Arthur's O'on () was a stone building thought to be
Roman temple
Ancient Roman temples were among the most important buildings in culture of ancient Rome, Roman culture, and some of the richest buildings in Architecture of ancient Rome, Roman architecture, though only a few survive in any sort of complete ...
that, until 1743, stood on rising ground above the north bank of the
River Carron not far from the old
Carron ironworks
The Carron Company was an ironworks established in 1759 on the banks of the River Carron near Falkirk, in Stirlingshire, Scotland. After initial problems, the company was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom. Th ...
in
Stenhousemuir
Stenhousemuir (; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in the west, where the nearest rail access is located ...
, near
Falkirk
Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow.
Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...
, 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'' () is a purported history of early Britain written around 828 that survives in numerous recensions from after the 11th century. The ''Historia Brittonum'' is commonly attributed to Nennius, as some recensions ha ...
'' by
Nennius
Nennius – or Nemnius or Nemnivus – was a Welsh monk of the 9th century. He has traditionally been attributed with the authorship of the ''Historia Brittonum'', based on the prologue affixed to that work. This attribution is widely considered ...
refers to Arthur's O'on as a "round house of polished stone" by the River Carron, attributing it to
Carausius
Marcus Aurelius Mausaeus Carausius (died 293) was a military commander of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century. He was a Menapian from Belgic Gaul, who usurped power in 286, during the Carausian Revolt, declaring himself emperor in Britain and ...
, 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 cursus honorum, the ...
.
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 ...
in the 14th century recorded in his ''
Chronica Gentis Scotorum
The ''Chronica Gentis Scotorum'' or ''Chronicles of the Scottish People'' was the first substantial work of Scottish history. It was written by John of Fordun, a priest of the diocese of St. Andrews and chaplain of the church of Aberdeen. Before ...
'' that the structure was built by
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 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 Caesar's civil wa ...
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 (; 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." His ideology of re ...
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.] In this tradition, the building commemorated a victory of the
Roman emperor Vespasian
Vespasian (; ; 17 November AD 9 – 23 June 79) was Roman emperor from 69 to 79. The last emperor to reign in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for 27 years. His fiscal reforms and consolida ...
at
Camelon
Camelon (; , ) is a large settlement within the Falkirk council area, Scotland. The village is in the Forth Valley, west of Falkirk, south of Larbert and east of Bonnybridge. The main road through Camelon is the A803 road which links th ...
and his capture of the jewelled crown and regalia of the
Pictish kings
The list of kings of the Picts is based on the Pictish Chronicle king lists. These are late documents and do not record the dates when the kings reigned. The various surviving lists disagree in places as to the names of kings, and the length ...
.
Names
In a Charter to
Newbattle Abbey
Newbattle Abbey was a Cistercians, Cistercian monastery near the village of Newbattle in Midlothian, Scotland, which subsequently became a stately home and then an educational institution.
Monastery
It was founded in 1140 by monks from Melrose ...
(Midlothian) in 1293 a reference is made to ''furnus Arthur'' (
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
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 speaks of it as Arthur's Hoff. Julius's Hoff is also recorded. Hoff and Huif (cf.
Old English
Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
''hof'': "house", "hall") are
Scots for a ''house'' or ''hall''.
Setting
A road to
Alloa
Alloa (Received Pronunciation ; Scottish pronunciation /ˈaloʊa/; , 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 where some say it ceases to ...
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 ...
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
Camelon (; , ) is a large settlement within the Falkirk council area, Scotland. The village is in the Forth Valley, west of Falkirk, south of Larbert and east of Bonnybridge. The main road through Camelon is the A803 road which links th ...
.
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
A course is a layer of the same unit running horizontally in a wall. It can also be defined as a continuous row of any masonry unit such as bricks, concrete masonry units (CMU), stone, shingles, tiles, etc.
Coursed masonry construction arranges un ...
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](_blank)
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
The Antonine Wall () was a turf fortification on stone foundations, built by the Romans across what is now the Central Belt of Scotland, between the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth. Built some twenty years after Hadrian's Wall to the south ...
.
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
Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 125 ...
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
A quern-stone is a stone tool for hand-grinding a wide variety of materials, especially for various types of grains.
They are used in pairs. The lower stationary stone of early examples is called a ''saddle quern'', while the upper mobile st ...
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
Edward Lhuyd (1660– 30 June 1709), also known as Edward Lhwyd and by other spellings, was a Welsh scientist, geographer, historian and antiquary. He was the second Keeper of the University of Oxford's Ashmolean Museum, and published the firs ...
presented the Revd Patrick Wodrow in 1699 with a '
patera
In the material culture of classical antiquity, a ''patera'' () or ''phiale'' ( ) is a shallow ceramic or metal libation bowl. It often has a bulbous indentation ('' omphalos'', "belly button") in the center underside to facilitate holding it, ...
' 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 Antonine Wall () was a turf fortification on stone foundations, built by the Romans across what is now the Central Belt of Scotland, between the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth. Built some twenty years after Hadrian's Wall to the south ...
.
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. 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
Hadrian's Wall (, also known as the ''Roman Wall'', Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Aelium'' in Latin) is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Roman Britain, Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...
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 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 appears ...
, 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, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genea ...
in the late 1980s there rose the possibility of recovery and reconstruction. However, since Scottish antiquities authorities do not consider the possible site of a buried mill dam
A mill dam (International English) or milldam (US) is a dam constructed on a waterway to create a mill pond.
Water passing through a dam's spillway is used to turn a water wheel and provide energy to the many varieties of watermill. By raising t ...
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 and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...
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. The local minister 50 years later noted that "''.... the building might have escaped demolition had he not been so poor, possessed of a numerous family of children, his income small, and a considerable amount of it derived from the mill.''"
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 Language, Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house Domestic pigeon, pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or b ...
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 th ...
. The dovecote still exists.
Antiquarian history
The first record is in the 9th century by Nennius
Nennius – or Nemnius or Nemnivus – was a Welsh monk of the 9th century. He has traditionally been attributed with the authorship of the ''Historia Brittonum'', based on the prologue affixed to that work. This attribution is widely considered ...
, a Welsh historian, in his ''Historia Brittonum
''The History of the Britons'' () is a purported history of early Britain written around 828 that survives in numerous recensions from after the 11th century. The ''Historia Brittonum'' is commonly attributed to Nennius, as some recensions ha ...
''.[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 ( 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 was after ce ...
, and gave a brief description of the building, and asserted, without hesitation, that it was erected by the usurper Carausius
Marcus Aurelius Mausaeus Carausius (died 293) was a military commander of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century. He was a Menapian from Belgic Gaul, who usurped power in 286, during the Carausian Revolt, declaring himself emperor in Britain and ...
, 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
Reverend Timothy Pont () 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 actual surve ...
'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 List of Governors of Kentucky, eighth Governor of Kentucky and represented the state in both the United States House of Re ...
and of 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 ...
, who in the 16th century recorded it as a 'temple'. In 1723 it was described as being "in the form of a sugar loaf
A sugarloaf was the usual form in which refined sugar was produced and sold until the late 19th century, when granulated and cube sugars were introduced. A tall cone with a rounded top was the end product of a process in which dark molasses, a ...
" in an account of Larbert
Larbert (, ) is a town in the Falkirk (council area), Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town lies in the Forth Valley above the River Carron (Forth), River Carron which flows from the west. Larbert is from the shoreline of the Firth of Fo ...
parish, which adjoins Stenhousemuir. In 1719 Andrews Jelfe, an architect, visited and made careful drawings and measurements on behalf of the antiquarian William Stukeley
William Stukeley (7 November 1687 – 3 March 1765) was an English antiquarian, physician and Anglican clergyman. A significant influence on the later development of archaeology, he pioneered the scholarly investigation of the prehistoric ...
, 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
{{Scotland during the Roman Empire
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