Visit Westerwood Roman Fort
📍 Location: Westerwood, Cumbernauld
👁 What survives: Little of the fort is visible above ground, although archaeology and finds reveal its Antonine occupation.
⭐ Best for: The inscriptions and personal stories associated with an Antonine Wall fort.
🥾 Visit: A landscape stop with limited visible fort remains.
🏛 Nearby Roman places: Croy Hill, Castlecary and Seabegs Wood
Westerwood at a glance
| Occupation | Antonine period, broadly the AD 140s–160s; exact opening and closing years remain uncertain. |
| Garrison | The resident unit has not been securely identified in the evidence summarised here. |
| Size | About 0.79 hectares (2 acres) internally. |
| Troop estimate | A detachment of a few hundred is possible; the regiment and actual strength are uncertain. |
Watch: Westerwood reconstructed
These digital interpretations show how the Roman site may have looked. They are reconstructions, rather than footage of surviving Roman buildings.
12 seconds · Reconstruction of Westerwood Fort · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
This is the only fort in Scotland where a large penis carving has been found. In Roman times this was considered lucky and many everyday objects had such carvings.
Vibia Pacata the wife of a centurion dedicates an altar here.
Explore finds in video and 3D
Open an item below to play its short video or explore its interactive 3D model. Titles retain the publishers’ findspot labels; nearby discoveries need not have come from inside the fort. Videos are from the Antonine Wall Vimeo Account; interactive models are by Historic Environment Scotland.
Fragment of possible Distance Stone, Arniebog, Westerwood · Video, 20 seconds
20 seconds · Fragment of possible Distance Stone, Arniebog, Westerwood · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Altar to Silvanus, Westerwood · Video, 20 seconds
20 seconds · Altar to Silvanus, Westerwood · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Uninscribed altar, Arniebog, Westerwood · Video, 12 seconds
12 seconds · Uninscribed altar, Arniebog, Westerwood · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Distance Slab, Westerwood, Antonine Wall · Interactive 3D
Drag to rotate and zoom to examine the object.
Inscriptions
Vibia Pacata’s dedication names her husband, the centurion Flavius Verecundus of the Sixth Legion. It is evidence for individuals connected with the site, not proof that a complete legion was stationed here.
References
Westerwood Roman Fort (Trove NRHE)
Comments
One response to “Westerwood”
[…] Pacata, a North African wife of a centurion, is named on a tombstone near Falkirk at Westerwood Fort on the Antonine Wall. She is the only known married woman in Scotland. ” Sacred to the celestial […]
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