Milecastle 36 (King's Hill) was one of the

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 Br ...

s on

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

(). There is little to see on the ground as most of the walls have been robbed and quarried away.

Description

The site of Milecastle 36 is located on King's Hill, 800 metres northeast of

Housesteads Roman Fort Housesteads Roman Fort was an auxiliary fort on Hadrian's Wall, at Housesteads, Northumberland, England. It is dramatically positioned on the end of the -long crag of the Whin Sill over which the Wall runs, overlooking sparsely populated hil ...

.MILECASTLE 36
Pastscape, retrieved 3 December 2013 The milecastle was robbed of most of its remaining stone in 1831. Part of the east and west walls are indicated by robber-trenches. The remainder of the milecastle has been destroyed by surface quarrying, and the featureless interior is overlain by Wall tumble.

Excavations

Milecastle 36 was excavated in 1946. It was found to have a long axis and narrow walls. The excavations revealed that in the post-

Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...

ic period the south gate was destroyed and the north gate was reconstructed and then blocked.

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 * Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...

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 length; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English ...

to the west of the Milecastle, and would probably have been manned by part of the nearest milecastle's garrison. The turrets associated with Milecastle 36 are known as Turret 36A and Turret 36B.

Turret 36A

Turret 36A (Kennel Crags) () is visible only as a slight earthen platform.TURRET 36A
Pastscape, retrieved 3 December 2013 The turret was located in 1911 and excavated in 1946. It was found to have narrow walls and a door to the east. It appears to have been put out of commission before the end of the Roman period.

Turret 36B

Turret 36B (Housesteads) () lies within

.TURRET 36B
Pastscape, retrieved 3 December 2013 It was demolished when the fort was built, and overlain with buildings. The foundations of the turret survive, and the walls have been excavated and consolidated, standing to a maximum height of 0.7 metres.

Monument records

Public access

The milecastle, and site of Turret 36A, are both accessible via the

Hadrian's Wall Path Hadrian's Wall Path is a long-distance footpath in the north of England, which became the 15th National Trail in 2003. It runs for , from Wallsend on the east coast of England to Bowness-on-Solway on the west coast. For most of its length it ...

. The excavated foundations of Turret 36B are within Housesteads Fort, and are only accessible by visitors to this

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, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

site.

References

{{Milecastles 36