Croy Hill, North Lanarkshire, United Kingdom

On a high plateau on the east side of Croy Hill, North Lanarkshire, is the site of a Roman fort and probable temporary camp on the Antonine Wall. The fort, fortlet, and temporary camp are not visible on the ground today, but the Antonine Wall ditch is easily identifiable across much of Croy Hill. You can see where the Romans had to cut through solid rock to create the ditch. Two small raised platforms known as ‘expansions’ are visible on the ground to the west of the fortlet, attached to the south face of the Antonine Wall rampart. These may have been used for signalling.

Croy Hill’s high position offers one of the best views of the surrounding landscape, including the Firth of Forth and hills of Fife to the east, the Kilsyth Hills to the north, and the next fort at Bar Hill to the west. A tombstone was found at Croy Hill, showing a soldier flanked by men, possibly his sons. Other finds include this bronze arm purse, now in the Hunterian Museum.

References:

Antonine Wall

User Reviews

Dustin Steiner (3 years ago)
It’s nice that they put up a lot of information signs but it’s sad because except for a beautiful landscape there’s nothing left to actually look at. It’s all in your imagination now!

william rogers (3 years ago)
Quite a hard climb this hill but well worth it. I started further west at twechar and went up to barhill roman fort, l then decided to continue on to croy hill Roman fort. I got into the ditch at barhill and semi circled round castle hill and what a sight, a long deep cut ditch running down a steep slope heading for croy hill. The thing is I never new this section of ditch existed because I couldn't see it from barhill,and it's only round the corner,100 metres approx. I will try and post some pics.

Maureen Falkingham (4 years ago)
Great place for a walk the views are splendid

Babs Laing (4 years ago)
Great place for a walk views are breathtaking

Anders Molander (4 years ago)
A historically fascinating area with fairly few landmarks. Still a beautiful view.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright m.enes

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Walled city of Jajce

The Walled City of Jajce is a medieval fortified nucleus of Jajce in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with citadel high above town on top of pyramidal-shaped steep hill, enclosed with approximately 1,300 metres long defensive walls,. It is one of the best preserved fortified capitals of the Bosnian Kingdom, the last stronghold before the kingdom dissolved under the pressure of military advancement at the onset of Ottoman Empire takeover.

The entire complex of the Walled city of Jajce, with the citadel, city ramparts, watchtower Medvjed-kula, and two main city gate-towers lies on the southern slope of a large rocky pyramid at the confluence of the rivers Pliva and Vrbas, enclosed by these rivers from the south-southwest, with the bed of the Pliva, and east-southeast by the river Vrbas gorge.

History

The fortress was built by Hrvoje Vukčić Hrvatinić, the founder of Jajce. However, the city became the seat of the Bosnian kings, hence the royal coat of arms decoration on the citadel entrance. A part of the wall was built by the Hungarian King, while the Ottomans erected the powder magazine. The walls are high and the castle was built on a hill that is egg shaped, the rivers Pliva and Vrbas also protect the castle. There is no rampart on the south and west.

Jajce was first built in the 14th century and served as the capital of the independent Kingdom of Bosnia during its time. The town has gates as fortifications, as well as a castle with walls which lead to the various gates around the town. About 10–20 kilometres from Jajce lies the Komotin Castle and town area which is older but smaller than Jajce. It is believed the town of Jajce was previously Komotin but was moved after the Black Death.

The first reference to the name of Jajce in written sources is from the year 1396, but the fortress had already existed by then. Jajce was the residence of the last Bosnian king Stjepan Tomasevic; the Ottomans besieged the town and executed him, but held it only for six months, before the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus seized it at the siege of Jajce and established the Banovina of Jajce.

Skenderbeg Mihajlović besieged Jajce in 1501, but without success because he was defeated by Ivaniš Korvin assisted by Zrinski, Frankopan, Karlović and Cubor.

During this period, Queen Catherine restored the Saint Mary"s Church in Jajce, today the oldest church in town. Eventually, in 1527, Jajce became the last Bosnian town to fall to Ottoman rule. The town then lost its strategic importance, as the border moved further north and west.

Jajce passed with the rest of Bosnia and Herzegovina under the administration of Austria-Hungary in 1878. The Franciscan monastery of Saint Luke was completed in 1885.

Surroundings

The Walled city of Jajce is located at the confluence of the Pliva and Vrbas rivers. It was founded and started developing in the Middle Ages and acquired its final form during the Ottoman period. There are several churches and mosques built in different times during different rules, making Jajce a rather diverse town in this aspect. It is declared National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and, as the old Jajce city core, including the waterfall, and other individual sites outside the walled city perimeter, such as the Jajce Mithraeum, it is designated as The natural and architectural ensemble of Jajce and proposed as such for inscription into the UNESCO"s World Heritage Site list. The bid for inscription is currently placed on the UNESCO Tentative list.

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