Strang's Ptolemaic Map of Scotland and the Position of Uxella of the Selgovae (one more time!)

NOTE:  Since doing my work on the Selgovae sites, I've had the following from Scottish Borders archaeologist Dr Christopher Bowles.  He has made an excellent case for Corda being in the Peebles/Lyne area.  Having reviewed his data, including archaeoogical reports on the relevant sites he was kind enough to forward to, I'm now in agreement with him regarding Corda.  This leaves only Uxella as still somewhat uncertain, and someday I will return to my investigations regarding that 'high' location.

"I gave this all a bit more thought over night as I really like the idea of looking for native ‘hosting places’ to associate with Roman activity. It would have made pacification and diplomatic contact that much easier for the army, and Newstead also fits this bill nicely. So, and really I’m not trying to throw another spanner in for your theory…but have you also considered Peebles/Lyne for Corda rather than Carbantorigum? The reason being is that Peebles translates from the Brittonic as ‘the Place of the Tents’, and nearby is the Sheriffmuir which is a traditional meeting place for armies. The fort of East Happrew sits on the edge of Sherrifmuir, and Lyne fort (as well as the now Roman 3 camps) sits directly opposite. In the valley between them, at the foot of the Meldons, there was a large Neolithic/Bronze Age enclosure excavated by Colin Burgess in the 1970s and interpreted as a ritual centre, which was cut by one of the Roman camps. If you’re looking for  hosting places, this one has a very long history as such a place over several thousand years, and benefits from direct Roman archaeology. To put a further twist to this, the Meldon Bridge/Sheriffmuir sites are overlooked by the forts on Black and White Meldon, and the incredible series of three forts and unenclosed settlements on Cademuir Hill. I’ve long thought that this stretch of the Tweed MUST be a tribal centre, possibly becoming the site of a ‘caput’ in the early medieval period. In fact, the early Christian burials at Lyne are possibly a solidification of the special nature of the area in a post-Roman context, and gives a good reason for a ‘Neitano Sacerdos’ being in the area in the 6th century (perhaps preaching in view of the ruined Roman forts?)."

Recreating a possible Flavian map of Roman Britain with a detailed map for Scotland by

Alastair Strang (Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 128,1998, 425-440)

http://journals.socantscot.org/index.php/psas/article/download/10013/9980/

Since reaching certain conclusions in my study of the 4 Selgovae sites in Ptolemy, I've had a chance to look closer at Alastair Strang's papers on the subject.  For the first time I've gained access to the above-posted map.  This has caused me to reconsider ALL my previous identifications aside from the one that is certain, viz. Trimontium at the Eildon Hills at Newstead.

The only way I could think of to resolve the difficulty in placing the various sites was to find a way to bring Carbantorigum and Uxella into near-perfect latitudinal alignment.  None of my previous ideas worked - and neither did those proposed by other scholars.  So it was back to the map and the archaeological databases to satisfy the parameters of Ptolemy's placement.

As it turns out, there are only two sites that work.  The Raeburnfoot Roman fort and the Burgh Hill fort, stone circle and significant satellite settlements.  Strang also shows Uxella just a little above the line upon which he places Raeburnfoot and Bremenium.  This again seems to match Burgh Hill nicely.

While Crawford on the Clyde would still seem to make for a better Corda simply based on Strang's map, I feel pretty strongly the Selgovae center was at Dreva Craig/Louden Knowe on the Tweed, where the god Lugus was worshiped. 

Here is a map of the Selgovae sites plotted out.  I invite my readers to compare this with Strang's.

I had discussed Burgh Hill before in the context of the Catrail, which occurs at the site.  This earthwork/ditch formed a major boundary division, it is thought, between the Britons and the English during the Dark Ages.  It is not impossible that it was roughly the Selgovae boundary long before then.