CASTLE HILL

Antonine Wall Fort

Castle Hill, Strathclyde

Roads
NGRef: NS5272 OSMap: LR64 Type: Antonine Wall Fort
Antonine Wall: E (1½) to Bearsden (Strathclyde) Antonine Wall: W (1) to Cleddans (Strathclyde)

The Castle Hill Antonine Fort

According to Roy the area available for occupation within the ramparts of the Castle Hill fort measure 320 ft. from east to west by 210 ft. north-south (c.98 x 64 m), an area of just over 1½ acres (c.0.6 ha). There is a single gateway located centrally in the south side. The rampart wall makes an abrupt change of alignment at the top of the hill, altering its course from almost due west to south-west, crossing the brook at the bottom of Castle Hill and then turning west once more to climb Hucheson Hill to the fortlet at Cleddans. The fort has not yet been excavated and there are no known coins or significant finds reported other than the few surviving monumental inscriptions from the vicinity.

Like many places along the line of the Wall, it is speculated that the first Roman military presence at Castle Hill was established during the campaigns of governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola sometime around AD81, and the site later re-used during the Antonine period. In this case there is absolutely no evidence to validate this claim.

There are three inscribed stones recorded in the R.I.B. from the neighbourhood of the Castle Hill fort; an altarstone found in 1826 during ploughing 'a few hundred yards east of the fort' (RIB 2195), an ansate tablet found in 1698 built into a cottage at Castlehill (RIB 2196), and a panelled tablet found in fields 100 yards south-west of the fort in 1847, broken on the right by the plough and bearing an image of boar running left beneath the text (RIB 2197); all are now housed in the Hunterian Museum. Also of note is a Roman stone found on Hutcheson Hill about ½ mile along the Wall to the south-west (Britannia 1970.19). All of these Latin texts are shown and translated on this page.

Military Units at Castle Hill

Legio Sextae Victrix - The Sixth Victorious Legion

IMP CAESAR T AELIO HADRIΛNO ANTONINO AVG PIO P P VEXILLATIO LEG VI VICTR P F PER M P III DCLXVI S
"For the emperor Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius, Pater Patriae, a detachment of The Sixth Victorious Legion, Loyal and Faithful, for three-thousand four-hundred and sixty-six and a half paces [of the Wall]." *(RIB* 2196; ansate tablet; dated: AD139-161)**

Legio Vicesimae Valeria Victrix - The Twentieth Valiant and Victorious Legion

IMP C T AELIO HADRIANO ANTONINO AVG PIO P P VEX LEG XX V V P P III
"Imperator Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius, Father of his Country A detachment of The Twentieth Valiant and Victorious Legion. For three [thousand] paces [of the rampart wall]." *(RIB* 2197; panelled tablet; dated: AD139-161)**

Cohors Quartae Gallorum - The Fourth Cohort of Gauls

CAMPESTRIBVS ET BRITANNI Q PISENTIVS IVSTVS PREF COH IIII GAL V S L L M
"To the Goddesses of the Parade Ground and to the British [Isles], Quintus Pisentius Justus, prefect of the Fourth Gallic Cohort, willingly, gladly and deservedly fulfills a vow." *(RIB* 2195; altarstone)**

The name of this auxiliary regiment occurs on a single altarstone dedicated by a man who styles himself a praefectus (vide supra). A prefect was placed in charge of either a fully-mounted cavalry ala or a part-mounted, mixed infantry cohort, whereas the commander of a standard auxiliary infantry cohort was usually a military tribune, sometimes an experienced legionary centurion. It is evident from this stone that the Fourth Cohort of Gauls was a part-mounted unit, a cohors equitata, presumably with a nominal strength of five-hundred men, a cohors quingenaria. This auxiliary unit was recruited from among the men belonging to the various tribes of the Gallic provinces, modern day France, the fourth regiment to have been so formed. They are one of only a few Auxiliary regiments attested on inscriptions from the Antonine Wall.

Building Slab from Hutcheson Hill

IMP C T AE HADRIANO ANTONINO AVG PIO P P • VEX LEG XX V V FEC • P P III CDXI
"For Imperator Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius, father of his country, a detachment of the Twentieth Legion Valiant and Victorious have made three [thousand] four-hundred and eleven paces [of the wall]." *(Britannia* 1970.19; dated: AD139-161)**

See: The Roman Wall in Scotland by Sir George MacDonald (Oxford, 2nd Ed. 1934) pp.326-8;
Air Reconnaissance of North Britain by J.K. St. Joseph in J.R.S. xli (1951) pp.61/2;
The Roman Inscriptions of Britain by R.G. Collingwood and R.P. Wright (Oxford 1965);
Britannia i (1970) pp.309-10 #19;
Chronology of the Ancient World by E.J. Bickerman (Thames & Hudson, London, 1980);
Chronicle of the Roman Emperors by Chris Scarre (Thames & Hudson, London, 1995);
A Survey of the Coin Finds from the Antonine Wall by Richard Abdy in Britannia xxxiii (2002) pp.189-217;
All English translations, including any inherent mistakes, are my own.

Castle Hill Related Lynx

Glasgow Archaeological Journal Volume 1 (1969) "Article: Anne S. Robertson - Distance Slabs of the Twentieth legion found on the found on the Antonine Wall, at Hutcheson Hill, 1969." I dunno where you get the Journals tho'.