Archaeology Notes

Event ID 712170

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/712170

NT17SW 22 c.130 727.

Part of a cylindrical Roman milestone, 25 ins high and 15 ins in diameter, with text cut on a raised panel defined by an ansate frame. It was found before 1697, probably near Cramond, and in 1697 recorded as seen at Ingliston House, by Sibbald, who took it to Edinburgh. It is now in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS - Accession no: FV 29). The date of its erection is probably 208 AD.

R G Collingwood and R P Wright 1965

Another milestone fragment in the NMAS (FV 30) has been recognised as the upper part of this stone, making the previous conclusions drawn by Collingwood and Wright invalid. The extant portions, when put together, are 1.06m high, and when the appropriate allowances have been made, it must have stood at least 1.37m above ground. The inscription probably read: IMP.CAES.T./AEL.HADR. ANTO./NINO.AVG.PIO/P.P.COS.III/ then follows a space, probably indicating an erasure, and COH.I. CVGERNOR./MONTI.MP. If the reading of the consulship is accepted, then the stone was erected AD 140-44. Sibbald's (1707) account indicates that it was found near Ingliston and not far from the Newbridge standing stones (NT17SW 8). After a study of the terrain, Maxwell considers that the E - W Roman road may well have followed the ridge of ground which carries these stones, and that the Roman milestone may once have stood within a quarter of a mile E of them (i.e. in the area of NT 130 727).

R P Wright and M W C Hassall 1973; E A Cormack 1971; J Close-Brooks and G Maxwell 1972; RCAHMS 1929