REPORT OF MEETINGS FOR 1902 249 



(C), which, while covering the western portion of the south 

 front, 80 far as to include the southern gateway entrance, 

 also flanked the other half where exposed to attack from 

 the open ground (I). 



There were four entrances to the main work (A), nearly 

 in the centre of each front, the Porta Prsetoria on the east, 

 Porta Decumana on the west, Porta Sinistra on the north, 

 Porta Dextra on the south. 



The first two were in the line of the Yia Preetoria, the 

 two latter of the Via Principalis. 



The remains of four stone buildings, two of them heavily 

 buttressed, were discovered along the east side of the Via 

 Principalis ; one of which was presumably the Preetorium, 

 separated from one of its neighbours by a street paved 

 with cobblestones. In the centre of the most southerly of 

 these buildings was found a remarkable stone lined pit, 10 

 feet deep, constructed of excellent coursed red sandstone 

 masonry, with no trace of cement, the bottom flagged with 

 flat stones bedded in clay. In this were found an iron spear- 

 head and several pieces of pottery. The relics discovered 

 clearly indicate a Roman occupation, and they include fragments 

 of bowls of Samian ware, black and grey ware, amphorse, 

 and tiles; fragments of window glass, and of square bottles 

 of blue glass of the usual Roman type, and the upper part 

 of a very pretty beaker of thin, transparent glass ; also iron 

 nails with large heads, and the spike 4 or 5 inches long ; 

 two iron spear-heads, one barbed and with a shank, the 

 other leaf-shaped and unbarbed ; and, lastly, two coins, one 

 of Trajan and one of Vespasian. 



On the lower slopes, beneath the plateau, we found prevalent 

 a luxuriant yellow toadflax ( Linaria vulgaris), which covered 

 the knowe near the smithy, at the foot of the plateau. 



Entering the carriages again, we took the road which is 

 fenced on either side by the celebrated Stobo hedges, whose 

 antiquity is to be ju'^ged from this: — that so far back as 

 1695, Dr Pennecuick remaiked that the hedges were old and 

 high, and caused much grumbling from those who passed 

 between them. The Berheris vulgaris, or native wild barbery 

 of Great Britain, known by its trifid spines, is one constituent 



GG 



