Beattock, Bankend Temporary Camp

Marching or Temporary Camp

The three camps at Beattock lie about ¾ mile north of the fort at Milton and the nearby camps at Tassiesholm. There is a small fortlet at Barnhill, which partly overlies the northern defences of Beattock Camp B (see below).

This large camp lies on the opposite (south) bank of the Evan water from Camps B & C, to the west of the Roman road and unaligned with it. The camp is known only from its western angle and attached lengths of the adjacent sides, about 1,280 ft. (c.390 m) of the north-west and about 1,440 ft. (c.440 m) of the south-west, with Stracathro-type gateways in both of these sides. The gateway defences and the fact that the camp is not aligned to the Roman road would place its foundation during the Flavian period. It is assumed that the camp was aligned on the crossing of the Evan Water just to the north-east, and if so, the gateways in both the north-east and south west-sides were probably centrally placed, which gives a likely NW-SE dimension of around 1,840 ft. (560 m); the river constrains the NE-SW dimension to around 1,700 (520 m), which would have given the camp a squat, squarish outline, with the gateways in the NW and SE sides being very markedly off-set towards the north-east.
Also known as Beattock Camp A
N.G.REF NT084020
DIMENSIONS c.1,840 x c.1,700 ft (c.560 x c.520 m)
AREA c.71¾ acres (c.29 ha)

References for Beattock Camps

  • Air Reconnaissance of North Britain by J.K. St. Joseph in J.R.S. xli (1951) p.58;
  • The Roman Occupation of South-Western Scotland by the Glasgow Archaeological Society (1952) p.111;
  • Air Reconnaissance in Britain, 1955-7 by J.K. St. Joseph in J.R.S. xlviii (1958) p.89;
  • Air Reconnaissance in Britain, 1973-76 by J.K. St. Joseph in J.R.S. lxvii (1977) p.133;
  • Britannia ix (1978) p.418;
  • Air Reconnaissance in Roman Britain 1977-1984 by G.S. Maxwell & D.R. Wilson in Britannia xviii (1987) pp.30-32, p.40 & fig.9;
  • Britannia xxiii (1992) p.266;
  • Britannia xxvi (1995) p.337, fig.6 p.338 & fig.7 p.339.
  • http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/48398/details/beattock+bankend/

Map References for Beattock Camps

NGRef: NT0802 OSMap: LR78

Roman Roads near Beattock Camps

None identified

Sites near Beattock, Bankend Temporary Camp