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Romans

Face to face with history at Melrose

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A walk around the Trimontium Museum in Melrose will bring you face to face with a historic whodunit.

Staring across almost 2,000 years in time is the face of a man, thought to be a roman soldier, who came to a sticky end at Trimontium.

The victim of a drunken brawl? Maybe someone who ran up one to many gambling debts or who crossed a fellow soldier over an affair of the heart? We will never know.

One thing we do know, however, was that our mystery man was found at the bottom of a well and experts concluded that he died under suspicious circumstances because his skeleton was found almost erect with a spearhead by his side.

Some 150 years after the discovery was made the Trimontium Trust decided to bring him ‘back to life’ by reconstructing his face.

The idea came from Trust chairman Dr John Reid who said: “I suggested we ask the advice of Dr Ian Macleod of the Edinburgh Dental Institute who helped reconstruct the face of Robert Bruce.”

A CT scan of the skull was carried out at the Borders General Hospital and from there the journey of reconstruction travelled to the University of Cardiff in Wales before ‘flesh was put on the bones’ by Dr Caroline Wilkinson at the University of Manchester.

Spare a thought, then, for the man who came to serve Rome’s cause in Scotland little knowing he would still be resident there 2,000 years later.

Trimontium – the place of the three hills

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As the Roman Empire pushed northwards into Scotland the organisational genius that was Rome followed, establishing transport and road systems, supply camps and fortified bases.

One of the most impressive, lying in the shadow of the impressive Scottish Borders landmark of the Eildon Hills, was Trimontium or ‘the place of the three hills’.

Standing on the banks of the River Tweed east of Melrose and extending past the magnificent Leaderfoot viaduct, Trimontium must have been an impressive sight in its day, the like of which the local tribes, the Votadini and the Selgovae, had never seen.

Its 370-acre profile is best illustrated by aerial photographs and you will find a selection displayed alongside artefacts and curios at the Trimontium Museum, www.trimontium.co.uk/visit/museum/ in Melrose – open seven days a week from April to October.

It is managed by the Trimontium Trust, a group of local people that has enjoyed support from the late Rosemary Sutcliff and Lindsey Davies, both famous for their fictional forays into Roman times.

It is managed by the Trimontium Trust, run by a group of local people that enjoyed support from the late Rosemary Sutcliff and from Lindsey Davies, both famous for their fictional forays into Roman times.

Special mention is appropriate here for Sutcliff’s wonderful ‘Eagle of the Ninth.’

It has a direct link with Trimontium by the fact that men from the Ninth ‘Hispania’ legion were stationed there.

The borderlands also provided a backdrop for her novel Frontier Wolf.

The museum provides an interesting but by no means finished story of Trimontium, which is thought to have been abandoned in 180AD.

Evidence of Roman connections were uncovered when a railway cutting for the Waverley Line was started in 1846.

Trimontium’s importance was assured when local amateur archeologist James Currie carried out excavations on behalf of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

As layer after layer was uncovered it became clear that Trimontium was the ost important Roman military complex between Hadrian’s Wall and the Antonine Wall.

Excavations have revealed some of Trimontium’s secrets, including an amphitheatre, but much more is waiting to be done. Helpful boards and viewing platforms have been erected around the site and guided walks take place throughout the summer months.

A long way from Rome 

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It might have been the extreme edge of Empire, home to the farthest flung frontier outposts, but the Romans certainly left a size -12 sandal print on the borderlands of Northumberland and Scotland.

The man we have to thank is Gnaeus Julius Agricola, and while he might not be the first name that comes to mind when considering Roman related tourism in the borders – he deserves more than a passing nod of gratitude.

His legacy, as the Roman Governor of Britain (77-85AD), to this unique and beautiful region was to oversee a drive northwards from York and for establishing the first road from England into Scotland.

Dere Street, already a main highway from York to Corbridge, was extended through the wild countryside of Northumberland and the Scottish Borders, and on to Edinburgh and the Firth of Forth.

Nearly 2,000 years on, long stretches of Dere Street are now part of the main A68 road north from Corbridge, while original routes that deviate into the borderlands north of Rochester, are never far away from the main road.

The A68 is a natural route north for an outstanding Roman experience that includes Hadrian’s Wall, Vindolanda, Housesteads and Chesters, to the joys of Northumberland and the Scottish Borders.        

Hadrian’s Wall, built between 122-30AD extends for 80 miles (128 km) from coast to coast across northern England. The wall, still magnificently preserved over long stretches, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

Forts, milecastles and garrison towns, are lasting evidence of Rome’s substantial presence in this part of the world. 

But long before the wall was even thought of the Romans had taken ‘Pax Romana’ much further north. With England and Wales no longer a cause for concern, the Romans were marching across the Cheviots near Carter Bar (the present day border dividing England and Scotland) in 79AD. 

In front of them lay the green and pleasant lands of today’s Scottish Borders stretching north as far as the eye could see and, as we know, new horizons always presented a particular challenge to the Romans. 

Sooner or later curiosity got the better of them and they had to find out what lay beyond. For the next hundred years or so the Romans invested considerable time and effort in this, the most northerly part of their Empire.

Dere Street, was driven north to reach the Firth of Forth by 81AD. Its main centres through the English and Scottish borderlands took in Corbridge, Bryness and Cappuck before passing to the east of Trimontium near Melrose and on to the coast. 

Stretches are still very much in evidence in the Scottish Borders

Trimontium, arguably the most important Roman base throughout the Roman occupation of Scotland, supported a frontier presence that ebbed and flowed over 120 turbulent years, ending in a final campaign led by the Emperor Septimius Severus in 210AD.

And for a more detailed picture we have compiled the following useful links.