Milefortlet 12 (Blitterlees) was a small Roman fortlet on the Cumbrian coast south of Silloth, part of the system of milefortlets and intervening towers extending the Hadrianic frontier down the Solway shore to guard against seaborne incursion or unauthorised crossings from southwest Scotland. Like its counterparts, it was built in the Hadrianic period (c. AD 122–130s) and likely held a small garrison detachment, perhaps 8–12 men, with the system seeing variable occupation through the 2nd century before apparent abandonment.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
As one link in the regularly spaced Cumberland coast chain (milefortlets placed roughly every Roman mile, with two towers between each), it functioned primarily as a surveillance and signalling post, extending the Wall's controlled zone around the western flank of the Solway Firth where no continuous wall or vallum was built.
Blitterlees is among the less well-investigated milefortlets; its position was identified through the regular spacing of the system and confirmed by aerial photography and limited fieldwork rather than substantial excavation, and no significant published finds assemblage exists for this specific site. By analogy with excavated examples such as MF 5 (Cardurnock) and MF 21 (Swarthy Hill), it would have comprised a small turf-and-timber enclosure with internal barrack accommodation and twin gates.
Milefortlet 12 (Blitterlees) was a small Roman fortlet on the Cumbrian coast south of Silloth, part of the system of milefortlets and intervening towers extending the Hadrianic frontier down the Solway shore to guard against seaborne incursion or unauthorised crossings from southwest Scotland. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fortlet site from the Roman period in Britain.
Blitterlees (milefortlet 12), part of the Roman frontier defences along the Cumbrian coast is classified as a Roman fortlet — a military site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Silloth Golf Course tower 12a, 670m WNW of Blitterlees Farm, part of the Roman frontier defences along the Cumbrian coast (0.5 km), Silloth Golf Course tower 12b, 410m north west of Heatherbank, part of the Roman frontier defences along the Cumbrian coast (1 km), Prehistoric enclosure and hut circle, a Romano-British enclosure, and a Romano-British farmstead and associated field system north of Wolsty Hall (1.4 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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Research the area around Blitterlees (milefortlet 12), part of the Roman frontier defences along the Cumbrian coast