Muir O' Fauld

Submitted by Alan Marsden on Wed, 11/11/2026 - 00:00

Muir O' Fauld could not sound any less Roman, yet it is the name of the site of one of Rome’s Scottish signal stations which guarded its road through modern-day Perthshire. Visible is the circular mound, ditch, outer bank and causeway; this tower was apparently defensible as well as a means by which the Roman road, on which we walked to access it (below), could be monitored.

The Romans’ grasp on what we now call Scottland was always flimsy, with Hadrian’s great wall assuming the final boundary once excursions beyond it proved unsustainable. The Gask Frontier, of which Muir O' Fauld was part, represented a period of expansion of imperial territory which lasted but ten years. Rome, the most successful of the ancient empires, could go no further, and this was the line from which its legions soon retreated.

The Prophet Daniel records of the empire of Rome:

…The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. (7:23)

He also predicted another Kingdom which would be greater still and suffer neither limit nor boundary, which belongs to Jesus Christ Himself:

…the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. (2:35)

Muir O' Fauld shows us Rome’s limits; its decayed state only adds to the point. Yet that Jesus Christ’s greater Kingdom is coming, and is already here. He now reigns invisibly, but one day every eye shall see Him- including those who pierced Him, as well as their comrades who manned Muir O' Fauld shortly afterwards.