78 FOUTS IN EskDALEMUli;. 



I have heard it suggested that the rectilinear camp at Rae- 

 burnfoot was the true Overbie, and feeling rather piqued in my 

 vanity that an attempt might some day be made to deprive me of 

 the name of my pre-historic fort. I spoke to the late lamented 

 Dr Macdonald, F.S.A., on the subject, and his reply to me was — 

 '' They may cart your camp away, but they cannot cart away its 

 name ; it has been known as Overbie from time immemorial." 



This opinion, expressed by such an eminent Archaeologist, 

 was a great consolation to me, and, as recent explorations at 

 Raeburnfoot have failed to prove that it was occupied by either 

 British or Romans for any length of time, I am glad to think that 

 the name nf Overbie, as applied to Castle O'er, still " holds the 

 fort." 



Shortly after the rebellion of 1745, General Roy was in- 

 structed by the Society of Antiquaries of London to survey and 

 make plans of some of the principal forts and Roman camps in 

 Scotland ; this he did, and the result was the publishing of his 

 great and well-known work on these Remains, " Military Anti- 

 quities of the Romans in Britain." Among those figured in his 

 work is Castle O'er, and he describes it [as the supposed Uxellum 

 of the Romans ; this is mere surmise, and I myself prefer to look 

 at the fort as a more ancient landmark in the country where it is 

 situated than any of the remains of camps left by the Romans. 



The General's description of the Fort is as follows : — " In 

 p]skdale moor, on a high point of land, formed by the junction of 

 the Black and White Esks, Castle Over is situated. The nature 

 of the fortifications of this ancient place will be best conceived 

 from the plan and sections of them which accompany this work. 

 But besides these principal vestiges, which are all that are here 

 referred to, there are traces of extensive lines that have reached 

 towards the south, but chiefly towards the east, as far as the 

 bank of the Esk, seemingly with the intention of keeping up the 

 communication with the river. From the concurrence there of so 

 many circumstances, remarkable vestiges, lofty situation, affinity 

 of name, vicinity to Mons Uxella, and position westward from 

 Trimontium, there suiely seems sufficient reason to conclude that 

 Castle Over is the Uxellum mentioned by Ptolemy and Richard 

 as belonging to the Selgoviv, and which appears to have stood not 

 far from the eastern frontier ; the summit of Mons Uxella prob- 



