Milefortlet 20 (Low Mire) was a small Roman military post on the Cumbrian coastal frontier system, which extended Hadrian's Wall's mile-by-mile spacing of fortlets and towers down the Solway shore from Bowness-on-Solway to at least Risehow. Constructed in the early 2nd century AD under Hadrian (c. AD 122–130) and likely occupied intermittently into the later 2nd century, it was a turf-and-timber fortlet garrisoned by a small detachment, probably no more than a dozen or two soldiers, intended for surveillance and signalling rather than combat.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
As one link in the chain of milefortlets and intervening towers along the Cumbrian coast, Low Mire helped monitor and control movement across the Solway Firth, closing the seaward flank of Hadrian's frontier against unsupervised crossings from southwestern Scotland. It is unremarkable individually but integral to one of the most extensive coastal surveillance systems in the Roman Empire.
The site has been identified primarily through aerial photography and limited geophysical/field survey, which have indicated a typical small rectangular enclosure consistent with other Cumbrian coastal milefortlets such as MF 21 (Swarthy Hill), but no substantial modern excavation has been published for Low Mire itself, and recorded finds are minimal.
Milefortlet 20 (Low Mire) was a small Roman military post on the Cumbrian coastal frontier system, which extended Hadrian's Wall's mile-by-mile spacing of fortlets and towers down the Solway shore from Bowness-on-Solway to at least Risehow. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fortlet site from the Roman period in Britain.
Low Mire (milefortlet 20) 50m north of Heather Bank, 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 Swarthy Hill North tower 20b, 460m south west of Blue Dial, part of the Roman frontier defences along the Cumbrian coast (1 km), Swarthy Hill (1.4 km), Brownrigg North tower 21b, 830m north west of Canonby Hall, part of the Roman frontier defences along the Cumbrian coast (2.5 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 Low Mire (milefortlet 20) 50m north of Heather Bank, part of the Roman frontier defences along the Cumbrian coast