Battledykes (Oathlaw) Temporary Camp

Marching or Temporary Camp

Almost the entire perimeter of this large camp is known, the rest may be easily conjectured. Most of the S side, 3,100 ft. long, with two tutulus gateways and traces of the slightly acute SE angle, almost the entire E side, 2,060 ft. long with a tutulus gateway positioned almost centrally in the side, also the perfect north-east angle along with most of the N side, which bends markedly inwards at its easternmost gateway. The missing NW angle would have been quite obtuse, and a small surviving section of the W rampart seems to prove this. The entire W rampart would originally have measured a little over 1,500 ft. The SW corner-angle was submerged in a pond during Roy’s time, which has since been drained. The north-west part of the camp is dominated by a natural hill called Wolf Law which lies entirely within the perimeter of the Roman enclosure.

References for Oathlaw Camp

  • Topography of Roman Scotland North of the Antonine Wall by O.G.S. Crawford (Cambridge 1949) pp.94-97 & figs.23/24;
  • Air Reconnaissance of North Britain by J.K. St. Joseph in J.R.S. xli (1951) p.64.

Map References for Oathlaw Camp

NGRef: NO4555 OSMap: LR54

OS National Grid Reference: NO4555
Dimensions: c.3,000 x c.1,950 ft (c.914 x c.594 m)
Area: c.134 acres (c.54 ha)

Roman Roads near Oathlaw Camp

None identified

Sites near Battledykes (Oathlaw) Temporary Camp