Visit Old Kilpatrick Roman Fort
📍 Location: Old Kilpatrick, West Dunbartonshire
👁 What survives: Very little of the fort is visible today; the site is known through excavation, finds and inscriptions.
⭐ Best for: Understanding the western end of the Antonine Wall and the units stationed there.
🥾 Visit: An urban archaeological stop with limited visible remains.
🏛 Nearby Roman places: Duntocher, Bearsden and the western Antonine Wall
Old Kilpatrick at a glance
| Occupation | Antonine period, broadly the AD 140s–160s; exact opening and closing years remain uncertain. |
| Garrison | The First Cohort of Baetasians is associated with the fort; legionary building evidence should be distinguished from auxiliary occupation. |
| Size | About 1.7 hectares (4.2 acres) internally, excluding possible annexes; see the Antonine Wall archaeological report. |
| Troop estimate | A conventional cohort would have around 480 infantry at nominal establishment; this is not a verified total for Old Kilpatrick. |
Watch: Old Kilpatrick reconstructed
These digital interpretations show how the Roman site may have looked. They are reconstructions, rather than footage of surviving Roman buildings.
47 seconds · Reconstruction Model of Old Kilpatrick Fort · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
- 142 AD fort built
- 165 AD abandoned ( assumed date)
The evidence is that the fort at Old Kilpatrick was carefully dismantled given the infilling of the well and it is assumed the Romans were transferred elsewhere because of military pressures.
- The Sixth Legion and 20th Legion left commemorative slabs.
- The First Cohort of Baetasians from the Netherlands served here.
Pius, Father of his Country, a detachment of the Twentieth Valiant and Victorious Legion built [this] over a distance of 4411 feet. This dramatic stone shows the front of a Roman temple. The reclining figure of Victory holds a large laurel wreath and leans on a globe, symbolic of her realm. This is an unusual position as Victory
is normally shown standing with her foot on a globe. It has been
suggested that she is shown in the pose of a river god, a reference to
the nearby River Clyde.
This stone has an inscription but no decoration unlike the other distance slabs. The use of the phrase “opus valli” is unusual and is used on only two of the nineteen distance slabs known.
Gallery of Photos at Fort Location
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.
Beaker, Old Kilpatrick Fort · Video, 17 seconds
17 seconds · Beaker, Old Kilpatrick Fort · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Brooch, Old Kilpatrick Fort · Video, 17 seconds
17 seconds · Brooch, Old Kilpatrick Fort · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Distance Stone of the Twentieth Legion, Old Kilpatrick · Video, 17 seconds
17 seconds · Distance Stone of the Twentieth Legion, Old Kilpatrick · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Distance Stone of the Sixth Legion, Old Kilpatrick · Video, 17 seconds
17 seconds · Distance Stone of the Sixth Legion, Old Kilpatrick · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Altar to Jupiter, Old Kilpatrick · Video, 17 seconds
17 seconds · Altar to Jupiter, Old Kilpatrick · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Beaker, Old Kilpatrick · Video, 20 seconds
20 seconds · Beaker, Old Kilpatrick · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Distance Stone of Twentieth Legion, Old Kilpatrick · Video, 17 seconds
17 seconds · Distance Stone of Twentieth Legion, Old Kilpatrick · Antonine Wall Vimeo Account
Key, Old Kilpatrick, Antonine Wall · Open on Sketchfab
Interactive 3D model by Historic Environment Scotland. Open the model on Sketchfab to rotate, zoom and examine the object.
Jar, Old Kilpatrick, Antonine Wall · Open on Sketchfab
Interactive 3D model by Historic Environment Scotland. Open the model on Sketchfab to rotate, zoom and examine the object.
Distance Slab, Old Kilpatrick, 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 Distance Slab, Old Kilpatrick, Antonine Wall on Sketchfab
Distance Slab, Old Kilpatrick, 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 Distance Slab, Old Kilpatrick, Antonine Wall on Sketchfab
Altar to Jupiter, Old Kilpatrick, 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 Altar to Jupiter, Old Kilpatrick, Antonine Wall on Sketchfab
Distance Slab, Old Kilpatrick, 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 Distance Slab, Old Kilpatrick, Antonine Wall on Sketchfab
Inscriptions
The site’s inscriptions include auxiliary and legionary evidence. Distance slabs of the Sixth and Twentieth Legions commemorate construction along the frontier and do not establish that those entire legions lived in the fort.
References
- Old Kilpatrick Roman Fort (Trove NRHE)
- Inscriptions (12) Roman Inscriptions of Britain
- Julius Verus and the Abandonment of Antonine Scotland – Britannia, Vol. 51 (2020), pp. 323-330 (8 pages)
