TWEEDSMUIR PARISH HISTORY.
Hawkshaw Roman Marble Head.
The Roman Marble Head mentioned in the RCAHMS report on page Hawkshaw is now nicely displayed in the National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh. It had previously been in the National Museum of Antiquities to which the head was donated in 1780. The report quotes Armstrong (3), writing in 1775, who actually stated "Near this, are faint vestiges of a chapel and burial ground, where the head of Monk, in statuary, was some time since found." So, at the time the head was thought to be that of a monk hence an automatic association with the chapel. The original quotation from Armstrong above as indicated did not have the indefinite article "a" before the word Monk. This led to some confusion as George Chalmers(9) writing in 1810 quoting Armstrong said that the head was of General Monk who had been Cromwell's Commander in Chief in Scotland! Pennecuik(10) writing in 1815 added the indefinite article "a" to avoid further confusion. However the head proved to be Roman and therefore it would appear to have no obvious connection with the chapel at all. This concept is continued by the RCAHMS who now have the Chapel and the Roman Head on separate pages of their on-line archive Canmore(2). The donation in 1780 to the Museum of Antiquities mentioned above was by the Rev. T. Muchet of Tweedsmuir. The head supposed to be that of a priest, which had been ploughed up not far from the ruins of a chapel within half a mile of the tower of Hawkshaw, in the parish of Tweedsmuir.(4)
The origin of the head and the findspot would appear to be just as obscure as the location of the chapel. The head is classed as a second century object found on a non-Roman site and of Trajanic date and may represent plunder from the south (5) That the head was plunder is echoed by Lawrence Keppie (6) who stated "may have been loot from a roman site". This roman site could have been in the south as indicated above but it is thought that it could have come from Central Scotland where it "has been suggested that the extremely well carved head once formed part of a triumphal monument erected in the Lowlands of Scotland to commemorate the Roman conquest of the area. It dates to the early years of the second century AD.(7).
There are erudite articles on the subject of the Hawkshaw Head but in the main they are concentrating on the subject depicted on the head.(8). Is this a famous army General or maybe even an Emporer of Rome?
References.
The Royal Commission on the Ancient Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) and Historic Scotland (H.S.) combined in 2015 to form a new organisation Historic Environment Scotland (H.E.S.). The references in the above pages and following references to the RCAHMS and HS should now be read as H.E.S.
1) Not in use.
2) Royal Commission on the Ancient Monuments of Scotland, Inventory for Peeblesshire. Edinburgh, 1967, p236. Also Canmore ID 48546 for Chapel Site and 48557 for Roman Head.
3) Armstrong, Mostyn, John; A Companion to the Map of the County of Peebles, W Creech, Edinburgh 1775, p107.
4) Curle, James; An Inventory of Objects of Roman and Provincial Roman Origin Found on Sites in Scotland not Definitely Associated with Roman Constructions, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Vol VI, Sixth Series, 1931-32, Edinburgh, 1932. pp326-329, p368.
5) Robertson, Anne; Roman Finds from Non-Roman Sites in Scotland, Britannia 1, Oxford, 1970. pp205-206.
6) Keppie, Lawrence; Scotland's Roman Remains, Bell and Bain, Glasgow, 1998, p85.
7) Crarke, Breeze and Mackay, D V, D J and G; The Romans in Scotland: an introduction to the collections of the National Museum of Antiques of Scotland, HMSO, Edinburgh, 1908, Front Cover/Frontispiece.
8) Russel, Miles, and Manley, Harry; Establishing identity and Context for the Bosham and Hawkshaws Heads, Britannia, Cambridge, 2015, p12.
9) Chalmers, George; Caledonia, or, an Account Historical and Topographical of North Britain from the Most Ancient to the Present Times, Constable & Co, Edinburgh, 1810. Vol II pp957-958
10) Pennecuik, Alexander; Works of Alexander Pennecuik containing the Description of Tweeddale, Allardice, 1815. p244.