The Antonine Wall World Heritage Site: a Short Guide
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Frontiers Of The Roman Empire: The Antonine Wall World Heritage Site A Short Guide April 2019 NIO M O UN IM D R T IA A L • P • W L O A I R D L D N H O E M R I E TA IN G O E • PATRIM United Nations Frontiers of the Educational, Scientific and Roman Empire Cultural Organization inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2005 A Short Guide April 2019 A Short Guide April 2019 Contents Introduction This short guide is an introduction to the Frontiers of the Roman Empire: Antonine Wall (FRE:AW) World Heritage Site (WHS), its inscription on the World Heritage List, and its management and governance. It is one of a series of Site-specific short guides for each of Scotland’s six WHS. Introduction 1 For information outlining what World Heritage status is and what it means, the responsibilities SHETLAND Antonine Wall: Key Facts 2 and benefits attendant upon achieving World Heritage status, and current approaches The World Heritage Site and Buffer Zone 3 to protection and management see the World Heritage in Scotland short guide. See Further Information and Contacts Statement of Outstanding Universal Value 5 ORKNEY for more information. 1 Kirkwall Managing the Antonine Wall 6 Planning and the Antonine Wall 9 Western Isles Stornoway Further Information and Contacts 10 St kilda 2 Inverness Aberdeen World Heritage Sites in Scotland Perth KEY: 1 Heart of Neolithic Orkney Forth Bridge 6 5 3 2 St Kilda Edinburgh Glasgow 3 FRONTIERS OF THE ROMAN 4 EMPIRE: ANTONINE WALL 4 New Lanark 5 Old and New Towns of Edinburgh 6 Forth Bridge Cover image: The Antonine Wall at Bar Hill looking towards Croy Hill. World Heritage in Scotland World Heritage in Scotland 1 A Short Guide April 2019 A Short Guide April 2019 The World Heritage Site The Antonine Wall: Key Facts and Buffer Zone • 1987 – Hadrian’s Wall is inscribed on the • Other proposed extensions on the Tentative THE ANTONINE WALL World Heritage List as a cultural WHS. Lists include: Frontiers of the Roman Empire: The Antonine Wall runs for 60 km (37 miles; The WHS does not includes those parts Croatian Limes (Croatia); Frontiers of the • 1995 – the World Heritage Committee or 40 Roman miles) across central Scotland, (c. 2 km) which have been destroyed, mainly Roman Empire extension (The Netherlands); from modern Bo’ness on the Firth of Forth to through quarrying and the construction of (WHC) approves an extension to the Frontiers of the Roman Empire: the Danube Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage Site to include Old Kilpatrick on the Firth of Clyde. The WHS canals, roads and railways, but these sections Limes (Austria); and Frontiers of the Roman has been defined as a 50m wide corridor, which are included in the buffer zone to maintain the the Upper German-Raetian Limes and agrees Empire: Ripa Pannonica (Hungary). that together the sites will be known as includes the main linear elements: the rampart, linear integrity of the monument. The WHS the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World • The Antonine Wall runs through five council ditch and outer mound. This corridor is widened does not include the modern buildings which Heritage Site (FREWHS), and individually as areas. These are: East Dunbartonshire, Falkirk, at certain sections to include the Military Way, lie within its boundaries, but does include the Frontiers of the Roman Empire: Hadrian’s Wall Glasgow City, North Lanarkshire, and West where it is known. The WHS also includes, either underlying Roman archaeology. and Frontiers of the Roman Empire: Upper Dunbartonshire. within the corridor or as a separate definition, German-Raetian Limes. It is recommended the remains of the 16 surviving forts together that this be seen as the second phase of • These five councils, along with Historic with their accompanying annexes and civil a possible wider transboundary nomination Environment Scotland (HES) are partners settlements and other known external features: to encompass the remains of all the second in the delivery of the Management Plan for nine fortlets, six expansions, two smaller century Roman frontiers. the Antonine Wall. enclosures and part or all of the 16 surviving labour camps in the vicinity of the Wall. • 2008 – the WHC approves the extension to include the Frontiers of the Roman Empire: Antonine Wall. Route of the Antonine Wall showing forts and fortlets. Kinneil fortlet. 2 World Heritage in Scotland World Heritage in Scotland 3 A Short Guide April 2019 A Short Guide April 2019 The World Heritage Site Statement of Outstanding and Buffer Zone Universal Value THE BUFFER ZONE Each WHS has a Statement of Outstanding The Antonine Wall is one of the significant To protect the important landscape setting of the widely visible in the landscape. It is this relationship Universal Value (SOUV) which provides a clear elements of the Roman Limes present in Europe, Antonine Wall a buffer zone has been designated to with the landscape that is a fundamental part of understanding of the reasons for the Site’s the Middle East and North Africa. It exhibits the north and south of the monument. The buffer what makes the WHS so significant and contributes inscription on the World Heritage List, and of important interchanges of human and cultural zone is designed to comply with UNESCO guidance to how it is experienced, understood and what needs to be managed in order to sustain values at the apogee of the Roman Empire. the OUV for the long term. The SOUV describes that buffer zones should include the immediate appreciated. Criterion (iii): Bear a unique or at least exceptional setting of the inscribed Site, important views, the WHS and its importance, lists the Criteria The buffer zone has been defined as a series of for inscription on the World Heritage List, testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization and other areas or attributes that are functionally which is living or which has disappeared. important as a support to the Site and its areas along the Wall, up to approximately 1–1.5 km explains how the WHS satisfies UNESCO’s protection. It defines an area where development from the Wall to the north and south. These areas requirements for Authenticity and Integrity, The Antonine Wall bears testimony to the proposals require careful consideration by are fragmented by existing settlements, roads and and summarises the management requirements. maximum extension of the power of the Roman developers and decision-makers to determine areas marked for urban expansion. Fourteen zones See the 2014-19 Management Plan for the SOUV Empire, by the consolidation of its frontiers in the whether they are likely to significantly impact the have been described, including small parks or open for FRE: AW WHS. north of the British Isles, in the middle of the 2nd spaces with settlements. In order to maintain a WHS, its Outstanding Universal Value (OUV), CRITERIA century AD. The property illustrates the Roman or its Authenticity and Integrity. general constancy of width, and to create a robust Empire’s ambition to dominate the world in planning boundary that can be more strongly To be included on the World Heritage List, Sites order to establish its law and way of life there The Antonine Wall was not constructed in isolation. defended, the buffer zones have been defined must meet at least one out of ten selection criteria, in a long-term perspective. It was deliberately positioned with reference to the as tight areas around the archaeological remains, as explained in UNESCO’s Operational Guidelines for surrounding topography, resources and landscape and boundary features include roads, railways and the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention. Criterion (iv): Be an outstanding example of of central Scotland, notably the southern edge of the Forth and Clyde Canal. The full mapping for the The Criteria under which FRE:AW is inscribed on a type of building or architectural or technological the valley formed by the Rivers Kelvin and Carron WHS and its buffer zone can be found in the 2007 the World Heritage List are: ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) – a position that offered the Wall wide-ranging WHS Nomination Document presented significant stage(s) in human history. views over the Kilsyth Hills, the Campsie Fells, and to UNESCO. Criterion (ii): Exhibit an important interchange Kilpatrick Hills and meant that the Wall itself was of human values, over a span of time or within The Antonine Wall is an outstanding example a cultural area of the world, on developments in of the technological development of Roman architecture or technology, monumental arts, military architecture and frontier defence. town-planning or landscape design. Antonine Wall Map. Bridgeness Slab; © National Museums Scotland. 4 World Heritage in Scotland World Heritage in Scotland 5 A Short Guide April 2019 A Short Guide April 2019 Managing The Antonine Wall Managing The Antonine Wall KEY MANAGEMENT PARTNERS GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE As a serial transnational WHS, the Frontiers of the inscribed sections to those on the tentative list Roman Empire World Heritage Site (FREWHS) or considering nomination. presently includes Partners in Scotland, England At an operational level, coordinators and Site DCMS UNESCO WORLD and Germany. The number of international HERITAGE COMMITTEE Partners could grow further in the future as managers (the Hexham Group) meet at least once other countries with sections of the second a year, usually more often, to discuss monitoring century Roman frontier submit nomination issues and share best practice approaches to Site bids to UNESCO. Coordination and delivery of management and presentation. SCOTTISH MINISTERS ENGLISH HERITAGE ICOMOS this complicated international management In Scotland, the Partners responsible for delivering arrangement is undertaken at several levels within the Management Plan for the Antonine Wall are CULTURE & HISTORIC the Partnership, from strategic to operational.