Scottish panoramas From the ancient Romans to the industrial revolution, a line across the nation

TEDDY JAMIESON

WHETHER it’s castles or stone circles, bridges or battlefields, we write our story into the landscape. Sometimes, though, it can be hard to read. Take the Antonine Wall. It stretches for nearly 40 miles across central Scotland, but, now, more than 18 centuries after it was constructed, it has been written over so many times it’s almost illegible.

And yet, the wall remains a marker of an ancient past when Scotland was the outer edge of the Roman empire. And there are still places along its length – at Tamfourhill, right, Bonnybridge, Bar Hill and Bearsden – where you can get a sense of what it once might have been.

The Antonine Wall dates back to AD 139, when Emperor Antoninus Pius ordered an advance north from Hadrian’s Wall (built in AD 122). The emperor was looking for a quick victory to boost his reputation back in Rome.

To secure Roman gains, the emperor commissioned an earth-and-timber frontier across the neck of central

Scotland, stretching from Bo’ness to Old Kirkpatrick. Begun in AD 142, a ditch some three metres high and at points five metres deep was constructed, and some 6000 to 7000 soldiers were garrisoned along its length, including soldiers from Belgium and archers from Syria

Not for long though. The Antonine

Wall’s Roman history was rather shortlived. Antoninus Pius died in AD 161 and within a few years the Antonine Wall was abandoned.

As the centuries passed, the Wall’s Roman origins were forgotten. In the Middle Ages the ditch became known as the “Grymisdyke”, a name first recorded by John of Fordun in the 14th century, according to Dr Fraser Hunter, principal curator of the Roman and Iron Age collections at the National Museum of Scotland.

Much of the rest of its history is a melancholy one. The Industrial Revolution saw sections of the Antonine Wall buried or removed to construct canals and railways. Yet even now, almost two millennia later, if you look closely enough you can still read its story in the landscape.

What to read

Rosemary Sutcliff’s historical novel The Mark of the Horse Lord (1965) sees its hero spend time in a town on the “northern wall.” Meanwhile, in Max Brooks’s zombie epic, World War Z, it’s revealed that the government has rebuilt the Antonine Wall in a bid to protect the north of Scotland.

WHERE IS IT?

Port-Cros, part of the Iles d’Hyeres islands in the south of France.

WHY DO YOU GO THERE?

Growing up, my family had a small catamaran that we used to live on for the summer holidays. We would sail around the Mediterranean and have a brilliant time.

The catamaran, Inigo, had two cabins and we used to have up to eight people staying on it, sleeping outside in the cockpit or on the foredeck with all our washing hanging along the edges. It was a bit like going on a caravan holiday, but floating.

Port-Cros is part of a nature reserve. There is no fishing allowed, no cars on the island and hardly anyone lives there. When the tourist ferries have gone for the day, you are anchored in this tranquil bay and there’s no lights on land, it is like being a pirate in Treasure Island.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU GO?

I haven’t been for more than 10 years. It is top of my bucket list to revisit. I lost both my parents recently and I have been thinking about Port-Cros a lot.

HOW DID YOU DISCOVER IT?

My dad was a keen sailor. He grew up dinghy sailing on the Norfolk Broads and the Solent. He used to charter boats with his mates when he was a younger man. That’s where he met my mum, sailing around the Mediterranean. My mum was his friend’s girlfriend and my dad pinched her. My parents discovered Port-Cros by exploring, simply getting the charts out, looking at the wind direction and saying: “Where shall we go today?” It is such a magical place that we wanted to go every year and it became part of the itinerary.

I was six months old the first time my parents took me. Later, when I had my own kids, we all went on the boat with my mum and dad.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE MEMORY?

After supper we would sit on the foredeck, snuggle under a blanket, eat chocolate and listen to the night-time frog chorus coming from the land.

SUSAN SWARBRICK

WHO DO YOU TAKE?

I would love to show Port-Cros to my partner Peter.

WHAT DO YOU TAKE?

Goggles and a snorkel. You can float in the water with a stale baguette and the fish will come and eat out of your hand.

WHAT DO YOU LEAVE BEHIND?

Modern life. There is a hotel on the island and when people arrive by boat, their luggage is collected on a cart pulled by a donkey.

SUM IT UP IN FIVE WORDS.

Mediterranean. Escape. Secluded. Peaceful. Isolation.

WHAT TRAVEL SPOT IS ON YOUR POST-LOCKDOWN WISH LIST?

The west coast of Scotland. Gigha is a favourite.

cronked by a raven and then mewed at by a buzzard – just reminding us who was boss around here.

We stopped for lunch, reluctant to lose height – and the views, but eventually made our way slowly down past Standalane Farm and Rosetta Caravan Park back into

Peebles. You could easily extend the route by going down to the Tweed at the east end of the town and walking along the riverside path, perhaps on the way taking in the venerable Cross Kirk, which dates back to the 14th century.

We both felt refreshed by our