Romans in Scotland | Bar Hill and Rough Castle | Antonine Wall | + Drone Footage!

We finally decided to go down to the Antonine Wall and find out more about the Romans in Scotland. The Antonine Wall was built, mostly from turf, starting in 142 AD and was the Northernmost frontier of the Roman invasion of Britain, stretching from the Firth of Clyde to the Firth of Forth. For reference, Glasgow and Edinburgh are located a little South of this wall. Before that, there was Hadrian’s Wall, begun in 122 AD, which is located in the North of England and can still be visited, since a lot of the stone work has been preserved. When the Romans came up North, they found that Scotland was a much wilder place than England. The Pictish tribes preferred guerillia war tactics over an open military confrontation and would harass and raid the Roman soldiers stationed in Scotland. Eventually, the Antonine Wall was abandoned in 162 AD and the Romans fell back to Hadrian’s Wall. Despite a third invasion in the 3rd Century, they never managed to reclaim and hold the territory between Hadrian’s Wall and the Antonine Wall. As a result, the Antonine Wall has deteriorated much quicker (the building method and materials used contributed too), but many Roman forts can still be seen in various degrees of preservation. The first fort we visited is called ‘Bar Hill’, located at 150m above sea level, it is the highest fort along the wall. The stone work is well preserved here and on top of the hill the headquarters can still be seen, including a well which is 43 feet / 13m deep. On the side of the hill are remains of a Roman-style bath house and latrine block, also well preserved with much of the stones remaining. Just a short distance to the East lies an Iron Age style hillfort, called 'Castle Hill', which may have been abandoned when the Romans arrived. It provides a great view over the surrounding area. Next, we decided to visit a fort further to the East, called ‘Rough Castle’. Rough Castle is a secondary fort, a smaller one, which was built in between the 7 main forts after it became clear that there weren’t enough to man the whole wall. The Antonine Wall is 37 miles (60 km) overall and every 2 miles there was a Roman fort or fortlet. Rough Castle is especially interesting for how well the Antonine Wall is preserved here. You can instantly see the landscaping that was done back in the day. There aren’t as many stone remains, as it was mostly built with timber, but there are defensive pits called ‘lilia’ on display, which you don’t see in many other places. Overall, we had a great time exploring the traces of the Romans. I hope you enjoy the video!

Sources:
https://canmore.org.uk/site/45920/antonine-wall-bar-hill-roman-fort
https://canmore.org.uk/site/45894/castle-hill
https://canmore.org.uk/site/46803/rough-castle
http://www.castlesfortsbattles.co.uk/central_west_scotland/rough_castle.html
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I am a photographer and painter based in Scotland.

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