Ruins of Roman fort found in back gardens

The remains of a small Roman fort have been found in three back gardens in East Dunbartonshire.

Roman forts would often have towers, walls and ditches to help protect the people inside from attackers.

Archaeologists say this fort was uncovered along with parts of what is likely to be the Antonine Wall.

Around 2,000 years ago that wall stretched about 60km from Bo'ness on the Firth of Forth to Old Kilpatrick on the River Clyde - marking the most northern part of the Roman Empire.

New research from Guard Archaeology said that the fort would have given soldiers "commanding views" over land that wasn't under control of the Romans.

The site where the remains were found was discovered in Bearsden in East Dunbartonshire back in 2017.

It was found under the gardens of three houses that were nextdoor to each other.

Some work was being done ahead of a development there when the discovery was made, then the decision was made to have a closer look.

A study of a ditch with special sensors revealed stone structures which experts say are likely to be surviving fragments of the Antonine Wall.

Experts used a form of carbon dating and came to the conclusion that the wood at the bottom of the ditch dated back to the time when the wall would have been used.

Built in AD 142 by the Roman Army on the orders of its emperor Antoninus Pius, Guard Archaeology explained that the Antonine Wall cut Scotland in two, with conquered Britons to the south and free Britons to the north.

Just over 20 years after the Antonine Wall was built, sometime in the AD 160s, the Romans abandoned the wall and retreated back to Hadrian's Wall.