40 TRANSACTIONS. 
ground, reaching to Chapelcroft Farm. This mossy ground passes 
to the north and ends on the north-east in a peat moss, used 
until lately by the inhabitants of Lochmaben to cart their peats 
from. Thus on three sides the camp was in the days of its 
occupation, in all probability, surrounded with water, or almost 
so, and the only possible mode of approach was from the east, 
where the gateway is. Wilson in his Pre-historic Annals of 
Scotland (Vol. II., p. 89) says of Wood Castle that it is “a 
remarkable circular fort near Lochmaben, in Annandale, which 
General Roy describes as a Roman post, though it differs in every 
possible feature from any known example of Roman castramonta- 
tion. That it is a British stronghold is not now likely to be 
called in question. It bears a close affinity to the circular earth- 
works which accompany some of the Scottish megolithic circles. 
: The fortifications here specified are not, however, to 
be classed with the simple circular hill forts first noted, wherein we 
trace the mere rudimentary efforts of a people in the infancy of 
the arts. They display equal skill in the choice of site and the 
elaborate adaptation of such earthworks to the natural features of 
the ground.” I have searched Roy’s Military Antiquities for a 
description of Wood Castle, and I find no description of it. AIL I 
find is a ground plan and elevation drawn to a scale on Plate 
VIIL. of “The Roman Post of Wood Castle.” Now, Roy belonged 
to a school of antiquarians who tried to prove that the chief 
remains in the country are Roman, just as old-fashioned teachers 
tried to inculcate English grammar by teaching Latin rules. The 
circumstance that a Roman way passes close to Wood Castle is, 
I think, purely accidental, and the fact that the camp is not on a 
hill top cannot be considered as powerful evidence against the 
theory of its being British, when it is remembered that the 
Britons affected lakes, that the camp is of essentially British con- 
struction, and that the Romans have never been known to alter 
the characteristic shape of their encampments. Those who wish 
to pursue the matter further will be aided by consulting Maclagan’s 
Hill Forts of Scotland, Gordon’s Itinerarium Septentrionale, and 
Leslie’s Early Races of Scotland. 
Ill. Wew Studies of Some Old Scotch Ballads. By Mr Wm. : 
M‘DowALL, F.S.A. 
Mr W. M‘Dowall occupied about an hour in analysing and 
commenting upon some choice specimens of our old ballad 
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