Il8 Antiquities, &€., of Cramond District. [Sess. 



plains or links — particularly an extensive tract at the north- 

 west extremity of the parish, called Longgreen, forming part 

 of the park of Barnbougle. 



The parish takes its name from the principal village, where 

 the church stands, called Cramond. The name may be resolved 

 into the Celtic compound Caeramon, — Amon being undoubtedly 

 the true name of the river which falls into the Forth at this 

 village, as that word signifies a river in general, and is not 

 unfrequently applied to particular streams. In addition thereto 

 it is to be observed that the Eomaus had at this place a con- 

 siderable station or fort (in the Gaelic caer), so from this 

 circumstance would naturally arise the word Caeramon, or the 

 fort on the river. 



A mist of obscurity, which every effort has been exerted in 

 vain to dissipate, involves the history of this parish till the 

 arrival of the Romans in Britain. Some imagine that a settle- 

 ment was formed at Cramond during the reign of Claudius, 

 from the circumstance of several coins and medals of that 

 Emperor having been found here, particularly a very remarkable 

 medallion of brass, about the size of a half-crown. On one 

 side of this medal is the head of Claudius, with these letters : 

 Ti • Clavdivs • Caesar • Avg • P.m.t.r.p.tmp. On the reverse 

 is S.c. and Neeo Clavdivs Drvsvs, with the figure of a 

 person on horseback on the top of a triumphal arch between 

 two vexilla. This, however, is but very slender evidence to 

 oppose to the established fact that Julius Agricola, the lieu- 

 tenant of Vespasian, was the first Eoman commander that 

 penetrated so far north as the Firth of Forth, and this expedi- 

 tion into Scotland did not take place earlier than the eightieth 

 year of the Christian era. 



That Cramond soon became one of the most important as 

 well as one of the most considerable stations the Eomans 

 occupied in Scotland, is evident from the great number of 

 coins and medals dug up at this place, the altars found here, 

 the military roads, the remains of a dock, and other memorials 

 of that great nation. The great Eoman military way, the 

 subject of the first Iter of Antoninus, from Praetorium in 

 Lincolnshire to Bremenium in Northumberland, proceeded from 

 the last-mentioned station, by Eildon and Soutra to Bowbridge, 

 near the east end of the Pentland Hills. At this place evident 



