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Archaeological investigations in Bearsden, near Glasgow, have revealed evidence of a previously unknown fortlet on the Antonine Wall. This is the 13th Antonine Wall fortlet to have been confidently identified, adding to other examples that were recently revealed during geophysical surveys carried out by Historic Environment Scotland at Carleith Farm in West Dunbartonshire and at Bonnyside, near Falkirk (see CA 400 and 403).
The first traces of the Bearsden fortlet were discovered in 2017, during the excavation of three adjacent back gardens along Boclair Road by GUARD Archaeology ahead of development. This work revealed the kerbed stone foundations of a turf rampart (below) and, as the remains were located just south of the Antonine Wall, Historic Environment Scotland commissioned a larger investigation of the site. The expanded excavation, also carried out by GUARD, uncovered a ditch running parallel to the rampart. Meanwhile, a geophysical survey revealed that the probable line of the Antonine Wall itself ran through this area, with the kerbed stone base of the rampart and its parallel ditch situated perpendicular to its course.
Two sherds of Roman pottery were found underneath the stone base of the rampart, strengthening suggestions that it and the ditch were related to the Antonine Wall, and wood from the bottom of the ditch subsequently provided a more concrete radiocarbon date of AD 127-247, placing the features directly within the period that the frontier fortifications were in use. Based on this date and the size of the ditch and rampart, the team suggest that they represent the remains of a Roman fortlet.
Maureen Kilpatrick, who led the work for GUARD, said: ‘This fortlet lay on an area of high ground right next to the Antonine Wall. It had commanding views over the landscape, particularly to the north, which was beyond Roman control, and was also intervisible with the larger Roman fort at Bearsden, which lay close-by to the west on lower-lying ground. This suggests that the fortlet was an integral part of the Roman Wall defences, which included forts along its length along with smaller fortlets like this, where small detachments from the larger forts were posted to keep an eye out.’
Text: Kathryn Krakowka / Image: GUARD Archaeology Ltd
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