Burnswark Hill

The Romans built two camps against it, one to the north and one to the south, and the southern camp has three wide gateways facing uphill, each with a great mound in front of it. Metal detecting across the hillside has turned up the largest hoard of Roman lead sling bullets found anywhere in the empire, lying where they fell, and the pattern of them maps the assault itself. Some are drilled with small holes that made them whistle in flight, which was the point of them. It happened in the second century, in the reign of Antoninus Pius. Whether it was a real siege or an army practising on a hill it had already taken is still argued over. The walk up is gentle and the view over the Solway is wide.