Battlefields›Siege of Burnswark
Roman Period

Siege of Burnswark

140
Scotland
Era
Roman Period
Battle Type
Siege
Location
Scotland
Status
Unregistered
The Battle

History & Significance

Siege of Burnswark was a Roman siege, the investment of a fortified position, fought in Scotland in 140. Which side prevailed is not recorded in the surviving sources, and its outcome is not conclusively established in the historical record. The engagement belongs to Roman Britain, the period of conquest and occupation that followed the invasion of AD 43 and the campaigns against the island's native peoples.

The ground

The ground they fought on

The site of Siege of Burnswark lies on Inverclyde Group, bedrock that formed in the Osagean. The rock here is sandstone, siltstone and mudstone.

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Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Stat Accounts
The parish Statistical Accounts of the 1790s and 1830s, describing life, work and population here.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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Protected heritage nearby

Scheduled Monuments near Siege of Burnswark

Burnswark or Birrenswark Hill,fort & Roman camps
Burnswark or Birrenswark Hill,fort & Roman camps
Scheduled monument · Iron Age · ~0.1 mi

Burnswark Hill is an Iron Age hill fort and Roman siege camp complex in Dumfriesshire, south-west Scotland. The fort occupies a prominent hilltop position above the surrounding lowlands, its defences constructed from stone and earthwork ramparts characteristic of Iron Age fortification. The under…

Fairy Knowe,mound
Fairy Knowe,mound
Scheduled monument · ~2.7 mi

Fairy Knowe is a mound monument located in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, and designated as a scheduled monument under Historic Environment Scotland reference SM2327. The site is situated on bedrock of the Border Group formation, a Meramecian sequence of sandstone with subordinate argillaceous rocks an…

Birrens, Roman military complex, enclosures and field system
Birrens, Roman military complex, enclosures and field system
Scheduled monument · Roman · ~3 mi

Birrens is a Roman military complex situated in Dumfriesshire in south-western Scotland. The site comprises the remains of a Roman fort, known as Blatobulgium in antiquity, which dates to the second century AD and was established as part of Rome's military occupation of northern Britain. The fort…

myself / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Roman camp, 360m SE of East Lodge
Roman camp, 360m SE of East Lodge
Scheduled monument · ~3.1 mi

Roman camp 360m SE of East Lodge is a fortification situated in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland. The camp occupies land underlain by Border Group sandstones interbedded with mudstone and limestone, geology typical of the region's Meramec…

Johnstonehall,Roman camps SE of
Johnstonehall,Roman camps SE of
Scheduled monument · Roman · ~3.3 mi

Johnstonehall Roman camps is a pair of Roman military encampments situated in Dumfriesshire, south-west Scotland. The camps occupy ground underlain by Yoredale Group bedrock, a sequence of Bashkirian limestone, argillaceous rocks and subordinate sandstone that creates the characteristic layered g…

Buckie Bank Cottage, fort 95m SW of
Buckie Bank Cottage, fort 95m SW of
Scheduled monument · Iron Age · ~3.4 mi

Buckie Bank Cottage Fort is an Iron Age fort situated in Dumfriesshire, south-west Scotland. The monument occupies a location where bedrock composed of sandstone, siltstone and mudstone of the Inverclyde Group forms the underlying geology. This mixed sedimentary sequence, deposited during the Osa…

Douglashall Pendicle, cairn 415m W of
Scheduled monument · ~1.5 miles
Scalewood, enclosure 370m W of
Scheduled monument · Post-Medieval · ~1.9 miles
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In the same landscape

Battles near Siege of Burnswark

Aefur Brae
~4.7 miles away
Battle of Dryfe Sands
1593
~5 miles away
Annan Airfield, Battle H.Q.
~5.7 miles away
Albie Thorn
~5.8 miles away
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Sources
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