Correspondence addressed to the antiquary Sir John Clerk, 2nd baronet of Penicuik, Midlothian, allows us to document the initial recording in 1723 of Roman inscriptions and relief sculpture observed at several forts along the line of the Antonine Wall between the Forth and Clyde, and the arrangements put in place to transport them to his home at Penicuik House. Particularly valuable is a series of drawings, which are sometimes our only visual record of the stones.

The possibility of a Roman site on a small plateau at the W end of Seabegs Wood (NS 812792) was suggested by the surface recovery of Roman pottery (both samian and coarse wares) over a number of years by members of the Cumbernauld Historical Society, under the supervision of Mr J. J. Walker. Initially it was thought that the plateau (FIG. 1) could mark the site of the missing Seabegs fort (see below p. 160), but in the event a fortlet was located by excavation in June 1977, clearly to be identified with the fort at the ‘West end of Seabegwood’ noted by Dr Christopher Irvine during his journey along the Wall about 1680. No traces of the fortlet's defences have as yet been detected from the air (cf. PL. IXA).

Summary A series of excavations and watching briefs is described. Pipelaying within the fort in 1985–87 disturbed walling probably of the internal bath-house. Work undertaken W of the fort in 1986 preceded the laying out of a golf course: the line of the Antonine Wall, Ditch, upcast mound and the Military Way was established, and an area immediately W of the West Gate of the fort checked for the presence of extramural settlement. Postholes for timber buildings and drainage channels possibly of a cultivation system were revealed there, as well as features of mediaeval and later date. Much of the Roman pottery recovered was produced locally. This project was funded by Historic Scotland.

No abstract

Summary Excavation of this Antonine Wall fort, previously explored by Sir George Macdonald and Mr Alexander Park in 1902-05, has exposed the bathhouse and headquarters building (principia) for permanent public view. The sequence of rooms in the bathhouse is now better understood; set into one wall of its main furnace was a small pottery kiln, from which came some 900 sherds in a distinctive fabric, showing strong influences from N Africa. In the headquarters building, a dais was recognised at the SW corner of the crosshall, and a strongbox in the floor of a room in the rear range. In a secondary phase the W half of the courtyard was converted to house a timber-framed storebuilding. The defences and part of the interior of the underlying ‘fortlet’ were examined; its clay rampart was located, and several possible cooking areas. Most probably, despite the recovery of some native finds, the ‘fortlet’ should be seen as a Roman labour-camp associated with the building of the Antonine Wall hereabouts. From its ditch came hawthorn twigs and branches, which along with blocks of turf had served to pack the ditch when the fort was built on top.