Huntingtower Signal Station

Gask Ridge Signal Station

The circular defences of this watch-tower was discovered from the air in 1985 as a penannular crop-mark north-west of Huntingtower Farm, with the entrance gap on the NNW facing the Roman road from Strageath to Bertha. Resistivity surveys and excavations in 1997/8 revealed a square timber structure of at least two building phases, defended by a turf rampart fronted by a V-shaped ditch 6¼ ft. wide by about 2¼ ft. deep (1.9 x 0.71 m), the whole structure covering an area around 55 ft. (c.16.8 m) in diameter or just under ½-acre (0.2 ha).

The ditch had a single entrance, facing NW towards the assumed course of the Roman road. The tower was set right at the rear (S) of the internal area, opposite the entrance and astride signs of an internal turf rampart. So close was the tower to the ditch lip that its S side was over 1m shorter than the N face in order to fit within the ditch’s curve, whilst a ditch recut had partly destroyed the primary post-pit of the tower?s SW corner post. The tower had been deliberately demolished at the end of its occupation but, unlike some of the other towers on the system, there was no sign that the remains had then been burned.

References for Huntingtower

  • Britannia xvii (1986) p.371;
  • Britannia xxix (1998) p.376; Britannia xxx (1999) p.328.

Map References for Huntingtower

NGRef: NO0724 OSMap: LR52/53/58

Roman Roads near Huntingtower

None identified

Sites near Huntingtower Signal Station