Rediscovering the Antonine Wall
A project aiming to raise the profile of the Antonine Wall
The Antonine Wall, the Roman frontier in Scotland, was the most northerly frontier of the Roman empire for a generation from AD142. Today, it cuts across the denselypopulated central belt between Forth and Clyde and is Scotland’s largest ancient monument. It was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2008, joining Hadrian’s Wall and the Upper-German and Raetian Limes as part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site (WHS).
The inscription of the Antonine Wall in 2008 was the end of a sustained programme of work to identify the proposed WHS site and its buffer zones, ensure that all parties were content with the proposals and create a management plan. The then Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland was invited to prepare the maps, and as part of this exercise, Historic Scotland funded the creation of new Geophysical Information System layers for the monument to aid understanding and protection. Out of this came a new map of the Antonine Wall published at 1: 25,000. The whole process took four years and with the successful inscription everyone involved breathed a huge sigh of relief.
That moment was short-lived because expectations had been raised: to improve access, provide more parking, signage and tourist information. The new map was a start and Historic Environment Scotland updated and upgraded their interpretative panels at the several sections in state care. As part of the nomination process, the Hunterian Museum (Glasgow University) had moved into digital technology, providing information online and on smartphone applications – apps – about the fort at Bar Hill and the artefactual material in the museum, building on the work of Erik Dobat and Sandra Walkshofer who run the Austria-based multimedia company Edufilm.
Rediscovering the Antonine Wall
Now, it was time for another step forward. A workshop in 2015 resulted in the creation of the framework for a project to improve awareness and understanding of the
New Roman-themed features have been added to the garden, including the sound of Roman soldiers tramping round the garden, and their voices in both Latin and English
frontier in the local community. An application was submitted to the National Lottery Heritage Fund and was approved, as was additional funding from Kelvin Valley & Falkirk LEADER (an EU funded rural grant programme) and various landfill tax funders and local organisations. The aim of the project, entitled Rediscovering the Antonine Wall, is to reach out to communities along the Wall who are less engaged with this historic site, particularly in areas of deprivation.
A suite of capital and community projects include erecting a replica distance slab in each of the five local authority areas along the Wall; creating a Roman-themed play park in each area, based on local schoolchildren’s designs; forming a volunteer group – a 21stcentury Legion; and undertaking community-led projects such as Roman gardens, sculptures and theatre and creative writing workshops. These projects are designed both to raise the profile of the Wall, ensuring its local appreciation and protection, and to contribute to wider regeneration and wellbeing agendas. There is a project manager, supported by a development officer and project support officer.
Scheme launch
Work is now well underway on each of these schemes. It is enormously encouraging to see the enthusiasm which is being brought to all aspects. One of the authors (David Breeze) spent many years excavating at the fort at Bearsden, part of which overlies the grounds of the local Baptist church. New Romanthemed features have been added to the garden, including the sound of Roman soldiers tramping round the garden, and their voices in both Latin and English.
Inter-generational engagement is key to ensuring the appeal of the Wall to a wider audience and encouraging future generations to value its significance.
Working with Cycling Without Age Scotland, the project will operate guided tours by trishaw to sites of interest along the Wall such as the Bridgeness slab and Kinneil fortlet.
These opportunities are targeted at elderly, housebound residents and those with mobility issues who would not partake in such visits under normal circumstances. The project is also working in partnership with Recoat to bring together a collaboration of international artists to work with groups of young people in some of the most deprived communities along the line of the Wall to create permanent murals reflecting their interpretation of theWall and its relevance to them today.This links to already highly-successful mural trails in Glasgow that have helped to regenerate the urban environment.
Wider links
The international element of the project continues. Historic Environment Scotland has been working with the Bavarian Museums Service to create a new smartphone app for the wider Roman Frontier (including content for Scotland and Germany), a project funded by the EU’s Creative Europe programme.The technical work of creating the platform has been undertaken by Edufilm and the app offers 3D models and augmented reality alongside more traditional interpretation. It can be used remotely, but functions best on site, where visitors can stand on, say, Bar Hill, and not only see objects found there but also explore a reconstructed landscape. Now that it is complete, the technology can be shared freely with other countries that have Roman frontiers, many of whom are seeking nomination of their archaeological remains as part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site, thereby creating a valuable resource for visitors touring the wider frontier.
In the meantime, traditional activities continue, with a volume of essays on the Antonine Wall presented earlier this year to Professor Lawrence Keppie, formerly of the Hunterian Museum. This was published by Archaeopress and is available in hard copy. It can also be downloaded as a free of charge PDF at the Archaeopress website: https://scot.sh/archaeo