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The Roman road that is
supposed to have passed through the parish of Biggar has entirely
disappeared. Gordon, in his ‘Itiner-arium Septentrionale,’ published in
1727, states that traces of it were at that time distinctly to be seen in
Westraw Moss, west of the town. This road or causeway is referred to so late
as 1765, in the Records of the Baron Bailie’s Court of Biggar, when a
complaint of Robert Wilson, ‘tacksman of ye grass of Westraw Moss, above ye
cassaw leading through ye said moss,’ was lodged against certain feuars in
Westraw for cutting ‘Roughheads,’ and pasturing their cattle on parts of the
moss, to which, it was alleged, they had no right. This ‘cassaw’ gave the
name of ‘Causeyend’ to a small hamlet built at its western extremity, and
some of the houses of which still exist. This causeway was, however, in all
likelihood, of comparatively modern formation. The workmen, while engaged
two years ago in making excavations in this moss for the line of the
Symington, Biggar, and Broughton Railway, came upon a causeway of stones,
about three feet below the surface, which had evidently been formed at an
early period, and which, in all probability, was part of the Watling Street
of the Romans. It was minutely examined by several gentlemen in the
neighbourhood, and, from the systematic and skilful arrangement of the
stones, no doubt was left on their minds that they had been placed there for
the purpose of -forming a road. By this Iter, then, most of the Roman troops
would pass and repass on their marches to subdue, or, as Claudian says, ‘to
bridle the fierce Scots.’ The probability, therefore, is, that Agricola,
Hadrian, Urbicus, Calphurnius Agricola, Marcellus, Severus, Theodosius, and
other commanders of the successive invading armies, halted at Biggar, and
marshalled their legions on the adjoining plains.
Along the great Roman Iter,
on each side of the valley of the river Clyde, circular earthen works are to
be seen on the summits of the more isolated hills, and are supposed to be
the strongholds of the early inhabitants. No less than eight or nine of
these primitive fortifications are to be found in the parish of Coulter, and
traces of them are to be seen on several of the Biggar hills, particularly
one distinctly marked on Bizzyberry, immediately above the town. For a most
learned and elaborate account of the ancient camps and Roman roads in the
Upper Ward of Lanarkshire, we refer to the recently published papers in the
‘British Archaeological Journal,’ by George Vere Irving, Esq. of Newton,—a
gentleman who is gradually develop-ing, by laborious researches, the ancient
condition of his native district.
The Romans, as already
stated, finally withdrew from Scotland during the fifth century. Their
retirement led to the formation of what has been called the Regnum Cumbrense,
or Kingdom of Strathcluyd. It existed till the close of the tenth century,
and of course included the Biggar district; but we are unable to identify
this district with any of the notable transactions that occurred during that
lengthened period. |
