Most people know about Hadrian's Wall - but there is also a lesser known wall which harks back to the glory days of the Roman Empire near Glasgow.
The hospitality of Glaswegians is well renowned, but 2,000 years ago the Romans came to town and... Let's say they were not afforded much of a welcome.
Hadrian's Wall is one most of us are acquainted with but, in fact, the little-known Antonine Wall marks the furthest north they built a wall before they were sent homewards.
After encountering little resistance down in the Borders, the Romans braved Glasgow, building a wall in AD 142 - some 20 years after they started work on Hadrian's Wall.
The Antonine Wall ran between the Firth of Forth and Firth of Clyde, through Glasgow, and its ruins can still be found today.
But it seems that after encountering the locals, the Romans abandoned their position just eight years later and scarpered back down south ...
The wall has decayed badly in the centuries since, but skilfully carved distance stones were placed intermittently along the way to determine how many feet had been built by each legion. One such stone was discovered at Summerston in Glasgow – and in 2018 researchers at Glasgow University tested it for paint pigment and found it had been decorated in the colours red and yellow.
While these decorated stones served to measure distances they also were also reckoned to have been painted in order to serve as propaganda tools to spook the native people.
Dr Louisa Campbell, who led the research, said: "These sculptures are propaganda tools used by Rome to demonstrate their power over indigenous groups, it helps the Empire control their frontiers and it has different meanings to different audiences.”
The reason for the Antonine Wall's decay is that it was a flimsier structure, built using wood and mud, instead of the stone of Hadrian's Wall.
This may be because Emperor Hadrian was present to oversee the building of his very own wall, whereas his successor Emperor Antoninus never visited Britain.
The Scottish Government lobbied for the remains of the Antonine Wall to receive World Heritage by extension status like Hadrian's Wall, and it was granted in 2008.
The Summerston distance stone can be found on display at the Hunterian Museum, though this is currently closed due to lockdown.
A visit to the ruins puts paid, in some part, to that theory that the Romans built a wall just to keep the Scots out of England - at least they ventured as far as Glasgow before deciding it wasn't for them.
This article was originally published on May 5, 2018.
