Wilderness Plantation

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Wilderness Plantation
Bonded warehouses at Buchley - geograph.org.uk - 62628.jpg
Bonded warehouses near the site of the Roman Fortlet [1]
Founded during the reign of Antoninus Pius
Place in the Roman world
Province Britannia
Location
CountyEast Dunbartonshire
CountryFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
Site notes
Discovery year1965
Conditionunder crops
Excavation dates1965, 1966

Wilderness Plantation was the site of a Roman fortlet on the Antonine Wall in Scotland. [2]

The line of the Antonine Wall runs roughly parallel between the River Kelvin to the north and the Forth and Clyde Canal to the south. [3]

The site, like several others along the wall and beyond, was found by aerial photography, this discovery being reported in October 1965. [4] Following this Wilkes excavated in that year and the following one. [5] He approved of the term "interval fortlet" to describe this and other fortlets like Duntocher and Glasgow Bridge. [6]

The neighbouring forts to this fortlet are Balmuildy in the west and Cadder in the east.

A single Hadrian dupondius coin was found at Wilderness West. Hadrian dupondius.jpg
A single Hadrian dupondius coin was found at Wilderness West.

No coinage has been recovered nor are there any inscriptions from the fortlet although a single coin was picked up at Wilderness West. [8]

Many Roman forts along the wall held garrisons of around 500 men. [9] Larger forts like Castlecary and Birrens had a nominal cohort of 1000 men [10] but probably sheltered women and children [11] as well although the troops were not allowed to marry. [12] There is likely too to have been large communities of civilians around the site. [13]

Forts and Fortlets associated with the Antonine Wall from west to east: Bishopton, Old Kilpatrick, Duntocher, Cleddans, Castlehill, Bearsden, Summerston, Balmuildy, Wilderness Plantation, Cadder, Glasgow Bridge, Kirkintilloch, Auchendavy, Bar Hill, Croy Hill, Westerwood, Castlecary, Seabegs, Rough Castle, Camelon, Watling Lodge, Falkirk, Mumrills, Inveravon, Kinneil, Carriden Antonine.Wall.Roman.forts.jpg
Forts and Fortlets associated with the Antonine Wall from west to east: Bishopton, Old Kilpatrick, Duntocher, Cleddans , Castlehill, Bearsden, Summerston , Balmuildy, Wilderness Plantation, Cadder, Glasgow Bridge , Kirkintilloch, Auchendavy, Bar Hill, Croy Hill, Westerwood, Castlecary, Seabegs , Rough Castle, Camelon, Watling Lodge , Falkirk, Mumrills, Inveravon, Kinneil , Carriden

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antonine Wall</span> Defensive fortification in Roman Britain

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Croy Hill</span>

Croy Hill was a Roman fort, fortlet, and probable temporary camp on the Antonine Wall, near Croy, to the north east of the village in Scotland. Two communication platforms known as ‘expansions’ can be seen to the west of the fortlet. Alexander Park excavated the site in 1890-1891. Sir George Macdonald wrote about his excavation of the site which occurred in 1920, 1931, and 1935. At Croy Hill, the ditch in front of the rampart was not excavated by the Romans. It is likely that hard basalt and dolerite of the hill was virtually impossible to shape with Roman tools. This is the only place along the Wall where the ditch wasn't dug. There is a bath house just outside one fort. A video reconstruction of the site has been produced.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auchendavy</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glasgow Bridge, Kirkintilloch</span>

Glasgow Bridge is the site of a road bridge over the Forth and Clyde Canal; it is also the site of a Roman fortlet, on the Antonine Wall, halfway between the Roman forts at Kirkintilloch and Cadder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleddans</span> Roman fortlet on the Antonine Wall, Scotland

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Watling Lodge</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mumrills</span>

Mumrills was the site of the largest Roman fort on the Antonine Wall in Scotland. It is possible that Mumrills could exchange signals with Flavian Gask Ridge forts. Some believe Mumrills may have been the site of Wallace's defeat at the Battle of Falkirk. The farm at Mumrills was also used as an early site for the Falkirk Relief Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inveravon</span>

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.

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Seabegs Wood was the site of a Roman fortlet on the Antonine Wall in Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castlehill Fort</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Balmuildy</span>

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References

  1. "near Wilderness Plantation". OpenStreetMap. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  2. "Wilderness Plantation". Canmore . Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland . Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  3. "OS 25 inch map 1892-1949, with Bing opacity slider". National Library of Scotland. Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  4. "Wilderness Plantation". Canmore. Historic Environment Scotland. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  5. "WILDERNESS PLANTATION: FORTLET" (PDF). Frontiers of the Roman Empire. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  6. Wilkes, J. J. (September 2010). "THE ANTONINE WALL FORTLET AT WILDERNESS PLANTATION, LANARKSHIRE". Glasgow Archaeological Journal. 3 (3): 51–65. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  7. "Wilderness West, Antonine Wall". Canmore. Historic Environment Scotland. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  8. "Wilderness Plantation Antonine Wall Fortlet". Roman Britain. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  9. "Soldier". Frontiers of the Roman Empire. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  10. Miller, S. N. (1952). The Roman Occupation Of South Western Scotland Being Reports Of Excavations And Surveys Carried Out Under The Auspices Of The Glasgow Archaeological Society By John Clarke, J. M. Davidson, Anne S. Robertson, J. K. St. Joseph, Edited For The Society With An Historical Survey By S. N. Miller. Glasgow: Robert Maclehose & Company Limited. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  11. "Children". Frontiers of the Roman Empire. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  12. "Roman child's leather shoe". A History of the World. BBC. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  13. Rohl, Darrell, Jesse. "More than a Roman Monument: A Place-centred Approach to the Long-term History and Archaeology of the Antonine Wall" (PDF). Durham Theses. Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online ref: 9458. Retrieved 14 October 2017.

Coordinates: 55°55′17″N4°14′43″W / 55.9215°N 4.2452°W / 55.9215; -4.2452