Milecastle 16 Explained

Milecastle 16
Image Alt:The site of Milecastle 16
Location:Northumberland, England, UK
Pushpin Map:United Kingdom Northumberland
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Northumberland
Pushpin Label Position:left

Milecastle 16 (Harlow Hill) was a milecastle of the Roman Hadrian's Wall. The milecastle is located at Harlow Hill, Northumberland. There are no visible surface remains of the milecastle or either of its associated turrets.

Construction

No details are known about the type of construction of this milecastle. Milecastle 16 is visible on the ground as a slight platform in a field adjacent to the south of the B6318 Military Road. The platform measures 23 m from north to south and there are no other surface remains. The site lies on the crest of Harlow Hill and when established would have had a clear line of sight in all directions. The stretch of Hadrian's Wall in this area was removed during the construction of the Military Road.[1]

Excavations and investigations

Associated turrets

Each milecastle on Hadrian's Wall had two associated turret structures. These turrets were positioned approximately one-third and two-thirds of a Roman mile to the west of the Milecastle, and would probably have been manned by part of the milecastle's garrison. The turrets associated with Milecastle 16 are known as Turret 16A and Turret 16B.

Turret 16A

Turret 16A is said to have been located by Thomas Hepple in 1930 but he made no mention of it in his fieldwork notebook.[4] The presumed site of the turret lies beneath the 18th century B6318 Military Road and by 1966 there were no surface visible remains.[4]

Location: 55.0091°N -1.8875°W

Turret 16B

Turret 16B was also said to have been located by Hepple in 1930 but if he did find the turret he did not document it in his notebook.[5] The presumed site lies beneath the Military Road adjacent to the Great Northern Reservoir (of the Whittle Dene reservoir complex).[5] Like Turret 16A no surface remains could be seen by 1966.[5]

Location: 55.0089°N -1.8952°W

Monument records

Monument Monument Number English Heritage Archive Number
Milecastle 1620387NZ 06 NE 5
Turret 16A20390NZ 06 NE 6
Turret 16B20393NZ 06 NE 7

Notes and References

  1. Book: David J Breeze and Brian Dobson . 1976 . Hadrian's Wall . Allen Lane . 0-14-027182-1 . 173.
  2. Web site: Milecastle 16. Pastscape. English Heritage. 14 July 2010.
  3. Web site: Extract from English Heritage's schedule of monuments. Magic.gov.uk. 19 July 2010.
  4. Web site: Turret 16A. http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100910162747/http://pastscape.english%2Dheritage.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id%3D20390. dead. 10 September 2010. Pastscape. English Heritage. 25 June 2010.
  5. Web site: Turret 16B. Pastscape. English Heritage. 21 May 2010. http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100910163831/http%3A//pastscape.english%2Dheritage.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id%3D20393. 10 September 2010. dead.