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Roman Temporary Marching Camp Raedykes

 

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Grid .REF Measurments AREA Size
NO8490 c.2,620 x c.1,750 ft
(c.800 x c.530 m)		 c.110 acres
(c.44.5 ha)
Very irregular in outline, the entire perimeter of the Raedykes camp has been recorded on top of the summit of the 628 ft Garrison Hill.. With five visible gateways, all with titulus outworks as protection.  There are two in the  east side, one in the south side, another in the north side and one more in the south West side. Mid Raedykes Farm lies within the north west corner of the camp and the other Broomhill Farm lies within the defences beside the southern-most east gateway.  Observed from Crawford's plan published Cambridge 1949. The straight east side measures c.2,740 ft., the straight south side c.1,300 ft., the  west side c.2,500, and the inwardly-creased north side 2,200 ft. The defensive ditch was quite substantial on the northern and eastern sides , at around 15 ft. across and about 7 ft. deep (c.4.6 x 2.1 m), the rest of the perimeter was less significant.

Battle of Mons Graupius

Raedykes  represent a possible site for the battle of Mons Graupius, a battle fought in AD 83-84 between a federation of Caledonian tribes and Agricola's army somewhere in Aberdeenshire. The Romans 20,000 troops, the army being about one tenth of the total Army in the Roman world,  would have expected to route the Picts, just as they had vanquished the Iceni tribe in East Anglia in modern England - 20 years earlier. Tacitus tells us that the Caledonians numbered about 30,000 men - Roman expectations would have been high. Tacitus records that the Picts had massed and taken up position at the top of the hill, leaving the Romans an uphill fight on a slope that gave the Picts a tactical advantage. 

Certainly the Romans narrowly won the Battle of Mons Graupius; however,  later historical events prove it to have been a moderate victory that temporarily checked the Pict resistance.  Caledonia was later let go from the Roman Empire, and the Antonine and then Hadrians walls built along what essentially became the Scottish border.

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Then
Stonehaven is rich in history, from the earliest of paint clad pictish inhabitants, through roman garrisons nearby, Patriotic heroes and the bloody history of the centuries. With some persecution mellowing into the renascence that was the Barley era of expansion and development.
 
 Now
We have a thriving town serving both the Local countryside and as a commuter town for Aberdeen to the north. With an active recreational and working harbour, charming seashore frontage, but with all the modern amenities a town with a youthful and growing population requires.

 

 

  

 
 
Facts     William Wallace attacked the nearby Dunnottar Castle, killing nearly all inside.