Bar Hill Antonine Wall Fort: A Roman Frontier Fort in Scotland
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.7
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Classical
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Classical
- Civilizations
- Roman
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Fort
On this page10 sections
History
Bar Hill Antonine Wall Fort is a Roman fort in the United Kingdom, built around AD 142 during the reign of Antoninus Pius as part of the Antonine Wall frontier in northern Britain. The Antonine Wall was a Roman defensive installation constructed during the emperor’s reign across central Scotland. Bar Hill belonged to a chain of about seventeen forts set roughly three kilometres apart along the more than 60-kilometre barrier.
Roman occupation
The fort could accommodate approximately 480 soldiers. Although troops were officially forbidden to marry, a substantial civilian community probably lived near the fort, as at other Roman military stations along the wall. This wider settlement helps explain the evidence for family life found at Bar Hill.
Roman forces abandoned the fort in the late second century. During the withdrawal, the installation was destroyed, and objects judged unworthy of transport were probably discarded in the well. Bar Hill formed part of the wider route of the Antonine Wall, much of which was later followed by the eighteenth-century Forth and Clyde Canal.
Excavation and protection
George Macdonald and Alexander Park excavated the fort between 1902 and 1905. Further investigations took place in 1978–1982 and 1982–1984, followed by lidar surveys along the Antonine Wall, including the area around Bar Hill. The fort and its associated section of the wall have been protected as the scheduled monument “Antonine Wall, Bar Hill” since 2 March 1961. Historic Environment Scotland manages the site.
Remains
Bar Hill Fort lies about 0.6 kilometres east of Twechar in East Dunbartonshire, approximately 60 metres south of the Antonine Wall. At about 112 by 114 metres, it is the highest-situated fort in the Antonine Wall group. The fort occupies a south-facing slope and was defended by a turf rampart with two ditches on its eastern, southern, and western sides, while the northern side had one ditch.
Fort buildings and water supply
Headquarters building
The largest visible structure on the south-facing slope is the headquarters building. Excavation exposed its foundations and identified a well in the headquarters courtyard. The well descended approximately 13 metres, or 43 feet, and contained shoes belonging to men, women, and children. It also held an altar, bones, shells, coins, building columns, wooden beams, and part of the pulley used with the well. The mixture of objects includes material that may have been thrown away when the fort was abandoned, while the shoes have been interpreted as evidence of family life at or around the installation.
Granary and barracks
Foundations belonging to a granary and barracks were also exposed during excavation. Together with the headquarters, these remains show the principal functions of the military compound, including administration, storage, and accommodation for its garrison.
Bathhouse
The rectangular bathhouse was arranged from west to east as a changing room and latrine, a cold room, and three heated rooms. The easternmost heated room reached the highest temperature. Its furnace stood at that end and was fired from outside the building.
Refuse pit
A refuse pit beside the bathhouse was about 3 metres deep and 5 metres wide. It contained old boots, broken pottery, and eleven human hand and foot bones, which may have resulted from amputations.
Religious remains
An altar dedicated to Silvanus, a Roman deity associated with woodlands, rural places, and the countryside, was discovered at Bar Hill in 1895. It is thought to have come from a small shrine outside the fort. The altar is now held by the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow. Structural columns and wooden beams were also found at the site, while Roman artefacts have been recovered at nearby Shirva, about a mile away on the opposite side of Twechar.
