Castle Greg is the archaeological remains of a Roman fortlet near Camilty, approximately three miles south-east of West Calder, West Lothian, in Scotland.

The site is less than an acre in size, and lies just off the B7008. It is one of the best preserved Roman earthworks in the country and was first excavated in the 19th century by Sir Daniel Wilson, the interior excavation having taken place in 1852.

The remains take the form of two defensive ditches protecting a clearly visible rectangular rampart. Originally, these ditches would have been at least fifteen feet in depth. The rampart behind the ditches still stands up to five feet high in places, though obviously, this would have been far higher when the fortlet was in use. On the rampart stood a wooden palisade, at least ten feet high, with a walkway running the length of the fortlet. There is an entrance through the rampart at the eastern end, over which would have stood a wooden tower attached to the walkway.

Very little remains of the flat interior of the fortlet, although it is known that within there would have been two rows of barracks, between which there was a well. There would also have been a stable block. During the 1852 excavation of the interior, pottery was discovered from the well between the two barracks.

Castle Greg was a most likely used as a monitoring base for an east-west road running along the foot of the nearby Pentlands, from the Forth to the Clyde Valley. Although the fortlet currently commands no long-distance views, during the 1st century AD, when the fort was in use, the surrounding countryside was not forested, and Castle Greg would have been able to view clearly up to the Fife coastline and the mountains beyond.

The name Castle Greg is possibly derived from the Roman name Camulosessa Præsidium, from nearby Camilty, itself derived from Camulos Tref – literally, village of Camulos.

External Reference

• Roman Britain site with pictures

Sources

Into the mouth of the god Jupiter, the poet Virgil put the following words. "I set upon the Romans bounds neither of space nor of time; I have bestowed on them empire without limit."Jupiter obviously had little knowledge or experience of the tribes of Caledonia, for it was here that the Romans 'met their match.'The subject of the Romans in Scotland is very much a 'hot' news item at the moment.Earlier this year (1999) the discovery of a statue in the muddy waters of the River Almond at Cramond caused great excitement. The statue was of a lioness, devouring the head of a screaming bearded man.The statue could prove to be one of the finest Roman relics in Britain and is all the more important when you compare it to what few Roman remains can still be seen around Scotland. There are no monuments on the scale of Hadrian's Wall or the forts south of the border. Of the Antonine Wall (142-143 AD) mainly ditches and ramparts remain.At Watling Lodge, near Falkirk, you can see the ditch that once ran to the north of the Wall. At Rough Castle, Bonnybridge, you can walk amongst the earthworks of the fort. There is a fortlet at Kinneil. At Cramond, a plan of part of the 2nd century fort has been laid out and the Eagle Rock, across the River Almond, probably once housed the statue of a Roman god. Of the few stone foundations that can still be seen, the bath-house at Bearsden is well worth a visit.And of course there are a number of museums with important collections, including the new Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. and the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow, not to mention Kinneil.Within the present borders of West Lothian, one of the few physical remains of occupation lies on a lonely stretch of moorland, three miles south of the village of West Calder, just off the B7008.On the Ordnance Survey map it is called Castle Greg, but you could easily be forgiven for driving past and not realising the importance of the site. From the road you can just make out a few mounds of earth, hemmed in by forestry plantation.If you park close to the sign marked Camilty Plantation and walk across to the remains (a strong pair of shoes is recommended), you will find it easy to understand why the Romans chose this spot and what life must have been like here all those centuries ago.Led by their commander Agricola, a Roman army of 20,000 men swept through the Lowlands in AD 79 as far as the Forth and then on to the Tay. It would be good to report that the natives, in true Braveheart fashion, put up staunch resistance but in the Lothians at least, this was not the case. The Votadini tribes here lived in peaceful coexistence with their conquerors (unlike the tribes to the west, who would take any opportunity to 'pick a fight').The Romans established a number of bases and Castle Greg was a fortlet probably built to monitor an east-west road, that may have run along the foot of the nearby Pentlands, from the Forth to the Clyde Valley.On the ground nowadays you can see two defensive ditches, protecting a rectangular earthen rampart that still stands four to five feet high in places. There is one entrance through this at its eastern end and the area inside, measuring about 150 by 180 feet, is remarkably flat. There are commanding views of the Pentlands to the north.When originally constructed, the ditches of the fortlet would have been at least 15 feet deep. The rampart was crowned by a wooden palisade, at least ten feet high, with a walkway round it and a tower over the entrance gate. Within, there would have been two rows of barracks, housing up to 80 men, as well as a stable block. The interior was excavated in 1852 and pottery was recovered from a well between these barracks.In the l st century AD, the surrounding area was free of forest and northwards the view would have extended to the Fife coastline and the mountains beyond.It is easy to imagine a group of tanned Italians, huddling in the fort against the bitter winds of winter and the short, wet summers, longing for a return to the sunnier climes of their homeland. Easy to imagine, but not very accurate.The soldiers at Castle Greg had homes in Germany and Holland and some may well have been recruited from other parts of Britain. They had signed up for 25 years service, at the end of which they would have received Roman citizenship and settled in the area. That is not to say that life was not hard for them. Lines of communication and supply were poor and whatever treaties existed with the local tribes, it had to be remembered that this was still enemy territory. Above all however, the greatest danger that had to be contended with was that of boredom.So if you ever pass by this spot, have a thought for those who manned what was nearly the last outpost of empire and reflect on just how fleeting even that which seems durable can be.Who would have thought that the 'world's greatest empire' would have been reduced to a few mounds of earth on a bleak Scottish moorland ?

Castle Greg - West Calder

Castle Greg is a Roman fortlet on Camilty Hill in the middle of a fly-infested bog on the foothills of the Pentlands near Camilty, South-east of West Calder on the North side of the A71 "Lang Whang".

Castle Greg is not named after a warrior called Gregory! According to Wilkinson, the greg element is Celtic craig, not least since the name was given as Castle Craig in the C19th (West Lothian Place Names, p.18). However, an earlier form of the name is Castelgreg (1512) and as any visitor to the site will soon observe, there are no craggy formations nearby, which leaves a question hanging over the derivation of the C19th form of the name. Wilkinson therefore suggests a derivation from Welsh grug, meaning "heather", which certainly fits the boggy character of the location more accurately!

One further linguistic factor which Wilkinson draws attention to is the possibility that the fort was known to the Romans as Camulosessa Præsidium, connected with the nearby Camilty, which, as Cameltree (C18th) may derive from Brythonic Camulos Tref, meaning "village of Camulos". Camulos was, of course, an ancient Celtic pagan war-god often compared with the Roman Mars, whose name is remembered in other Romano-British placenames such as Camulodunum (appearing in Colchester and Almondbury, both in England), and is celebrated in a Latin inscription found in the Roman fort on Bar Hill, Dumbartonshire: "Deo Marti Camulo" (Anne Ross, Pagan Celtic Britain, p.234).

To add a further confusing connection, the Caiy Stane, a few miles to the East, has also been known as the Camus Stane, which may suggest another dedication of some kind to Camulos.

However, according to Watson, Camilty derives not from a Brythonic root but from Gaelic cammalltaidh, which he defines as "crooked little burn" (Celtic Place-Names of Scotland, p.143). Certainly, this area of the Pentlands also contains other Gaelic placenames, such as the nearby towns of Balerno and Currie (baile airneach and currach respectively).

According to Collard, Castle Greg is "one of the best preserved Roman earthworks in the country" (Lothian: A Historical Guide, p.47). First excavated in the C19th by Daniel Wilson, the remains of the fort consist of a clearly visible (although un-photogenic!) rectangular rampart of some 38x50m.

An entrance is visible on the East wall, now marked by a slight depression: A system of double ditches can be found around the Western, Southern and Eastern walls.

The visitor to Castle Greg will notice the perhaps surprisingly remote location of the fort, which also has practically no long-distance views available to it. One possible explanation of this is that it formed a staging post along a main East-West artery, between the kingdoms of Gododdin (Lothian) and Strathclyde. Certainly, today it lies just to the North of the "Lang Whang", or A70, which performs just such a function.

Castle Greg Fort : Places in Ancient Lothian

Roman Fortlet/Small Fort Castle Greg, Lothian NGRef: NT0559 OSMap: LR65/72 Type: Fortlet

   NE Angle

The North-East Corner Angle clearly shows the bivallate defences Roads none N.G.REF DIMENSIONS AREA NT050952 250 x 200 ft (75 x 60 m) c.1 acre (0.46 ha)

This small fort of less than an acre lies just off the B7008, surrounded by the managed pines of the Camilty Plantation. Although the fortlet\itself is cleared of trees the deep mats of Polytrichum moss covering the area make the short walk to the site very arduous, there being no identifiable pathway. Once reached, and although overgrown with tussock-grass, the entire defensive circuit is easily traced, including the entrance causeway on the east side away from the modern road; there are no traces of any interior buildings. N Defences The Northern Defensive Rampart clearly visible against trees about 20 ft. high Gateway The Gateway in the East Side seen against the skyline as a gap in the rampart

CASTLE GREG

Evidence of earlier settlement can be found about three miles south east of the village, higher on the rising slopes of the Pentlands, in the shape of the Roman fortlet known as Castle Greg.

West Calder Feature Page on Undiscovered Scotland

Castle Greg Roman Fort There is a Roman camp at Castle Greg where many Roman coins have been found.

Old Roads Of Scotland

The place name Camulosessa Præsidium (Seat of Camulos), identified as Castle Greg, West Lothian, Scotland may also be associated with this deity, especially as the nearby Camilty, which, as Cameltree (C18th) may derive from Brythonic Camulos Tref, meaning "village of Camulos". The cult of Camulos would therefore seem to be spread throughout the length of mainland Britain and might reflect the northwards spread of the Belgic tribes in Britain.

The Gaulish and Brythonic God, Camulos: Champion

Archaeological Notes

NT05NE 1 05020 59250

(NT 0501 5925) Castle Greg (NAT) Roman Fortlet (R) OS 6" map (1961)

A one-eighth mark of James VI, 1601, found "at the Roman Camp, Harburn," was donated to the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS) in 1853 by J Cochrane, Harburn. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1855

Many coins and other articles of Roman workmanship are said to have been dug up at Castle Greg from time to time. A round hollow near the centre of the fortlet, locally called the Well, but supposed to have been the foundation of a flagstaff, was excavated about 1830, when under a large stone was found a considerable number of Roman coins, including denarii of Vespasian, Domitian, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius, indicating a date of about 170 AD. Some of the coins were sold to a goldsmith in Edinburgh, but the remainder were in the possession of the proprietor, Mr Young of Harburn, who presented a complete set of the coins to Charles X of France in 1832. Further excavations were carried out in 1846 by Mr Cochrane of Harburn, who found fragments of Roman pottery. H B M'Call 1894

This Roman fortlet is rectangular in plan, with rounded corners, measuring internally between crests 180ft by 152ft. It is surrounded by a well-defined rampart, best preserved at the S end where it is 28ft wide, rising 4ft above the interior, and 7ft above the ditch immediately in front: 7ft away is a second ditch, both ditches being 8 ft wide and 2 1/2 ft deep. They surround the fortlet except in the centre of the E side, where there is a 22ft wide causeway, leading to a 9ft gap in the rampart. Some 28ft N of this entrance is an oval hollow, possibly the site of a hut. Near the centre of the fort is a circular hollow, 12ft in diameter, which contained a well. When excavated in 1851, fragments of Roman pottery were found; the well was excavated to 11ft without anything being found, but it was said by an old local inhabitant that about 1810, a "bull's hide" filled with silver coins was taken from the well. Macdonald (1918) discounts this story, but quotes the Statistical Account (OSA), stating several coins, on which the Roman eagle was apparent, had been dug up near this fortlet. If this statement is accurate, the coins could have been of Mark Antony, Vespasian, or Titus. When visited by the OS in 1953 (JLD, 25 February 1953 and FDC, 9 May 1953) this fortlet was found to be as described above, in a fair state of preservation except for a small part of the ditches at the NW and SW angles which had all but vanished. No signs of internal habitation, or of a tutulus, were found. The track of a road could also be made out, running from the entrance in the E, curving NE for some 40.0m, after which it disappeared. T H Holbert's notes (19, Thomson Drive, Currie, 23 May 1964) mention that there are indications of a track ascending SW towards Castle Greg, and of the exit from the gateway, visible on air photographs (RAF/541/A/ 393:3451, F58/RAF/3544:0197). R G Collingwood and I Richmond 1969; RCAHMS 1929, visited 1914; D Wilson 1855; OSA 1796

No change to the previous field report. Surveyed at 1/10,000. Visited by OS (MJF) 24 April 1979

Inspection of RCAHMS aerial photographs, shows that the E-facing gate has a 'parrot's beak', indicative of a Flavian date. S S Frere 1989

Site Record for Castle Greg Details

NT0559 Flavian? fortlet (0.3 ha) the site was occupied during the advance into Scotland, but not during the withdrawal to southern Scotland.

Roman Military Sites in Britain

Cramond was once a Roman seaport, and various objects of Roman art and workmanship have been discovered in its vicinity and along the banks of the Almond. On several heights are remains of early military works - the most important being that on Dalmahoy Hill, Braidwood Castle in the parish of Penicuik, and Castle Greg on the Harburn estate in Mid Calder parish. Picts' houses are found at Crichton Mains, at Borthwick Castle, near Middleton House and elsewhere, the first being especially interesting from the fact that some of the stones bear marks of Roman masonry.

Edinburghshire - LoveToKnow 1911

By 87 the occupation was limited to the Southern Uplands and by the end of the first century the northern limit of Roman expansion was a line drawn between the Tyne and Solway Firth. [Hanson (2003) p. 195.] Elginhaugh camp in Midlothian dates to about this period as may Castle Greg in West Lothian, which was most likely used as a monitoring base for an east-west road running along the foot of the nearby Pentlands, from the Forth to the Clyde Valley.

Scotland during the Roman Empire

ROMAN CAMP AT HARBURN. Dr D. Wilson communicated an account of excavations made by him within the area of a small Roman Camp, called Castle Greg, on the Harburn estate, in the parish of West Calder, Mid-Lothian. This camp is referred to in the first edition of Stuart's Caledonia Romana, merely as the vestiges of a strong military work. The recent excavations, however, place its Roman origin beyond doubt. Mr Cochrane of Harburn having liberally offered to place workmen at his service, Dr Wilson visited the spot; and, under his directions, the camp was carefully trenched, and numerous remains of Roman glass, mortaria, amphoras, &c., all in a fragmentary condition, with some fragments of iron weapons, and a portion of a lead vessel, disclosed the unobliterated traces of the Roman footsteps of seventeen centuries ago. Among the glass, were the handle, neck, and considerable remains of an unusually large green glass jar, of the square form frequently found on Roman sites, and occasionally used as ossaria. The well in the centre was excavated to a depth of about eleven feet, without anything of importance being discovered; but an old shepherd, long resident in the district, mentioned that some forty years ago, a "bull's hide" was got out of the well, filled with silver coins. Forsyth remarks, in his " Beauties of Scotland," written in 1805 (vol. i., p. 306), " On the top of a rising ground called Castle Craig, are the remains of a small Roman camp in a pretty entire state. Within these few years, several Roman coins were dug up from the environs of this encampment, on which the Roman eagle was sufficiently apparent," though otherwise defaced. The site of the camp is on a high and commanding situation, from which the ground slopes very gradually on all sides, affording an extensive view over the surrounding country. The vallum is still tolerably perfect on three sides. The camp is a small irregular square, measuring fifty-two yards from north to south, and fortynine yards from east to west. The only entrance is on the east side, from which the road has been traced a little way in the direction of Causewayend, a name which indicates the former remains of the legionary paved track. A neighbouring farm bears the name 'of Camiltre, a corruption, as is supposed, of Camp Hill Tree; and on an old plan, of the estate, the camp is marked Castellum Qregis. It is situated about a quarter of a mile to the north of a long bleak stretch of the old Lanark road, popularly known, before the days of railway travelling, by the expressive name of the Lang Whang. Various other Roman remains, recently found in Scotland, were exhibited, including a fine small Samian-ware bowl, in perfect condition, potter's stamp : OP CAL ; and a remarkable large alabaster vase, dug up at Camelon, near Falkirk. The vase is greatly dilapidated, and its outer surface entirely waterworn, but it appears to have been a work of much beauty ; and, had it been in a perfect condition, would have formed one of the most remarkable traces of Roman art hitherto brought to light in the vicinity of the Antonine Wall. It is broad and shallow, somewhat in general form resembling the Warwick vase. It measures \^ inches in diameter at the lip of the basin, and 10 inches in height. Unfortunately the two portions found have been acquired by different persons, but it is hoped that both will be deposited in the Society's Museum. Various specimens of Samian and other Roman ware were found at the same time, during the cutting of a branch of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway to join the Northern Railway. A series of shafts or wells, such as have been repeatedly met with on Roman sites in this country, were also disclosed, containing animal matter, horns, skulls, and bones, broken pottery, and the like refuse of domestic life. Coins of Otho, Antoninus, Aurelian, Gordianus, &c., are also reported to have been obtained from the same site.

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BOOKS

Breeze D J, Roman Scotland: a guide to the visible remains, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, (1979) p37

Collingwood R G & Richmond I, The archaeology of Roman Britain, London, (1969) p68

Frere S S, Roman Britain in 1988. I Sites explored, Britannia XX (1989) p271

Hanson W S, The first Roman occupation of Scotland, in Hanson W S & Keppie L J F, Roman Frontier studies 1979: Papers presented to the 12th International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies, British Archaeological Reports, International, S71, 1, Oxford, (1980) pp20

Hanson W S & Maxwell G S, Rome's north west frontier: The Antonine Wall, Edinburgh, (1983)

M'Call H B, The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Mid-Calder with some account of the religious house of Torphichen, founded upon record, Edinburgh, (1894) pp10-12

Macdonald G, Roman coins found in Scotland, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 52, 1917-18, (1918) p221

Old Statistical Account, The statistical account of Scotland, drawn up from the communications of the ministers of the different parishes, Sinclair, J (Sir), Edinburgh, Vol.18, (1791-9) p196

Donations and purchases to and for the Museum', Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 1, 1851-4 (1855) p126

The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Tenth report with inventory of monuments and constructions in the counties of Midlothian and West Lothian, Edinburgh, 140-1, No.177 (1922)

Wilson D, (1855 e) 'Roman camp at Harburn, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 1, 1851-4, 5(1855) pp8-9