56 Transactions. 



connection with one another — Birrens being a Station or Fort 

 that had been occupied by a Roman garrison for a longer or 

 shorter period, and the Birrenswark enclosures, summer quarters 

 to which detachments of the legionai'ies might be moA'ed in turn 

 from their more confined winter entrenchments. In the remarks 

 that follow, I propose to state and review as impartially as I can 

 the evidence that has been deemed sufficient to establish the 

 truth of these propositions. 



The discoverer of the earthworks referred to, so far as the 

 archieological world is concerned, was Gordon — the " Sandy " 

 Gordon of the " Antiquary." It is somewhat strange that they 

 were entirely overlooked by all previous observers. Camden, 

 who had collected what information lie could for his notices of 

 the various counties or districts of Scotland to be found in the 

 successive editions of the " Britannia " published in his lifetime, 

 knew nothing of them. It was the same with Gordon of Straloch. 

 In the account of Annandale, vs^hich he wrote for Bleau's 

 " Scottish Atlas," neither Birrens nor Birrenswark is mentioned. 

 More unaccountable still is the silence of that most industrious 

 writer. Sir Robert Sibbald. When gathering materials for his 

 " Historical Inquiries," he secured, as we learn from Bishop 

 Nicholson, the services of residents in the different districts of the 

 country, who furnished him with detailed reports on all matters 

 of antiquarian interest in each of them. In this way he received 

 a description of the " Stevvardy of Anandale, with a map of the 

 country, by Mr Johnston, a minister there," and also of " The 

 Shire of Dumfrese, by Dr Archibald, with his account of the 

 natural products of Galloway and Dumfreseshire." Some of 

 these papers are preserved among the Sibbald MSS. in the 

 Advocates' Library, Edinburgli, though the two that relate to 

 Dumfriesshire appear to be awanting. From what we read in the 

 " Inquiries," we may infer that Sir Robert's correspondents had 

 spoken of there having been a Roman Fort at Caerlaverock, and 

 another at the " Village " of Solway, as well as a Rou:an Port on 

 the Nitli, somewhere below the town of Dumfries. But these 

 are his only references to Roman antiquities in the county. The 

 " Historical Inquiries " was published in 1707. 



Alexander Gordon next comes on the scene. Born in 

 Aberdeen towards the close of the seventeenth century, he studied 

 at one or other of the two northern Universities, now united 

 taking there the degree of M.A. Little is known of his earlier 



