Crawford was a small auxiliary fort on the upper Clydesdale road running north from Carlisle towards the Antonine Wall, positioned between the forts at Castledykes and Tassiesholm (Milton). Excavations by Maxwell in 1961–66 demonstrated two main periods of occupation: a Flavian fort of the late 1st century (c. AD 80s, in the Agricolan/post-Agricolan phase) and an Antonine reoccupation in the mid-2nd century (c. AD 140s–160s), reflecting the standard pattern of Roman military activity in southern Scotland.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The fort served as a road-station and garrison post controlling the strategic route through the upper Clyde valley, part of the chain of small forts spaced roughly a day's march apart that linked the northern frontier to the Hadrianic system. Its modest size suggests it housed a part-unit or detachment rather than a full auxiliary cohort.
Excavation identified turf ramparts, internal timber buildings, and stratigraphic evidence for the two distinct occupation phases, with the Antonine fort partially overlying the Flavian one on a slightly different alignment. Finds were relatively modest but included pottery and structural timberwork consistent with the dating; the site remains best known from Maxwell's published reports rather than from extensive recent fieldwork.
Crawford was a small auxiliary fort on the upper Clydesdale road running north from Carlisle towards the Antonine Wall, positioned between the forts at Castledykes and Tassiesholm (Milton). It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fort site from the Roman period in Britain.
Crawford is classified as a Roman fort — a military site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Wandel (5.4 km), Redshaw Burn (10.7 km), Durisdeer (17.3 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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