Pennymuir Roman camps facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Pennymuir |
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| Scottish Borders, Scotland, UK | |
View across Camp A at the Pennymuir Roman camps
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 Pennymuir
Location in the Scottish Borders
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| Coordinates | 55°25′05″N 2°23′18″W / 55.4181°N 2.3882°W |
The Pennymuir Roman camps are ancient sites found in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. They are located near the Anglo-Scottish border, not far from the town of Jedburgh. These sites show us where Roman soldiers once set up temporary camps.
The camps are right next to an old Roman road called Dere Street. At Pennymuir, you can see the remains of four Roman temporary camps. There are also some old earthworks and signs of old farming fields. Sometimes, these camps are also called the Towford camps.
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Exploring the Pennymuir Roman Camps
The Roman camps at Pennymuir are found on rough, open land in the Cheviot Hills. They are very close to Dere Street, which was an important Roman road. This road crossed the Kale Water river at a place called Tow Ford.
Camps A and B at Pennymuir are some of the best-preserved Roman camps in all of Scotland. People first officially recorded these two camps in 1774, thanks to a person named William Roy.
The Pennymuir camps are about 7 kilometres (about 4 miles) northwest of other Roman camps and small forts at Chew Green. Chew Green is just across the border in England. These camps are also near an ancient hillfort called Woden Law.
Camp A: The Largest Camp
Camp A is the biggest of the Pennymuir camps. It sits on fairly flat ground, close to the west side of Dere Street. The southern part of the camp is near a small, dry ditch.
This camp is mostly rectangular in shape. It measures about 520 metres (1,700 feet) from north to south and 343 metres (1,125 feet) from east to west. This means it covers a large area of almost 18 hectares (about 44 acres).
You can still see the gaps where soldiers would have entered and exited the camp on all four sides. There are even two entrance gaps visible on the west side. The walls, or ramparts, of the camp are quite wide, up to 4.6 metres (15 feet), and stand about 1.2 metres (4 feet) high. The ditch around the camp is also wide, about 4.6 metres (15 feet), and up to 1.2 metres (4 feet) deep in some places.
Camp B: Inside the Big Camp
Camp B is located inside the southeast part of Camp A. This means that Camp B used some of the same defenses (walls and ditches) as Camp A on its east and south sides. Historians believe Camp B was built later than Camp A.
This camp is also rectangular. It measures about 300 metres (984 feet) from north to south and 130 metres (426 feet) from east to west. It covers an area of almost 4 hectares (about 10 acres).
You can see entrance gaps on the west side (two of them), the north side, and the east side. One of the gates on the west side was made narrower later on. This might mean that soldiers used the camp again at a different time.
Camp C: Partially Hidden
Camp C is found to the northeast of Camps A and B. It sits on the east side of Dere Street and crosses the modern road that goes from Pennymuir to Hownam.
Unfortunately, parts of Camp C have been lost over time due to drainage work and a tree plantation. The camp is shaped like a parallelogram. It measures about 280 metres (918 feet) from northwest to southeast and 185 metres (607 feet) across. It covers an area of 5.1 hectares (about 12.6 acres).
Today, only a small part of the west side of Camp C is still visible. South of the Pennymuir road, you can trace it for about 50 metres (164 feet) as a slight raised area of grass, about 2 metres (6.5 feet) wide and 20 centimetres (8 inches) high.
Camp D: Traced from the Air
A possible fourth camp, Camp D, has been discovered using air photographs. It is on the east side of Dere Street, directly across from Camp A.
Only a part of this camp has been clearly seen. It measures 192 metres (630 feet) from north to south and at least 120 metres (394 feet) across. This suggests it covered at least 2.3 hectares (about 5.7 acres).
The north and east sides of Camp D (including the northeast corner) can be seen as a low, wide grassy bank. This bank is about 5 metres (16 feet) wide and 20 centimetres (8 inches) high. The south and west sides of the camp have been completely lost due to old farming and recent drainage ditches.
Other Features at Pennymuir
There are also signs of a later farmstead right next to the road between the camps. This farmstead included at least two buildings and five fenced areas. Inside these areas, you can see traces of old farming methods, where fields were shaped into long ridges and furrows.
Within Camp A, there is also a long, straight earthwork. It runs north from about 20 metres (65 feet) northeast of the camp's southwest corner. This earthwork was probably used as a boundary line much later than the Roman times.
