Shielhill South Signal Tower
About
Set on the crest of a low glacial ridge with clear views in every direction, Shielhill South was one of two paired watchtowers flanking the Roman road, its counterpart standing across the highway to the north. David Woolliscroft and Birgitta Hoffmann excavated the site in 1973 and again in 1996, confirming its place in the Gask Ridge signalling chain near the frontier's western anchor at Ardoch. The tower was abandoned in 87 CE, decades before this snapshot, when Rome withdrew from Scotland.
What happened here
A small stone tower with a timber top, sited so that it can see the next one along the line. Half a dozen men live in it. They watch the ground in front, and they watch the tower on either side. A signal — fire and smoke at night, something visible by day — passes a warning down the chain far faster than a rider can, though it can only carry a message that was agreed in advance. The rest of the time it is a lookout post on a road, a river crossing or a frontier line, and the work is boredom punctuated by inspections. Supplies come up from the fort behind. Towers on a frontier stand within sight of each other for hundreds of miles.
Sources
Nearby
.png?width=800)
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →