Note 53 — Chapter I · ADVANCE OF THE ROMANS TO THE FIRTHS OF FORTH AND CLYDE.

There has been no point in the history of the Roman occupation of Scotland which has been more contested, or made the subject of more conflicting theories, than the position of this great battle. Gordon thought it was at Dealgan Ross, near Comrie. Chalmers, with, less difficulty, from the size of the camp, at Ardoch; others in Fife, and latterly a favourite theory has placed it at Urie in Kincardineshire. Mr. Burton abandons the attempt as hopeless.

The conclusion the author has come to is, that a careful examination of the narrative, compared with the physical features of the country, rightly apprehended, points to the site he has selected, and that it presents features which remarkably correspond with the description of the battle. This position was originally suggested in the Statistical Account of the Parish of Bendochy, published in 1797 (O. S. A. v. 19, p. 367), but has not received the attention it deserves.

The combined action of the fleet—præmissa classe—as well as the history of the previous campaigns, exclude any position west of the Tay; and if Dealgan Ross is evidently not the place, from the limited size of the camp, Ardoch is equally objectionable, from there being no hill near which answers the description of ‘Mons Granpius.’ The expression ‘transisse æstuaria’ in the plural, in Agricola’s speech, places it north of the Firth of Tay. The position at Urie involves the improbability that he marched for several days parallel to the range of the so-called Grampians, if his route was by Strathmore, and there are no camps to indicate a march nearer the coast before the battle was fought. The remains of this ‘vallum’ or rampart between the Isla and the Tay are still among the most remarkable Roman works in Scotland, and are known by the name of the Cleaven Dyke. It seems to have been the work of the same general who constructed the great camp at Ardoch, for, in connection with the latter, was a small work of an octagonal shape, with many ramparts, and the only other specimen the author has observed of a similar work is at the east end of the Cleaven Dyke.