Athena Review 1,1: Antonine Wall sections at Hillfoot, Scotland

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Athena Review Vol.1, no.1

Sections of the Antonine Wall at Hillfoot Cemetery

Two well-preserved sections of the Antonine Wall are located at Hillfoot Cemetery, about a mile from the Roman bath at Bearsden, located in in southwestern Scotland near Glasgow. The exposed sections, within easy walking distance of each other, are stone footings which lay at the base of the Wall. They provide vivid examples of the massive size and careful construction methods used by Roman legionaries building the Wall.

(Figs.1,2: Exposed footings of Antonine Wall in Hillfoot (Photos: Athena Review).]

These portions of the ancient wall were exposed in 1903 and 1922, during expansion of the cemetery. The Antonine Wall at this location was originally 4.3 meters wide, but portions found at Hillfoot were later widened to 5 meters. Each of the exposed basal sections has outside rows of large dressed curbstones and a drainage system.

This drainage culvert crosses a basal section of the Antonine Wall at Hillfoot Cemetery in Bearsden, near Glasgow, Scotland. The Wall was built and maintained between 142 and 165 AD.

[Fig.3: Drainage culvert in Antonine Wall at Hillfoot (Photo: Athena Review).]

[References: Keppie, Lawrence. Scotland's Roman Remains. Glasgow, 1986, 1990.]

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