ANTONINUS'S WALL, a rampart erected by the order of the emperor Antoninus, stretching between the frith of Forth and the river Clyde.
The Romans, in the course of their endeavours to conquer Britain, found themselves, at different times, obliged to erect extensive military works, to repress the incursions of the natives into the territory subdued, and to keep them in awe at a distance. The =pert' Adrian built a turf wall across the island, about the year 120; Antoninus erected one, of which we are about to speak, consisting of the same materials, in 140; and a third, which was the most extensive of the whole, be ing 681 miles long, and of stone, was constructed by Septimius Severus, in the year 208.
The period when Antoninus's wall was erected is nearly ascertained, both by ancient historians and by inscriptions on stones dug out of its foundation. Ac cording to Julius Capitolinus, Antoninus subdued the Britons by Lollius Urbicus, his legate, and removed them further off, by building a turf wall across the island. " Per legatos plurima bells gessit: et Britannos per Lollium Urbicum legatum vicit, alio muro cespititio submotis barbaris ducto." That this was the wall al luded to, is proved by the allusion to that of Adrian which preceded it, by the materials of which it was constructed, and likewise by the inscriptions. Not long afterwards, according to Dion Cassius, the natives pass ed beyond the wall, and committed devastations on the Romans; which apparently took place about the year Is0 or 183; whence it is not clear how long it served as a boundary. The Scottish• historians relate, that it was destroyed some centuries afterwards, by the united power of the people. Bede, who wrote early in the eighth century, fixes its position, and speaks of its re mains. He says, a wall was constructed, more of earth than stone, stretching the distance of many miles be tween the two friths. "That there was such a wall, very broad and high," he proceeds, " is proved by un equivocal remains, seen at this day. It begins about two miles west of the monastery of Aebercurnig, at a place called Penfiiliel in the Pictish language, and Pen neltun by the English, and running west, terminates near the town of Alcluith." Fordun, who lived towards the end of the fourteenth century, says, the remains of a ditch and wall were conspicuous in his time; which wall he describes to have been strengthened at different intervals by towers, so near, that the sound of a trumpet would reach from one to another. "It began on the east, super australe littus marls Scotici juxta villam do Earedin ;" which corresponds very nearly with the commencement ascribed to it by Bede ; " and extend ing from sea to sea, terminates juxta Kirkpatrick." In his time it was called Grymesdike, a name which its remnants still retain. But although he affirms that it derived that appellation from some warrior called Gryme, who made the irruption above alluded to through it, modern etymologists are of opinion that it rather owes its name to its quality, Grime or Grym, which signifies strong, and is in many other parts of the kingdom applied to works of strength. Notwithstand ing our distrust of the tradition conveyed to Fordun, we cannot sufficiently caution our readers against putting implicit confidence in etymologies, for nothing can be more productive of error.
The wall of Antoninus has more recently been the subject of observation. Timothy Pont seems to have examined it towards the beginning of the seventeenth century, as also sir Roher Sibbald, about a century la ter, and Gordon, the author of the Itincrarium Septen trionale, between 1720-1730. A survey of great accu racy was made by Horsley in 1732, one in 1747, and another in 1755, from whose drawings a plan of it has been engraved, on a scale of 1000 yards to an inch.
From the observations of these authors it appears, that although it is now chiefly obliterated, this military work consisted of a great ditch on the north, about forty feet wide and twenty deep, a rampart, twenty feet high and twenty-four thick, near the edge to the south, and military way behind. It extended in whole from Cam den on the east to Old Kirkpatrick on the west, thirty six miles and six hundred and twenty yards, passing along a chain of Roman forts, twenty-one in number, which are supposed to have been previously erected by Agricola. The mean distance between each of these
is 3554 yards, or just about two English miles. Within less than two miles of its western extremity, the Romans had a port at Dunglas; but notwithstanding the traces of a military road to that place from Old Kirkpatrick, still visible, it is generally believed to have gone no far ther than the latter: and, in the same manner, though they might probably have had a convenient harbour at Blackness, within two miles of Carriden to the eastward, its progress ended there. In general Roy's opinion, the principal defence must have consisted in the magni tude of the ditch, as he is disposed to consider the ram part more inconsiderable than it has appeared to others; but he also remarks its rapid decay, and that a percep tible change had taken place within the last thirty years preceding his survey. Its construction seemed to have originally been of earth, or composed of materials pro miscuously taken from the ditch. When traversing a rocky or stony ground, where the excavation of the ditch afforded a greater quantity of stone in proportion, the Romans apparently disposed of the surplus above what was required for their forts, in forming a founda tion for the wall ; but where the grounds were deeper, probably little or no stone was used for that purpose. Horsley thinks the whole has rested on a stone founda tion, the stones of which are square and dressed, but not cemented by lime. There are conduits Both through the wall and under the military way, consisting of two upright stones, with one above, resting on them; the passage being large enough to admit the body of a man. It has thence been supposed that the ditch was origin ally filled with water. The wall commonly traverses the brow or declivity of a hill, so as to overlook the plain below. At Barbi11, where there was a Roman fort, it enters on a ridge of rocks running within five or six yards of the brink of a precipice. The northern face of the rocks has been artificially cut. and smoothed, to render them the more inaccessible. The ditch is cut near the bottom, sometimes through the rocks them selves, but not very deep. " The military way," Hor sley observes, " is indeed very beautiful. It has been paved, mostly with large stones, where the ground was low or watery, but where the ground was higher and drier, the stones were smaller." Inscriptions still remain, which, in the opinion of an tiquarians, indicate the exact troops employed in build ing the wall of Antoninus, and the identical portions executed by each body of them. From these it appears, that the whole legio secunda Augusta was occupied in the work, the vexillation of the legio sexta victrix, the vexillation of the legio vicesima valens victrix, and the cohors firima Cugernoruin. A legion then consisted of 6000 men, which were divided into ten manipuli, or co horts, and every cohort into six centurix, each of which had a vexillum, or standard, to which were attached ten men. There are eleven stones with inscriptions; but only three legions are mentioned. The second legion built 11,603 paces, the vexillation of the sixth 7801, the vexillation of the twentieth 7411, and the cohors prima Cugernorum 3000. A consIderable space, however, is left unaccounted for; partly indicated by inscriptions, indeed, which are either defaced or have never been completed : but we cannot venture, as others have done, to fill up the blanks without collateral authorities. Ma ny Roman antiquities continue to be found in the track of the wall, and among the ruins of the forts.
See Julius Capitolinus. Dio Cassius Historic Re mana, p. 573. edit. 1558. Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica, lib. i. cap. 12. Fordun, Scotichronicon, lib. iii. cap. 4, 5. Camden, Britannia, p. 1044, 1253. edit. 1695. Sib bald, Historical Inquiries concerning the Roman Monu ments and Antiquities in Scotland, p. 27. Gordon, Ibneratiumn Sententrionale. Horsley, Britannia Romana. Roy, M litary Antiquities of the Romans in North Bri tain. Plates to Anderson's Observations on Roman An tiquities, 1800. in 4to. (c)