Publication Account
Date 1986
Event ID 1017430
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1017430
Birrens was the fIrst Roman fort in Scotland to be extensively excavated (in 1895), and, excavated again in 1936-7 and 1962-7, it has proved itself the most informative of all Roman sites in south-west Scotland. It is the only major fort in the region where there are unmistakeable, if slight, visible, remains, and it is the only one known to us by its original name, Blatobulgium. Its inclusion in the Antonine Itinerary (a Roman road map), where it is named, reflected its function as an outpost fort of Hadrian's Wall, 14 Roman miles on from Netherby (Castra Exploratorum) in Cumbria. The road through Birrens was the main western route into Scotland.
What one sees today is most of the central platform of the fort eroded at the south end by the Mein Water. The rampart is visible as a low mound, but most eyecatching are the corrugations of the six outer ditches at the north end traversed by a central causeway. Visible from the air, but not on the ground, are three temporary camps to the south and east of the fort, a large annexe to the west and, to the north, a large building interpreted as an inn.
Excavation and research have given us an almost complete picture of the building sequence and layout. Laid on the site of a late 1st century fortlet, the Hadrianic fort of the 120s covered an area of 1.65 ha, had a turf rampart, timber buildings, and a large western annexe. In about AD 142, it was rebuilt and enlarged to 2.1 ha in order to accommodate a 1,000- strong garrison of the 1st Cohort Nervana Germanorum, a mixed unit of cavalry and infantry of the auxiliary army. This fort was characterised by the use of stone, which formed the bases of turf ramparts and provided dressed foundations for stone and perhaps stone-and-timber buildings. The barrack blocks were ranged on each side of a central group of administrative units, and consisted of narrow, closelyspaced pairs of buildings instead of the more usual wider ranges. This fort was destroyed and then rebuilt in AD 158 along similar lines. The new garrison consisted of the 2nd Cohort of Tungrians, likewise milliaria equitata. From c 163 for about 20 years it played an isolated role as an outpost of Hadrian's Wall, but it was finally abandoned by about AD 184, presumably as part of a reorganisation of troops in frontier posts.
Finds from the various excavations are in RMS, the Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow, and Nithsdale District Museum, Dumfries. Over twenty inscribed stones, most now in Edinburgh, have been recovered from the site. These include a dedicatory tablet erected by the Tungrians in honour of their Emperor in AD 158. Three of the surviving altars refer to the two known milliary cohorts, whilst other inscribed fragments testify to the presence of the Sixth legion (Victorious).
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Dumfries and Galloway’, (1986).
