IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Whitegates Place, Tamfourhill Industrial Estate, FALKIRK, FK1 4RD

From Wikipedia: The Antonine Wall, known to the Romans as Vallum Antonini, was a turf fortification on stone foundations, built by the Romans across what is now the Central Belt of Scotland, between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde. Representing the northernmost frontier barrier of the Roman Empire, it spanned approximately 39 miles. Construction began in AD 142 at the order of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius, and took about 12 years to complete.

This view is intended to complement an earlier photo, a view in the opposite direction: Image; the description accompanying that photo provides further information. Watling Lodge was the site of a gate through the Antonine Wall; the gate was protected by a fortlet. The best-preserved portion of the ditch of the Antonine Wall lies near a present-day house called Watling Lodge. The nomination document proposing World Heritage status for the Antonine Wall says of this part of the wall: "To the east of the house the ditch preserves almost its original profile of 12m wide by 4.5m deep, while the outer mound is particularly sharp because of the steep slope to the north. The rampart base is not visible, though it has been located through excavation. Generally, to the east of Watling Lodge the rampart was mostly constructed of clay(*); to the west it was of turf." [(*) That is to say, earth (as opposed to turfs) revetted with clay: "although it is commonly stated that the Antonine Wall was built of turf, a considerable part of it was actually built of earth revetted by clay cheeks; turf cheeks are also known. Most of the eastern 16km (10 miles) from Watling Lodge to Bo'ness was constructed in this manner, although turf was used in certain places. Some earthen sections have also been recorded at the west end of the Wall" – David J. Breeze in his book "The Antonine Wall" (2006).] In this view, the rampart itself is on the left; as at other parts of the Antonine Wall, the material that was excavated when digging the ditch was tipped out on the northern side of the ditch (the right-hand side in this photo), forming the so-called upcast mound (or outer mound). The Antonine Wall was granted World Heritage status in 2008, becoming incorporated into the trans-national "Frontiers of the Roman Empire" World Heritage Site.

A bottle of Becks floats serenely by on the Forth and Clyde Canal. Nearby somewone was fly fishing. The woodland on the far side looks wild and has probably grown on former industrial land.

What was once the site of the Camelon chemical works on the south bank of the canal near Falkirk is now a woodland with open spaces.

The path heads into a housing estate on the way to Camelon railway station.

The ditch and ramparts which are the remains of the Antonine Wall

Plaque at Watling Lodge

Viewed from the canal embankment.

These modern houses are close to the site of Tamfourhill, which, apparently vanished, like so many other old buildings, in the second half of the 20th century. In the first edition of the Ordnance Survey six-inch map it is named Thomfuirhall, linking it by name with Glenfuir House, also no longer there, which stood beside the original flight of locks and basins down to the Forth and Clyde Canal.