Westerwood was a small Roman fort on the Antonine Wall, situated on high ground between Croy Hill and Castlecary in central Scotland. Built in the early 140s AD under Antoninus Pius and occupied for roughly a generation until the abandonment of the Wall c. AD 160, it was one of the smaller "secondary" forts added to the original scheme, enclosing approximately 0.7 hectares.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
As one of the chain of forts along the Antonine frontier, Westerwood helped garrison a stretch of the Wall between the larger installations at Castlecary and Croy Hill, contributing to frontier surveillance and control of movement. It is particularly noted for an unusual altar dedicated by Vibia Pacata, wife of a centurion, to the Silvanae and the Quadriviae (Roman goddesses of crossroads) — a rare female-commissioned military dedication.
Limited excavation, principally by J. K. St Joseph and later small-scale work, has confirmed the fort's defences, internal road layout, and identified a probable annexe to the east, along with the Vibia Pacata altar found in 1963. The site is otherwise relatively poorly explored compared with neighbouring Bar Hill or Croy Hill, and much of the interior plan remains conjectural.
Westerwood was a small Roman fort on the Antonine Wall, situated on high ground between Croy Hill and Castlecary in central Scotland. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fort site from the Roman period in Britain.
Westerwood 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 Croy Hill (2.6 km), Castlecary (3.4 km), Bar Hill Roman Fort (5.2 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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