SCOTLAND’s latest World Heritage Site will become the toast of a town this weekend.
Organisers of the Bo’ness Real Ale Festival are launching a special beer glass to mark the area’s new status as part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site.
Revellers simply need to buy one of the commemorative pint glasses, featuring Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius, to gain entry to the event.
The Festival runs on Friday, October 10 and Saturday, October 11, in Bo’ness Town Hall. As well as dozens of real ales, there will be live music on both nights.
Money raised from the event will go to local charities and to help organise next year’s Festival. Last year, organisers at the Bo’ness Real Ale Appreciation Society donated £1900 to local good causes and are hoping for a similar success this year.
BRAAS chairman Rob Willox said: “This year’s Bo’ness Real Ale Festival will be as good – and maybe even better – than last year. We have some great entertainment with music from Pure Malt on Friday and the Urban Tonkerers on Saturday.
“Each year, we issue a special beer glass to mark something of importance to Bo’ness. This year, we are commemorating the successful bid to turn the Roman Antonine Wall – which runs from Bo’ness to Old Kilpatrick – into a World Heritage Site.”
The Real Ale Festival runs on Friday from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. and on Saturday from 12 noon to 11 p.m. – and is an official Fringe event of the 2008 Mod, which is being held in nearby Falkirk.
Mr Willox added: “Each year BRAAS attempts to offer a good selection of the available ales and beers from our local Central Scotland brewers. This year is no different and, in fact, there are three new breweries and nine new beers to the festival – as well as real cider for people to try.”
For more information, please visit www.braas.bo-ness.org.uk
The Wall, which runs through Kinneil Estate, was built by the Emperor Antoninus Pius to hold back Caledonian tribes from invading southern Scotland, then under Roman rule. Unlike the stone-built Hadrian’s Wall, the Antonine Wall consisted of a rampart of soil, faced with turf, resting on a stone foundation. It stood 12 feet high, and was protected on the north side by a wide, deep V-shaped ditch. It was abandoned around AD 160, when the Romans retreated to Hadrian’s Wall.
Kinneil 