Recent Aerial Discoveries in Roman Scotland: Drumquhassle, Elginhaugh and Woodhead

Abstract

The invaluable contribution of air photography to the study of Roman military remains in Scotland over the last five decades is already well known. From its earliest tentative beginnings in the hands of O. G. S. Crawford to the highly structured programmes directed by Professor J. K. St. Joseph and D. R. Wilson on behalf of the Cambridge University Committee for Aerial Photography, aerial reconnaissance has proved itself a stimulatingly fruitful tool – whether by its totally unexpected additions to the sum of knowledge or through its ability to find the one piece of the jigsaw-puzzle that turns surmise into certainty. In this process the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland has also had a part to play, although, for much of the time it has worked, perforce, within a more restricted frame of reference, scrutinizing the vast collections of RAF vertical photographs during its preparation of County Inventories, or in the course of the Survey of Marginal Lands in 1951–8. Nevertheless, the discovery of the forts at Bishopton, Broomholm, Easter Happrew, and Oakwood, as well as the fortlet at Lurg Moor and the watch-tower at Beattock Summit, mainly as a result of such scrutiny by K. A. Steer and R. W. Feachem, indicates that even this more passive form of involvement can be handsomely rewarding.