Bearsden

T Bearsden, in the suburbs of Glasgow, David Breeze continued his excavations within the fort. The stone built granary discovered last year close to the modern road was further investigated, but the main effort was concentrated on the south side of the road in the gardens of Maxholme, a house owned by the District Council but leased to the Baptist Church. Here only small areas were available for excavation where lawns and flowerbeds could be sacrificed. The five areas examined all produced evidence for timber buildings in the form of post-holes. In two areas no meaningful pattern could be recognised but elsewhere the 'dots' could be joined up to provide the plan of the commanding officer's house. This building consisted of three ranges of rooms round a courtyard facing south. No trace was found of the principia or headquarters building-it mainly lies under the drive and a clump of trees-but its location will be one of next year's tasks.

The most important single discovery of 1976 was an inscription reading :

LEG XX V V QVINT FEC which, being interpreted means : Leg(ion) XX V(a1eria) V(ictrix), (century of) Quint (...), built (this). This is the first building inscription of this legion alone from an Antoine Wall fort. Quint( ...), an abbreviation that could be for Quintus, Quintianus, Quintillus or some similar name, is presumably the name of the centurion in charge of the construction gang. A Pedius Quintus, a centurion, is recorded from Hadrian's Wall (RIB 1400), while Quintinus is recorded from Caerleon (RIB 349) and a Quitianus is attested at Binchester (RIB 1081). It is unlikely however that any one of these is the same soldier as the Bearsden Quint.

Bearsden: granary looking south. Note the air vents between the buttresses and the dwarf walls to support the floor.

Photo: Valerie Maxfield, crown copyright.

Modern Road t- L -.,, r "W

Camelon

I N the suburbs of Falkirk, Valerie Maxfield continued her excavations at the fort of Camelon, adjacent to the William Alexander bus building factory. The main Antonine fort is known to lie in the field to the north, but the factory overlies the fort annexe, and it was here that she completed the excavation of the industrial furnaces she found last year. The big question however is whether a Flavian (1st century) fort underlies the Antonine (2nd century) annexe. Here results are encouraging, for traces of earlier timber structures were found on two alignments. One of these was the same as that of the later defences, but others were on a different alignment, while a short stretch of V-shaped ditch was found some distance to the north of the known southern defences. Could it be that there is not just one, but two Flavian forts?