The Bridgeness Slab

Located within Kinningars Park on Harbour Road in the Bridgeness district of Bo'ness in Falkirk, the Bridgeness Slab is a replica of a large and finely-decorated Roman monument which was discovered nearby on 16th April 1868 on land owned by Henry Cadell of Grange. Cadell gifted the original slab to the Museum of Antiquities in Edinburgh, where it is now displayed in the Museum of Scotland. A condition of the gift was that a plaque was placed on the spot at which it had been found and that a replica would be provided. It was not until 7th September 2012 that this replica was eventually unveiled, following a sustained campaign by Bo'ness Community Council over a period of ten years.

Dating from around 142 AD, the slab is 2.79m (9' 2") in length and 0.9m (2' 11") wide and records the construction of the easternmost section of the Antonine Wall thus:

"For the Emperor Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius [ known as Antoninus ], father of his country, the Second Legion Augusta built [ this work ] for a distance of 4,652 paces [ 6.9 km ]"

The inscription is flanked by a panel to the left showing a Roman cavalryman galloping over four naked natives while another panel on the right shows a purification ritual, with a bull and sheep being led to be sacrificed at an altar.


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