Excerpt from The Roman Forts on the Bar Hill, Dumbartonshire

Such a discovery on the very first morning was a piece of rare good fortune, and it was followed up without delay. In the face of consider able difiiculties, the well (which had plainly been filled up of set purpose) was entirely cleared out. The upper stratum was disappoint. Ing. It consisted wholly of building material - pieces of freestone of various sizes, sometimes dressed, but generally quite rough-piled in hopeless confusion. At a depth of 12 feet there came to light the capital of a column, the precursor of much that was interesting. On November 22nd the workmen were 17 feet down, and had recovered five capitals and bases of pillars, 15 linear feet of round columns, and one fragment of an inscribed tablet. At this juncture it became necessary to erect overhead gear. In view of the great weight of the stones and the consequent danger of serious accident, it was deemed advisable to employ two winches, one to let down and pull up the man who attached the tackle for haulage, the other to bring to the surface the columns, bases, and capitals that now formed an almost solid mass, the larger pieces usually jammed hard against the stone 'cradling' of the well. With a total diameter of not more than 4 feet, the space con ditions were extremely trying. The water also proved very troublesome, rising with steadily increasing rapidity. To keep it under, a running gear with two buckets had to be constantly in motion.

All obstacles were, however, overcome; and the deeper the workmen descended, the keener grew the interest. On November 24th a second and third fragment of the inscribed tablet reached the surface, as well as more portions of pillars and a few pieces of oak. On Monday the 26th, besides further portions of pillars, the spoils included an inscribed altar (found 33 feet down), the horn of a red deer, a single coin (which was resting on the edge of one of the 'cradling' stones), a number of bits of squared oak, the frame and pulley wheel that had belonged to the original overhead gearing, and many pieces of iron. On the 27th, at 38 feet, there was found a broken amphora of great size, with a bag of what looked like tools inside the largest fragment, as well as a miscel leucous collection of objects of iron. Bottom was finally touched at.43 feet. Immediately above, a stratum of mud and small stones, 25 feet in thickness, had been encountered. The whole of the material of which it was composed was carefully washed through riddles, with the result that a. Number of coins and other small objects were recovered. The foundations of the 'cradling' were then strengthened with cement, the bottom filled in with concrete, and the well allowed to fill with water. Fig. 1 is a view taken after all was over. In the background are shown some of the building-stones that had been used to fill the uppermost portion.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.