Phil Miller Arts Correspondent THE bid to have a historic Scottish landmark recognised alongside the Great Wall of China and the pyramids of Egypt has come a step closer to success.

The Antonine Wall was put forward by Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, as Britain's latest nomination for a site that is worthy of World Heritage Site status.

The 2000-year-old wall, which runs for 37 miles from Bo'ness in West Lothian to Old Kilpatrick in West Dunbartonshire, is one of the most significant Roman remains still in existence.

The structure was built to keep Caledonian tribesman out of the northern part of Rome's empire.

The 37-mile wall was built between 142AD and 144 AD by Antoninus Pius, who succeeded another famous wall-builder, Hadrian, as Emperor of Rome in 138 AD.

The construction between the the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth was less solid than his predecessor's, being built of turf on a stone foundation and fronted by a 12-foot deep ditch.

It was abandoned after only 20 years when the Romans withdrew to the safety of Hadrian's Wall some 80 miles further south in Northumberland. Over time the Romans reached an accommodation with the Brythonic tribes of the area who they fostered as the buffer states which would later become "The Old North". After a series of attacks in 197, Emperor Septimius Severus arrived in Scotland in 208 to secure the frontier, and repaired parts of the wall, but this reoccupation only lasted a few years.

Sections of the wall can still be seen in Bearsden, Kirkintilloch, Twechar, Croy, Falkirk and Polmont.

If successful, the wall will join 27 other UK World Heritage Sites. Edinburgh's Old and New towns, the St Kilda archipelago, New Lanark and sites on Orkney are among the 600 sites already recognised by the United Nations.

Unesco, the UN's cultural wing, which is responsible for the scheme, will examine the proposal and make a final decision next year.

Ms Jowell said: "The Antonine Wall is one of the UK's most important Roman monuments and a fascinating part of our European heritage.

"I hope that it will one day encompass remains of the Roman frontiers, not only here and in Germany, but also around the rest of Europe, the Mediterranean region of North Africa and the Middle East."

Patricia Ferguson, the Scottish Culture Minister, said: "The Antonine Wall is significant not only as a visible reminder of one of the most powerful states that the world has ever seen, but also as part of a great network of frontiers which the Roman Empire constructed in order to protect itself."