Description

The monument comprises the remains of a 5.5km stretch of Roman road probably dating to the late first or early second centuries AD. The monument is located on the east side of Annandale, north of Moffat and is visible as a slight and intermittent linear earthwork aligned north northwest for most of its length before the road turns northwards at approximately 4km from its south end.

The road surface is up to 7.3m wide with a camber of up to 0.6m constructed on a turf bed and, at least in part, using stone excavated from adjacent quarry pits. Lateral indentations may indicate the surviving fragments of drainage ditches. The road survives under a variety of land uses including forestry, moorland, modern tarmacadam surfacing and a golf course

The scheduled area is irregular on plan, to include the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. The scheduled area specifically excludes the top 300mm of modern prepared surfaces along with the above-ground remains of all modern boundary features to allow for their upkeep and maintenance. The monument was first scheduled in 1973 and amended in 2009, but an inadequate area was included to protect all of the archaeological remains: the present amendment rectifies this.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because it has an inherent potential to contribute to our understanding of the past, in particular of the construction, use and role of roads during the Roman occupation of southern Scotland. The road is well-preserved as an upstanding earthwork and archaeological excavation has confirmed the presence of the surface and underlying structure of the road as well as its associated quarry pits and possible drainage ditches beneath the ground surface. There is also potential for survival of buried organic remains and artefacts from under the road surface and in the fills of the ditches and quarry pits. Such remains can provide important dating evidence and information about the contemporary environment at the time of the road's construction. This road was an important part of the Roman road network that linked what is now Scotland with the rest of Roman Britain and its importance is enhanced by the close proximity of several contemporary Roman monuments. The road can also provide evidence of Roman civil engineering techniques including the routing of such roads through the landscape. The loss of the monument would affect our understanding of the construction and use of roads by the Roman army and of the progress, organisation and extent of the Roman occupation within Scotland.   

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

Historic Environment Scotland http://www.canmore.org.uk reference number CANMORE ID 68365 (accessed on 31/8/2010).

Dumfries & Galloway Council HER database reference: http://www.dumgal.co.uk HER database reference: MDG4998.

MacDonald, J 1894, Notes on the Roman roads of the one-inch Ordnance Survey map of Scotland in, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 20-58.

McNeill P G B and MacQueen H L 1996, Atlas of Scottish History to 1707. Edinburgh. The Scottish Medievalists and Department of Geography. University of Edinburgh

Margary, I D 1957, Roman roads in Britain: north of the Foss Way - Bristol Channel (including Wales and Scotland), vol. 2. London.

Rideout, J S 1997, Moffat Golf Course, Dumfriesshire. Roman Road. Data structure report and Discovery and Excavation in Scotland entry. Unpublished typescript report. Alba Archaeology Limited.

RCAHMS, 1997, Eastern Dumfriesshire: an archaeological landscape. Edinburgh.

Wilson, A 1999, Roman penetration in Eastern Dumfriesshire and beyond in, Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society, 73, 17-63.

Canmore

https://canmore.org.uk/site/68365/

Source: Historic Environment Scotland