Blatobulgium was a Roman fort, located at the modern-day site known as Birrens, in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. It protected the main western road to Scotland.
It was one of the "outpost forts" outside the Roman Empire when the frontier was on Hadrian's Wall and was located about 11 miles from the Castra Exploratorum fort (Netherby, Cumbria).
Blatobulgium is recorded in the Antonine Itinerary. The name derives from the Brittonic roots *blāto- 'bloom, blossom' or *blāto- (from earlier *mlāto-), 'flour' and *bolgo-, 'bag, bulge'. The name may mean 'flowery hillock' or 'flowery hollow'. However, as there are granaries at the fort, Blatobulgium may be a nickname meaning 'Flour Sacks'. [1]
There are several camps near Birrens [2] at least one of which was first occupied in the Flavian period from 79 AD onwards probably during the Agricolan campaigns, when its internal buildings were presumably of timber. [3] Under Hadrian when the frontier was established on Hadrian's Wall soon after 122, a new fort was constructed as an outpost fort on the site of a late 1st century fortlet with central timber buildings and a large western annexe. [4] The visible fort and its internal buildings date from the Antonine period around 142 after the reconquest of the Scottish Lowlands when the earlier fort was rebuilt and enlarged to protect the western road to the Antonine Wall and to accommodate a nominally 1,000-strong milliaria equitata garrison of the 1st Cohort Nerviana Germanorum, [5] a mixed unit of cavalry and infantry of the auxiliary army. It was destroyed perhaps by enemy action around 155 and the replacement stone buildings, although of much poorer quality, in the second Antonine period dating to 159 onwards were for the new garrison of the 2nd Cohort of Tungrians, likewise milliaria equitata. From about 163 it was again an outpost of Hadrian's Wall and was finally abandoned by about 184.
The later fort formed the northern terminus of the Roman-era Watling Street (using an extended definition of this road), or more simply Route 2 of the Antonine Itinerary. It was located in the territory of the Selgovae.
There have been more inscribed and sculptured stones found at Birrens than anywhere else in Scotland. [6] An altar stone dedicated to the Celtic goddess Ricagambeda was found at Birrens. [7]
Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main Roman roads in Britannia. The route linked Dover and London in the southeast, and continued northwest via St Albans to Wroxeter. The line of the road was later the southwestern border of the Danelaw with Wessex and Mercia, and Watling Street was numbered as one of the major highways of medieval England.
The Selgovae were a Celtic tribe of the late 2nd century AD who lived in what is now Kirkcudbrightshire and Dumfriesshire, on the southern coast of Scotland. They are mentioned briefly in Ptolemy's Geography, and there is no other historical record of them. Their cultural and ethnic affinity is commonly assumed to have been Brittonic.
Bremenium is an ancient Roman fort (castrum) located at Rochester, Northumberland, England. The fort is part of the defensive system built along the extension of Dere Street, a Roman road running from York to Corbridge and onwards to Melrose. Significantly the fort is a long way north of Hadrian's Wall. It was one of the last forts north of Hadrian's wall to remain occupied until the 270s.
Luguvalium was an ancient Roman city in northern Britain located within present-day Carlisle, Cumbria, and may have been the capital of the 4th-century province of Valentia. It was the northernmost city of the Roman Empire.
Cilurnum or Cilurvum was an ancient Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall at Chesters near the village of Walwick, Northumberland. It is also known as Walwick Chesters to distinguish it from Great Chesters fort and Halton Chesters.
Longovicium was an auxiliary fort located on Roman Dere Street, in the Roman province of Britannia Inferior. It is located just southwest of Lanchester in the English county of Durham, roughly 8 miles (13 km) to the west of the city of Durham and 5 miles (8 km) from Consett.
Cohors quarta Gallorum equitata was a Roman auxiliary cohort containing both infantry and cavalry contingents.
Habitancum was an ancient Roman fort (castrum) located at Risingham, Northumberland, England. The fort was one of series of built along the extension of Dere Street, a Roman road running from York to Corbridge and onwards to Melrose, in Scotland.
Bewcastle Roman Fort was built to the north of Hadrian's Wall as an outpost fort possibly intended for scouting and intelligence. The remains of the fort are situated at the village of Bewcastle, Cumbria, 7 miles (11 km) to the north of the Roman fort at Birdoswald, on Hadrian's Wall.
Cohors PrimÆ Ælia Dacorvm was an infantry regiment of the Auxilia corps of the Imperial Roman army. It was first raised by the Roman emperor Hadrian in the Roman province of Dacia not later than AD 125 and its last surviving record dates c. 400. It was deployed, for virtually its entire history, in forts on Hadrian's Wall on the northern frontier of Britannia province.
Cohors Primae Vangionum Milliaria Equitata was a Roman auxiliary infantry cohort from Upper Germany with both horse and foot soldiers known as a cohors equitata, and nominally 1000 strong.
Anne Strachan Robertson FSA FSAScot FRSE FMA FRNS was a Scottish archaeologist, numismatist and writer, who was Professor of Roman Archaeology at the University of Glasgow and Keeper of the Cultural Collections and of the Hunterian Coin Cabinet at the Hunterian Museum. She was recognised by her research regarding Roman Imperial coins and as "a living link with the pioneers of archaeological research".
Burnswark Hill, to the east of the A74(M) between Ecclefechan and Lockerbie in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, is a prominent flat-topped hill, composed of basalt deposited some 300 million years ago as a local flow of lava. On this hill have been found an Iron Age hillfort enclosing some 7 hectares, Iron Age round houses within the fort, an earlier Bronze Age burial cairn, enclosures dated to the medieval period, a possible Civil War battery, and an Ordnance Survey triangulation station. Immediately adjacent to the base of the hill are two Roman camps, north and south of the fort, and a possible Roman fortlet within the South Camp.
Bar Hill Fort was a Roman fort on the Antonine Wall in Scotland. It was built around the year 142 A.D.. Older maps and documents sometimes spell the name as Barr Hill. A computer generated fly around for the site has been produced. Lidar scans have been done along the length of the wall including Bar Hill. Sir George Macdonald wrote about the excavation of the site. Many other artefacts have also been found at Shirva, about a mile away on the other side of Twechar.
Cleddans is the site of a Roman fortlet on the Antonine Wall in Scotland. Its postulated existence was confirmed by trial trenching in 1979. Evidence of building work on Cleddans and on the Wall by units of both the sixth and the twentieth legions has been found in the area.
Watling Lodge was a Roman fortlet on the Antonine Wall in Scotland. It was located near what is now Lock Sixteen on the Forth and Clyde Canal in Falkirk with neighbouring forts at Rough Castle to the west and Falkirk to the east. There was also a fort at Camelon to the north. There was also a Roman temporary camp found a short distance south of the site.
Inveravon is sited on the east side of the River Avon in Scotland. It was long considered to be the likely site for a Roman Fort on the Antonine Wall in Scotland. The fort is one of the most dubious on the wall although some excavation and geophysics has been done. Near Inveravon Tower, the bare traces of a fort were found but there is nothing that an unskilled visitor could identify. Several excavations have unearthed the site's foundations as well as a section of the Military Way. Cobbled surfaces and some stone walls were found. Also ‘expansions’ were discovered, perhaps used as signal or beacon towers.
Seabegs Wood was the site of a Roman fortlet on the Antonine Wall in Scotland.
Balmuildy is the site of a Roman fort on the Antonine Wall in Scotland. It is one of only two forts on the Antonine Wall to have been found with stone ramparts; the other is Castlecary. A digital reconstruction of the fort has been created.
Wilderness Plantation was the site of a Roman fortlet on the Antonine Wall in Scotland.
55°03′54″N3°13′28″W / 55.0651°N 3.2244°W
Forts and structures of Hadrian's Wall | ||
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| Wall Forts (East to West) |   | |
| Outpost Forts | ||
| Stanegate Forts |
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| Supply Forts | ||
| Cumbrian Coast Forts (North to South) |
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| Milecastles | ||
| Milefortlets | ||
| Other structures on Hadrian's Wall | ||
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