2009

NS4972 : Site of Roman Fort on Antonine Wall

taken 15 years ago, near to Duntocher, West Dunbartonshire, Scotland

Site of Roman Fort on Antonine Wall
Site of Roman Fort on Antonine Wall
This spot, near the summit of Golden Hill in Duntocher, was the site of one of the forts of the Antonine Wall. The remains of the fort are not currently exposed, but the grass has been cut in such a way as to show the outlines of the structures that once stood here.

The Antonine Wall was (except at its eastern end) a turf rampart built upon a stone base. Only a few metres from the point at which this photo was taken, part of the stone base of the wall is exposed, although protected by railings: NS4972 : Exposed stone base of the Antonine Wall.

The fort at Duntocher is discussed in the book "A Guide to the Roman Remains in Britain" (Roger J.A.Wilson, 1980): "... a gate here leads to Golden Hill and a railed-off portion of Wall-base .... Excavations on top of the hill in 1948-51 revealed that an Antonine fortlet preceded a very small fort here .... The fortlet had been demolished and replaced by the fort even before the actual Wall was built in this sector, and it may be presumed that the latter was built from east to west. The same conclusion was reached when the terminal fort at Old Kilpatrick, now built over, was excavated in 1923-4 and 1931".

The fort encloses only 0.2 hectares, making it the smallest of the known forts on the Wall. According to the World Heritage Site Nomination Document for the Antonine Wall (written by Prof. David Breeze), the original plan had been for just six forts (these are now called primary forts) along the line of the Wall, but it was later decided to add secondary forts (of which Golden Hill is one) to reduce the average distance between forts to about 3.6 km.

When the Nomination Document was published (in 2007), the remains of sixteen forts survived, as well as nine fortlets, along with some smaller enclosures and "expansions" (whose function is currently unclear). The bid was successful: the Antonine Wall is now listed as a World Heritage Site.

Situated centrally in the background is a flagstaff that stands at the summit of Golden Hill, which is located within Goldenhill Park.

Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Lairich Rig and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Historic sites and artefacts Period: Roman Ruin: Fort Category: Roman archaeological site other tags: Roman Fort Archaeology Goldenhill Park Antonine Wall Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
+
+
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
TIP: Click the map for more Large scale mapping
Grid Square
NS4972, 129 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Lairich Rig   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Friday, 18 September, 2009   (more nearby)
Submitted
Monday, 28 September, 2009
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NS 4953 7268 [10m precision]
WGS84: 55:55.4152N 4:24.5785W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NS 4952 7267
View Direction
Northeast (about 45 degrees)
Clickable map
+
NW N NE
W Go E
SW S SE
Image classification(about): Geograph
This page has been viewed about 351 times
You are not logged in login | register