Waldie1
followed the authority of preceding writers, apparently offering
on that subject no suggestion of his own.
At the close of these modern descriptions, and before proceed-
ing to deal with actual sections made in the vallum, it will not
be amiss to remember the ancient brief characterisation of it by
Julius Capitolinus as a munts cespiticius, words on which this
Report is a long commentary.
1 On pp. 8, 9, he says—"It consisted, at its best, of a trench about 40 feet wide
and about 20 feet deep. The earth and stone dug out of the trench were heaped
up into a wall or agger on the south side of the ditch a few feet behind, and it is
supposed to have measured 24 feet at the base and to have had a parapet behind
which the defenders could shelter themselves. An agger of smaller dimensions
is also, in some accounts of it, said to have been formed on the north side. The
face so formed, including the parapet looking to the north, would thus be about
40 feet—rather a formidable obstacle to overcome in the face of an armed foe."
41
about 40 feet in width by some 20 in depth—which extended
over hill and plain in one unbroken line from sea to sea. Behind
this ditch on its southern side, and within a few feet of its edge,
was raised a rampart of intermingled stone and earth, strength-
ened by sods of turf, which measured, it is supposed, about 20
feet in height and 24 in thickness at the base. This rampart or
agger was surmounted by a parapet behind which ran a level
platform for the accommodation of its defenders." He describes
the rampart as having been " little more than a well formed
earthen mound." As for the outer mound, it seems to have
escaped the eye of Stuart altogether.
George Waldie published at Linlithgow, in 1883, a little
volume entitled " Walks along the Northern Roman Wall,"
containing a descriptive itinerary of the vallum, and forming,
in spite of its author's •pencliant for dubious explanations of
Celtic place-names, a very interesting and useful booklet. As
regards the structural characteristics of the work, Waldie1
followed the authority of preceding writers, apparently offering
on that subject no suggestion of his own.
At the close of these modern descriptions, and before proceed-
ing to deal with actual sections made in the vallum, it will not
be amiss to remember the ancient brief characterisation of it by
Julius Capitolinus as a munts cespiticius, words on which this
Report is a long commentary.
1 On pp. 8, 9, he says—"It consisted, at its best, of a trench about 40 feet wide
and about 20 feet deep. The earth and stone dug out of the trench were heaped
up into a wall or agger on the south side of the ditch a few feet behind, and it is
supposed to have measured 24 feet at the base and to have had a parapet behind
which the defenders could shelter themselves. An agger of smaller dimensions
is also, in some accounts of it, said to have been formed on the north side. The
face so formed, including the parapet looking to the north, would thus be about
40 feet—rather a formidable obstacle to overcome in the face of an armed foe."