Visit Bar Hill Roman Fort
📍 Location: Bar Hill, near Twechar, East Dunbartonshire
👁 What survives: Clear fort earthworks survive, together with important remains in the surrounding Antonine Wall landscape.
⭐ Best for: Combining an Antonine Wall fort with one of the frontier’s best viewpoints.
🥾 Visit: A countryside walk with slopes and uneven grassy ground.
🏛 Nearby Roman places: Croy Hill, Auchendavy and Kirkintilloch
Bar Hill at a glance
| Occupation | Antonine period, broadly the AD 140s–160s; exact opening and closing years remain uncertain. |
| Garrison | The First Cohort of Hamians and First Cohort of Baetasians are attested; their presence need not have been simultaneous. |
| Size | About 1.3 hectares (3.2 acres) internally. |
| Troop estimate | Around 500 is a nominal cohort-scale comparison, not proof that a complete unit was always present. |
Watch: Bar Hill reconstructed
These digital interpretations show how the Roman site may have looked. They are reconstructions, rather than footage of surviving Roman buildings.
104 seconds · Bar Hill – Fly around · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Explore Bar Hill in 3D
Explore Historic Environment Scotland’s reconstruction of the fort. Drag to rotate, zoom to inspect, or open the viewer fullscreen. This is a digital interpretation of the Roman buildings.
- 80 AD Possible Agricola Fort here 58 metres by 48 metres although recent excavations say this is doubtful.
- 142 AD a new fort built 121 metres by 120 metres
Many finds here – there was a good deal of pottery, ballista balls, a copper pot, a bell, a compass leg, four ‘rude stone busts,’ walnuts, hazel nuts, oyster shells, ‘bones and skeleton heads of the short-horned Celtic ox and a few coins. These coins supported the theory that the ‘vallum was abandoned in the reign of Commodus.’
Watch: Bar Hill today
Site visit · Colin Duncan
See Bar Hill’s present-day remains and setting alongside the digital reconstruction.
Military Units here
- 20th Legion
- First Cohort of Hamians (Syrian)
- The Batavians (Dutch)
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.
Javelin Head, Bar Hill · Video, 17 seconds
17 seconds · Javelin Head, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Basket Arrowhead, Bar Hill · Video, 17 seconds
17 seconds · Basket Arrowhead, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Dedication Stone by the First Cohort of Baetasii, Bar Hill · Video, 17 seconds
17 seconds · Dedication Stone by the First Cohort of Baetasii, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Incense Cup, Bar Hill · Video, 20 seconds
20 seconds · Incense Cup, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Dagger Mount, Bar Hill · Video, 20 seconds
20 seconds · Dagger Mount, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Hammer head, Bar Hill · Video, 20 seconds
20 seconds · Hammer head, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Dice Shaker, Bar Hill · Video, 20 seconds
20 seconds · Dice Shaker, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Basket Arrow, Bar Hill · Video, 20 seconds
20 seconds · Basket Arrow, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Strigil, Bar Hill · Video, 20 seconds
20 seconds · Strigil, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Lady’s Shoe, Bar Hill · Video, 20 seconds
20 seconds · Lady’s Shoe, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Child’s Shoe, Bar Hill · Video, 20 seconds
20 seconds · Child’s Shoe, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Comb, Bar Hill · Video, 20 seconds
20 seconds · Comb, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Bucket, Bar Hill · Video, 20 seconds
20 seconds · Bucket, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Wooden pulley block, Bar Hill · Video, 20 seconds
20 seconds · Wooden pulley block, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Copper cooking pot, Bar Hill · Video, 20 seconds
20 seconds · Copper cooking pot, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Mortarium, Bar Hill · Video, 20 seconds
20 seconds · Mortarium, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Quern Stone, Bar Hill · Video, 20 seconds
20 seconds · Quern Stone, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Column 6, Bar Hill · Video, 17 seconds
17 seconds · Column 6, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Window Fragments, Bar Hill · Video, 17 seconds
17 seconds · Window Fragments, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Column 05, Bar Hill · Video, 17 seconds
17 seconds · Column 05, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Column 04, Bar Hill · Video, 17 seconds
17 seconds · Column 04, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Column 03, Bar Hill · Video, 17 seconds
17 seconds · Column 03, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Column 02, Bar Hill · Video, 17 seconds
17 seconds · Column 02, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Barrel, Bar Hill · Video, 17 seconds
17 seconds · Barrel, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Column 01, Bar Hill · Video, 17 seconds
17 seconds · Column 01, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Bust of Silenus, Bar Hill · Video, 17 seconds
17 seconds · Bust of Silenus, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Altar to Silvanus, Bar Hill · Video, 17 seconds
17 seconds · Altar to Silvanus, Bar Hill · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Window Pane Fragments, Bar Hill · Interactive 3D
Drag to rotate and zoom to examine the object.
Wheel, Bar Hill, Antonine Wall · Interactive 3D
Drag to rotate and zoom to examine the object.
Altar of Silvanus, Bar Hill, Antonine Wall · Interactive 3D
Drag to rotate and zoom to examine the object.
Pulley Block, Bar Hill, Antonine Wall · Interactive 3D
Drag to rotate and zoom to examine the object.
Quern Stone, Bar Hill, Antonine Wall · Interactive 3D
Drag to rotate and zoom to examine the object.
Bucket Hoops, Bar Hill, Antonine Wall · Interactive 3D
Drag to rotate and zoom to examine the object.
Mortarium, Bar Hill, Antonine Wall · Interactive 3D
Drag to rotate and zoom to examine the object.
Building Block, Bar Hill, Antonine Wall · Interactive 3D
Drag to rotate and zoom to examine the object.
Dice Shaker, Bar Hill, Antonine Wall · Interactive 3D
Drag to rotate and zoom to examine the object.
Arrowhead, Bar Hill, Antonine Wall · Open on Sketchfab
Interactive 3D model by Historic Environment Scotland. Open the model on Sketchfab to rotate, zoom and examine the object.
Commemorative Tablet, Bar Hill, Antonine Wall · Open on Sketchfab
Interactive 3D model by Historic Environment Scotland. Open the model on Sketchfab to rotate, zoom and examine the object.
Explore Commemorative Tablet, Bar Hill, Antonine Wall on Sketchfab
Strigil, Bar Hill, Antonine Wall · Open on Sketchfab
Interactive 3D model by Historic Environment Scotland. Open the model on Sketchfab to rotate, zoom and examine the object.
Comb, Bar Hill, Antonine Wall · Open on Sketchfab
Interactive 3D model by Historic Environment Scotland. Open the model on Sketchfab to rotate, zoom and examine the object.
Dagger Mount, Bar Hill, Antonine Wall · Open on Sketchfab
Interactive 3D model by Historic Environment Scotland. Open the model on Sketchfab to rotate, zoom and examine the object.
Incense Cup, Bar Hill, Antonine Wall · Interactive 3D
Drag to rotate and zoom to examine the object.
Bronze Hammer, Bar Hill, Antonine Wall · Open on Sketchfab
Interactive 3D model by Historic Environment Scotland. Open the model on Sketchfab to rotate, zoom and examine the object.
Lady’s shoe, Bar Hill, Antonine Wall · Open on Sketchfab
Interactive 3D model by Historic Environment Scotland. Open the model on Sketchfab to rotate, zoom and examine the object.
Lady’s shoe, Bar Hill, Antonine Wall · Open on Sketchfab
Interactive 3D model by Historic Environment Scotland. Open the model on Sketchfab to rotate, zoom and examine the object.
Child’s Shoe, Bar Hill, Antonine Wall · Open on Sketchfab
Interactive 3D model by Historic Environment Scotland. Open the model on Sketchfab to rotate, zoom and examine the object.
Cooking Pot, Bar Hill, Antonine Wall · Open on Sketchfab
Interactive 3D model by Historic Environment Scotland. Open the model on Sketchfab to rotate, zoom and examine the object.
Inscriptions
Dedications name auxiliary units and individuals; legionary inscriptions additionally attest building activity. The Baetasians should not be confused with the Batavians.
References
- Bar Hill Roman Fort (Trove NRHE)
- Roman Inscriptions (20) Roman Inscriptions of Britain
Leave a Reply