Milecastle 13 (Rudchester Burn) was a small fortlet on Hadrian's Wall, situated between the fort of Rudchester (Vindobala) and Milecastle 14, roughly 1.3 km east of Rudchester. Like other milecastles, it was built in the 120s AD under Hadrian and likely remained in intermittent use through the 2nd to 4th centuries, garrisoning perhaps 8–32 auxiliary soldiers who controlled a gateway through the Wall and monitored north–south movement.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
As one of the regularly spaced milecastles, it formed part of the integrated frontier system controlling civilian transit and providing a base for patrolling between the larger forts. It has no particular distinction in the historical record and is one of the more obscure milecastles on the central-eastern sector.
Milecastle 13 has not been excavated in modern times and its surface remains are largely ploughed out; its position has been established primarily through measurement along the Wall line and limited antiquarian observation rather than structural survival. Consequently, its specific plan (long-axis or short-axis, gate type) and garrison history are not securely established, though by analogy with neighbours it was probably a stone-walled structure of standard milecastle dimensions (c. 15 × 18 m internally).
Milecastle 13 (Rudchester Burn) was a small fortlet on Hadrian's Wall, situated between the fort of Rudchester (Vindobala) and Milecastle 14, roughly 1.3 km east of Rudchester. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fortlet site from the Roman period in Britain.
Milecastle 13 (Rudchester Burn) 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 Turret 12B (North Lodge) (0.5 km), Turret 13A (Rudchester East) (0.5 km), Vindovala (0.9 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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