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IN THE NEWS
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UNITED
Nations advisers will visit the
Antonine Wall to consider whether it
should be recognised as a world heritage
site alongside the Great Wall of China and
the pyramids of Egypt, the culture minister,
Patricia Ferguson, said yesterday. The
historic Scottish landmark has been
nominated by the Culture Secretary, Tessa
Jowell. The 2,000-year-old wall, which runs
for 37 miles from Bo'ness in West Lothian to
Old Kilpatrick in West Dunbartonshire, is
one of the most significant Roman remains in
existence. A decision will be taken by the
World Heritage Committee next summer. "So
what did the Romans ever do for us?"
mcleanscotland can take you to the wall and
its bigger brother Hadrian's Wall, just ask
for details. Add it to a tour or let us
design you a special tour around it!
The Antonine Wall
was built from AD142 to 144 and ran for
37 miles (60km) from Bo'ness on the River
Forth to Old Kilpatrick on the River Clyde.
Like the better known Hadrian's Wall to the
south, it formed a solid barrier right
across the country. A clear symbol of Roman
power and authority, the wall probably
served to control the movement of people and
goods between the Roman-controlled area to
the south and the lands to the north.
Scotland features four World
Heritage sites - the isle of St Kilda,
Edinburgh's New Town and Old Town, New
Lanark, and Neolithic Orkney. Efforts are
under way to gain similar status to the
Roman ruins of the Antonine Wall, and the
person directing Scotland's bid offers a
glimpse into the wall's history.
THE FIRST people living in
Central Scotland would have realised their
world was to change with the arrival of an
enormous army – and a handful of surveyors.
The duty of the surveyors, marching across
the vast countryside, was to mark out a new
boundary to the Roman empire. Behind them
came the soldiers, who erected temporary
camps to protect themselves in case the
natives turned nasty. Each morning the
troops ventured out from these camps to
build the new north-west frontier of the
Roman empire. We can date this activity to
within a year or two. Following the death of
the Emperor Hadrian in 138 AD, his
successor, Antoninus Pius, ordered his army
into southern Scotland to bring it back into
the Roman empire land that had been
abandoned about 50 years before. Victory was
achieved in 142 AD and the building of the
new frontier would have started immediately.
This new frontier, which we call the
Antonine Wall after the reigning emperor of
the time, was to consist of a turf rampart
fronted by a wide, deep ditch. The wall
stretched across Scotland for many miles,
from the Firth of Forth to the River Clyde.
Forts to hold the army were built at regular
intervals along the wall, and at mile
intervals between these forts lay gates
protected by small enclosures or fortlets. The effects of agriculture
and then industrialisation have been harsh
on the wall. Ploughed over, built on, cut
through for roads and pipelines, it is
remarkable that any of it survives. While
around one-third of the wall's original 37
miles has been destroyed, about half of the
surviving 22 miles can still be seen on the
ground in some form. The ditch is the most
prominent surviving feature. At up to 40
feet wide and 12 feet deep in places, it has
not been easy to completely eradicate. The
earth from the ditch was tipped out onto its
north side to form a low mound. The
rampart, 15 feet wide and at least 10 feet
high, required the stripping of a
considerable area for turf. The availability
of such quantities of turf tells us
something about the local countryside – for
grass to grow means the land must have been
used as pasture for cattle and sheep. This
should come as no surprise because a settled
farming community had lived in Scotland for
about 4,000 years before the arrival of the
Romans. The regiments that defended the
Roman province against the Caledonians to
the north were based in forts along the
wall. A metalled road linked the forts and
provided easy access along the frontier.
Civilians followed the soldiers and erected
their houses outside the forts. The Antonine Wall, like many
frontiers, fulfilled two functions. It
controlled the movement of people across the
frontier and also housed the army, who were
to be deployed in the event of a major
invasion. The wall was only in use for a
generation. It was abandoned about 160 AD
and the army withdrew to Hadrian’s Wall. The
Antonine Wall is one of only a handful of
"artificial" frontiers constructed by the
Roman army – most of their frontiers used
natural barriers like rivers, deserts or
mountains. The most famous frontier is
Hadrian's Wall, which was inscribed as a
World Heritage Site in 1987.
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Battle of
Roslin
ROBERT the Bruce is said to
have won Scotland's freedom at Bannockburn,
but an earlier victory against unbelievable
odds may have been just as important in
keeping the Scots from becoming slaves of
the English crown. On 24 February 1303 a
force of 8,000 Scots defeated an English
army of 30,000 around Roslin, south of
Edinburgh, in one of the Scots greatest
victories in the wars of independence. After
the 1296 annihilation of Berwick - then the
second-most important port in Britain -
Edward I of England appointed one of his
knights, John de Segrave, to govern
Scotland. During his brief oversight, de
Segrave fell in love with Scots beauty
Margaret Ramsey of Dalhousie. But Margaret
had already given her heart to the Lord of
Rosslyn, Henry St Clair. Outraged, de
Segrave petitioned Edward I to invade
Scotland on the grounds that the marriage
would strengthen Scottish ties with
France.De Segrave entered Scotland with
30,000 men, intending to attack the homes of
St Clair and his allies by splitting his
forces into three equal parts. The invading
soldiers were first spotted in Melrose,
about 35 miles to the south-east, when the
alarm was sent out to the leaders of the
Scottish resistance. In an amazing
logistical feat for the period, some 8,000
Scots soldiers were mustered from around the
Lowlands in the town of Biggar, 25 miles to
the south-west of Roslin. Under dark
and heavy cloud, the Scots approached de
Segrave's contingent of 10,000 men as they
slept on an embankment of the River Esk
early on the morning of 24 February. Those
who survived were driven into the woods and
ambushed by Scots who lay hidden there. Some
English soldiers escaped to warn the second
army of 10,000 besieging nearby Dalhousie
Castle. Knowing that Sir Ralph de Confrey,
who led this contingent, would immediately
march to face them, the Scots positioned
themselves in a defensive line on the summit
Langhill. After a force marched, and
heedless of all tactical sense, the English
soldiers charged up the hill only to be
easily picked off by Scots archers and
steered towards a ravine by Scots pikemen
where many plunged to their deaths.
The Scots then slaughtered
the prisoners they had captured to stop them
adding to the numbers of the final English
army. Still the exhausted Scots had to face
another 10,000 men. But Prior Abernathy of
the Knights Templar had prepared for this
despondency and had his men erect a canvas
Saltire on the Pentland hills where it would
catch the evening sun. The priest rallied
the soldiers and bid them look to the hills
where they could see the burning Saltire
telling them it was a sign that God blessed
their cause. The Scots waited for the third
English force under Sir Robert Neville on
the high ground above the Esk valley at
Mountmarle. The English approached along the
valley and were ambushed and routed by the
Scots who charged them from above.
Historians believe as little as 10 per cent
of all the English soldiers returned home –
a stunning defeat.The Scots won a famous
victory, and resisted conquest for a little
while longer, but the battle is little
celebrated in their native land - perhaps
because it was achieved under the command of
Sir John Comyn, the bitter rival of Robert
the Bruce. And, since the Bruce won
Scotland's independence, his stamp on this
nation's history may have removed his
rival's deeds.
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