Auchendavy

The Auchendavy Antonine Fort

The outline of the Antonine fort at Auchendavy is not fully traced. It was detached from the Wall and situated a little to the south of the earthworks on a northward jutting promontory overlooking the River Kelvin. The fort is located just north of the Harestanes area of Kirkintilloch, and is still visible even now as a raised earthwork south of the B8023 secondary road, sandwiched between the Forth and Clyde Canal and the road itself. The ditches of the fort were visible in the fields as “canals” up until about 1825, when the landowner levelled the ground and removed almost all traces of the defences. The fort measured about 370 ft. by 330 ft. (c.113 x 101 m) thus enclosing an occupation area of about 2¾ acres (c.1.1 ha).

A single coin has been reported at Auchendavy, a gold solidus of Trajan dated to 101/2AD which was “rediscovered” by staff at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh; its provenance is uncertain. A rubbish-pit uncovered by workmen constructing the Forth and Clyde Canal in May 1771 containd four (and a half) altarstones and ‘two huge iron mallets’. Also reported among the finds recovered over the years are a number of pyramidal piles of rounded stones, around fifty in number, probably ammunition for onagri taken from the site of the fort’s armamentarium. There are ten inscriptions on stone from Auchendavy recorded in the R.I.B., comprising five altarstones to various deities, four tombstones, and a building inscription, most of which are reproduced and translated on this page and discussed separately below.

The Roman Military Garrison at Auchendavy

The Gods of Roman Auchendavy

Roman Tombstones from Auchendavy

Perhaps the most revealing of latin texts recovered from Roman sites are those inscribed upon tombstones, and they remain a very good indication of social life, ironically. There are four Roman tombstones from Auchendavy, all are shown below.

References for Auchendavy

• The Roman Wall in Scotland by Sir George MacDonald (Oxford, 2nd Ed. 1934) pp.285-9;
• The Roman Inscriptions of Britain by R.G. Collingwood and R.P. Wright (Oxford 1965);
• The Romans in Britain – An Anthology of Inscriptions by A.R. Burn (Blackwell, Oxford, 1969);
• Roman Britain – A Sourcebook by S. Ireland (Routlege, New York, 1986);
• A Survey of the Coin Finds from the Antonine Wall by Richard Abdy in Britannia xxxiii (2002) pp.189-217;

Roman Roads near Auchendavy

Antonine Wall: E (2) to Bar Hill (Strathclyde) Antonine Wall: W (1.75) to Kirkintilloch (Strathclyde)