Another camp is placed at Dalgenross, near the confluence of the
Ruchel and the Earn, which, with Bochastle, would command the
western district of Strathearn. Another important station was the
East Findoch, at the south side of the Almond; it guarded the only
practicable passage through the mountains northward, to an extent of
thirty miles from east to west. The Roman camp here was placed on a
high ground, defended by water on two sides, and by a morass with
a steep bank on the other two sides. It was about one hundred and
eighty paces long, and eighty broad, and was surrounded by a strong
earthen wall nearly twelve feet thick, part of which still remains.
The trenches are still entire, and in some places six feet deep.
On the eastern side of Strathearn, and between it and the Forth,
are the remains of Roman posts; and at Ardargie a Roman camp was
established with the design, it is supposed, of guarding the passage
through the Ochil hills, by the valley of May water. Another camp at
Gleneagles secured the passage of the same hills through Glendevon.
With the design of guarding the narrow, but useful passage from the
middle Highlands, westward through Glenlyon to Argyle, the Romans
fixed a post at Fortingal, about sixteen miles north-west from the
station at East-Findoch.
A different line of posts became necessary to secure Angus and the
Mearns. At Coupar Angus, on the east side of the Isla, about seven
miles east from Inchtuthel, stood a Roman camp, of a square form, of
twenty acres within the ramparts. This camp commanded the passage
down Strathmore, between the Siedlaw hills on the south-east, and
the Isla on the north-west. On Campmoor, little more than a mile
south from Coupar Angus, appear the remains of another Roman fort.
The great camp of Battledyke stood about eighteen miles north-east
from Coupar Angus, being obviously placed there to guard the passage
from the Highlands through Glen Esk and Glen Prosen. About eleven and
a-half miles north-east of the camp at Battledykes was another Roman
camp, the remains of which may still be traced near the mansion-house
of Keithock. This camp is known by the name of Wardikes. The country
below the Siedlaw hills, on the north side of the estuary of Tay, was
guarded by a Roman camp near Invergowrie, which had a communication
on the north-east with the camp at Harefaulds. This camp, which was
about two hundred yards square, and fortified with a high rampart and
a spacious ditch, stood about two miles west from Dundee.
[Illustration: Roman Camp at Ardoch as it appeared in 1755.
(Stuart’s _Caledonia Romana_.)]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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