Roads and routeways are key to understanding the dynamics of control. This will be true during periods of occupation in Scotland but, as routeways persist both as knowledge and as physical features, also during periods where influence was exercised from northern England. They would have been in use for periodic patrols and visits into south east Scotland. In many respects, because they indicate the ease of movement for Roman activity, roads determine the gradients of control across the landscape even more than the location of individual forts. Other communication systems are also relevant, including possible networks of signal stations such as the one proposed on Eildon Hill North for communication between the forts at Oakwood and Newstead (see also Murphy et al 2018; Tibbs 2022, 135).
Whilst knowledge of the north to south road network is reasonably discernible, cross-country routes are less clear.
Transportation of Goods and People
The Roman military required a supply network of both road and sea transport to keep their armies in the field. In the SESARF region, the most obvious evidence for this is the network of roads some of which have been excavated in sections while others can be extrapolated from the locations of fortlets, forts and temporary camps within the region.
The major artery of this network was Dere Street, and further discussion of this should include an understanding of the wider supply network in Northern England. John Poulter’s work (2009; 2010) on the planning of Roman structures included a study of a portion of Dere Street from the Vale of York to Newstead and his fieldwork methodology produced interesting results that may be extended. Recent work in south west England (Parcero-Oubiña et al 2023) has suggested promising methodologies both to detect Roman routes using large-scale LiDAR survey and to predict possible layout where preservation is less good, which can then the ground-truthed (see also Tibbs 2022).
Recent work has advanced our understanding of the physical construction of roads in south east Scotland (White et al 2014; Dunbar and Eng 2016) and this is an area with potential for further research. At Dun Law, it has been suggested that local scarcity of timber impacted road construction and larger pieces of wood may needed to have been imported for its construction (O’Connell et al 2014; McCulloch et al 2021; see also SESARF Chapter 2.9). It would be useful to examine different locations for similar patterns.
Despite the extensive road network combined with the number of rivers requiring to be crossed, there is no evidence within the region for bridges. While fords must have been important, it is unlikely that they would have been the sole method of river crossing. Further study is hampered by poor understanding of past river flows and shifting river channels.
Road transport alone would likely have been insufficient to supply the campaigning Roman army (Martin 1992). However, it is unknown exactly where the ports would have been to supply the Roman army and the Antonine Wall. The army were still being heavily supplied from across the Roman Empire and at times sea routes may have been the primary means of supply to Cramond in particular. This suggests that there were large ships coming into Scotland regularly but the supporting evidence for this is lacking. Suggestions of a port at Fisherrow in Musselburgh to supply Inveresk have been made, but there is a lack of supporting evidence. Cramond may also have been closely linked to a harbour, although no material remains have been found.
Major infrastructure may not have been needed to allow the docking, and loading and unloading of ships. Soft coasts, a knowledge of tides, and a gang-plank can be effectively used. Landing places and berths may have been wholly timber built constructions in the intertidal zone and unless preserved in suitable sedimentary environments or sought specifically by archaeological investigations, may be ephemeral and absent from the archaeological record in the region (discussed in Martin 1992; Wessex Archaeology 2014).
The evidence for the Severan campaigns between AD 208–211 (Birley 1999, 170–187; Breeze 1982, 128–136) suggests that a large army reached the Forth by heading up Dere Street. The navy was vital in supplying these troops and the rebuilding of massive grain stores at Arbeia at South Shields demonstrates the size of the task. Whilst the nature of the use of the coast has not been greatly studied, there is a consensus that Cramond would have been a perfect location for a Roman port or dock for ships, in so far that it would have been situated in an ideal location to supply Roman troops. The presence of a Roman fort at this location has been known and noted on maps since antiquity and Cramond was reoccupied during the Severan Campaigns. However there has never been any definitive archaeological evidence in support of this theory.