Walking The Antonine Wall Trail, Kirkintilloch to Castlecary, Scotland, directions and Roman history

This is the walking route from Kirkintilloch to Castlecary, following the path of the Antonine Wall, built by the Romans after they had invaded Scotland. The film shows what remains today of the wall, the Roman forts and some beautiful scenery. We walked the best preserved and most scenic parts of the wall, between Kirkintilloch and Falkirk, over 2 days.
You will have heard of Hadrian’s Wall, but you may not be aware that they built a second wall further north, the Antonine Wall. The Romans built this wall between AD 142-3, in Scotland and occupied it for at least 20 years. It extended over 37 miles from the Clyde to the Forth.
Day One - This has a really scenic route, from Kirkintilloch to Twechar. You will visit Bar Hill, the best preserved fort along the Antonine Wall. There is beautiful scenery and great stretches of the Antonine Wall ditch from Castle Hill, Dullator and also at Toll Park. The film gives directions for the walking route which was just under 8 miles long approx.
We started our walk from Banks Road, Kirkintilloch, from there walk down the track and head east along the canal footpath. At the Tintock Wood sign keep left and then cross under the canal, through the tunnel and continue along the path east until you reach Twechar where you get the first glimpse of the Antonine Wall ditch. Cross over the bridge and continue down main street until you reach the war memorial, turn left up the track until you reach Bar Hill Roman Fort. Head up Castle Hill, for great views, before walking one of the most impressive sections of the ditch, as you head down the slope.
If you are in need of refreshments when you reach Twechar, there is a pub on the right of main street or further up the road you will find the Healthy Living Centre, which offers basic food and drinks.
After Castle Hill follow the sign-posted path, before you cross the B802. Continue to follow the path to Croy Hill, with spectacular scenery and views. The fort is north of Croy Hill on the descent although nothing remains today. Turn left at the cross path then take the next right towards Castlecary. When you come to the road head right and walk along it. When you come to a railway bridge take the left path and follow the path until you come to another railway tunnel, pass through it. You will see some spectacular ditch in this section at Dullator. Continue along the path, past Westerwood farm, which sits on the site of a Roman fort. Be prepared the track at the north of Cumbernauld airport is overgrown and difficult to walk through. The stretch of the ditch at Tollpark is much better and this has a long section of ditch and pleasant views to the north. This brings you to the end of the day 1 route. If you are following the 2 day walking route, when you reach Wyndford Road make your way to your accommodation. If you are staying at the Castlecary Hotel continue along the walking path directly ahead, until you reach the back of the Hotel. If you are staying at the Black Bull in Cumbernauld Village, take a right and walk down to the B816, where you can catch the X37 to the village or continue walking if you have the stamina. Please note the last bus is 7pm approx, so check times. Directly opposite the bus stop is the Wardpark Film Studios where they filmed some of The Avengers Age of Ultron and The Outlander tv series.
If you want to do the full 2 day walk and are driving to the area you can park your car near Lenzie train station then catch an X87 bus from Kirkintilloch Rd to John Street, which is close to Banks Rd. At the end of day 2 you can take the train from Falkirk back to Lenzie.
Tips: My advice come prepared for all types of weather, it didn’t stop raining on day 2!
Highlights:
0:02:42 - Bar Hill Roman Fort, Twechar.
0:04:53 - Castle Hill Ditch.
0:06:43 - Croy Hill Fort and ditch.
0:09:03 - East Dullatur.
0:11:04 - Tollpark.
Music credits:
Thank you to all artists whose music I have used in this film.
All music courtesy of You Tube Audio Library
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
Monument by Track Tribe (Roman Britain intro title)
Song of Sadhana by Jesse Gallagher
Venkatesananda by Jesse Gallagher
Mind Stream by Chris Haugen
The Romans featured in the film are the re-enactment group the Ermine Street Guard.
Thank you for watching my film, if you enjoyed it then please feel free to like it and leave a comment. Why don’t you have a look at some of the other films on my channel. I have made a number of films about Roman Britain and one showing all the remaining Antonine wall sites that you can still visit today. Don’t forget to like my film which will encourage me to finish editing day two where we walked from Castlecary to Falkirk. The rights for all trademarks and copyrighted material remains with the owners, no infringement of copyright is intended. Any content used here is with the intention of fair use. Film © MrFord4210

[@pantaleodeluca7229]

Grandioso! Vestigia romane impressionanti. Filmato molto ben fatto. Complimenti.

[@KryptonitetoallBS]

After 20 years the Romans became complacent and their defence was lax. The KYT approached noisily from the north of Bar Hill after an afternoon sesh in The Chase, and this drew the Romans out from their positions. Seeing the Young Team there the Romans laughed and were then caught off guard as the Hoods came charging at them from the South. After a stramash lasting no more than 5 minutes the Romans scattered and were chased all the way to Croy where the Romans surrendered to the local Bundy. And that was the end of The Romans. The KYT and the Hoods celebrated in the Redbrae till closing time when they forgot their pact and knocked the granny out of each other, which led to Kirky becoming a dry town for the best part of 2,000 years!

[@Jinty92]

Excellent video. I was surprised that the Antonine Wall foundations in Bearsden were not covered in either film. I live South of the Antonine Wall but have to drive passed the start point of Old Kilpatrick before coming to my work place at Duntocher. There are many local buildings, youth clubs, community and sports centres that have the name Antonine. There are also street names like Antonine Way. The School I work in has different names for base classes in primary & Secondary & one Secondary class is called Antonine.

[@MrFord4210]

Hi Jinty92, Thank you for your feedback, much appreciated. These two films describe a two day walk along the most scenic and well-preserved part of the wall between Kirkintilloch and Falkirk, which I highly recommend. The wall ran from coast to coast and I visited all visible remains including Bearsden which are featured in this film that you might want to check out. kzbin.info/www/bejne/sGTKhZmjitl7q80

[@Destro7000]

What was drawn on that Trigpoint? @ 4:57 Who are those people?

[@MrFord4210]

Hi Destro 7000, The face on the right is Jack Nicholson from the film, The Shining. My film of the Stanley Kubrick exhibition features some of the original props from the film:kzbin.info/www/bejne/pKnVhJpjba-dppo .Sorry I can't help you with the left hand image unfortunately, hopefully someone else knows?