Eskdalemuir, Eastern Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland- Evaluation

Defence Estates (DE) plans to upgrade two seismic arrays at Eskdalemuir, Eastern Dumfries and Galloway (NT 29374 03745). As part of this work, DE intends to lay a cable across the putative route of the Roman road at Lamblair Knowe, a Scheduled Ancient Monument (AMN 675). In 2006, DE Environmental Support Team undertook a desk-based study to assess the impact of the work on the archaeological resource, and formulated a Statement of Requirements for archaeological investigations. These concluded that the route of the cable in the area of Lamblair Knowe Roman Road should be evaluated prior to the commencement of development groundworks. Accordingly, DE requested that Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) submit a project design for a programme of works, including the excavation of a single trench, 30m long by 1m wide and up to a depth of 1m, to establish the presence of, and preserve by record, any archaeological deposits or features within the limit of impact. Subsequent to approval by Historic Scotland, OA North were commissioned by DE to undertake the work in March 2007.
This report details the results of this work, with a concluding chapter providing a discussion of the results. Initial investigation of the 30m trench, which straddled the southern slope of the depression thought to be occupied by the Roman road, identified no archaeological remains. Accordingly, the trench was extended to a total length of 50m, so that the slope and the crest on the northern side of the depression could be examined; archaeological remains were absent from the entire area under investigation, and the identified stratigraphy appeared natural in origin. If the natural linear depression in this area was utilised as a road (as is suggested for the same depression on slightly higher ground some 300m to the west), then any trace has long-since eroded away. It is, perhaps, more likely that the road skirted the presently investigated boggy depression, on higher ground to the south-east, and thus may lie outside of the Scheduled Area at this location.