South-West Scotland was only formally encompassed within the frontiers of the Roman Empire for relatively brief periods in the late 1st and 2nd centuries A.D.. Nevertheless, the Roman authorities would have maintained a keen interest in the region, given its proximity to the eventual final frontier of Roman Britain, delineated by Hadrian's Wall from the later 2nd century.
South-West Scotland was only formally encompassed within the frontiers of the Roman Empire for relatively brief periods in the late 1st and 2nd centuries A.D.. Nevertheless, the Roman authorities would have maintained a keen interest in the region, given its proximity to the eventual final frontier of Roman Britain, delineated by Hadrian's Wall from the later 2nd century.
Hadrian's Wall was not so much constructed as a defensive barrier against hostile forces to the north, but a means of controlling the movement of people and goods in and out of the province of Britannia. The system of coastal forts extending down the Cumbrian shore fromCarlislecontrolled seaward access in the same way.
The Roman Army probably first entered the South-West during the campaigns against the Brigantian tribe in the early 70s A.D.. The Roman general, Julius Agricola, consolidated the Roman acquisition of theLowlandsby building forts on the Forth-Clyde line in 81 A.D. The historian, Tacitus, tells us that he was in that part of Britain overlooking Ireland in the following year, presumably indicating further campaigning in the South-West. The large marching camp discovered from the air at Glenluce in Wigtownshire probably dates from this campaign. Thereafter he campaigned further north - as far as Aberdeenshire in 84 A.D..
Military crises elsewhere in the Empire in the mid 80s A.D. necessitated the transfer of up to a quarter of Roman forces fromBritain, resulting in the withdrawal of the Roman Army from the North of Scotland. The army withdrew to a frontier based on a string of forts across the narrow 'waist' of Scotland between the Firths of Forth and Clyde.
In the South-West, the main western supply road to this frontier ran up through Annandale with a major fort at Milton and Castledykes, with a western branch road to a fort at Loudon Hill. Further south a similar western branch road ran to forts at Dalswinton, controlling Nithsdale, and Glenlochar, controlling the Dee. The road ran further west towards Loch Ryan and at Gatehouse-of-Fleet there was a fortlet at the crossing point of the Fleet. It is probable that more forts and fortlets have yet to be found on the line of this road as far as Loch Ryan. The Roman road system in Dumfiesshire is better known than in Galloway, and there is a well-preserved small fortlet at Durisdeer on the Roman road through Upper Nithsdale.
This system of control remained in place for around 20 years, when further pressures elsewhere in the Empire prompted the withdrawal of the Roman army from Scotland to the Tyne-Solway frontier. The forts at Glenlochar and Dalswinton show evidence of destruction by fire, but this could have been done by the retreating Romans themselves and need not imply hostile action. In 122 Hadrian sought to consolidate the position by making a permanent frontier on the Tyne-Solway line.
However, in 139-142 A.D., the Scottish Lowlands were brought back under direct Roman control and the frontier was moved forward to the Forth-Clyde where a new frontier - the Antonine Wall - was constructed. This advance also saw the rebuilding and reoccupation of the forts at Glenlochar, Milton and Loudon Hill, but a new fort at Carzield replaced the former fort at Dalswinton in covering Nithsdale. This system of occupation held until around 155 A.D. when a Brigantian revolt further south caused the Antonine Wall to be abandoned and its units sent south to deal with the revolt. The fort at Birrens in Dumfriesshire has been the most extensively excavated and an inscription recording the re-building of the fort in 157/158 A.D., may imply that is was damaged in the revolt.
However the Lowlands were reoccupied from 158 A.D. The Antonine Wall forts were re-garrisoned and a building inscription from Birrens indicates its refurbishment also in that year. The other forts in the South-West were also reoccupied. The second phase of the Antonine Wall frontier was short however, and the forts were finally abandoned by 163 A.D. by Emperor Marcus Aurelius. The frontier was reinstated onHadrian's Wallbut there outpost forts were held in advanced positions, including a fort at Netherby in Dumfriesshire. Its Roman name was Castra Exploratum - the camp of the scouts - probably indicating its function as a base for long-range patrols, which allowed the Romans to maintain a watchful presence in the Lowlands, including South-WestScotland.Southern Scotlandremained a buffer zone for the Empire, against the potential threat of the Celtic tribes further north. This system appears to have remained in place until the late 4th century A.D.
No doubt cross-frontier social and economic contact continued and probably developed during the relatively peaceful 3rd century A.D., to the benefit of the Iron Age communities, where Roman pottery, jewellery and metal goods were in use, and have been subsequently discovered when these sites have been excavated. A fine bronze skillet found in Dowalton Loch for example was manufactured in Italynear Naples. In the later 2nd century A.D. there is evidence that counterfeit Roman coins were manufactured at BrighouseBaynear Kirkcudbright. Counterfeiting was a capital offence within the Roman Empire, but this is evidence for the exchange of Roman currency through trade across the Solway. Although the South-West was not Romanised in the same way as Britain south of Hadrian's Wall, nevertheless after the abandonment of Britain, elements of Roman culture survived in Galloway where, through the Christian Church, Latin remained in use for inscriptions on the 6th century A.D. grave markers from Wigtownshire and where trading links with the Mediterranean are indicated through finds from the earliest monastic settlement at Whithorn, and more recently from the 2012 excavations at the 6th / 7th century A.D. hill fort at Trusty's Hill, near Gatehouse-of-Fleet