112 Inscribki) Roman Stones ok Dumfriesshirk. 



The stones are takeu up in the order in which they were from 

 time to time discovered, so far as that can be ascertained. 



In the attempt to ascertain the true reading and meaning of 

 the inscriptions, both of which are in some cases obscure, much 

 valuable assistance has been received from Mr P. ITaverfield, 

 M.A., F.S.A., Christ Church. Oxford. 



1. A fragment of an inscribed stone containing these letters 



was seen at Birrens in 1729 by Sir John Clerk ; probably 

 AXAN j^igQ ^)y Alexander Gordon a few years earlier. It was 



at that time built into the wall of a cottage. Horsley 

 {Brii. Rom., p. 207) states that Sir John intended removing it to 

 Penicuik House ; but there is no evidence that he did so. Both 

 Bishop Pococke and Maitland saw it at Birrens in the same position 

 a number of years afterwards. 



The fragment seems to have been long lost. Both the char- 

 acter of the stone of which it had been a part and the meaning of 

 the letters are uncertain. Ilorsley conjectures that it may '• have 

 been of the centurial kind. 



2. (PI. I., fig. 3, and pi. II., fig. 4.) Foimd in 1731 at Birrens 

 by Sir John Clerk in an old building that stood in the grounds of 

 Land, and near the west side of the station ; preserved at Penicuik 

 House, Mid-Lothian, from 1731 to 1857 ; presented in 1857 to the 

 Society of Antiquaries of Scotland by Sir George Clerk, Bart. ; 

 now in the National Museum, Edinburgh. 



A statuette of Brigantia, who was probably the eponymous 

 deity of the Brigantes, a powerful tribe in possession of a great 

 part of the north of England, and perhaps of some portion of the 

 south of Scotland, at the time of the Roman invasion. It stands 

 in a hollow niche, 3 ft. J in. high and 1 ft. 6 in. broad at the base. 



The goddess is represented with wings, and as dressed, partly 

 at least, in the garb of a Roman warrior. On her head is a castel- 

 lated ornament, in her right hand 



BRIGANTIJ2 . S . AMANDVS ^ ^ -^^ ^^^ Igfj. ^ ^all. At 



ARCITECTVS . EX . IMPERIO IMP . , . , . , , 



her side is a shield, on her breast 

 a small Gorgon's head. The art of this piece of sculpture is by 

 no means of a high order of excellence. 



The S in the middle of the first line of the inscription stands 

 for sacrum. IMP at the end of the last line has not been satisfac- 

 torily explained. Sir John Clerk thought he saw an additional I ; 



