Roman fort is revealed by work at water plant

Published on Friday 4 January 2008 20:32

A 2,000-YEAR-OLD Roman fort has been uncovered on the site of a new £60 million water treatment plant.

The remains of the camp were found during work on the Glencorse plant on the edge of the Pentland Hills Regional Park in Midlothian.

It is hoped the find will yield clues on how the Romans organised their occupation of the area in the first century AD.

The site is thought to be a Roman marching camp and is part of a network of bases, watchtowers and camps across lowland Scotland.

Historians had suspected there were Roman remains at Glencorse from studying aerial photographs, but this is the first evidence to be found.

No artefacts have been discovered but David Connolly, an archaeologist, described the find as an "important piece of the jigsaw".

He added: "Understanding the Romans in Scotland is a complex matter, as Scotland was not subjected to a single phase of occupation or conquest. Every new discovery leads to further understanding of Roman Scotland."

The Scottish Water project is to be completed by 2010.