This discovery marks the latest finding of Bradford University Archaeological Studies Dept ,which worked at the Trimontium site, originally under Dr RFJ Jones and then under Dr Simon Clarke, from 1987 to 1998. Their report is expected in 2006/2007 and will follow in the steps of Curle (1905-10); Richmond (1947); and St Joseph (aerial photography 1948-75).

The amphitheatre is the first to be discovered in Roman Scotland and, so far, the most northerly in the Roman Empire. (There is possibly another at Inveresk near Edinburgh) It is not surprising that a fort housing perhaps a maximum of 2,500 men at one point in the second century - the Roman Army HQ in Southern Scotland - should have had an arena for weapon training, displays of martial skills and exhorting the troops, at a convenient point near its North East corner.

Bill Lonie of Newstead, the retired Scottish College of Textiles lecturer, Trimontium Trustee and former Chairman of Melrose and District Community Council, who in 1991 was the first to wonder if the saucer-like depression, as seen from the Leaderfoot railway viaduct, and half-filled by the embankment of the now-closed minor road B6361, was an amphitheatre, and wrote it up in the 1992 Trimontium Trumpet newsletter, was delighted with the news. "I'm relieved too," he said with a laugh,"and very impressed with the work of Dr Clarke and his colleagues on a difficult site."

Trimontium already has a first to its credit, in that the only Roman milestone found in Scotland (out of 500 miles of Roman roads north of the Border) - found indeed at Ingliston, near Edinburgh, 40 miles away - gives the distance from the hub of Roman roads in Scotland ie Trimontium. (A replica Millennium Milestone was unveiled at Newstead on 2nd Sept. 2000)

The site itself is in pasture, with sheep and cattle, and has a fine situation above the River Tweed and the three Leaderfoot bridges - the Victorian railway viaduct; the eighteenth century turnpike bridge; and the A68 1974 bridge.

Dr Clarke, whose booklet on the Phases of the Fort (seven in all) was published by the Trust, says that the arena lies NNW - SSE, a little like a rugby ball; the centre of the arena is 40 metres across; and the spectating area is a circular cobbled bank, enclosing the arena.

The Trimontium Trust has been most active, since its foundation in 1988, in promoting the importance of Trimontium through its permanent £30,000 Melrose Museum; six annual lectures; the seasonal weekly Tuesday/Thursday Trimontium Walk; and its Young Archaeologists' Club.