Balmuildy is the site of aRoman fort on theAntonine Wall inScotland.[1] It is one of only two forts on the Antonine Wall to have been found with stone ramparts; the other isCastlecary.[2] A digital reconstruction of the fort has been created.[3]
Balmuildy Bridge looking south towards Glasgow from the air
The fort is located inGlasgow, west ofBishopbriggs and east ofBearsden, south of theRiver Kelvin and north of theForth and Clyde Canal. The fort was just south of the River Kelvin and north-west of Easter Balmuildy Farm which locates it within Glasgow City Council's borders, close toEast Dunbartonshire to the east.[4] Its neighbouring forts are Bearsden to the west andCadder to the east although there are intermediatefortlets atSummerston to the west andWilderness Plantation to the east.[5] See map below for details.
BalmuildyCastro was constructed between 142 and 154AD at the order ofRoman EmperorAntoninus Pius.[7]Quintus Lollius Urbicus, governor ofRoman Britain at the time, initially supervised the effort. It was one of sixteen forts built to support theAntonine Wall, with small fortlets between them; troop movement was facilitated by a road linking all the sites known as the Military Way. Antoninus Pius never visited Britain, whereas his predecessorHadrian did. Pressure from theCaledonians may have led Antoninus to send the empire's troops further north. The wall, and Balmuildy, was abandoned only eight years after completion, and the garrisons relocated back to Hadrian's Wall. In 208 EmperorSeptimius Severus re-established legions at the wall and ordered repairs; this has led to the wall being referred to as theSeveran Wall. The occupation ended a few years later, and the wall was not occupied again.[8]
Most Roman forts along the wall held garrisons of around 500 men.[9] Larger forts likeCastlecary andBirrens had a nominal cohort of 1,000 men[10] but probably sheltered women and children[11] as well, although the troops were not allowed to marry.[12] It is likely that there were large communities of civilians around the site.[13]
RIB 2192 part a: capricorn's beard
parts b, c and d: partial inscription
RIB 2192. part e: Legionary bearing vexillum and documents. Video.[14]
RIB 2191.[16] Honorific Building Inscription of theSecond Legion. George MacDonald calls in no. 27 in the 2nd edition of his bookThe Roman Wall in Scotland.[17] It has been scanned and a video produced.[18]
The site was excavated by Steuart Napier Miller who wrote about it in his 1922 volume:The Roman fort at Balmuildy (Summerston, near Glasgow) on the Antonine Wall.[19]Sir George Macdonald also described the site in the 1934 inThe Roman wall in Scotland.[20] The related site of Summerston was written about by J. M. Davidson in 1937.[21]
An altar toFortuna was found in one of the fort's bath houses similar to the one found at Castlecary.[22] There was also an altar dedicated to Mars found along with some statues.[23] A dedication to a building by theSecond Legion was found although the stone had been repurposed by farmers.[16] Fragments of another stone by the same legion were also discovered.[15] Part has been scanned and a video produced.[14] All of these finds are now in the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow.[24] Other discoveries include: a door hinge plate,[25] a terracotta bath house drainpipe,[26] a holdfast to stick tiles to the bath house wall,[27] a perfume pot,[28] an unguent pot,[29] a Samian ware platter,[30] and a clay cheese press.[31] An oil lamp[32] and a surgical probe[33] have also been scanned to video.
^Macdonald, Sir George (1934).The Roman wall in Scotland, by Sir George Macdonald (2d ed., rev., enl., and in great part rewritten ed.). Oxford: The Clarendon press. pp. 312–324.Archived from the original on 22 February 2025. Retrieved11 October 2017.
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