A history of the Highlands and of the Highland clans : with an ...

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HrsTonv or the Hiniii,ANi»
ii-liiuh is sitaated on the wesl bank uf tlie Tay at tlie presesit roiiflDeiice
of the Almond with that noble river.
Having crossed the Tay, by means of the wooden bridge, the Roman
road proceeded up the east side of the river, and passed through the
centre of the camp at Grassy-walls. From this position the remains of
the road are distinctly visible for a mile up to Gellyhead, on the west of
which it passed and went on by Innerbuist, to Nether-Collin, where it
again becomes apparent, and continues distinct to the eye for two miles
and a half, passing on to Drichmuir and Byres. From thence, the road
stretched forward in a north-east direction, passing between Blairbead
and Gilwell to Woodhead ; and thence pushing on by Newbigging and
Gallowhill on the right, it descends Leyston-moor ; and passing that
village it proceeds forward to the Roman camp at Cupar Angus, about
eleven and a half miles from Orrea. Tlie camp at Cupar appears to
have been an equilateral quadrangle of four hundred yards, fortified by
two strong rampai-ts and large ditches, which stiU remain on the east and
south sides, and a part on the north side, but the west side has been
obliterated by the plough. From Cupar the road took a north-east
direction towards Reedie, in the parish of Airly. On the south of this
hamlet the vestiges of the road again appear, and for more than half
a mile the ancient road forms the modern way. The Roman road now
points towards Kirriemuir, by which it appears to have passed in its
course to the Roman camp at Battledikes. After traversing this camp,
the road continued its course in an east-north-east direction for several
mdes along the valley on the south side of the river South-Esk, which
it probably passed near the site of Black-mill, below Esk-mount. From
this passage it went across the moor of Brechin, where vestiges of it
appear pointing to Keithock ; and at this place there are the remains
of a Roman camp which are now known by the name of IVardikes.
Beyond this camp on the north, the Roman road has been seldom or
never seen. In the popular tradition this road is called the La7iff
Causeway, and is supposed to have extended northward through Perth-
shire and Forfarshire, and even through Kincardineshire to Stonehaven.
About two miles north-east from the Roman station at Fordun, and
between it and the well known camp at Urie, there are the traces, as it
crosses a small hill, of an artificial road, which is popularly called the
Picts' Road.
It would appearthat there are traces of Roman roads even farther north.
Between the rivers Don and Urie in Aberdeenshire, on the eastern side
of Bennachee, there exists an ancient road known in the country by the
name of the Maideti Cniise.uni/, a name by which some of the Roman
roads in the north of England are distinguished. This proceeds from
Bennachee whereon there was a hill-fort, more than the distance of a
mile into the woods of Pitodrie, when it disappears: it is paved with
stones and is about fourteen feet wide. Still farther north, in the track
of the Iter, as it crosses between the two stations of Varis and Tnessis.