ttEPOIlT OF liEETtNGS ITOR i90t 16& 



At one o'clock, the members drove from the Abbey [to 

 the site of the reteiitiy discovered Roman Fort, situated a 

 short distance East of the village of Newstead and to the 

 South of the road leading to Leaderfoot, in a field which bears 

 the name of the Rod Abbeystead, and which has been long 

 under cultivation. The extensive foundations laid bare during 

 the work done in 1905-6 were no longer exposed to view ; but 

 on the occasion of the Club's visit, labourers 

 Newstead were prosecuting the work of excavation in the 

 Fort. Western annex, which in keeping with other 



parts of the Fort is doubly entrenched, and 

 encloses the foundations of the Baths attached to it. To 

 our esteemed member, Mr James Curie, Priorwood, has been 

 entrusted by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, the 

 superintendence of the operations carried on there under their 

 auspices ; and to his kindness were the party indebted for an 

 account of the exploration accomplished, and an explanation 

 of the work at the moment being done. So frequent and 

 valuable have been his contributions on the subject, and so 

 thorough his treatment of it in the course of Rhind Lectures 

 he has had the honour of delivering, that wo cannot do better, 

 in bringing the history of this remarkable undertaking down 

 to the present date, than borrow from information supplied 

 by him, and published in reports issued by that Society. 



Since the Club's visit in June 1905 much has been done 

 to elucidate the plan and history of the Fort. Sections cut 

 through the fortifications on the South and East sides having 

 revealed a heavy foundation of cobbles, with here and there 

 blocks of red sandstone, led t.o the conjecture that the Fort 

 had been at one time defended by a wall, though no indica- 

 tion of the nature of its superstructure was forthcoming. This 

 in due course has been confirmed by operations on the West 

 side, which brought to light a well-preserved fragment of 

 the actual wall, showing a scarcement course of sandstone 

 blocks lying on the cobbles, and having above it at least 

 two courses of well-built squared masonry, 7 feet 6 inches 

 in thickness. The ditch of the early fort was also cleared 

 out for some distance on the South, with a view to obtaining 

 information as to the period to which it belonged, and in 

 the process coins of Domitian and Vespasian were found 



