History and Chronology of the Antonine Wall

Roman forces first arrived in Britain in the first century BC, under the leadership of Julius Caesar as part of his Gallic wars. Caesar and his troops came to Britain twice in the summers of 55 and 54 BC. Neither of these invasions led to a permanent Roman presence and Caesar’s account suggests that he only reached as far north as the River Thames. They did however open the island to cultural, diplomatic, and economic exchange. Over the next 90 years, a series of further invasions were planned but each of these was ultimately cancelled.

A real and lasting invasion finally occurred in AD 43 on the order of Emperor Claudius. He arrived in Britain himself to participate in the capture of Camulodunum (modern Colchester, Essex), the capital of Cunobelinus of the Catuvellauni tribe of the Britons. After Camulodunum was taken and spending16 days in Britain, Claudius returned to Rome to celebrate his triumph. The territorial gains were like those achieved in Caesar’s invasion however a key difference was the decision to keep troops on the island. From this decision, and the activities of the following years, it seems reasonable to conclude that Claudius and his generals planned a complete conquest of the island. This would prove to be a difficult, and ultimately unattainable, task.

The Romans first reached the territories of present-day Scotland in the Flavian period (AD 69–96). It is commonly accepted that Agricola, governor of Britain from AD 77/78 to 83/84, was responsible for the conquest of these territories which is documented in his biography written by his son-in-law, Publius Cornelius Tacitus. There is however some debatable evidence that the conquest may have taken place earlier in the Flavian period under different governors. However, Tacitus’s writings along with the bulk of archaeological dating evidence, suggests that even if the Romans were present in Scotland before Agricola’s governorship, his campaigns have left a more permanent mark on the landscape, and certainly on historical accounts.

Of Agricola’s own campaigns, Tacitus tells us about seven individual seasons, each occurring in a separate year. The first year focused on crushing a revolt of the Ordovices in modern Wales before moving northward during his second and third seasons, conquering unnamed states and establishing forts and garrisons up to the River Tay.

In Agricola’s fourth season, he focused on securing the territories already gained, building a line of forts along the Forth-Clyde isthmus. Almost certainly, these forts were linked via newly constructed Roman roads and likely supplied from the Roman fort at Corbridge, Northumberland. Of the line, only those at Camelon and Mollins have been firmly identified. Archaeological finds have suggested that forts which later became part of the Antonine Wall may also have been part of this line, including Mumrills, Castlecary, Kirkintilloch and Cadder.

Agricola’s fifth season is unclear: Tacitus tells us that he made a sea passage, conquering previously independent peoples and lining his troops in the part of Britain that faces Ireland. For the sixth season, Agricola turned his sights to the lands north of the Forth, using land and naval forces to secure control over the territories. The seventh season saw the culmination of Agricola’s northern campaign and the end of his governorship. Again, using a combination of land and naval units he advanced and met a united enemy at Mons Graupius (this site location remains uncertain) where the Romans were victorious.

Despite the entire British islands not being brought under Roman rule, the victory at Mons Graupius meant that for a time the threat of impending attack had been put down. Agricola himself was not able to enjoy the victory for long, as he was quickly recalled to Rome.

Following Agricola’s recall, the Romans appear to have begun withdrawing from Scotland, though this was not immediate. In fact, there is substantial evidence to indicate that the Romans intended to stay on a permanent basis: a line of forts had been built along the Gask Ridge in Perthshire. They were probably constructed to protect the line of supplies for Agricola’s campaign, and these were not abandoned with Agricola’s recall. Near these, was the legionary fortress at Inchtuthil, probably constructed by Agricola’s successor in AD 85–86.

However, the late Flavian occupation of northern Scotland was short-lived. The fortress at Inchtuthil was never completed and, while northern forts have produced a fair number of coins dated AD 86, no coins from AD 87 have been found, despite their relative abundance elsewhere. It’s reasonable to conclude that the Flavian withdrawal began in AD 86/7, before the coins of AD 87 had the opportunity to arrive. Based on dating of ceramic and numismatic evidence, all Flavian forts north of Newstead appear to have been abandoned by AD 90. By AD 105, Rome’s tenuous control of the Scottish Lowlands had disintegrated, and the Romans appear to have fallen back to the Tyne-Solway line, where the next major development would begin.

By the early second century AD, Roman Britain appears to have had a northern limit centred on the Tyne-Solway isthmus. The first emperor in this century was Trajan who reigned between AD 98–117. He may have established the “Stanegate” frontier system: a line of forts between the Flavian bases at Corbridge and Carlisle, including forts such as Newbrough, Chesterholm (Roman Vindolanda), Haltwhistle Burn, and Carvoran (Roman Magnis). This system loosely formed the basis for the most famous of Britain’s Roman monuments, Hadrian’s Wall.

The emperor Hadrian visited Britain in AD 122 and, according to one of his biographers, he “put many things to right and was the first to build a wall, 80 miles long from sea to sea, to divide the barbarians from the Romans.” This wall largely followed the Stanegate line and stretched from Wallsend on the River Tyne to Bowness on the Solway Firth. Construction probably began in AD 122 and appears to have undergone several changes in plan. The final wall was constructed of stone with forts attached to the wall and a massive ‘vallum’ earthwork ditch located to the south of the Wall.

On Hadrian’s death, in AD 138, Antoninus Pius succeeded to the throne. A wealthy nobleman with a good record, he nevertheless lacked military experience. Due to this, Antoninus may have required military credentials to strengthen his new imperial powers. In this view, Britain was chosen as the vehicle by which Antoninus could increase his prestige with a military triumph. The invasion north of Hadrian’s Wall took place in AD 139/42, led by the governor of Britain Lollius Urbicus. The result of this invasion to the north of Hadrian’s Wall was the establishment of a new frontier line across the Forth-Clyde isthmus. This has become known as the Antonine Wall.

The Antonine Wall was constructed starting around AD 142 and was occupied for about twenty years. It may have taken up to twelve years to complete construction and the archaeological evidence from several Antonine Wall sites indicate possible changes in the frontier’s overall plan, as well as the reconfiguration and rebuilding of certain forts. Some forts and fortlets have been shown to be earlier than the Wall itself, while others appear to have been built at the same time or even added after the Antonine Wall Rampart was constructed.

In at least two cases (at Duntocher and Croy Hill), forts were built after fortlets had already been constructed on the same site. These circumstances, as well as the evidence from Hadrian’s Wall, have led many current archaeologists to interpret the Wall’s chronology as consisting of an original plan based on six “primary” forts (Old Kilpatrick, Balmuildy, Bar Hill or Auchendavy, Castlecary, Mumrills, and Carriden) and fortlets at intervals of one Roman mile, with an altered plan that eventually saw the addition of the remaining forts.

By the time the decision to abandon the Wall was made (in or around AD 158), the process of abandonment may have stretched over more than six years to AD 164 or later. The final abandonment has been hotly contested with classical accounts of events providing few concrete details and evidence of datable archaeological finds have been contradictory. Nevertheless, from this point, Hadrian’s Wall was restored and would continue to function as the primary frontier of Roman Britain until the early fifth century, when the official Roman occupation of Britain came to an end.

After the Antonine Wall’s abandonment around AD 158–64, the Romans returned to Scotland on limited occasions. The best-attested period of such activity was during the reign of the emperor Septimius Severus (reigned AD 193–211) who apparently campaigned in northern Britain, restoring a wall (probably Hadrian’s), and travelling to the northern limits of the island before coming to terms with the enemy. Later the Caledones and Maiatai (tribes of northern Britain, probably located north of the Forth-Clyde isthmus) revolted and additional battle took place, during which Severus became ill and died in AD 211.

Shortly after Severus’s death, his son Caracalla made peace with the Caledones, and the Romans appear to have abandoned further attempts to conquer Scotland. Recent studies have suggested that this time was pivotal in the (re)formation of native communities in later Iron Age Scotland, and that both military and diplomatic activities, including the gifting of hoards, may have played a vital role in establishing new elites and regional centres of power.

Around AD 411 the official Roman occupation of Britain ended, although material evidence as far north as Traprain Law (East Lothian) demonstrates that contact and trade continued for several centuries.

In the early medieval period, it was thought that the Antonine Wall belonged to a later point in the history of Roman Britain. The wall was assigned by Gildas and Bede to the handiwork of native Britons and dated its construction in the late fourth century, shortly before Rome’s final withdrawal from Britain. A much later medieval source (certain late manuscripts of the Historia Brittonum) claimed that the wall had been refortified by the usurper Carausius (claimed to reign AD 286–93) in the late third century, however this is not supported by archaeological evidence or additional historical sources.

At some time before the late fourteenth century the Antonine Wall would be given a new name, “Grymisdyke,” which fits into a growing suite of legends, and which aided the development of a mythic landscape in the region. Throughout the post-Roman and medieval periods, the Antonine Wall and its immediate vicinity also saw continued occupation and the construction of new settlements and structures, including churches, villages, and several castles (including mottes).

The history and remains of Roman Britain became an important object of study in the early modern period, with the rise of antiquarianism. Rediscovered classical texts were combined with the evidence of monuments and remains recovered from the landscape to develop understandings of Britain’s development and role during the Roman period. The dominant figure from the late sixteenth until the early eighteenth century was William Camden, whose 1586 book Britannia set a model for a wide-ranging chorographic approach to Britain’s antiquities that would see many imitations and revisions as late as the early 1800s.

Knowledge was further advanced through the works of many additional early modern antiquarians, perhaps none more prominently than the eighteenth-century antiquaries (and rivals) Alexander Gordon and the Rev John Horsley, both of whom provided particularly useful accounts of Roman military remains in northern Britain and helped to identify many previously unknown sites. Horsley’s work would prove to be very influential through its analytical approach and is considered by many current archaeologists to be the most important antiquarian work for studies of the Roman military in Britain. While the Antiquarian writers were often able to discern the outline of fort defences (the ramparts and/or ditches), they were unable to say much about the contents of the forts’ interiors, as their methods relied primarily on what was visible above the ground and buried remains were usually limited to accidental discovery.

By the late 1800s, antiquarianism was giving way to a more narrowly focused discipline of archaeology, and the study of Roman Britain played an important role in this process. For the Antonine Wall itself, the first modern archaeological work was carried out by the Glasgow Archaeological Society, with excavations between the years 1890–93. Following the beginnings of archaeological investigation by the society, the early twentieth century saw the publication, in two editions in 1911 and 1934, of Sir George Macdonald’s magisterial account of the Wall’s history and archaeology, which remains to be matched. Since this time, the wall has been the focus of dozens of excavation and survey projects, including frequent watching briefs in advance of or during development.

Ever since the mid-1800s, development threats had led antiquaries and archaeologists to campaign for protection of the Antonine Wall and other sites of heritage significance across much of Britain. Antiquarian and archaeological societies led the way, and the Ancient Monuments Protection Act was passed by the London Parliament in 1882. While this established a legal system for the protection of ancient monuments, the extension and enforcement of this protection to the Antonine Wall was much delayed, leaving protection primarily to the influence of the societies and individual antiquaries. The first portion of the Antonine Wall was scheduled in 1926, and this has continued to be expanded as more knowledge is gained and new portions are added to the Scheduled Monuments list.

In July 2008, the Antonine Wall was inscribed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site, joining Hadrian’s Wall and the German Limes as a component of the broader “Frontiers of the Roman Empire” World Heritage Site. This was the result of long and laborious efforts, both to gain international recognition for the Antonine Wall itself, but also to change the way in which UNESCO conceived of World Heritage Sites in general, becoming part of the first transnational World Heritage Site.