Milefortlet 17 at Dubmill Point was a small Roman military post forming part of the Cumbrian coastal defensive system, an extension of Hadrian's Wall down the Solway coast established in the AD 120s under Hadrian. Like its counterparts in the milecastle/turret system on the Wall proper, it would have housed a small detachment (perhaps 8–20 men) tasked with surveillance of the Solway shoreline, and was paired with intervening timber towers; occupation likely continued intermittently into the later 2nd century, with possible reduction or abandonment thereafter.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Its position on the exposed headland at Dubmill Point gave it a commanding view across the Solway Firth toward the Scottish coast, making it a key observation node in monitoring movement across the firth at a relatively narrow crossing point. Together with neighbouring fortlets and towers it demonstrates that the Hadrianic frontier was conceived as a system extending well beyond the Wall's western terminus at Bowness-on-Solway.
Very little has been published from excavation at MF 17 specifically; the site is known principally from aerial photography, geophysical survey, and topographic identification within the established sequence of Cumbrian coast installations, and coastal erosion at Dubmill Point has likely damaged or destroyed parts of the structure. No substantial finds assemblage from this fortlet is recorded in the standard literature.
Milefortlet 17 at Dubmill Point was a small Roman military post forming part of the Cumbrian coastal defensive system, an extension of Hadrian's Wall down the Solway coast established in the AD 120s under Hadrian. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fortlet site from the Roman period in Britain.
Dubmill Point milefortlet 17, 560m WNW of Hill House, 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 Coastal Tower 16b (Old Mawbray) (0.5 km), Bank Mill tower 15a, 250m north west of Belmont House, part of the Roman frontier defences along the Cumbrian coast (2.4 km), Romano-British farmstead 250m ENE of Belmont House (2.6 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 Dubmill Point milefortlet 17, 560m WNW of Hill House, part of the Roman frontier defences along the Cumbrian coast