Major Roman site once home to 500 soldiers to be excavated to build luxury Scottish home

One of Scotland’s most important Roman sites is to be excavated ahead of plans to build a luxury house on land once home to a ‘sophisticated’ settlement that featured a temple, a bath house and possibly an amphitheatre.

Archaeologists are due to move into the grounds of St Michael’s House in Inveresk, East Lothian, within weeks given the potential of new finds and previously unrecorded artefacts.

The land was once home to around 500 soldiers stationed at Inveresk Fort and civilian settlement, which was strategically placed between Hadrian’s Wall and Antonine Wall, and served as a major outpost of the Roman Frontier during the second century.

St Michael’s, an impressive Edwardian mansion house, is owned by Peter Sharma, who wants to build a new house and garage in the grounds of St Michael’s. The land earmarked for development sits within the scheduled monument of Inveresk, Roman fort & civil settlement.

Archaeologists are required to investigate given the protected status of the site and the “good possibility” that so-far unrecorded artefacts and remains lie within the soil. Guard Archaeology has now been given permission from Historic Environment Scotland (HES) to excavate the land for their client, Mr Sharma.

A statement from the planning reporter, which was asked to consider scheduled monument consent for the site, said: “The monument comprises the buried remains of one of the most important and extensively investigated Roman sites in Scotland.

“The overall site comprises an extensive complex, including a Roman fort, adjacent civil settlement, one known and one probable bath house, a possible amphitheatre, field systems and temporary military camps.

“The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our understanding of the Roman military presence in Scotland. The relationship between the Roman military remains and the surrounding civilian settlements and field systems at this site is of particular importance.”

Six trenches will now be dug across Mr Sharma’s land to establish any archaeological remains within the proposed area of the house and garage.

Meanwhile, HES earlier opposed plans for the house given a lack of detail surrounding the proposal for the land, which is used for horse grazing.

Iona Murray, deputy head of ancient monuments at HES, said: “We objected to the planning application on 19 December 2023 because it was submitted without the results of an archaeological evaluation of the site. This meant the impact of the proposed development could not be determined.

“Our view was that the archaeology evaluation must be conducted before any planning application is determined, to allow effective mitigation to be designed and included in any consented scheme. We have since received and approved a scheduled monument consent application for archaeological evaluation at the site.”

The Roman fort and settlement at Inveresk was finally abandoned in the late second century, with the area inside the walls alive with a headquarters, a house for the commander, barracks, stables and granaries.

Described as “sophisticated and self-sufficient”, it had wells, lavatories and drains with the civilian settlement beyond the walls described in East Lothian Council papaers as one of the “most extensive and best preserved in Scotland”.

Various artefacts and remains, including an altar to a warrior god, are in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. The land also sits within the historic battlefield boundary of the Battle of Pinkie, probably the single largest battle fought within Scotland and the final major battle fought between the separate Kingdoms of Scotland and England prior to the Union of the Crowns in 1603.