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Minor Enclosures on the Antonine Wall at Wilderness Plantation*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2011

W. S. Hanson
Affiliation:
Dept. of Archaeology, University of Glasgow
G. S. Maxwell
Affiliation:
Dept. of Archaeology, University of Glasgow
P. J. Newell
Affiliation:
Dept. of Archaeology, University of Glasgow
A. S. Robertson
Affiliation:
The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, Edinburgh

Abstract

The survey of prehistoric and Roman monuments of Lanarkshire undertaken by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland during the preparation of the county Inventory naturally included a re-examination of the Antonine Wall between Kirkintilloch and the River Kelvin. Regrettably, as that survey recorded, the past fifty years have seen considerable erosion and destruction of this section of the Roman limes: for example, gravel-quarrying has destroyed the fort at Cadder, together with about 400 m of the Wall itself to the N of Wilderness Plantation, and elsewhere road-widening operations, pipe-laying, and the remorseless process of arable farming have worn down or encroached upon the fugitive traces of the Imperial frontier. In the case of large-scale disturbance, the opportunity has generally been taken to ascertain by excavation the nature of what was destined to be lost forever, but it was perhaps inevitable that, in the process, significant structural evidence should also have been removed unrecognized. Amongst the structures thus destroyed was the easternmost of the minor enclosures which are attached to the Wall to the north of Wilderness Plantation and which form the subject of this paper. It is not surprising, however, that neither it nor its companions were noticed earlier, for it must be many years, possibly centuries, since they were visible as upstanding earthworks, and their identification in modern times resulted from the inspection of aerial photographs, undertaken as part of the Inventory survey-programme.

Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 14 , November 1983 , pp. 227 - 243
Copyright
Copyright © W. S. Hanson, G. S. Maxwell, P. J. Newell and A. S. Robertson 1983. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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