1. Roman sources
Aim: To examine the evidence for the Roman invasions of Northern Britain.

2. ROMAN MONUMENTS
By “monuments” we mean the remains of Roman structures/architecture
These show up on the ground as earthworks, or as cropmarks which can be identified by aerial photography
The Roman occupation of Northern Britain was essentially military in character, and so Roman monuments in Northern Britain include marching camps, forts, fortlets and watchtowers, as well as roads and the two great walls – Hadrian’s Wall and the Antonine Wall

3. MARCHING CAMPS
Temporary overnight structures built to protect the army as it was campaigning
Simple ditch and bank
Soldiers slept eight to a tent
Indicate invasion routes
Suggest size of Roman forces involved in any given invasion
Severan camps were huge – 130 acres (55 hectares) – could have held six legions (30,000 troops)
e.g. Ardoch, Stracathro, Strageath in Tayside

4. Marching camp at Chew Green, Northumberland
Dere Street Roman road at Whitton Edge in the Scottish Borders – linked Eboracum (York) with the Firth of Forth

5. FORTS
Forts were built to house regiments of 500 – 1,000 men (cohorts or double cohorts)
The building of forts in any given period suggests that the Romans intended a permanent conquest
Used to control surrounding area/population
Housesteads and Vindolanda on Hadrian’s Wall
Newstead/Trimontium and Inveresk in southern Scotland
Bearsden, Rough Castle on the Antonine Wall
Carpow and Inchtuthil in northern Scotland

6. Artist’s impression of Roman fort at Ardoch

7. Housesteads on Hadrian’s Wall – built to accommodate c.800 auxiliaries. Note the adjacent vicus (civilian settlement)

8. Inchtuthil in Perth and Kinross was built in the early AD 80s, during the Flavian invasions
It was built to accommodate an entire legion – the XX Valeria Victrix
Suggests permanent conquest was intended at this time – base for invasion of Highlands?
64 barrack buildings
Abandoned incomplete c.86/7 AD
Buildings were dismantled and 750,000 iron nails were buried

9. FORTLETS
Small outposts built for 50 – 80 auxiliaries (a century)
Housed in one or two barrack blocks
Base for local patrols
Usually only surrounded by a single bank and ditch
Kinneil, Lurg Moor (Antonine Wall)

10. WATCHTOWERS AND SIGNAL STATIONS
Used to monitor and control movement in frontier areas
Accomodated a contubernium of eight men
Gask Ridge frontier system, Tayside – Flavian period
Ran along the Roman road, less than a mile apart
e.g. Kirkhill, Roundlaw, Muir o’Fauld

11. THE ANTONINE WALL
Construction began c.142 AD following Antoninus Pius’ invasion
Abandoned in mid-160s AD about eight years after completion – briefly reoccupied in Severan period
Built of turf on a stone base

12. 12 feet high with a ditch 40 feet wide and 12 feet deep to north
Most northerly frontier in the Roman Empire
Stone base of Antonine Wall at Hillfoot cemetery
Lilia (man traps) near Rough Castle
Bath-house at Bearsden