Burnswark Hillfort

About Burnswark Hillfort

The largest hillfort in Dumfries and Galloway is also the most hotly contested – not just in the Iron Age, but among historians today. Known as Birrenswark to the Romans, this huge complex, occupying the 17-acre tabletop summit of Burnswark Hill, was the capital or oppidum of the Novantae tribe.

Roman camps in the form of earthworks with ballista platforms surround the fort like a vice, most prominently on its southern flank. The southern camp had three wide gateways facing up towards the hillfort and shielded by large earthen mounds, collectively known as the ‘Three Brethren’. The purpose of these Roman works is at the centre of the debate over what happened here.

In the 1960 a theory emerged that Burnswark was not the scene of an attack, but was instead a Roman artillery practice zone. More recent archaeology, however, tells a very different story. More Roman projectiles have been unearthed at Burnswark than anywhere else in Britain, including weapons of psychological warfare such as sling bullets, pierced with a hole to make them whistle when shot. Arrowheads, likely from Syrian archers, and stone ballista balls have also emerged from the soil.

Together with archaeological evidence, the brutal realities of Roman occupation – which led to widespread depopulation – strongly suggests that Burnswark was no Roman practice camp but the scene of siege of tremendous and terrible scale. Our understanding of Rome’s legacy in Scotland is now much more critical than before. Could Burnswark Hill be the ultimate example of the price of native defiance?

NB: Post code is approximate; Location assistance: what3words: corrupted.galleries.proper and National Grid Reference: NY 1860 7870