OSMap: LR65
Type: Roman Fortlet, Marching Camp.
Antonine Wall: E (1¼) to Falkirk (Central)
Antonine Wall: W (1¼) to Rough Castle (Central)
|
NGRef: NS8679 OSMap: LR65 Type: Roman Fortlet, Marching Camp. |
|
| Roads | |
|---|---|
|
N (¾) to CAMELON (Camelon, Central) Antonine Wall: E (1¼) to Falkirk (Central) Antonine Wall: W (1¼) to Rough Castle (Central) | |
The excellent preservation of this stretch of the Antonine Wall ditch impresses upon the visitor exactly how massive the original barrier would have appeared, and gives some idea of the amount of manpower entailed in its construction.
 The Antonine Wall at Watling Lodge looking east from the top of the Wall |
 The Antonine Wall at Watling Lodge looking west from the bottom of the ditch |
There was a military road running along the rear of the Antonine Wall for its entire length, and aside from the northern gateways of the forts (and fortlets) upon its line, the only place where this barrier was pierced by a road was at Watling Lodge outside Falkirk, where egress was controlled by a guardhouse tower with double gates. The road through the wall led northwards about half a mile to Camelon and thereafter it veered north-west crossing the Forth to the north of Stirling and continuing on to the fort complex at Ardoch in Tayside. Watling Lodge was excavated in 1972-74 and again in 1986, but no coins were found and there are no inscriptions on stone recorded in the R.I.B.. There is a nearby marching camp at Tamfourhill (NS8579).
