Following a resistivity survey, the site was re-excavated to clarify the results of J.K. St. Joseph’s 1972 excavations, both here and on the neighbouring towers of Blackhill Wood and Shielhill North, to allow all three sites to be more fully published.

As expected, the work revealed a double ditched Gask series tower with ditches of the normal Roman military “V” profile (albeit unusually small), with a single entrance break facing the Roman road to the east. The site is 24.3m in diameter and sub-rectangular, rather than circular, in plan. Its internal area is 13.3m in diameter and contained an non-symmetrical timber tower with sides of 3.1, 3.45, 3.6 and 3.7m. As at Greenloaning (DES 1995, 97f), the tower had two structural periods, the second of which had been burned. No signs of palisading or an internal rampart were detected, but there were badly plough damaged traces of an internal clay and gravel surface.

A single shard of late first-early second century Roman bottle glass was found in the plough soil, just above the inner ditch’s southern entrance butt end, but no stratified finds were recovered.

Illustrations

Illustration 1
Map of sites on the Gask Roman road.

Illustration 2
J. K. St Joseph excavation plan, 1973

Illustration 3
Resistivity survey, 1996

Illustration 4
Roman Gask Project excavation plan (general), 1996

Illustration 5
Roman Gask Project ditch sections (1), 1996

Illustration 6
Roman Gask Project ditch sections (2), 1996

Illustration 7
Roman Gask Project excavation plan (central area), 1996

Illustration 8
Roman Gask Project post hole sections (1), 1996

Illustration 9
Roman Gask Project post hole sections (2), 1996