Site type ROMAN ROAD (ROMAN)
Canmore ID 71756
Site Number NT53NE 72
NGR NT 5690 3500
Council SCOTTISH BORDERS, THE
Parish MELROSE
Former Region BORDERS
Former District ETTRICK AND LAUDERDALE
Former County ROXBURGHSHIRE

Canmore Mapping
View this site on a map

Archaeological Notes

NT53NE 72 from 5690 3500 to 5557 3999 RR 2.
Formerly RR8g.

There is no trace of the road on this sheet. (Sheet edge crossing points are conjectural.) An indication of the course is given by Chalmers, whose account embodies and makes quotations from a report prepared by his local observer Kinghorn in 1803, at which time the remains of the road are said to have been 'very distinct'. Insofar as this account can be correlated with existing topography and place-names, it suggests that between the River Tweed and the county boundary, Dere Street crossed the line of the road that now runs by Clackmae and Kedslie to Stonyford Bridge, presumably somewhere near Kedslie (NT 553 404); that it thence held a course parallel with this road past New Blainslie (NT 549 443); and that it crossed the Milsie Burn perhaps near Milsieburn Bridge (NT 543 458). (Roman camps NT54SE 18 and NT54SE 24 NT54SW 10 and NT54NW 14, fall near to this line.) Other lines for this part of Dere Street are given by Roy and Milne, but Roy makes the error of confusing Dere Street with the Girthgate, while Milne's only divergence from Chalmers consists in his taking Dere Street by Chieldhelles Chapel, which is inconsistent with the course that he gives to it farther S. In this area, Hardie's charter-evidence evidently relates to a medieval road, following a quite different line.
A Milne 1743; W Roy 1793; G Chalmers 1887-1902; R P Hardie 1942; RCAHMS 1956.

No trace.
Visited by OS (JP) April 1975.

Chalmers, G (1887-94) Caledonia: or a historical and topographical account of North Britain, 7 vols + index Paisley
Page(s): Vol. 1, 141 Held at RCAHMS C.1.2.CHA

Hardie, R P (1942) The roads of medieval Lauderdale, Edinburgh
Page(s): 57 Held at RCAHMS D.1.12.LAU

Milne, A (1743) A description of the parish of Melrose, in answer to Maitland's queries sent to each parish in the kingdom, Edinburgh
Page(s): 69 Held at RCAHMS D.1.33.MEL.R