Site Report

WoSAS Pin 63790
NN 6142 0790

Stirling SMR Locality Number 330

1. Stobie 1783: Full ground plan shown on map and marked as camp.

This fort has 'parrot's beak' defences at the entrance. 3ha. Early writers have referred to a 'Roman Camp' at Bochastle and in 1949 excavations began on the site. The earthwork was found to be an original quadrate Roman fort (occupying an area of about 3 ha) with a rampart built on a turf base, with a single ditch outside it and normal entrances in the centre of each side. At some period (whether during occupation or not is uncertain) destruction or damage led to the reconstruction of the NE corner, together with part of the E rampart and the N part of the W rampart. The internal arrangements of the fort have not yet been discovered, nor has the principia been located. Pottery and other finds, although few, indicate a 1st century date and undoubted Agricolan origin.
W A Anderson, C Taylor and A Sommerville 1956.

NN 6142 0790. The best-preserved feature of this fort is the W rampart, turf-covered, in places 2.7m high, with a well-defined entrance. The road shown on the plan by Authy 2 at the E of the entrance is defined by a low, spread mound, 0.7m high in places, which probably extended round the S side of the fort to a point opposite the W entrance where it turns sharply to join the W rampart. Several of the finds from the site are in the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (E G C) 24 October 1968.

Crop-marks reveal two ditches defining some 500ft of the E side of the fort, interrupted at the E gate where they curve inwards. The rounded SE angle lies wholly N of the railway to Callander, and the S side would appear to converge very gradually with the railway embankment. The NE angle of the fort and perhaps all the N defences have been destroyed by river erosion.
J K St Joseph 1969.

NN 614 079 Excavation has shown that this Roman fort, which occupies an area of about 3ha, dates from the 1st century AD. The W rampart stands to a height of 2.7m, and the rest of the defences have been recorded as crop-marks.
RCAHMS 1979, visited December 1977 W A Anderson, C Taylor and A Sommerville 1956.

The Roman fort at Bochastle lies just to the N of the dismantled railway, about 200m NE of Bochastle farm. Part of the W side of the fort is upstanding but the evidence for the rest consists of cropmark remains. The internal dimensions of the fort are about 170m N-S by 140m E-W. Some internal features are visible. Transcription prepared by RCAHMS (RHM, MMB & GSM) 22 February 1996.
Information from RCAHMS (RHM) 17 September 1996.

Historic Scotland Reference for smc for erosion prevention on south side of the Garbh Uisge AMH/2389/1/1. Historic SCotland Reference for smc for dismantling 11KV line (inv9olving 3 poles) AMH/2389/1.

References Anderson, W A (1953 ) 'Bochastle', Discovery Excav Scot, 1953, 13-14, Anderson and Taylor, W A and T (1949 ) 'Bochastle, Perthshire', Discovery Excav Scot, 1949, 10, Anderson, Taylor and Sommerville, W A, C and A (1956 ) 'The Roman fort at Bochastle, by Callander', Trans Glasgow Archaeol Soc, New, 14, 1956, 35-63, Breeze, D J (1979 a) Roman Scotland: a guide to the visible remains, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 34, Breeze, D J (1980 a) 'Agricola the builder', Scot Archaeol Forum, 12, 1980, 16, 17, 18, Breeze, D J (1982 a) The northern frontiers of Roman Britain, London, Breeze, D J (1991 ) 'Agricola in the Highlands?', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 120, 1990, 58, Hanson, W S (1980 b) 'The first Roman occupation of Scotland', Hanson, W S and Keppie, L J F, Roman Frontier studies 1979: Papers presented to the 12th International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies,, Brit Archaeol Rep, International, S71, 1, Oxford, 28, 30, Hartley, B R (1972 ) 'The Roman occupations of Scotland: the evidence of samian ware', Britannia, 3, 1972, 4, 13, 14, Maxwell, G S (1984 a) 'New frontiers: The Roman fort at Doune and its possible significance', Britannia, 15, 1984, 217-18, 221, RCAHMS (1979 b) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. The archaeological sites and monuments of Stirling District, Central Region, The archaeological sites and monuments of Scotland series no 7, Edinburgh, 26, No. 216, Robertson, A S (1976 ) 'Agricola's campaigns in Scotland, and their aftermath', Scot Archaeol Forum, 7, 1975, 2, St Joseph, J K (1969 ) 'Air reconnaissance in Britain, 1965-68', J Roman Stud, 59, 1969, 109, St Joseph, J K S (1976 b) 'Air reconnaissance of Roman Scotland, 1939-75', Glasgow Archaeol J, 4, 1976, 22, Wilson, D R (1976 ) 'Air-reconnaissance and Roman military antiquities in Britain', Scot Archaeol Forum, 7, 1975, 23
Entered WoSAS (MOH), 24/03/11