Description

This monument is a section of the Antonine Wall which runs across an undulating area of ground. This proposal forms part of a programme which is intended to update the scheduling of the Antonine Wall, and extends the protected area along this part of the line of the Wall.

The Antonine Wall at this location consists of the rampart, the ditch, the berm (area between rampart and ditch) and the upcast mound. The Antonine Wall has been flattened at this point, although slight traces of the ditch survive to the W of this section and just to the E of Cleddans Farm. A fortlet is located about 250m W of Cleddans Farm. Its ramparts defined an area which measured internally 18m E-W by about 17.6m N-S.

The fortlet pre-dated the construction of the Wall. Trial excavation indicated that substantial traces of the Antonine Wall and the fortlet survive under the topsoil.

The area to be scheduled measures a maximum of 1350m from the furthest W point to the furthest E by a maximum of 105m N-S, to include the Antonine Wall rampart, berm, ditch and upcast mound, the fortlet and an area to the N and S where traces of activities associated with the construction and use of the monument may survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map extract. To the W the scheduled area extends to the boundaries of house plots on the edge of the built-up area of Clydebank.

The enclosure and track in the immediate vicinity of Cleddans Farm are excluded from the scheduled area. At its E end the scheduled area is defined by the W edge of the path that runs N from Monymusk Place. The N boundary extends 25m beyond the N edge of the Antonine Wall ditch, to include the upcast mound and an area beyond in which traces of activities associated with the construction and use of the monument may survive.

The S boundary extends 20m behind the back edge of the rampart, and similarly beyond the probable position of the ditches of the fortlet, to include Roman-period deposits which are likely to survive in this area; the military way may also lie within this 20m zone. The top 50cm of the E-W running farm track which runs through the scheduled area is excluded from this scheduling to enable the top surface to be maintained and altered without the need for scheduled monument consent, as are all modern fences.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because it has an inherent potential to contribute to our understanding of the past, in particular the Antonine Wall and as well as the character of Roman frontier systems more generally. The monument has high potential to add to our understanding of the construction, maintenance and subsequent abandonment of the Antonine Wall.

There is good potential for the recovery of dateable remains and environmental samples from the fills of the ditch and from the ancient ground surfaces that are sealed by the rampart. Such information has the capacity to greatly enhance our understanding of the character of the local landscape when the Antonine Wall was occupied.

The monument is an important survival, situated on the periphery of urban development in an area that has undergone intensive cultivation for several centuries. Excavation of the fortlet in 1979 demonstrated that the buried remains of the Antonine Wall are particularly well-preserved beneath the topsoil and the potential for further archaeological remains of the Antonine Wall is high.

The fortlet has good potential for the preservation of occupation evidence offering an insight into the everyday lives of the soldiers garrisoned there. The loss of the monument would impede our ability to understand the frontier and would erode the overall importance of the Antonine Wall as a single linear monument spanning central Scotland.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NS 57 SW 65.00.

References:

Breeze, D. J. (2006) The Antonine Wall, Edinburgh: John Donald.

Hanson, W. S. and Maxwell, G. S. (1986) The Antonine Wall: Rome's North West Frontier, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Macdonald, G. (1934) The Roman Wall in Scotland (2nd ed.), 105-111, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Keppie, L. J. F. (1990) Scotland's Roman Remains, Edinburgh: John Donald.

Keppie, L. J. F. and Walker, J. J. (1981) 'Fortlets on the Antonine Wall at Seabegs Wood, Kinneil and Cleddans'', Britannia 12, 143-62.

Robertson, A. S. and Keppie, L. J. F. (2001) The Antonine Wall, Glasgow: Glasgow Archaeological Society.

Roy, W. (1793) The Military Remains of the Romans in North Britain, London: Bullmer and Co/Society of Antiquaries of London, 35.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland