Castlecary (/ˌkɑːsəlˈkɛəri/) is a small historic village in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, directly adjacent to the border with Falkirk.

[1] It has long been associated with infrastructure, being adjacent to a bridged river, a Roman fort and roads, a nationwide canal, a Victorian railway viaduct, and a modern motorway.

Around 1725, the barony of Castlecary, with a population of just seventeen families, was disjoined from the parish of Falkirk, and annexed to Cumbernauld quoad sacra.

[8] Larger forts like Castlecary and Birrens had a nominal cohort of 1000 men[9] but probably sheltered women and children as well although the troops were not allowed to marry.

[11] In 1769, workmen seeking materials for the Forth and Clyde Canal, found 8 apartments along with the remains of an L-shaped, hypocausted, bathhouse in the south-east section of the fort.

[12] Inside the walls other objects such as human bones, pottery shards and boars' tusks were discovered.

[13] Historically, the site was not handled with much respect to archaeology as even gunpowder was used at the fort to improve land for agriculture.

Artefacts, found at Castlecary,[17] such as the altar to the Roman god Fortuna can now be viewed at the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow.

A few coins and the remains of a Roman tuba were also recovered and well as a pair of small shoes suggesting there were children onsite.

[33] The National Scottish Museums also list a cornu mouthpiece, a glass cup fragment, an iron claw hammer, a wooden spatula and two sculpted stones.

[35][36] The site in relation to the Red Burn, the Forth and Clyde Canal, the road, and the former railway station can be seen on older maps.

Allandale village was built for the Castlecary brickworkers and John Stein's business grew to be the 2nd largest fireclay brick manufacturer in the world.

[64] Along with the adjacent Forth and Clyde Canal and the Bonny Water, the viaduct acts as a physical representation of Castlecary's status as an isogloss, as it is around here that there is a distinct change from the West Central Scots accent spoken around Cumbernauld (many of the town's residents having strong links to Glasgow) to the East Central Scots spoken in nearby Bonnybridge and Denny.

Around 15 miles (24 km) to the south-east, Harthill is another location alongside a motorway perceived to denote a shift between dialects as well as local authorities.