K Steer, Roman Scotland

Roman Scotland
Author(s): Kenneth Steer

Source: The Scottish Historical Review, Vol. 33, No. 116, Part 2 (Oct., 1954), pp. 115-128
Published by: Edinburgh University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25526263 .
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Roman Scotland
IN
1937
the
Glasgow Archaeological Society,
on
the initiative
of Mr.
J.
M.
Davidson,
appointed
a
Committee to
organize
a
systematic investigation, by
means
of
surveys
and
excavations,
of Roman roads and forts in south-west Scotland. This bold
and
imaginative project
was
in the best traditions of the
Glasgow
Society,
which,
like its sister
society
in
Dumfries,
has
so
often
taken the lead in the
exploration
of Roman remains within its
territory;
and there
can
be
no
doubt that the moment was
opportune
for
an
enterprise
of the kind. For the concentration
of
resources on
the Antonine Wall
during
the
previous twenty
years
had
inevitably
retarded field research in other
parts
of
Roman
Scotland;
and nowhere
was
the situation
more
unsatis
factory
than in the
south-west, where,
apart
from excavations at
Birrens and
Burnswark,
and the
discovery
of
a
temporary camp
at Little
Clyde, scarcely
any progress
had been made since the
publication
of
Roy's
classic folio.1
Indeed,
in
some
respects
the
position
had
deteriorated,
for
a
number of authentic Roman roads
and fortifications in the
area,
whose true character had been
recognized by Roy,
or
divined
by
less
gifted antiquarian topo
graphers,
had fallen victim to
the
pervasive scepticism
of the late
nineteenth
century,
and had either been
summarily rejected
or
set aside. Thus
a
systematic
re-examination of both known and
putative
Roman sites in the south-west
was
long
overdue,
and
the
Society
was
exceptionally
fortunate in
having
at its command
not
only
an
experienced
team of
field-workers,
but also
a
scholar
of the calibre of the late Mr. S. N.
Miller,
to whom the task of
co-ordinating
and
editing
the various
reports
was
entrusted.
Moreover,
in
1938
unexpected
assistance
was
obtained from
another
quarter
when it
was learned that Dr.
J.
K. St.
Joseph
was
engaged
on a
similar
survey
to that
projected by
the
Society,
in
preparation
for the revised
(third)
edition of the Ordnance
Survey
Map
of Roman Britain.
By
a
happy
arrangement
it
was
agreed
that Dr. St.
Joseph's
detailed
reports
should be
incorporated
in
1
The
Military Antiquities of
the Romans in Britain
(London, 1793).
n6 Kenneth Steer
the
Society's
volume,
and in return the
Society
undertook to
defray
the cost of trial trenches on
selected sites.
The scheme thus started under the most
favourable
auspices,
but
even so
the results obtained in the first three
years
exceeded
all
expectations. Discerning ground-observation brought
to
light
new
permanent
forts at
Bothwellhaugh,
Loudoun Hill and
Crawford;
two small
earthworks,
at
Milton and
Durisdeer,
were
excavated and
proved
to be Roman road
posts (fortlets)
of
a
type
already
known at
Chew Green and Kaims
Castle;
and
many
miles
of Roman roads
were
patiently
retrieved from the limbo of lost
reputations
into which
they
had been
consigned.
Nor
was
this
all,
for in
June, 1939,
Dr. O. G. S. Crawford carried out the first
air reconnaissance of Roman sites in Scotland.
Any
doubts that
air-photography,
as an
aid to
archaeological
research,
would lose
its effectiveness
on
transfer from the chalk Downs to the
grimmer
scenery
of the
Highland
zone were at once set at rest. For
although
the subsoil conditions
pertaining
in the
Highland
zone
are,
in
general,
less favourable
to the
preservation
of
crop
markings
in arable than
are
those in the south of
England,
there
is
ample compensation
in the fact that the moorlands and old
grasslands
of Scotland still enshrine hundreds of ancient monu
ments whose
remains,
though
visible on
the
ground,
have not been
recorded for lack of intensive field-work. In these
circumstances,
the
aeroplane obviously
has
an
invaluable role to
play
as a
spotter,
and the
point
was
firmly
driven
hoipe by
Dr. Crawford's
foray
which
produced, amongst
other
things,
a
second fort
at
Birrens;
a
fortlet at
Redshaw
Burn,
in
Annandale;
a
signal-station
near
the
Beef
Tub;
a
temporary camp
at
Galloberry,
in
Nithsdale;
and
a
fort at
Cardean,
in Strathmore. A brief account of the results
of this
epoch-making flight
was
given
at the
time,2 but,
as
in the
case of Dr. St.
Joseph's
researches,
detailed
publication
of the
new
material in the south-west
was
reserved for the
Glasgow
Society's report.
Then the
war
intervened,
not
only
to
interrupt
the
investigation
but also to
suspend
the
publication
of what had
already
been
ascertained;
and
owing
to various misfortunes after
the
war it was not until the end of
1952
that the book
emerged
from the
press.3
2
Antiquity,
xiii
(1939), 280-92.
3
The Roman
Occupation of
South-We stern
Scotland,
being reports
of excavations
and
surveys
carried out under the
auspices
of the
Glasgow Archaeological Society
by John
Clarke,
J.
M.
Davidson,
Anne S.
Robertson,
J.
K. St.
Joseph,
edited for the
Society
with a historical
survey by
S. N. Miller.
Pp.
xx,
246
;
figs.
12,
plates
Roman Scotland
117
As
was to be
expected,
the book is
a
storehouse of
information,
reflecting
the
greatest
credit
upon
its
contributors,
and will
become
a
standard reference-work for students of Roman Scot
land. The first
section,
which is devoted to a
detailed
description
of the roads from Carlisle to the
Forth,
to
Nithsdale,
from the
Tweed to the
Clyde,
from
mid-Clydesdale
towards the
Ayrshire
coast,
and from
Castledykes
to the
Forth-Clyde
isthmus,
is
admirably
done. The accounts are
lucidly
written,
and the
skilful insertion of
strip-maps,
derived from the Ordnance
Survey
6-inch
sheets,
makes them
easy
to
follow
on
the
ground.
It is
no
exaggeration
to
say
that this contribution has revolutionized
our
knowledge
of the Roman road
system
in
Scotland;
and
even
though
the
system
that
emerges
in the south-west is
manifestly
incomplete
as
it
stands,
numerous
possible
routes are
indicated
for further
study,
and much
sound,
practical
advice is
given
on
how to
distinguish
between Roman and later metalled roads.
Only
one
minor criticism
may
be
offered,
namely
that it is most
unlikely
that the blue
clay lining
observed in the side-ditches of the
road from
Castledykes
to
Collielaw
(p. 71)
was
deliberately
laid
to
render them
watertight: watertight drainage-ditches
would
defeat their
own
purpose,
and
many
instances
are
known where
similar blue
clay
has
developed
from natural
causes,
being
due
either to
leaching
or to the anaerobic conditions induced
by
waterlogging.4
The second of the three main sections which
compose
the
book deals with the
forts,
fortlets and
temporary camps
in the
area,
and
principally
with those which
were
excavated
or
trenched
in the course
of the
survey. Here,
again,
a
considerable amount
of fresh material has been made
available,
but the section is to
some extent weakened
by
the fact that it takes
hardly
any
note of
discoveries made since
1940,
and
by
a
lack of balance in the
treatment of the sites concerned. For
example,
the account of
the unfinished excavations at
Castledykes,
which
occupies
no
less
than
forty-four
pages
and fourteen
plates,
seems to be
unduly
elaborate for
an
interim
report.
On the other
hand,
it is dis
appointing
to find that the
(presumably)
final
reports
on
the
fortlets
at Milton and Durisdeer
are
merely
illustrated in each
case
by
a
ground plan (rampart-sections,
and
a
photograph
of
lxvi.
Glasgow: University
Press,
1952. (Obtainable
from the
Joint
Hon.
Secretary, Glasgow Archaeological Society,
2 Ailsa
Drive,
Glasgow,
S. 2.
45s.).
4
Cf. M.
J. O'Kelly,
Cork Historical and
Archaeological Society Journal,
lvi
(1951), 29-44.
118 Kenneth Steer
Durisdeer?one of the most
photogenic
Roman sites in Britain?
might surely
have been
included),
and that neither
plans
nor
photographs
are
provided
for
a
number of
new
discoveries such
as
the
signal-station
on
White
Type,
whose
position
is
only
vaguely
indicated
on
the
map
(PI.
viii
d),
and the fortlet at
Barburgh
Mill. A more
serious
defect, however,
is the inade
quate publication
of the
pottery
from these excavations. For
although large quantities
of Antonine
coarse
pottery
were
found
at
Bothwellhaugh,
Milton,
Durisdeer and
Castledykes,
some of it
in sealed
deposits, only
a
few
representative pieces,
all from
Castledykes,
are
illustrated,
and in no
instance is the
precise
find-spot given.
Yet if the stratified sherds had been
fully
published,
so
that
comparison
could be made with the
closely
datable Antonine
wares
from
Corbridge,
the
history
not
only
of
the sites in
question,
but of Antonine Scotland
as a
whole,
might
be less obscure than it is at
present.
In the
concluding
section Mr. Miller selects the
significant
features from the mass of evidence that has been
presented
in the
previous
pages,
and draws them
together
to form
a
comprehen
sive
picture
of the Roman
occupation
of south-west Scotland.
Those familiar with Miller's
published work?notably
his
reports
on
the excavations at
York,
Balmuildy
and Old
Kilpatrick;
his
survey
of the Roman
Empire
in the first three centuries in
Eyre's
European
Civilization;
and the
chapter
which he contributed to
the latest volume of the
Cambridge
Ancient
History?will
need
no
assurance that the
present essay
is
a
masterly exposition
of both
fact and
deduction,
in which breadth of
judgment
is balanced with
meticulous attention to
detail. It is true that discoveries made
since
1948,
when this section of the book
was
evidently
com
pleted,
have invalidated
a
few of Miller's
conclusions,
while
some
of his
speculations
on
problems
still unsolved will not command
the
support
of all scholars.
Nevertheless,
the
core of the work
remains
sound, and,
in
company
with his other
writings,
con
stitutes
a
worthy
memorial to an
accomplished
scholar and teacher
whose
untimely
death
was a
grievous
loss to Roman studies.
Since
1948, however,
great
strides have been made in
our
knowledge
of Roman Scotland elsewhere than in the south
west. In the hands of Dr. St.
Joseph,
the air
camera has added
large
numbers of
new sites to the
map,
as well
as
revealing
much
fresh information about known
sites;
while
study
of the National
Survey air-photographs
has also
produced
several
major
dis
coveries. Professor Richmond has
reported
on
his excavations
Roman Scotland
119
at
Newstead and
Cappuck,
and has
begun
a
systematic
examina
tion of the
legionary
fortress at
Inchtuthil;
and Dr. Crawford has
published
his Rhind Lectures
on
The
Topography of
Roman
Scotland,
North
of
the Antonine Wall. All this work has had
a
bearing, directly
or
indirectly,
on
the
problems
of the south
west,
and it seems
fitting
therefore that comment on
Miller's
survey
should take the form of
an assessment of the
present
position
of research
on
Roman Scotland
as a
whole.
Owing
to
considerations of
space,
only
a
broad treatment can
be
attempted,
and the
mere
recital of ascertained
facts,
and of unsolved
problems,
will leave
no
margin
for
adequate
discussion of current contro
versies.
The Flavian
Occupation
Although
recent discoveries at
Milton,
in
Annandale,
suggest
that Roman
troops may
have
penetrated
into that district in the
governorship
of Petillius Cerialis
(a.d. 71-4),
or one of his
immediate
predecessors,
the first
chapter
in the Roman
occupa
tion of Scotland
opens
in a.d. 80
when,
after two
years
prelim
inary campaigning, Agricola's
armies invaded the Lowlands.
One of the most
important
results obtained
during
the
period
under review has been the confirmation of
Roy's hypothesis
that
the armies concerned in this invasion did not
operate
as a
single
column,
but advanced
along
two
major
routes.5 The
Agricolan
date of the Scottish section of Dere
Street,
the
great
eastern
highway
from York to the
Forth,
was
established
long
ago,
and
a
similar
early origin
for the western trunk
road,
running
from
Carlisle
through
Annandale into
upper Clydesdale,
has
now
been
demonstrated
by
discoveries at Birrens and Milton.
Moreover,
the
Glasgow Society's
survey
has shown that the latter road did
not link the Firths of
Solway
and
Clyde,
as
had
previously
been
supposed,
but that it turned north-eastwards
on
crossing
the
watershed into
Clydesdale,
and
ran
along
the southern
slopes
of the Pentlands
to
converge
on
Dere Street in the
neighbourhood
of Inveresk. Thus the initial
strategy
of the
invading
forces
is
seen to have taken the form of
a
pincer-movement
which
was
evidently designed
to
envelop
the
Selgovae, dwelling
in the
tangled
foothills of the central
massif,
and to isolate them from
the other Lowland tribes?the Votadini of
Northumberland,
5
See
accompanying
map.
The writer is indebted
to the
Society
for the Promo
tion of Roman Studies for
permission
to
adapt
this
map
from the one
which
app2ared
in vol. xli of the
Society's Journal.
WKr?^r%!\. '
*^^^^^^^^^^^^P|
R0MAN SITES IN SCOTLAND I
HSw^ *^*a^^fc?//^ /^ V KA? HOUSE C3 /^llllli^ I]
122
Kenneth Steer
Lothian and the
Merse;
the Damnonii of
Clydesdale
and
Ayr
shire;
and the Novantae of Nithsdale and
Galloway.
From
Inveresk,
which was
presumably
one
of the
principal supply
bases for the
expedition,
forward elements moved
across
the
Forth and succeeded in
reaching
the
Tay
before the end of the
summer.
The
rapidity
with which the Lowlands
were
overrun6
was
doubtless made
possible by
lack of
unity,
if not bitter
hostility,
between the tribes
concerned,
for whereas the later
history
of the
Votadini and the Damnonii
implies
that both
were
long-standing
allies of
Rome,
and Roman
goods
were
reaching
the Votadinian
hill-town
on
Traprain
Law in the Flavian
period,
the distribution
of Roman
garrisons
tells
a
very
different
story
of the
Selgovae
and
Novantae.
The next
season,
Tacitus tells
us,
was
devoted
to consolidation
of the
ground already gained.
To this
end,
a
temporary
frontier,
consisting
of
a
chain of stockaded
posts
whose remains have been
found
at Bar
Hill,
Mumrills and
elsewhere,
was set
up
on
the
Forth-Clyde
isthmus,
while behind the frontier the
process
of
cordoning
off the
Selgovae by
means
of
a
network of roads and
forts
proceeded
apace.
It is
probable
that to
this
year
should be
assigned
the construction of the
Agricolan
forts at Newstead and
Cappuck
on
Dere
Street,
at Birrens and Milton
on
the Annandale
road,
at Oakwood in the
valley
of the Ettrick
Water,
at Inveresk
and Cramond
on
the
Forth,
and at
Lyne, Castledykes
and Loudoun
Hill
on
the
important
lateral road that
ran
from Newstead
by way
of the Tweed and middle
Clyde
to reach the west coast some
where in the
neighbourhood
of Irvine. Nor does this list
by any
means
exhaust the
possibilities,
for
a
minor route of
penetration
in this
phase, leading
up
Eskdale from
Netherby,
may
be
repre
sented
by
the fort at
Broomholm,
near
Langholm,
where
early
aurei have been
found,
and
by
the earlier of the two
superimposed
forts at
Raeburnfoot;
while
nothing
is known
as
yet
of the dis
position
of the
Agricolan garrisons
on
the Annandale road
between Milton and Inveresk. In the
following
year (a.d. 82)
Agricola
carried out an
exploration
of the left
flank,
amongst
tribes hitherto
unknown,
and stationed
troops
in
an area
facing
6
It is
significant
that neither of the two
groups
of Roman
siege-works
known in
Scotland
can
be connected with
Agricola's campaigns.
Excavation has shown that
the earthworks which invest the native fort
on
Woden
Law,
Roxburghshire,
were
built
by troops engaged
in
peacetime
manoeuvres.
And,
despite
Miller's remarks
(footnote p. 209),
the two
siege-camps
on
Burnswark?which
may equally
well be
practice camps?must
be referred to a
later
period, assuming
that
they
are contem
porary,
since the south
camp incorporates
a
fortlet of Antonine
type
in its circuit.
Roman Scotland
123
Ireland. The
scene
of this action has been the
subject
of much
controversy
in the
past,
but there
can now be
no
doubt that it
lay
in
Galloway
or
south
Ayrshire,
and
not in
Argyllshire
or
Kintyre
as some commentators have
supposed.
For recent
air-photograph
discoveries include
a
large
fort at
Dalswinton,
in
Nithsdale,
which
is
presumably
of Flavian date since it is less than three miles
distant from the Antonine fort
at
Carzield;
a
fort at
Glenlochar,
subsequently proved by
excavation to have been founded under
Agricola
and
reoccupied
in the Antonine
period;
and
a
small
fort,
as
yet
undated,
as
far west as
Gatehouse of Fleet.
Having
thus established
a
firm
grip
on
the
Lowlands,
and
secured his land
communications,
Agricola,
in his two final
campaigns,
led his armies
across
the
Forth, and,
warding
off
sporadic
counter-attacks,
eventually compelled
the Caledonians
to
fight
a
pitched
battle at Mons
Graupius
where the
superior
discipline
and tactics of the Roman
troops
carried the
day.
With
the
crossing
of the Forth the terrain
was no
longer
suitable for
the broad
pincer-movements
which had
proved
so
successful
hitherto,
and
a
single
line of advance
was
perforce adopted leading
to Strathmore
by
way
of
Stirling,
Strathallan and Strathearn.
The route taken is
signposted
as
far north
as
Meigle by
the
permanent
forts at
Camelon, Ardoch,
Strageath,
Bertha and
Cardean,
all of which
are
known,
or
presumed,
to be
Agricolan
foundations;
but
none
of the
temporary camps
that
prolong
the
line of Roman
penetration
northwards in
a
wide
arc from the
North Esk to the
Moray
Firth has been
dated,
and it is
possible
that
some,
at
least,
of these
camps
were
constructed in the
course
of the Severan
campaigns
in the
early
third
century.
Nor has the
site of Mons
Graupius
been
identified,
although
there is
general
agreement
with Macdonald's
opinion
that it
lay
north of Strath
more.
Recent research
has, however,
thrown
a
good
deal of
new
light
on
the measures taken
by Agricola
to consolidate his
victory.
The excavations at
present
in
progress
on
the
great camp
at
Inchtuthil,
near
Meikleour,
have
already
substantiated
Colling
wood's
theory7
that the remains
are
those of
a
legionary
fortress
erected in a.d.
83-4
to serve as a
base for the
permanent occupa
tion of
Strathmore;
while the forts
at
Callander,
Dalginross,
Fendoch,
and
perhaps
Steed
Stalls,
fall into
place
as
elements in
a
strategic
cordon
designed
to
protect
the vulnerable left flank of
the terra limitanea
by sealing
off the
Highland
passes.
And since
7
Collingwood
and
Myres,
Roman Britain and the
English
Settlements,
second ed.
(Oxford, 1937), 119.
124
Kenneth Steer
this
system
must have been
largely dependent
for its success on
the
transport
of
supplies
and reinforcements
by
sea,
it
can
be
confidently
assumed that the fort of
Carpow,
on
the south bank
of the
Tay estuary,
was
established
at this time to
guard
a
natural harbour.
Beyond
Cardean at least one more
permanent
fort
may
be
presumed,
at the terminus of the road which has been
traced
intermittently
as far as
Kirriemuir,
but it is clear that
Agricola's policy
was to
blockade,
and not to
annex,
the
High
lands.
That Tacitus' famous
phrase
'
perdomita
Britannia et statim
omissa
'
cannot be taken to mean
that
Agricola's conquests
were
immediately
surrendered
on
his
recall,
was
convincingly
demon
strated
by
Macdonald
over
thirty
years
ago.8
But it is now
apparent
that the transfer of
Legio
II Adiutrix from Britain to
Pannonia in a.d.
85
or
86 necessitated
a
reorganization
of the
northern defences which involved the evacuation of the
legionary
fortress
at Inchtuthil and the
auxiliary
fort
at
Fendoch,
and the
consolidation of forts further south.9 The
Agricolan
forts
at Newstead and Milton
were now
completely
rebuilt,
the former
on an
exceptionally
massive
scale,
while alterations
designed
to
strengthen
the
existing
defences
were
undertaken
at
Oakwood,
Cappuck
and elsewhere. This second
phase
in the Flavian
occupation
of Scotland
only
lasted, however,
until about
a.d.
ioo,10 when,
with the
possible exception
of the
garrisons
in
lower
Annandale,
a
general
withdrawal took
place
to the
Tyne
Solway
line. This withdrawal
was
presumably
connected with
the
preparations
for
Trajan's
Dacian
wars of a.d.
101-6,
but
evidence from Newstead and Oakwood shows that in the south
east it
was carried out
hurriedly
and in the face of
strong enemy
pressure.
At
Milton,
on
the other
hand,
the second Flavian fort
was
peacefully
dismantled,
and is
thought
to have been immedi
ately
succeeded
by
a
fortlet.
The Antonine
Occupation
During
the next
forty
years,
trouble in the
Lowlands,
which
may
have been due in
part
to the infiltration of alien elements
8
Journal of
Roman
Studies,
ix
(1919),
n
1-38.
9
Analogies
from the German frontier
suggest
that the chain of wooden watch
towers on the Gask
ridge,
between
Strageath
and
Bertha, may represent
a
frontier
line. If
so,
the Domitianic
reorganization
would
seem to
provide
the most suitable
occasion for the creation of such
a
frontier.
10
For the
date,
which has been the
subject
of
lively disputation
in the
past,
cf.
Proceedings of
the
Society of Antiquaries of
Scotland,
lxxxiv
(1949-50),
26.
Roman Scotland
125
from the north-east and from
Ireland,
provoked
a
Roman
punitive
campaign
on more
than
one
occasion,
and
eventually
the situation
became
so
serious that between
a.d.
139
and
142
the
region
was
once
again
absorbed into the Roman
province.
Hadrian's Wall
was now
partly
dismantled and
a new
frontier-wall
was con
structed
on
the
Forth-Clyde
isthmus. North of the isthmus the
road to Strathmore
was
reopened
at least as far
as
Ardoch,
and in
the Lowlands the
Agricolan system
of roads and forts
was
largely
restored,1
and
even
extended in some areas. On
general grounds
it seems
likely
that the British dediticii who
were
conscripted
into the Roman
army
about this
time,
and
dispatched
to the
German
frontier,2
were
drawn from the
reconquered
districts,
and two
pieces
of evidence
suggest
that the
Selgovae
may
have
been the chief victims. In the first
place,
the native settlements
and homesteads of second- and
third-century
date,
which
are
such
a
striking
feature of the Votadinian
landscape,
are
notably
absent
from the
territory
of the
Selgovae.
And
secondly,
the fact that
the site of the Flavian fort at
Oakwood
was not
reoccupied
in
this
period,
and that Milton and Raeburnfoot
were now tenanted
only by patrol
units ensconced in
fortlets,
implies
a
relaxation of
the former cordon control in the Ettrick Forest
region.
Never
theless the overall
strength
and
deployment
of the Antonine
garrisons
in the
Lowlands,
concerning
which
a
great
deal has
been learned in the last fifteen
years,
makes it
impossible
to believe
that the
deportation
of the native tribesmen
was on
anything
like
the scale
envisaged by Collingwood.3
For the
auxiliary
forts at
Lyne,
Inveresk, Cramond,
Castledykes,
Loudoun Hill and
Glenlochar
were
rebuilt;
new
forts
were
established at Bothwell
haugh
and
Carzield;
and the lines of
communication,
especially
in Annandale and
Nithsdale,
were further
protected by
fortlets
ranging
from
one
fifth of
an acre to one acre in extent. Recent
research has also furnished
supplementary
reasons for
rejecting
Collingwood's
low estimate of the tactical and
strategical
value
of the Antonine Wall.4 For the
gap
which
was
formerly
believed
to have existed
on
the left flank of the Wall has
now been closed
1
Miller's
suggestion (pp. 221?6)
that Nithsdale
was not
originally
included in
the Antonine scheme of
occupation
does violence
to the
pottery
evidence from
Carzield
{Transactions
of
the
Dumfriesshire
and
Galloway
Natural
History
and
Antiquarian Society, 3rd
Series, xxiv,
i-n),
and in
any
case
is
no
longer
tenable
now that Glenlochar is known to have been held
throughout
the Antonine
period.
2
Germ
ant
a,
vi
(1922),
31-7.
3
Op.
cit., 146-7.
4
Op.
cit., 140-4,
and
Journal of
Roman
Studies,
xxvi
(1936),
80-6. For the
opposite
view,
cf. Richmond's observations in the latter
volume,
190?4.
126 Kenneth Steer
by
the
discovery
of
an
Antonine fort
overlooking
the site of
Dumbuck ford at
Whitemoss,
near
Bishopton,
and of
a
survivor
(Lurg Moor)
of the chain of fortlets and
signal-posts
that
evidently
prolonged
the defensive
system
at
least
as
far as
the mouth of the
Clyde estuary.
Similarly,
the
rediscovery
of the
long-lost
fort at
Carriden on the
Forth,
which has
yielded
Antonine
pottery,
shows that
corresponding precautions
were
taken on
the
right
flank to
prevent
the Wall from
being
turned
by
sea-borne land
ings.5
The Antonine frontier
organization
thus bears all the
hall-marks of
a
permanent arrangement,
and can no
longer
be
written off
as a
temporary expedient
which
was
only
intended
to last
'
until the
pacification
of the Lowlands had stood the test
of time \6 On the Wall
itself,
where
comparatively
little work
has been done since
1937,
the most
interesting discovery
is that
the fort at
Duntocher
was
preceded by
a
fortlet also of Antonine
date. This
discovery
is
obviously
of considerable
importance
for the structural
history
of the
limes,
but its
implications
have
still to be worked out.
In
spite
of the
progress
made in the
knowledge
of the
anatomy
of the Antonine
occupation
of
Scotland,
the
history
of the
period
remains obscure at
many
vital
points.
The chief
difficulty
is
that whereas two
periods
of
occupation
have been found in all the
Antonine forts
so
far examined between the two Walls
(with
the
doubtful
exception
of
Carzield),
the Antonine Wall forts exhibit
three
periods;
and it is
not
clear
why
there should be this
difference between the Antonine Wall and its
hinterland,
or
how
the successive
periods
are to be correlated with the evidence
from Hadrian's Wall and fitted into the framework of known
events.
Assuming
that the two
periods
observed in the
Lowland
forts
are to be
equated
with the first two
periods
on
the Antonine
Wall,
the most
plausible explanation
of the break in the
occupa
tion would
seem to be that the entire Roman forces
were
hurriedly
withdrawn from Scotland in
a.d.
155
to
deal with the revolt of
the
Brigantes
in that
year.7
For the renewed advance into
Scotland had
only
been achieved at
the cost of
stripping
the
garrisons
from
Brigantian territory,
and it is known that Birrens
was
destroyed
at this time and
was
rebuilt in a.d.
158
as soon
5
The
supposed
Roman watch-tower at
Inchgarvie (R.C.A.M. Inventory,
Midlothian and West
Lothian,
no.
332)
should be remembered in this connection.
6
Collingwood,
op. cit., 148.
7
This
explanation
was first
propounded by Collingwood, Journal of
Roman
Studies,
xxvi
(1936),
86.
Roman Scotland
127
as
the insurrection had been crushed. On the other
hand,
a case
can
be made out for
supposing
that,
Birrens
excepted,
the first
Antonine
period
continued until
a.d.
163
when the threat of
a
further
rising brought Calpurnius Agricola
to
Britain,
and
Hadrian's Wall
was once more
put
into commission.8 Whatever
the exact date of the
intermission,
once
the crisis
was over no
time
was
lost in
reoccupying
and
repairing
the abandoned fortifications.
Several
forts,
such
as
Cappuck
and
Ardoch,
were now
reduced in
size but
were
equipped
with more substantial
defences,
while there
are
indications that increased
importance
was now
attached to the
cavalry
arm.
How
long
this
phase
of
occupation
lasted is not
yet
certain. Macdonald linked the second destruction of the
Antonine
Wall, which,
on
his
view,
left the Lowland forts
unscathed,
with the barbarian invasion recorded
by
Dio Cassius
in
a.d.
184,9
and he concluded that the restoration of the frontier
by Ulpius
Marcellus
was
short-lived,
being
followed
a
year
or
two
later,
by
the evacuation of the whole of Scotland
apart
from
Birrens.
Others, however,
would
postpone
the evacuation
until
a.d.
196
when Clodius Albinus transferred the bulk of the
British
garrison
to the continent in
pursuit
of his bid for the
imperial
throne,
and the Maeatae seized the
opportunity
to break
into the defenceless
province.
There
is,
in
fact,
no
evidence
as
yet
for the
precise
date of the
event,
although
the latest
pottery
from the Antonine Wall is said to
correspond closely
with the
vessels which
occur in the destruction
deposits
of a.d.
197
at
Corbridge.10
The Severan
Campaigns
As
soon as he had defeated Albinus at
Lyons
in a.d.
197,
the
new
emperor, Septimius
Severus,
sent Virius
Lupus
to Britain
to
repair
the shattered northern
defences;
and from a.d.
209-11,
Severus,
accompanied by
his sons
Caracalla and
Geta,
personally
conducted
a
series of
punitive campaigns
in Scotland?first
against
the Caledonians of Aberdeenshire and
beyond,
and then
against
the Maeatae of
Strathearn,
Strathmore and the Mearns.
It has
already
been
suggested
that
some
of the
temporary camps
in these
regions
may
have been built at this
time,
but
apart
from
Cramond,
which served
as an
advanced
supply-base
for the
expeditions,
and
Birrens,
which
was
reconstructed
as an
outpost
8
Cf.
J.
P.
Gillam,
*
Calpurnius Agricola
',
Transactions
of
the Architectural and
Archaeological Society of
Durham and
Northumberland,
x
(1953), 359-75.
9
lxxiii,
8.
10
Gillam,
loc.
cit.,
367.
128 Kenneth Steer
of Hadrian's
Wall,
no
Scottish fort has
so
far
produced
any
proof
of
occupation
after the end of the second
century.
It is true that
Miller
(pp. 235-9)
and Mr. Eric
Birley1
have
argued,
on some
what different
grounds,
that the third
period
of
occupation
on
the
Antonine Wall was
initiated
by
Severus and not
by Ulpius
Marcellus,
but at
present
this
theory
lacks
support
from the
archaeological
evidence. Miller's
appeals
to the Falkirk coin
hoard and the Dolichenus relief from
Croy
Hill
(p. 238)
do not
help
the
case,
since the hoard extends down to Severus Alexander
(a.d. 222-35),
while Dolichenus
was
already being worshipped
on
Hadrian's Wall in the
reign
of Antoninus Pius. Yet all
are
agreed
that
on
Severus' death in a.d. 211
the Roman command
finally
abandoned the
Agricolan
and Antonine
policies
of extend
ing
direct control
over
the
Lowlands,
in favour of
a
system
of
indirect control
through
the medium of buffer-states. The aims
and achievements of the New
Deal,
which had
profound
con
sequences
for Roman and native relations in the third and fourth
centuries, lie, however,
outside the
scope
of this review.
Bibliographical
Note
The above
survey
is
largely
based
on
excavation
reports
which
are to
be
found,
or
will
shortly
appear,
either in the
Proceedings of
the
Society
of Antiquaries of
Scotland
or in the Transactions
of
the
Dumfriesshire
and
Galloway
Natural
History
and
Antiquarian Society.
Some of the
books and more
general
papers
consulted have been cited in the
text,
and to these should be added: E. B.
Birley,'
Dumfriesshire in Roman
Times
'
{Transactions
of
the
Dumfriesshire
and
Galloway
Natural
History
and
Antiquarian Society,
Third
Series,
xxv,
132-50),
and
'
The
Brigantian
Problem'
(ibid.,
xxix, 46-65); J.
K. St.
Joseph,
'Air
Reconnaissance of North Britain
'
{^Journal of
Roman
Studies,
xli
(1951), 52-65);
I. A.
Richmond,
'Recent Discoveries in Roman
Britain from the Air and in the Field
'
(ibid.,
xxxiii
(1943), 45-54),
and
'
Gnaeus Iulius
Agricola' (ibid.,
xxxiv
(1944), 34-45).
Kenneth Steer.
1
Proceedings of
the
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland,
lxxii
(1937-8),
343-4.

K Steer, Roman Scotland

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Roman Scotland

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