| Oh Bugger | 08 Aug 2015 3:24 a.m. PST |
Ok lets hope you can read this. The aforesaid play a role in the battle of Kilsyth as the highlanders are positioned behind them in the early stages of the battle before their decisive charge. How were these constructed are we talking about a ditch and bank or something else? Any help appreciated. |
| Lt Col Pedant | 08 Aug 2015 4:29 a.m. PST |
Yes. You could have called them a 'banked-ditch' and avoided the PC PC. |
| kodiakblair | 08 Aug 2015 4:30 a.m. PST |
Probably just drystone  s,no more than 4 foot high and certainly no ditch. Kilsyth's a farming and mining area and there's still plenty of "drystane s" remaining. Now the Antonine wall is about a mile or so away but after 1500 years there'd be nothing left of the timber palisade
and I doubt the locals would remember. When I was at school in Falkirk, across the road there was part of the ditch remaining.If you'd no interest in history you'd be none the wiser. I have my doubts it would be the old wall they meant. |
 x42brown  | 08 Aug 2015 4:48 a.m. PST |
I had always assumed that they were dry stane Dykes. That was the normal for the area. You're putting doubts in my mind. x42 Edit: Spelling Dyke with a capital D gets around the bleep o'matic I believe that this was done for talking about Dykes used as a word walls in British history. |
| kodiakblair | 08 Aug 2015 5:13 a.m. PST |
x42 I've passed through Kilsyth many times over the years,
there's nothing to suggest anything other than dry stane Dykes.
I mentioned Antonine's Wall only so it could be discounted.History doesn't stay in the public mind for long,folks in Camelon are generally unaware of the Roman camp there.Almost nobody in Falkirk is aware of the 1746 battle.When I pointed out to friends that according to Seymour we lived within the Scottish deployment area for the 1298 battle it drew blank looks,"was there a battle in Falkirk ?" There's very little chance that even if the battle was nearer Croy and the remains of the wall,it's actually nearer 8 miles away,folk would see the ditch and think a wall once stood there. Looks like by trying to discount something I've added to the confusion.Sorry for that. |
| Oh Bugger | 08 Aug 2015 5:42 a.m. PST |
That's great – dry stone Dykes it is. Thanks lads much appreciated. It also helps my understanding of the battle 4 foot high stone Dykes would provide good cover from long range musketry. |
| steamingdave47 | 09 Aug 2015 12:18 p.m. PST |
Definitely " Stane Dykes" if in Scotland. I was very puzzled by the different use of the term when I first moved from eastern England. A had always been a deep ditch as far as I was concerned. You are right about the cover- would have been a very useful defensive feature. |
| Oh Bugger | 09 Aug 2015 1:38 p.m. PST |
Yeah Baillie says his veteran musketeers were blazing away at long range at the Highlanders behind the Dyke. If the Higlanders had knelt I doubt they were in any danger. Mac Colla commanded them. Then of course they 'lowped the Dyke' as they say. |
| x42brown | 09 Aug 2015 10:27 p.m. PST |
I'd be careful about the "Definitely" rather than "most probably" for Dykes being stane in Scotland. The reason Billyfish and kodiakblair together could put doubt in my mind is that near my daughters house there are "grassy Dykes". These being "ditch and bank" constructions believed Roman and associated with their fort at Inchtuthil. Looking at the Ordinance Survey map of Kilsyth I think the highlanders dry stane Dyke is still there and in use. x42 |
