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Roman Roads
ROMAN ROADS -The Romans have left many
remarkable monuments of their power and greatness, of
which the most prominent are their highways, which,
commencing at the gates of Rome itself, traversed
the whole extent of their mighty empire. These
highways, by facilitating the communication
between the capital and the most distant provinces
were of the utmost importance, in many respects, to
the maintenance of the Roman authority in places
remote from the seat of government. —The whole of
Britain was intersected by these roads; and one of
them may be traced into the very interior of
Vespasiana, where it afforded a passage to the Roman
armies, kept up the communication between the
stations, and thereby checked the Caledonian clans.
This road issued from the wall of Antoninus, and
passed through CAMELON, [which see,] the Roman port
on the Carron, and pushing straight forward according
to the Roman custom, across the Carron, it pursued
its course by Torwood-house, Pleanmuir, Bannockburn,
St. Ninian's, and by the west side of the Castlehill
of Stirling, to the Forth, on the south side of
which, near Kildean, there are traces of its remains.
It here passed the Forth, and stretched forward to
Alauna, which was situated on the river Allan, about
a mile above its confluence with the Forth, and
which, as it is 12 miles from the opening in the
Roman wall, agrees with the distance in the Iter.
From thence the road went along Strathallan and at
the end of 10 miles came to the Lindum of Richard's
Itinerary, the well-known station at ARDOCH: which
see. The road, after passing on the east side of
Ardoch, ascends the moor of Orchil to the post at
Kemp's-castle, which it passes within a few yards on
the east. The road from Kemp's-hill descends the moor
to the station of Hierna, at Strageth, from which it
immediately crosses the river Earn. After the passage
of the Earn, the road turns to the right, and passes
on the north side of Inner-peffray, in an easterly
direction, and proceeds nearly in a straight line
across the moor of Gask, and, continuing its course
through the plantations of Gask, it passes the Roman
camp on the right. At the distance of 2 miles
farther on, where the plantations of Gask terminate,
this great road passes another small post on the
left. From this position the road proceeded forward
in a north-east direction to the station at Orrea,
which is situated on the west bank of the Tay, at the
present confluence of the Almond with that noble
river. Having crossed the Tay, by means of the
wooden-bridge, the Roman road proceeded up the east
side of the river, and passed through the centre of
the camp at Grassy-walls. From this position the
remains of the road are distinctly visible for a
mile up to Gellyhead, on the west of which it passed,
and went on by Innerbuist, to Nether-Collin, where it
again becomes apparent, and continues distinct to the
eye for 2½ miles, passing on to Drichmuir and Byres.
From thence, the road stretched forward in a
north-east direction, passing between Blairhead and
Gilwell to Woodhead; and thence pushing on by
Newbigging and Gallowhill on the right, it descends
Leyston-moor; and passing that village, it proceeds
forward to the Roman camp at Cupar-Angus, about 11½
miles from Orrea. From Cupar the road took a
north-east direction towards Reedie, in the parish of
Airly. On the south of this hamlet the vestiges of
the road again appear, and for more than half-a-mile
the ancient road forms the modern way. The Roman
road now points towards Kirriemuir, by which it
appears to have passed in its course to the Roman
camp at Battledikes. After traversing this camp, the
road continued its course in an east-north-east
direction for several miles along the valley on the
south side of the river South Esk, which it probably
passed near the site of Black-mill, below Esk-mount.
From this passage it went across the moor of Brechin,
where vestiges of it appear pointing to Keithock; and
at this place there are the remains of a Roman camp
which are now known by the name of Wardikes.
Beyond this camp on the north, the Roman road has been seldom or never
soon.
1n the popular tradition, this road is called the
Lang Causeway, and is supposed to have extended
northward through Perthshire and Forfarshire, and
even through Kincardineshire to Stonehaven. About 2
miles north-east from the Roman station at Fordun,
and between it and the well-known camp at Urie, there
are the traces, as it crosses a small hill, of an
artificial road, popularly called the Picts' road.
As the Romans had other stations in the north
besides those noticed, they did not always in
returning to the south follow the course of the Iter
just described. They had another Iter, the first
station of which from the Burgh-head was the Varis of
Richard, now Forres, a distance of 8 statute miles.
From Forres the Her proceeds to the Spey at Cromdale,
a distance of 19 statute miles. Proceeding southward,
along Strathaven by Loch-Bulg, to the junction of the
Dee and Cluny, the Roman troops arrived at the
commodious ford in that vicinity, a distance of 28
statute miles from the Spey. Richard does not
mention the names of the two next stations, the
first of which is supposed to have been at the height
which separates the waters that flow in opposite
directions to the Dee and the Tay, and which
consequently divides Aberdeenshire from Perthshire;
and the next, it is conjectured, was at the
confluence of the Shee with the Lornty-water, the Her
taking its course along Glen-beg and Glen-shee. The
whole extent of this route amounts to nearly 40
statute miles. A variety of circumstances indicate
the mid¬dle station to have been at Inohtuthel, which
still exhibits a remarkable camp of Roman
construction, on a height that forms the northern
bank of the Tay. From the last-mentioned station to
Orrea the distance is 9 itinerary miles, and the
real and corresponding distance from Inchtuthel
along the banks of tlie Tay to ancient Bertha is
about 10 miles. At this central station—which has
always been a military position of great
importance —the Iter joined the one already described,
and proceeded southward by the former route to the
wall of Antoninus.
It would appear that there are traces of Roman roads
even farther north. Between the rivers Don and Urie,
in Aberdeenshire, on the eastern side of Bennachee,
there exists an ancient road known in the country by
the name of the Maiden Causeway, a name by which some
of the Roman roads in the north of England are
distinguished. This proceeds from Bennachee, whereon
there was a hill-fort, more than the distance of a
mile into the woods of Pitodrie, when it disappears :
it is paved with stones, and is about 14 feet wide.
Still farther north, in the track of the Iter, as it
crosses between the two stations of Varis and
Tuessis, from Forres to the ford of Cromdale on the
Spey, there has been long known a road of very
ancient construction, leading along the course ot the
Her for several miles through the hills, and pointing
to Cromdale, where the Romans must have lorded the
Spey. Various traces of very ancient roads are still
to be seen along the track of the Iter, between the
distant station of Tuessis and Tamea, by Corgarf and
through Braemar: the tradition of the people in
Strathdee and Braemar, supports the idea that there
are remains of Roman roads which traverse the country
between the Don and the Dee. Certain it is, that
there are obvious traces of ancient roads which cross
the wild districts between Strath-don and Strathdee,
though it is impossible to ascertain where or by
whom such ancient roads were constructed, in such
directions, throughout such a country.
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