Milecastle 48 (Poltross Burn), is a

milecastle A milecastle was a small fort (fortlet), a rectangular fortification built during the period of the Roman Empire. They were placed at intervals of approximately one Roman mile along several major frontiers, for example Hadrian's Wall in Great Bri ...

on Hadrian's Wall (). Its remains lie near the village of

Gilsland Gilsland is a village in northern England about west of Hexham, and about east of Carlisle, which straddles the border between Cumbria and Northumberland. The village provides an amenity centre for visitors touring Hadrian's Wall and othe ...

in Cumbria where it was historically known as "The King's Stables", owing to the well-preserved interior walls. Unusually a substantial section of stone stairs has survived within the milecastle. The two turrets associated with this milecastle have also survived as above-ground masonry.

Description

Milecastle 48 is just outside the village of

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...

, immediately adjacent to the Tyne Valley railway line on its south side ().MILECASTLE 48
Pastscape, retrieved 4 December 2013 It had been known locally as "The King's Stables"Gibson, J.P. & Simpson, F.G. 1911. "The Milecastle on the Wall of Hadrian at the Poltross Burn"; ''Trans. CWAAS XI (New Series)'' Art XXIII pp390–461 for over 100 years, but recently the heritage industry has begun to call it Poltross Burn Milecastle, which is how it is now signposted. The monument is currently in the care of

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

Remains of a flight of stairs, Milecastle 48 - geograph

The milecastle measures 18.5 metres east to west by 21.3 metres north to south, substantially larger than many other milecastles.Bird, W.G. 1913. ''Gilsland and Neighbourhood''; Gregg, Gilsland Two rows of buildings are visible within, probably barracks, one either side of the north–south road running through the gateways. Interior buildings are not normally so well-preserved or substantial in other milecastles and local people, "mining" the milecastle for building stone in the past, may have recognised the layout as similar to stable-blocks. The walls are broad gauge, including stub ' wing walls' which connect with the

Narrow Wall Hadrian's Wall ( la, Vallum Aelium), also known as the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Hadriani'' in Latin, is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...

curtain A curtain is a piece of cloth Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fa ...

of Hadrian's Wall on either side. It has Type III gateways and lies 1521m west of Milecastle 47 and 1458m east of Milecastle 49. A notable feature of this milecastle is the survival of a substantial part of the flight of stairs giving access to the ramparts of Hadrian's Wall in the north-east corner, allowing a wall-walk height of 3.6m to be projected and suggesting a height for the curtain wall (including

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

) of around 4.6m. The

Stanegate The Stanegate (meaning "stone road" in Northumbrian dialect) was an important Roman road built in what is now northern England. It linked many forts including two that guarded important river crossings: Corstopitum (Corbridge) on the River Ty ...

Roman road, which preceded Hadrian's Wall, crossed the Poltross Burn a few hundred yards to the south of Milecastle 48; part of its route can be seen descending a field to the river's edge. The minor Stanegate fort of Throp stood on top of the ridge just to the southwest of Milecastle 48,English Heritage ''Archaeological Map of Hadrian's Wall'' (2010) but it is not visible on the ground.

Excavations

Milecastle 48 was excavated in 1886 by R. S. Ferguson; between 1909 and 1911 by J. P. Gibson and F. G. Simpson; and between 1965 and 1966 by D. Charlesworth. The excavations uncovered a range of features including the gateways of the milecastle. The lower courses of the flight of steps were found in the northeast corner, and an oven was found in the northwest angle. Flanking the central space of the milecastle stood long barrack blocks, which are believed to have had more than one phase of construction.

Associated turrets

Each milecastle on Hadrian's Wall had two associated

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

structures. These turrets were positioned approximately one-third and two-thirds of a

Roman mile The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 Engli ...

to the west of the Milecastle, and would probably have been manned by part of the milecastle's garrison. The turrets associated with Milecastle 48 are known as Turret 48A and Turret 48B.

Turret 48A

Turret 48A (Willowford East) () is situated on a river terrace on the south bank of the

River Irthing The River Irthing is a river in Cumbria, England and a major tributary of the River Eden. The name is recorded as Ard or Arden in early references. For the first 15 miles of its course it defines the border between Northumberland and Cumbria. ...

. It was excavated in 1923.TURRET 48A
Pastscape, retrieved 4 December 2013 It measures approximately 4.1 metres across. The north wall has a maximum height of 1.3 metres, the east wall 7 courses, the west wall 5 courses and the south wall 6 courses high. The doorway was situated in the southwest wall, and several hearths and evidence of bronze and ironworking were found in the interior. The site was cleared and partially rebuilt in 1951/2, and the remains are visible as consolidated masonry.

Turret 48B

Turret 48B (Willowford West) () is situated on the south bank of the River Irthing immediately east of Willowford Farm. The turret was excavated in 1923.TURRET 48B
Pastscape, retrieved 4 December 2013 The remains are visible as consolidated masonry.

References

External links

Poltross Burn Milecastle
English Heritage
Willowford Wall, Turrets and Bridge
English Heritage {{coord, 54.988991, -2.573518, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title 48 Roman sites in Cumbria Tourist attractions in Cumbria