TWEEDSMUIR PARISH HISTORY.
4. The Romans in Upper Tweed and Ericstane..
There is no record of the Romans of ever having entered the southern extremities of the Upper Tweed Valley confirmed by the lack of evidence of Roman roads (5). This is despite the fact that there are two sites with the name Chester in the area. The area would have been heavily forested with Oak, Hazel, Alder, Elm, Ash and Birch and was inhabitated by a tribe named the Selgovae - see map. However, a couple of miles south of the Parish boundary in Dumfriesshire near the Devil's Beeftub at Ericstane there is considerable evidence of the Romans having passed that way. There are remains of roman roads - Scheduled Monument No 3348, signal stations at White Type and Beattock Summit - RCAHMS Canmore ID 48494 -and also a fortlet at Redheugh and a marching camp at Little Clyde.(1) This cluster of signal stations/fortlets etc at Ericstane was essential to monitor the movement of the Roman army as they proceeded north from Annandale via Ericstanebrae to the Clyde Valley. The decision to go this route and not via the Tweed Valley would have been a purely road building engineering decision. The area of influence of the Selgovae tribe more than likely covered both routes - see map.
c 1787 part of what was once thought part of a gold Roman Commander's breastplate was found by a peat digger at Ericstane and has been dated as c303 AD and associated with the Vicennalia of Diocletian. It has subsequently been identified as a fibula (Roman brooch).(3) The item is much smaller than it looks in the image - it measures 6.7cms across the bow and 9.6 cms overall. The artefact is recorded by the RCAHMS on their on line archive Canmore as ID 48485. The actual artefact is in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art where it is catalogued as The Ericstanebrae Fibula and part of the William Randolph Hearst Collection. According to the LACMA website the fibula is not currently on public view. Previously a replica had been made and was in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh - however in 2014 it was loaned to the Moffat Museum in Dumfriesshire. The replica is displayed there in the refurbished museum and can be seen on their website www.moffatmuseum.co.uk. It can found on the main gallery section of the Exhibition Area.
In the eighteenth century a damaged, slightly more than life size, marble head was found near Hawkshaws in the Fruid valley. The head is that of a Roman emperor or general and probably came to Hawkshaws as booty from some Roman site elsewhere.(1) It is now nicely displayed in the Royal Museum in Edinburgh in the Early Peoples section. More about this head on page 6 Hawkshaws,
References.
1) Keppie, Lawrence; Scotland's Roman Remains, Bell and Bain, Glasgow 1998. p85.
2) Not in use.
3) Curle, James; An Inventory of Objects of Roman and Provincial Origin found on sites in Scotland not Definitely Associated with Roman Constructions, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Vol VI, Sixth Series, Session 1931-31, Edinburgh 1932, pp370-371.
4) Clarkson, Tim; The Men of the North, Birlinn, Edinburgh, 2010. p9.
5) Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland; Inventory for Peeblesshire, HMSO, Edinburgh, 1967. Old roads at the head of the Tweed Valley, Vol II, No 652, p352.
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