Auchendavy was a Roman fort on the Antonine Wall in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. Much of the site archeology was destroyed by the builders of the

Forth and Clyde Canal The Forth and Clyde Canal is a canal opened in 1790, crossing central Scotland; it provided a route for the seagoing vessels of the day between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde at the narrowest part of the Scottish Lowlands. This allowe ...

. Between

Bar Hill Bar Hill is a purpose-built village with a population of 4,000 about 4 miles (7 km) northwest of Cambridge, England on the A14 road, just east of the Prime Meridian. History Prior to the building of the Bar Hill settlement the area was ...

and Balmuildy the wall roughly follows the southern bank of the

River Kelvin The River Kelvin (Scottish Gaelic: ''Abhainn Cheilbhinn'') is a tributary of the River Clyde in northern and northeastern Glasgow, Scotland. It rises on the moor south east of the village of Banton, east of Kilsyth. At almost long, it init ...

. The site of the fort is north of Kirkintilloch's northern border. It can be seen as a mound mid-way between the Forth and Clyde Canal and the road. Sir George Macdonald wrote about the excavation of the site. He says, "Auchendavy is distinguished for the large number of antiquities found in and about it." "About it" includes Shirva Farm in

Twechar Twechar is a small former mining village historically in Dunbartonshire and administered by the council area of East Dunbartonshire, Scotland close to the boundary with North Lanarkshire. It lies between the larger towns of Cumbernauld, Kilsyth ...

where finds such as several tombstones were found.

Context

Many Roman forts along the wall held garrisons of around 500 men. Larger forts like

Castlecary Castlecary () is a small historic village in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, directly adjacent to the border with Falkirk. It has long been associated with infrastructure, being adjacent to a bridged river, a Roman fort and roads, a nationwide can ...

and Birrens had a nominal cohort of 1000 men but probably sheltered women and children as well although the troops were not allowed to marry. There is likely too to have been large communities of civilians around the site.

Altars

A centurion called Marcus Cocceius Firmus dedicated as many as five altars found at Auchendavy. He was a soldier with the Second Augusta Legion. A sandstone altar to

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth t ...

and

Victory The term victory (from Latin ''victoria'') originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitutes ...

was found in a pit to the south-west of the Roman fort at Auchendavy. There is also an altar to Silvanus. Similarly, a sandstone altar, dedicated to the Presiding Spirit of the Land of Britain, was found near Auchendavy fort. Again a sandstone altar to Diana and

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...

, was found near Auchendavy fort. Yet another altar to Mars was also discovered. It also has dedications to:

Minerva Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the Rom ...

, parade-ground goddesses,

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the ...

, Epona and Victory.

Other Finds

A distance slab by the 20th Legion Valiant was found. A fragment of a male torso was found too. Gordon and others speak of coins; a gold

solidus Solidus (Latin for "solid") may refer to: * Solidus (coin), a Roman coin of nearly solid gold * Solidus (punctuation), or slash, a punctuation mark * Solidus (chemistry), the line on a phase diagram below which a substance is completely solid * ...

of Trajan is mentioned. The ballista bullets are said to have been upwards of fifty in number. Two iron mallets were also found. Many other artefacts have also been found at Shirva, near

The Antonine Wall from the air (geograph 4517314)

References

{{reflist Forts of the Antonine Wall History of East Dunbartonshire