Sunday, 24 May 2020

My obsession with maps ... it's all so last century

I've been reading two key articles by Sir George Macdonald published in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland about his excavations on the Antonine Wall.
  1. Some Recent Discoveries on the Line of the Antonine Wall (Vol. 49, 1914)
  2. Notes on the Roman Forts at Old Kilpatrick and Croy Hill (Vol. 66, 1932)
In the first one (Vol. 49), Sir George Macdonald describes the various excavations undertaken to ascertain the exact line of the wall between Old Kilpatrick and Duntocher, literally pinpointing the various finds field by numbered field. I was quite enthralled reading his report - his excitement was quite palpable, not to mention infectious. I decided the map included in this article, identifying all the numbered fields he discusses was a really useful addition to my growing understanding of the emergence of knowledge around the Antonine Wall in Scotland. When there's not a lot to see at ground level in real life, reports like these become really valuable in 'unearthing' the story of the wall. Rendering the map in the article in watercolour brought the location more to life for me - colour seems to enhance one's journey, if you like. 


Watercolour Rendition of Map of Antonine Wall between 
Old Kilpatrick and Duntocher Forts

Whilst painting the replica this evening, I got the idea of translating the article into a digital map using Google maps so I set about transferring the ideas over - it was a great thing to be able to walk in the footsteps of these early antiquarians and to, literally, have Sir George Macdonald 'walk alongside' me explaining what they had done, what had been found and how the finds had advanced their knowledge of the wall. Being able to peel back the layers with technology in this way made me feel like a true digital digger. 


Old Kilpatrick to Duntocher Fort (A walk with Sir George Macdonald)

A big thank you to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland for making their resources so readily available to the general public.

In the second article (Vol. 66), Sir George Macdonald relates back to his earlier work and continues to build on it with a discussion of the fort at Old Kilpatrick and how excavations there helped them to unravel the dimensions and layout of the fort.

With Sir George Macdonald 'by my side' I'm beginning to see the attraction of old stones. I do love to see the story of the wall unfolding.

Keppie - The Antiquarian Rediscovery of the Antonine Wall


The Antiquarian Rediscovery of the Antonine Wall
Lawrence Keppie, 2012, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

Had an enjoyable time this afternoon dipping into Keppie's fabulous book, The Antiquarian Rediscovery of the Antonine Wall - it's not so much a rediscovery as a first discovery for me. I picked the book up last year, even before I had it in mind to walk the wall at some point but hadn't got round to reading it. It's a great book - a kind of 'enquire within about everything' for the Antonine Wall. It has some fabulous photographs, maps and plans inside. For me, it has been a great starting point for finding out more - in the sense that the book provides a marvellously broad review of existing literature and key research across the ages. My favourite chapter right now is Chapter 7 and its focus on the beginnings of organised excavation and excavation of the forts along the Antonine Wall. I especially enjoyed the discussion of the Society of Antiquaries at the turn of the last century.

The Antonine Wall ... learning a bit more

Under lockdown, I'm in a constant quest to discover what the Antonine Wall looks and feels like today, what its history is and what stories can be unearthed. I watched a helpful short video today on YouTube which had some great shots of the wall and its surrounds as well as some brief chats with people who had researched the wall, including Lawrence Keppie - talking, I think, from inside the Hunterian Museum. I've passed the building in Glasgow many times but haven't actually been inside myself. At least I know what it looks like and where it is now - one for a future visit to Glasgow.


The Antonine Wall in Scotland (by romanfrontiers, YouTube)

Thursday, 21 May 2020

The Antonine Wall is a Challenge

When I walked Hadrian's Wall back in 2014, I mainly walked and gazed around randomly and took lots of photographs. That trip was as much about the walk and 'having a holiday' as it was about seeing the Wall. It wasn't difficult to appreciate Hadrian's Wall, after all, it's very much there 'before your eyes'.




Hadrian's Wall Walk, 2014 (6 days)

Walking the Antonine Wall, however, is very different. The distance is much shorter and its more ditch than wall - but at the same time, it's infinitely more enchanting in all its mystery. As I've begun this virtual journey, I've started to understand that the history of the Antonine Wall is just as (if not more) important than the remains it has left behind for us to see. 

It's a challenge - the Antonine Wall. A great challenge if, like me, you love history and are willing to engage at least a little with the story beneath the stones. 

A great starting point is the main Antonine Wall website and app. The resources they offer are little short of amazing. I love the app and look forward to a point where I can get outdoors and try it out as a true augmented reality experience. In the meantime, however, don't miss it - go, go and explore, and enjoy all the hard work the team at antoninewall.org are putting into the visitor experience. Visit them on Facebook or Twitter, enjoy a regular postcard from the Antonine frontier lands, get tips on learning for kids at home and in the classroom, or even pick up tips on how to play a Roman boardgame like Latrunculi

And, if you like to dig deep and become a digital archaeologist, there's no site better than that of the Scottish Society of Antiquaries where you can definitely 'stand on the shoulders of giants' and learn from all the greats who dug the wall long before you were born. Their publications section will keep you busy for years, I guarantee it. 

If, on the other hand, you're a map freak, like me, another great resource is Canmore's 1954 Antonine Wall OS Archaeological Survey. It's a great way to visually peel back the layers. 

If all that fabulous information is already 'out there' why am I bothering with this blog? Well, I wanted something personal, a space where I could think and play, collate resources that would enhance my personal journey along the route of the wall. Finding information for yourself is all part of the fun. Learning about the myriad projects going on in Roman history in the UK is fun. If I stuck to one site, I wouldn't get the benefit of all those things. And, in my own small way, creating this blog allows me to curate available content in my own way - in a way I can easily understand and find things. It also means I can combine the history with other things I like, like photography, walking, enjoying local history from different time periods and, the best thing, I get to feed my map addiction regularly.

Old Kilpatrick Revisited

Well, it's been a few weeks since I enjoyed my virtual first walk between the Roman forts of Old Kilpatrick and Duntocher... that's what the interjection of a secret mission into your schedule will do for you.

The short break did me good, however. It made me think about slowing down the journey to consider what there is to do and see around the Roman remains on my journey, whether near or far from my start or finish point. Today, therefore, I decided to revisit Old Kilpatrick Roman Fort. I thought about making a longer visit of, say, 3 days and so set myself the task of investigating what else there might be of interest to see around the site of this westernmost Roman Fort on the Antonine Wall in terms of extended excursions and local walks. The most obvious extensions were to include:


Drone Tour of Erskine Bridge by seanlookalike (YouTube)
showing broad location of Old Kilpatrick and site of Roman Fort

Balloch, Loch Lomond and the John Muir Way are also possible extensions but, for me, they are, for now, a few Roman miles beyond where I want to go (I've already visited these places and prefer to save the John Muir Way for a future adventure).

I also found some lovely local holiday cottages to stay in at Gavinburn, with great views of the River Clyde and easily accessible to walks in the nearby hills.

More details on these extensions and ideas in later posts - next up, a closer inspection of Old Kilpatrick Roman Fort and its surrounds.

Thursday, 23 April 2020

Day 1 - Old Kilpatrick and Duntocher Forts



DAY 1: Old Kilpatrick Fort to Duntocher Fort (approximately 4 miles)

The walk begins at the bascule bridge at Ferrydyke (a short walk from the hearest railway station at Bowling and accessed via Bowling harbour and the towpath along the Forth & Clyde Canal). We begin our Roman walk near the ruin of the old bridgekeeper's cottage,crossing the bascule bridge there, which takes us to the north side of the canal onto Portpatrick Road (SV). On our right as we cross the bridge is the site of the old Ferrydyke Wharf or Donald's Quay. The bascule bridge leads us into the area of Old Kilpatrick previously occupied by the first (but if we're being accurate, more correctly, the last) fort on the Antonine Wall. It is "first" with us today merely because we are starting our walk at the western end of the wall, whose construction was begun on the eastern edge of the country, around the Firth of Forth.
During the Roman period, the reach of the Roman fort at Old Kilpatrick was all the way down to the River Clyde which was, then, a shallow, crossable river at this location. The fort was set a little back from the shore and, when the Forth & Clyde canal was being constructed, the remains of a Roman Bath House were found around the area of the Bascule Bridge.

Turn left on Portpatrick Road and retrace your steps along the north side of the canal, heading for the aptly named Roman Crescent and when you reach a curve in the road, turn right into the Crescent and head uphill (in the mid-19th century, this was known as Chapel Hill) until you are a 1/4 of a mile or so from the canal. You then turn into Dumbarton Road and head east. On your left you will see a school (Gavinburn Primary School) and hear (if not see) the traffic on Great Western Road trundling its way into Glasgow and, beyond that, Gavinburn Farm and the Kilpatrick Braes rising into the wider landscape. These hills behind the roman encampment would surely have provided a great lookout point for the Roman legionaries garrisoned here.

To the right, you will see a cluster of industrial buildings, originally the site of the Old Kilpatrick bus depot and now housing R. B. Steel & Co. - this is the inauspicious site of the Roman Fort at Old Kilpatrick and the western end of Antonine's Wall! If not for the 19th century maps, you might never have known it was there. The first buildings (the old bus depot) appear on an OS map surveyed in 1938.


Maps of Old Kilpatrick showing Roman Site over time
Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

An earlier late 18th century map of Military antiquities of the Romans by William Roy (1793) provides an excellent overview of the forts and line of the wall (at that time called Grime's [or Graham's] Dyke) between Old Kilpatrick and the firth of Forth at Grange (just beyond present day Kinneil and Blackness Castle). The Roy map is especially interesting as it includes some hand-drawn sketches of various forts, including Duntocher.

Whilst there isn't much to see at Old Kilpatrick today, the site has been completely built over ... we do have the old maps and a fabulous 3D model created by the Antonine Wall organisation (see below). Remains were found here and there are two Roman distance slabs and an altar to Jupiter located in the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow University. Signs of a Roman bathhouse annexed to the Old Kilpatrick fort were also reputedly found on the site of the Forth & Clyde Canal near the Ferrydyke crossing.




Moving on with our walk once again, the easiest and most sensible route to the next Roman Fort at Duntocher is to retrace our steps and follow the canal to Lock 37 by the Erskine Bridge. In a brief diversion, you can cross the canal at Lock 37 and climb up onto the bridge to obtain great views up and down the River Clyde and out over the Kilpatrick Hills as well as an aerial view of the site of the old Roman Fort. Carrying on past Lock 37 and the Erskine Bridge, you come to the bridge at Farm Road (SV) near Dalmuir. Turn right at the top of Farm Road, pass the church and cross into Mountblow Road (SV) - you will see the multi-storey flats of Littleholm ahead of you. Follow the road up towards Dalmuir Golf Club and join the path (SV) beyond the garages after the flats at Littleholm Place. Walk through the golf course on the dedicated path (SV) heading uphill. Exit the golf course by the concrete steps/path up to Glenhead Road (SV) and use the flyover (SV) to cross Great Western Road. Follow the path until you come to Roman Road and keep going until you see the church (SV) and signs for Goldenhill Park on your right.
To your left the Duntocher Burn sweeps around the edge of the park. A bridge crossing the burn is called the Roman Bridge but it was, in fact, built as late as the 18th century, and repaired during WWII following the Clydebank Blitz.

Google Maps Aerial View of Goldenhill Park
with superimposed survey diagram of Duntocher Roman Fort and Fortlet

Goldenhill Park is the site of our second Roman fort of the day: Duntocher - which is also the first of the forts on the Antonine Wall to leave visible traces as can be seen on these aerial photos in Scotland's Canmore collection. There is also a very interesting geophysical survey of the site available online courtesy of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
A Roman-themed playpark was constructed within Goldenhill Park in the summer of 2019 to help raise awareness of the Roman Fort at Duntocher.
Meanwhile, a happy find of the day was a 1950s archaeological survey of Antonine's Wall by the Ordnance Survey preserved by Canmore. Fabulous maps!

Wednesday, 22 April 2020

Hadrian's Wall versus Antonine's Wall


Click cover to view book in full (opens in new tab)

In 2014, I walked the length of Hadrian's Wall with my sister-in-law, Karen. We walked the wall over 6 days and there was a lot to see. It was a truly memorable experience. After that, when I returned to live in Scotland 3 years later, it made sense to me that my next challenge should be to try to walk the length of Antonine's Wall. After all, it was closer to home and a much shorter walk - right!

I had visited Antonine's Wall before, mind you. As a teenage "Latin Lover" of the late 1970s we used to visit the site regularly each summer as a school outing, to engage in our annual battle of Picts v Romans - complete with bread sticks as swords (the team with the most 'crumbs' won) and home made SPQR banners - we even had an Asterix & Obelix mirror as a trophy. Ah, Mr A'Hara - you have a lot to answer for.



 An exploratory visit to Roughcastle Roman Fort in early 2017

I started to investigate the walk and made an exploratory trip to Roughcastle fort near the Falkirk Wheel. I quickly learned that the Scottish Roman Wall would be quite a different experience than its "elder brother" - Hadrian's Wall, further south. Undaunted, nevertheless, I decided that it was a matter of national pride to unearth this long, wide ditch of a "wall" in my native country. And so, here I am, nearly 3 years later, finally setting out "on the road" - albeit virtually for now.