DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22272#0078
GO
GLASGOW ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
rampart—a portion where it is certain the ditch was never cut.
The course of the ditch was crossed at right angles by a narrow
hog-backed band of doleritic rock, with a base (at the bottom of
the ditch) not less than 60 feet, and a flattish top about 8 feet in
breadth. This top must have been near the level of the natural
surface of the ground. This mass of rock has had the earth
cleared from its eastern and western faces, but has never been
pierced. It caught the eye of Gordon, who says,1 "A great
piece of a rock rises out of the ditch of the vallum and serves as
it were for a bridge to pass from the one side to the other." It
is certainly very notable. The suggestion has been made that it
perhaps served as a northern gateway from the station of Croy
which is just at hand.2 There are some faint indications of an
earthen ridge crossing it on the outer mound, a few feet north of
the line of the counterscarp, in a position very suggestive of some
such purpose as to constitute an outer guard for such a gateway.
The little narrow earthen ridge referred to is slightly curved, and
has its convex side towards the north. Its remains, however,
are very vague,3 and quite insufficient to confirm the conjecture
that they are indications of the possible presence of a kind of
clavicula4, to defend a possible gate.
There are now few traces at Croy Houses of the fact that it
occupies the site of a Roman station, except in the walls which
form a close round the buildings and are full of those brick-like
squared stones which betray the Roman workman. Some few
of them, as will be seen from the accompanying photographic
block, are tooled with various well-known patterns of Roman
broaching—the reticulated, the feathered, and in one fine
example the diamond. One stone, at the extreme left of the
1 Itin. Sept., p. 56.
2 The limits of the station are no longer traceable, so that it is not possible to
state whether this piece of rock was a direct egress from the station or not.
3 The little mound has the appearance of the remnant of a sod dyke for farm
purposes, but seems to stop between 20 and 30 feet on either side of the rook in
front of which it is situated.
4 Hyginus, I)e Munitionibus Castrorum, section 54.
Ut intrantes semper detecti et ad-
venientes in recto cursu excludantur;
nomenque ab cffectu clavicula trahit.
So that those entering may be always
observed, and so as to shut out any
approaching direct; from the purpose
it takes its name of clavicula.
GLASGOW ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
rampart—a portion where it is certain the ditch was never cut.
The course of the ditch was crossed at right angles by a narrow
hog-backed band of doleritic rock, with a base (at the bottom of
the ditch) not less than 60 feet, and a flattish top about 8 feet in
breadth. This top must have been near the level of the natural
surface of the ground. This mass of rock has had the earth
cleared from its eastern and western faces, but has never been
pierced. It caught the eye of Gordon, who says,1 "A great
piece of a rock rises out of the ditch of the vallum and serves as
it were for a bridge to pass from the one side to the other." It
is certainly very notable. The suggestion has been made that it
perhaps served as a northern gateway from the station of Croy
which is just at hand.2 There are some faint indications of an
earthen ridge crossing it on the outer mound, a few feet north of
the line of the counterscarp, in a position very suggestive of some
such purpose as to constitute an outer guard for such a gateway.
The little narrow earthen ridge referred to is slightly curved, and
has its convex side towards the north. Its remains, however,
are very vague,3 and quite insufficient to confirm the conjecture
that they are indications of the possible presence of a kind of
clavicula4, to defend a possible gate.
There are now few traces at Croy Houses of the fact that it
occupies the site of a Roman station, except in the walls which
form a close round the buildings and are full of those brick-like
squared stones which betray the Roman workman. Some few
of them, as will be seen from the accompanying photographic
block, are tooled with various well-known patterns of Roman
broaching—the reticulated, the feathered, and in one fine
example the diamond. One stone, at the extreme left of the
1 Itin. Sept., p. 56.
2 The limits of the station are no longer traceable, so that it is not possible to
state whether this piece of rock was a direct egress from the station or not.
3 The little mound has the appearance of the remnant of a sod dyke for farm
purposes, but seems to stop between 20 and 30 feet on either side of the rook in
front of which it is situated.
4 Hyginus, I)e Munitionibus Castrorum, section 54.
Ut intrantes semper detecti et ad-
venientes in recto cursu excludantur;
nomenque ab cffectu clavicula trahit.
So that those entering may be always
observed, and so as to shut out any
approaching direct; from the purpose
it takes its name of clavicula.