Scottish Tour Guide's Blog

Barr Hill Roman Fort, Antonine Wall, Scotland

• Located at highest point (150m) on the line of the Wall.
• Covered an area of 3.2 acres.
• Construction comprised a rampart of turf on stone base protected by ditches.
• Not directly attached to the Wall as summit location offered strategically important views northwards towards the Campsie Fells.
• The Military Way (road) passed between the fort and the Wall.
• A Roman Camp has been identified just to the south of the fort which may suggest it served as a construction camp during construction of the fort.

Barr Hill Roman Fort, Antonine Wall, Scotland

 

Bathhouse remains.

 

Bath House, Barr Hill Roman Fort, Antonine Wall

 

A ‘must see’ for Roman aficionados like me!

 This evening, I am focusing on a major Roman site in Scotland at Cramond, near Edinburgh.

This site displays evidence of a remarkable continuity of occupation from the building of the Antonine Wall in AD142 through to subsequent re-occupation and enlargements in around AD 208-222 through to post Roman occupation by local peoples and use of the Roman Principia  as site for a Christian Church around AD600 which has evolved into the current place of worship.

In Roman times Cramond was important because of its location on the Forth Estuary (Firth) which facilitated inward transhipment of supplies by sea from southern Britain and Germany. This video clip  was taken a few hundred metres from the site. A brief summary of the history of the Roman era site:

Here is a video clip  showing principal features of this large site. Image at top of post shows position of the granary.

Roman Fort, Cramond, Scotland

Barrack Block

Roman Fort, Cramond, Scotland

 Latrine Block.

Roman Fort, Cramond, Scotland

 Modern-day Kirk built on site of the Roman fort’s principia. Within the fabric of this building can be found re-cycled Roman masonry.

Cramond Kirk, Edinburgh, Scotland

For Roman aficionados such as me this is a fascinating site. There is easy access to the nearby Firth of Forth which offers good scenery and photo opps.

Antonine Wall at Falkirk, Scotland

This morning, I met my tour group at Falkirk High railway station and then drove to nearby Callendar House. Here we had coffee and discussed the outline of today’s tour along the Antonine Wall. This Wall was constructed around AD 139-142 and ran for about 37 miles/59Km from the River Forth in the east of Scotland to the River Clyde on the west. The Wall formed the northern frontier of the Roman Empire for about 20 years after which the Romans retreated back to the line of Hadrian’s Wall which remained the permanents frontier until witdrawal from Britain in AD 410. Unlike Hadrian’s Wall, the Antonine Wall was built of turf on a stone base. Height was about 10 feet/3.0 m high and base about 14ft/4.2m wide. Parts of the Wall and its fortifactions remain in reasonable condition today notwithstanding the lapse of about 1800 years.

Reason for the stop at Callendar House is that the building is located just a hundred yards or so from an intact section of the Antonine Wall, as shown in imge at top of this post. Inside Callendar House is a section dedicated to the Antonine Wall and Roman era.

Callendar House, Falkirk, Scotland

Next we undertook a short drive round to Boneybridge and then a short walk alog the line of the Wall to Rough Castle, this being one of perhaps 26 forts along the Wall.

Here is an image of the fort remains at Rough Castle

Rough Castle, Antonine Wall, Scotland

Here is the Antonine Wall looking west from Rough Castle.

Section of Antonine Wall at Rough Castle, Scotland

Here is a Roman ‘minefield’ or lilia. These were camaflauged defensive pits within which were upturned sharpened stakes to act as a deterrent to attackers.

Lilia, Roman Minefield at Rough Castle

Next, we continued west to Twechar where we navigated an uphill path to reach Barr Hill Roman Fort which was built on a superb, high elevation vantage point looking north. Here we saw the remains of the bath-house and offices. 

Roman Bath-House at Barr Hill Roan Fort

Remains of Roman Fort at Barr Hill, Scotland

Next, we continued west. After a short refreshment stop we arrived at Bearsden. First we drove into the cemetery wheren can be found a short section of the base of the Wall.

Foundations of Antonine Wall at Bearsden Cemetery, Glasgow

Our final stop of the day was Bearsden Roman Baths  which were discovered as recently as the 1970s.  There are sufficent remains to get a good understanding of the baths  and associated latrine area. These facilities were connected to an adjacent fort on the Antonine Wall.

Section of Roman Baths at Bearsden, Scotland

With daylight fading we drove into Glasgow where tour finished with fond farewells at Queen Street Station.