Bothwellhaugh Roman Fort

Bothwellhaugh was a small mining village between Motherwell and Hamilton. It was demolished in 1965, having been occupied from around 1885. Prior to World War 1, 1000 miners would mine over 2000 tones of coal a day. This coal mine was what led to Hamilton Palace subsiding, and having to be demolished.
The mine closed in 1959, due to flooding in the pits, and the financial costs of pumping the water was too high. The houses were in a poor state. It was decided to flood the area, creating Strathclyde Loch.

However, before the village of Bothwellhaugh was flooded, it overlooked the Roman road and bridge over the South Clyde Water, This Roman Road was known as Watling Street.

In 1925, the Roman Fort was discoved. The Fort is around a days walk from the Antonine Wall, which was built by the Romans across Central Scotland and was around the furthest north the Romans went. The Roman Fort at Strathclyde Park is thought to be connected to the Antonine Wall by Roman roads but reasearch is still being carried out regarding this. Troops and the cavalry would have been housed in the Fort.

In 1973, between the Fort and the Roman Bridge, a Roman Bath House was discovered. Although it was initially discovered under a pond, it has since been moved onto higher ground. It is thought that the Bath House could hold upto 20 soldiers at one time.

During excavations of the Fort and Bath House, artifacts were found and taken to the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow University. The pottery found at the Fort has been dated to the Antonine era, and further research is underway to discover the exact link of the Fort to the Antonine Wall.

It is thought that, given the layout of the Fort, and the distance to the Bath House, that there may be further Roman structures yet to be discovered.