Introduction
This afternoon I am posting information on Trimontium Roman fort in the Scottish Borders region. This is a continuum of yesterday’s post on nearby Melrose.
Information on Trimontium
The above image is a capture of the famous Scott’s View near Melrose which incorporates the three Eildon Hills as seen in the background.Trimontium translates as ‘place of the three hills’, which are the three hills shown above. Unbeknown to many visitors, the foremost hill (Eildon Hill North) served as a Roman signal station about 1800 years ago. Just below this hill to the right/west is the site of Trimontium fort which, at about 50 acres, is one of the largest such fort sites in the British Isles.
The above image is an aerial shot taken during a period of drought. The crop marks perfectly illustrate the outlines of the fort. As the local landscape has long reverted to intensive agriculture the fort is now barely discernible at ground level.
The site was professionally excavated between 1905-1910. Finds included face armour, carved altars, pottery, horse leather and weaponry. Arguably, the pièce de résistance is a fully completed brass armband. This artefact has recently been reconstructed from more than a hundred small fragments found on site. It was an expensive and high status item which would have gleamed like gold on the sword arm.This armband is only one of three known from the entire Roman period.
Site Chronology.
First constructed around AD 78-80 during the time of Agricola. Work undertaken by a complement of 1000 men from the 9th legion at York.
Subsequently abandoned on two occasions.
Rebuilt under the Emperor Diocletian who ruled AD 81-96. Later abandoned.
Rebuilt under the Emperor Antoninus around AD 140, but on a smaller scale.
Restored to full size around AD 160.
Finally abandoned around AD 180.
From initial construction through to the mid 2nd century the chronology is remarkably similar to a sister fort, Ardoch. This is located in central Scotland, about 100 miles to the N.W. of Melrose. The Ardoch site has not been cultivated and the remains there offer an excellent insight into the structure of Trimontium.
More Images
Above image shows the Trimontium site, between the houses on the left (Newstead) and the viaduct to the right.
Video clip
Above information is taken from an on-site information board.
More information
Information on Hadrian’s Wall, the Antonine Wall and Scotland’s history can be found in Visitors’ Guide to Scotland. The ISBN is 978-1-9161332-0-4. This is also available via Kindle.