Muiryfold facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Muiryfold |
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 Location in Moray
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| Alternative name(s) | Grange |
| Type | Marching camp |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 57°33′23″N 2°51′22″W / 57.5563°N 2.8562°W |
| Site notes | |
| Condition | Cropmark |
| Excavation dates | 1959 |
| Archaeologists | Kenneth St Joseph |
Muiryfold was a large Roman camp built by the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus in northern Caledonia (which is now Scotland). This important historical site is found about 6 kilometers (about 4 miles) east of Keith in the area of Moray. It shows us how far north the powerful Roman army traveled in ancient times.
Finding the Ancient Camp
The Muiryfold camp was first spotted from the air in 1959. This was done using aerial photography, which means taking pictures from an airplane. After it was seen, two small digging areas, called trenches, were made. These digs happened across the north-west and south-east sides of the camp. An archaeologist named Kenneth St Joseph led these excavations in the same year.
The camp was shaped almost like a rectangle. It measured about 784 meters (2,572 feet) from north-west to south-east. It was also 522 meters (1,713 feet) wide from north-east to south-west. This means the camp covered a huge area, more than 41 hectares (about 101 acres) of land!
Roman Adventures in Scotland
In the year 210 AD, a Roman leader named Emperor Septimius Severus tried to conquer all of Caledonia. He led his army all the way to the Moray Firth, which is a large bay in Scotland. To help his army on this long journey, he built a very big "marching camp" at Muiryfold.
This new camp was built near another one that was made much earlier, in 84 AD. That earlier camp, at Auchinhove, was built by a famous Roman general named Agricola.
Discoveries made further north, near Inverness, help us understand how far the Romans went. For example, Roman military signs have been found at Portmahomack and Tarradale. These finds suggest that both Agricola and Septimius Severus reached the very northern parts of Scotland.
Over time, the Roman legions built a line of very large forts. These forts stretched across Scotland in the first and second centuries. Some of these important forts included Ardoch, Strageath, Inchtuthil, Battledykes, and Stracathro. The Romans also built forts at Raedykes, Normandykes, Glenmailen, Bellie, Balnageith, and Cawdor. These forts helped the Roman army control the land as they moved north.
