A piece in the STV magazine about plans to raise the profile of the Antonine Wall. A series of five public consultations are being held over the next couple of weeks. Dates and details are on the Historic Scotland website.
Hadrian’s Wall is considered by many to be the definitive barrier which was built by the Romans to keep us pesky Scots out of their empire. We were too much trouble, it seems.
But a lesser known wall around 100 miles north of Hadrian’s, stretching 40 miles across central Scotland from Old Kilpatrick in the west to Bo’ness in the east, was also part of the Roman frontier for around 20 years. It is now the subject of a public appeal to help raise its profile and celebrate its role in the history of Roman Britain.
The Antonine Wall was built in 142AD, around 15 years after Hadrian’s Wall, to help encourage trade and diplomacy between those in Scotland and Roman England.
It only lasted for around 20 years before the Romans retreated back to Hadrian’s. Why? Academics are not sure. One suggestion is the Roman army felt they were becoming too stretched.
“In around 142 AD, the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius decided that he wanted to expand the frontier into Scotland,” said Patricia Weeks, the Antonine Wall coordinator who is in charge of a new public consultation into the future of the world heritage site.
Full story here.