Malling is a Roman temporary marching camp (often described in earlier literature as a "fort," though it is more accurately a campaign camp) situated on the south-west shore of the Lake of Menteith in Stirlingshire. Identified from aerial photography in 1968, it enclosed approximately 26 hectares, placing it among the larger Flavian or Severan camps in central Scotland, and is generally associated with Agricolan campaigning in the late 1st century AD, though a Severan (early 3rd century) date has also been proposed.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The camp lies on the natural route around the Highland edge between the Forth valley and the western glens, and it forms part of the chain of large camps (alongside sites such as Dunblane and Ardoch) that mark Roman army movements into and beyond the Highland fringe. Its size suggests it accommodated a substantial campaigning force, likely a legionary-strength vexillation with auxiliaries.
Knowledge of Malling rests primarily on aerial photography and limited ground survey rather than excavation, which has revealed the cropmarks of the rampart circuit and several gateways with traces of tituli or claviculae characteristic of Roman temporary works. No significant artefactual assemblage has been recovered, and the precise dating remains unresolved in the absence of stratified material.
Malling is a Roman temporary marching camp (often described in earlier literature as a "fort," though it is more accurately a campaign camp) situated on the south-west shore of the Lake of Menteith in Stirlingshire. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fort site from the Roman period in Britain.
Malling is classified as a Roman fort — a military site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Bochastle (10 km), Lindon? (15 km), Doune (16.9 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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