Principia:-

Commander’s Residence:-

Barracks:-

Bath-House:-

Granary:-

Annexe:-

Beyond the Wall:-

Defensive ditch to north of Roughcastle Fort:-

Defensive pits:-

Views of fort remains:-

Burn to west of Roughcastle Fort. Antonine Wall to right:-

Just before we reached the Antonine Wall at the Falkirk Wheel we saw signs for Roughcastle Roman Fort so decided to follow the path. It took us a while and I was beginning to wonder if we wouldever get there but we did. Only the outlines of the fort still remain.

The Information Board shows what it would have looked like:-

Fort (south of Antonine Wall):-

Wall before fort:-

Southern Gate:-

I mentioned in an earlier post, about the Falkirk Wheel, that the boat trip through the Roughcastle Tunnel takes you under the Antonine Wall.

It’s only a short walk uphill from the Tunnel’s entrance to some remains of the wall. Unlike its perhaps more famous counterpart further south, the stone built Hadrian’s Wall, the Antonine Wall was only ever a turfed barrier with a ditch. It’s all overgrown now:-

Information board:-

The walk up towards the Antonine Wall above the Roughcastle Tunnel gave us a great view of the aqueduct we had just traveled on:-

A subsequent boat was making the trip:-

Aqueduct from other side (stitch of two photos):-

Roughcastle Tunnel Entrance from Falkirk Wheel side. Note “traffic” light:-

Our previous visit to the Falkirk Wheel was in 2015. I posted about it here.

In April we visited again but this time took a trip on the wheel.

On boat:-

Wheel mechanism from boat:-

The wheel’s arch:-

The trip involves a journey through the Roughcastle Tunnel (which goes under the Antonine Wall!):-

The lights in the tunnel change colour_

Tunnel exit:-

View from Wheel:-

Off to Dunfermline for this adaptation of Rosemary Sutcliff‘s novel The Eagle of the Ninth. I don€’t remember if I’€™ve read the book; if so it was as a child. I have a vague recall of a television production of the story in my youth but forgot all the details except that it involved the legend of the loss of a Roman legion, complete with imperial eagle, in the wilds north of Hadrian€’s Wall (or would it be the Antonine Wall?)

I read recently the latest historical thinking is that the legion may never actually have been lost, just absent from the records. It might simply have been redeployed elsewhere in the Roman Empire. Still, print the legend, eh?

The film’s plot is simple. Marcus Aquila, the son of the lost (and hence disgraced) legion commander comes to Britain, is wounded, saves the life of a gladiatorial combatant who becomes his slave and the pair go off to search for the lost eagle. Cue male bonding and the dawning of mutual warmth and respect. There was a strong Breakback Mountain type of undertone towards the end.

Echoes of current imperial adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan (now add Libya?) are of course present – especially in the patrician Romans’ lack of understanding of the ways of the indigenous population.

The scenery was stunning – even if it was shot in Super Gloom-o-Vision. Lowering clouds and twilight vistas abounded. Plus lots of rain.

It may seem silly but I could have done with a little less violence; not that there was much actual blood spurting. Why must the cinema sound be so loud, though? This was particularly true of the adverts and trailers beforehand – almost deafening.

The acting was convincing enough throughout. I had never seen either of the leads, Channing Tatum and Jamie Bell before. Donald Sutherland was spectacularly ill cast, though, as Marcus Aquila’€™s uncle.