Arthur's O'on
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Arthur's O'on ( sco, Oven) was a stone building thought to be
Roman temple Ancient Roman temples were among the most important buildings in Roman culture, and some of the richest buildings in Roman architecture, though only a few survive in any sort of complete state. Today they remain "the most obvious symbol of ...
that, until 1743, stood on rising ground above the north bank of the River Carron not far from the old Carron ironworks in Stenhousemuir, near Falkirk, Scotland. The structure is thought to be the 'stone house' which gave its name to Stenhousemuir. Early historians discussed historical and mythical associations with the site and by 1200 the estate of Stenhouse on which it stood had been named after it.


Construction myths

One manuscript of the ''
Historia Brittonum ''The History of the Britons'' ( la, Historia Brittonum) is a purported history of the indigenous British ( Brittonic) people that was written around 828 and survives in numerous recensions that date from after the 11th century. The ''Historia B ...
'' by Nennius refers to Arthur's O'on as a "round house of polished stone" by the River Carron, attributing it to Carausius, in a passage primarily referring to
Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary suc ...
.
John of Fordun John of Fordun (before 1360 – c. 1384) was a Scottish chronicler. It is generally stated that he was born at Fordoun, Mearns. It is certain that he was a secular priest, and that he composed his history in the latter part of the 14th ce ...
in the 14th century recorded in his '' Chronica Gentis Scotorum'' that the structure was built by
Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, ...
to mark the northern limit of the Roman Empire, and another more fanciful belief that was once popular was that Caesar used it as a secure quarters in which he slept, the building being dismantled stone by stone to be re-assembled at the emperor's next stop for the night.
George Buchanan George Buchanan ( gd, Seòras Bochanan; February 1506 – 28 September 1582) was a Scottish historian and humanist scholar. According to historian Keith Brown, Buchanan was "the most profound intellectual sixteenth century Scotland produced." ...
in the 16th century saw it as a memorial to some great Roman victory over the Scots.Lawrence Keppie (2012). ''The Antiquarian Rediscovery of the Antonine Wall''. Edinburgh : Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. , p. 27-29.


Names

In a Charter to
Newbattle Abbey Newbattle Abbey ( gd, Abaid a' Bhatail Nuaidh) was a Cistercian monastery near the village of Newbattle in Midlothian, Scotland, which subsequently become a stately home and then an educational institution. Monastery It was founded in 1140 by ...
(Midlothian) in 1293 a reference is made to ''furnus Arthur'' (
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
for "Arthur's Oven"), indicating that it was a well established feature and of unknown origin even at that relatively early date. Henry Sinclair, Dean of Glasgow about 1560, calls it Arthur's Huif; and
Alexander Gordon Alexander Gordon may refer to: * Alexander Gordon, 1st Earl of Huntly (died 1470), Scottish magnate * Alexander Gordon (bishop of Aberdeen) (died 1518), Precentor of Moray and Bishop-elect of Aberdeen * Alexander Gordon, 3rd Earl of Huntly (died ...
speaks of it as Arthur's Hoff. Julius's Hoff is also recorded. Hoff and Huif (cf.
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
''hof'': "house", "hall") are Scots for a ''house'' or ''hall''.


Setting

A road to
Alloa Alloa (Received Pronunciation ; educated Scottish pronunciation /ˈaloʊa/; gd, Alamhagh, possibly meaning "rock plain") is a town in Clackmannanshire in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It is on the north bank of the Forth at the spot wher ...
and
Airth Airth is a Royal Burgh, village, former trading port and civil parish in Falkirk, Scotland. It is north of Falkirk town and sits on the banks of the River Forth. Airth lies on the A905 road between Grangemouth and Stirling and is overlooked by A ...
passed by the back of the Forge Row and through the Stenhouse estate; Arthur's O'on stood on the north-east side of this road. Early historians often discuss it along with the Roman fort at Camelon. The building was on the declivity of rising ground, supported by a basement of stones, projecting out from below the lowest course of the building; it was so far from being upon a level area, that a great part of the basement, and four courses of the stones on the south side, were hidden in the earth. The marks of three or four steps, which may have formerly led from the ground to the entrance of the building, were visible at one time. The traces of a broad ditch could be seen at one time on the northern side; suggesting that a regular
vallum Vallum is either the whole or a portion of the fortifications of a Roman camp. The vallum usually comprised an earthen or turf rampart (Agger) with a wooden palisade on top, with a deep outer ditch (fossa). The name is derived from '' vallus'' (a ...
(rampart) and fosse (ditch) had once surrounded the building.


Description

The O'on was built of dressed freestones which were not mortised into each other and no mortar was used. Each stone had a lewis hole in it to allow secure lifting with a hinged pair of metal callipers. In appearance the O'on was shaped like a beehive, being circular on plan with a domed roof. The perpendicular height, from the bottom to the top of the aperture, was ; the external circumference at the base, ; internal circumference, ; external diameter at the base, ; internal diameter, ; circumference of the aperture, ; diameter of the aperture, ; height of the door from its basis to the top of the arch ; breadth of the East facing door at the base, ; height, from the ground to the top of the key-stone of the door, ; breadth of the wall at the base, measuring at the door, ; thickness of the wall where the arch springs, ; and height of the basement on which the building stands, . The door is said to have had an iron gate, the removal of which by the Monteiths of Cars brought a curse upon the family. Round the interior of the building there were two string courses at distances of respectively above the paved stone floor, and in several places, notably over the door, there may have been much weathered carvings in which eagles and the goddess Victory are said to have been represented.Inventory of Ancient Monuments
A huge stone stood in the interior, possibly an altar or the base of a bronze statue. The O'on may date to the period of occupation of the Antonine Wall.


Carvings

The figure of a Roman eagle was at one time visible, chiselled upon the pavement. Other insignia of the Romans are said to have formerly ornamented its walls, but when Edward I was destroying all important Scottish antiquities, he was only induced to spare the 'temple beside Camelon', after the inhabitants of the neighbourhood had already destroyed all the Roman sculptures, and inscriptions which existed upon it. The initial letters J. A. M. P. M. P. T., were recorded by Sir
Robert Sibbald Sir Robert Sibbald (15 April 1641 – August 1722) was a Scottish physician and antiquary. Life He was born in Edinburgh, the son of David Sibbald (brother of Sir James Sibbald) and Margaret Boyd (January 1606 – 10 July 1672). Educated at t ...
, engraved on a stone inside the building, under a figure of Victory, with the head and part of the handle of a javelin. The following reading was suggested :- Julius Agricola Magnae Pictatis Monumentum Posuit Templum. The holes in some of the blocks may have only related to the method of raising the blocks into position during construction.


Archaeology

Various remains of antiquity have been discovered near its site, such as the stones of
querns Quern-stones are stone tools for hand- grinding a wide variety of materials. They are used in pairs. The lower stationary stone of early examples is called a saddle quern, while the upper mobile stone is called a muller, rubber or handstone. The ...
or handmills, made of a type of lava resembling that now obtained from the mill-stone quarries of Andernach on the Rhine; fragments of pottery, and the vestiges of what was supposed to have been a potter's kiln. The horns of 'great cows' were found, suggesting deliberate burials of religious significance. The antiquarian Edward Lhwyd presented the Revd Patrick Wodrow in 1699 with a '
patera In the material culture of classical antiquity, a ''phiale'' ( ) or ''patera'' () is a shallow ceramic or metal libation bowl. It often has a bulbous indentation (''omphalos'', "bellybutton") in the center underside to facilitate holding it, in ...
' or pottery libation bowl that had been found near the O'on.


Purpose

The discovery in a chink of the masonry of a brass finger from a statue, suggested that the O'on was primarily a triumphal monument, or ''tropaeum'', erected to commemorate a victory. The quality of the structure bears the stamp of legionary workmanship, being too elaborate for a purely local masons and it appears to have been deliberately sited to be visible from the Antonine Wall. The building was, it seems, unique in Britain and, as suggested, most likely a temple as it was located too far from a fort or road to have been a bathhouse or mausoleum. Its proximity to a spring has resulted in the suggestion that it was dedicated to a
water goddess A water deity is a deity in mythology associated with water or various bodies of water. Water deities are common in mythology and were usually more important among civilizations in which the sea or ocean, or a great river was more important. Anoth ...
. At the time of its destruction it was one of the best preserved Roman buildings in Britain. A broken relief from Rose Hill on Hadrian's Wall depicts Victory, an eagle, and a round domed building under a tree, which may represent a structure like Arthur's O'on. Victory was normally worshipped in the forts, but the easiest interpretation is that the O'on was a
tropaeum ''Tropaeum'' is an extinct genus of ammonites found throughout the oceans of the world during the Early Cretaceous. As with many other members of the family Ancyloceratidae, there was a trend among species within this genus to uncoil somewhat, ...
, an official monument dedicated to Victory, and also commemorating the campaign, led by
Quintus Lollius Urbicus Quintus Lollius Urbicus was a Numidian Berber governor of Roman Britain between the years 139 and 142, during the reign of the Emperor Antoninus Pius. He is named in the ''Historia Augusta'', although it is not entirely historical, and his name ...
, that led to the establishment of the Antonine Wall.


Destruction

It was demolished to line a mill dam on the River Carron by Sir Michael Bruce of Stenhouse in 1743, an act of vandalism that was reported to the Society of Antiquaries in London and led to paroxysms of rage in the correspondence of leading antiquarians. In mid-1748 the stones were swept away in a flood.Keppie, Lawrence (2012). ''The Antiquarian Rediscovery of the Antonine Wall''. Edinburgh : Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. . P. 89 When these findings of the likely site of the stones of Arthur's O'on were announced by
Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher founded in 1826, when the Irish genealogist John Burke began releasing books devoted to the ancestry and heraldry of the peerage, baronetage, knightage and landed gentry of Great ...
in the late 1980s, he held up the possibility of recovery and reconstruction. However, since Scottish antiquities authorities do not consider the possible site of a buried
mill dam Mill Dam is a wetland in western Shapinsay, in Orkney, Scotland. This water body was not shown on the 1840 survey map of the island, since it is a man-made creation from a damming in the 1880s.G.T, Masters, ''Orkney, Approaches to Kirkwall'', HMS ...
as a "scheduled" site, and since the overall site is covered with thick concrete foundations, the prospects for actual recovery do not appear high. Of course, the suggestion that the Carron has changed course in this area has been questioned by other researchers.
Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...
remarked, with respect to the destruction of this 'great glory of the Roman remains in Scotland,' that, had not the worthy proprietor thought fit to demolish it, it would have turned the heads of half the antiquaries in Scotland. Several members of the Society of Antiquaries tried to find out the foundation of the building in the 1870s, but without success. Its site, however, was thought to be a few yards to the north-east of the Forge Row, at the corner of an enclosure, about fifty feet square, on the estate of Stenhouse. The ground was then used as a washing-green.


Penicuik House replica

The deliberate destruction of Arthur's O'on had so appalled Sir James Clerk, that in 1767 his son, also Sir James Clerk, decided to have a
dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot ( Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pige ...
built, as an exact replica of the temple, on his stable block at
Penicuik House Penicuik House (alternative spellings in use until mid 19th century: ''Penycuik'', ''Pennycuik'') survives as the shell of a formerly grand estate house in Penicuik, Midlothian, Scotland. The 18th-century palladian mansion (at ) was built on the ...
. The dovecote still exists.


Antiquarian history

The first record is in the 9th century by Nennius, a Welsh historian, in his ''
Historia Brittonum ''The History of the Britons'' ( la, Historia Brittonum) is a purported history of the indigenous British ( Brittonic) people that was written around 828 and survives in numerous recensions that date from after the 11th century. The ''Historia B ...
''.Keppie, Lawrence (2012). ''The Antiquarian Rediscovery of the Antonine Wall''. Edinburgh : Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. . P. 23 He was a monk studying under Bishop
Elfodd Elfodd, Elvodug or Elfoddw ( la, Elbodus or ''Elbodius''; died 809) was a Welsh bishop. He induced the Welsh church to accept the Roman computus for determining the date of Easter endorsed elsewhere in Britain at the Synod of Whitby in 664. This w ...
, and gave a brief description of the building, and asserted, without hesitation, that it was erected by the usurper Carausius, who assumed the purple in Britain in the year 284. He also mentioned that a triumphal arch was built near it, in honour of the same individual. It is shown on
Timothy Pont Rev Timothy Pont (c. 1560–c.1627) was a Scottish minister, cartographer and topographer. He was the first to produce a detailed map of Scotland. Pont's maps are among the earliest surviving to show a European country in minute detail, from an ...
's map, on that of
John Adair John Adair (January 9, 1757 – May 19, 1840) was an American pioneer, slave trader, soldier, and politician. He was the eighth Governor of Kentucky and represented the state in both the U.S. House and Senate. A native of South Carolina, Ada ...
and of Sir Robert Sibbald, who in the 16th century recorded it as a 'temple'. In 1723 it was described as being "in the form of a sugar loaf" in an account of
Larbert Larbert ( gd, Lèirbert/Leth-pheairt, sco, Lairbert) is a small town in the Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town lies in the Forth Valley above the River Carron which flows from the west. Larbert is from the shoreline of the Firth of F ...
parish, which adjoins Stenhousemuir. In 1719 Andrews Jelfe, an architect, visited and made careful drawings and measurements on behalf of the antiquarian William Stukeley, which were later published as part of a treatise on the O'on.Keppie, Lawrence (2012). ''The Antiquarian Rediscovery of the Antonine Wall''. Edinburgh : Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. . P. 65


References

{{coord, 56.0245, -3.7992, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Buildings and structures completed in the 1st century Archaeological sites in Falkirk (council area) Roman sites in Scotland Demolished buildings and structures in Scotland Scandals in Scotland Ancient Roman temples Buildings and structures demolished in 1743 Stenhousemuir