Cardurnock Tower 4b (also designated Milefortlet 4b in some schemes, though the Cumbrian coast numbering is contested here) was one of the stone or timber watchtowers in the system of fortlets and towers extending Hadrian's Wall's frontier surveillance down the Solway coast from Bowness-on-Solway. Active from the Hadrianic period (c. AD 122–130s) into the later 2nd century, with possible intermittent reuse, it formed part of a regularly spaced chain (towers at roughly one-third-mile intervals between milefortlets) overlooking the Solway Firth. Associated earlier ditch and patrol road features indicate the site lay within the linear defensive corridor running south from Cardurnock milefortlet (Milefortlet 5).
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The site is part of the only extension of Hadrian's Wall's surveillance system beyond the Wall proper, designed to prevent seaborne flanking from southwest Scotland across the Solway. Cardurnock itself is significant because Milefortlet 5 here is one of the largest and most thoroughly investigated installations on the Cumbrian coast, making the associated towers part of a key reference sequence for understanding the system.
Excavations in the area around Cardurnock (notably Bellhouse's work from the 1940s–60s, and earlier investigation by Simpson and Richmond) traced the patrol track, palisade slots and parallel
Cardurnock Tower 4b (also designated Milefortlet 4b in some schemes, though the Cumbrian coast numbering is contested here) was one of the stone or timber watchtowers in the system of fortlets and towers extending Hadrian's Wall's frontier surveillance down the Solway coast from Bowness-on-Solway. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a site site from the Roman period in Britain.
Cardurnock (tower 4b) and earlier ditch system and patrol road, part of the Roman frontier defences along the Cumbrian coast is classified as a Roman site — a civilian 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 Herd Hill (milefortlet 4) and associated parallel banks and ditches, part of the Roman frontier defences along the Cumbrian coast (1.1 km), Herd Hill North (tower 3b), 175m north east of the sheep wash, part of the Roman frontier defences along the Cumbrian coast (1.6 km), Pasture House (milefortlet 3), part of the Roman frontier defences along the Cumbrian coast (2.3 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 Cardurnock (tower 4b) and earlier ditch system and patrol road, part of the Roman frontier defences along the Cumbrian coast