buildings were arranged in six blocks, forming three strigae. Only one of these (Block XXV) could be traced for its entire length to the edge of the road leading to the west gate. It measured 270 feet. It seems likely that Blocks XX to XXV were of the same length, and that they also extended northward to the road. Block XX was probably shorter. Its width, thirty feet as compared with fifteen feet in Block XXV, would more than compensate.[1] Although the excavation gave unsatisfactory results owing to the scanty nature of the remains, it seems plain that in these strigae we have the same system that had been followed in laying out the barracks of the Praetentura. The walls of the blocks, however, are continuous. Besides, the blocks themselves were, with the exception of No. XX, much narrower, and accordingly the huts were so arranged that they lay with their greatest length towards the street. Hardly any of the cross walls were found, but Blocks XXIII and XXV each furnished one complete hut which serves to give an indication of the rest. These huts measured respectively twenty-one feet by seventeen feet and twenty-one feet by eleven feet. As has already been noted the size of the huts in the Praetentura (Blocks I to XII) varied slightly. If this variation is allowed for, it will be found that the measurements of the two huts of the Retentura, and therefore presumably their fellows, go far to indicate that Blocks XXIII and XXV were similarly sub-divided into ten or eleven huts.
Barrack Yard
In the space which lay to the north of these strigae there was no trace of any corresponding buildings. The ground was carefully trenched down to the subsoil, but, with the exception of a large circular oven, nothing was discovered to suggest that the space had ever been occupied. This oven was of the usual horse-shoe type. It lay almost on the line of the rampart of the early fort to which it possibly belonged, and close to the street leading to the west gate. The wall stood about one and a half feet high, and was composed of cobbles and stone from the Eildon Hills embedded in clay. The wall showed a batter on the exterior. The opening of the oven lay towards the east. The clay was of an orange red colour, showing that it had been exposed to fire. Remains of two other smaller ovens lay beneath Block XXV, and were apparently of earlier date. The ground of this area appeared to have been covered with coarse gravel. It is curious to note that even in the earlier fort, to which
1 We have already noted in the Praetentura the greater length of Block I to compensate for its smaller width.
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