The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca

• 146 • W.S.Hanson
Westerton, Perthshire
The small single-ditched enclosure at Westerton contained a timber tower constructed on four
massive posts (Figure 8.6b). The site is one of a number at regular intervals along the most
northerly stretch of Roman road in Scotland (e.g. Figure 8.7), which collectively formed one of
the earliest artificially demarcated frontiers in the Roman Empire, the Gask Frontier. This seems
to demarcate a temporary halt during the conquest of Scotland in the Flavian period (Hanson
and Friell 1995).
Filey, North Yorkshire
This heavily fortified watchtower, most of which has now fallen into the sea, was constructed on
a coastal promontory on the north side of Filey Bay. A massive stone-built tower was surrounded
by a smaller stone wall with projecting corner bastions, beyond which lay a ditch cutting off the
headland (Figure 8.6c) (Ottaway
1996). Associated finds date its
occupation to the last years of
the fourth century AD. The
tower is one of several along the
North Yorkshire coast that acted
as an early warning system
against seaborne raiders.
Figure 8.7 Ardoch: fort, annexe, watchtower and temporary camps.
Ardoch, Perthshire
The earthwork defences of this
fort (Figure 8.7) are among the
best preserved anywhere in the
Roman Empire. The fort (1) was
occupied originally in the Flavian
period, as part of the
consolidation of the conquest
of Scotland, and it was
reoccupied in the second
century AD as an outpost fort
beyond the line of the Antonine
Wall. Excavations at the turn of
the century revealed timber
buildings in its interior, but the
plan is poorly understood as the
different phases of occupation
were not distinguished (Breeze
1983). To the east of the fort is
an enclosure (2) of uncertain
function and to the north,
adjacent to the Roman road (11),
a timber watch tower (10—for a
more detailed plan of another
example see Figure 8.6b). Much
of the outline of a large annexe
is preserved, attached to the