Milecastle 17 (Welton) was a small fortlet on Hadrian's Wall, situated between Milecastle 16 (Harlow Hill) and Milecastle 18 (East Wallhouses) in the central-eastern sector of the Wall. Like other milecastles, it was built in the 120s AD as part of Hadrian's frontier scheme and would have housed a garrison of perhaps 8–32 auxiliary soldiers, controlling movement through a gateway in the Wall and remaining in use, with periods of refurbishment, until the later 4th century.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Its primary role was as a checkpoint and patrol base regulating north-south transit through the frontier, contributing to the regular spacing (one Roman mile apart) that defined the surveillance system of the Wall. Milecastle 17 is one of the less prominent and less investigated milecastles, with no major distinguishing features recorded in ancient sources or recovered inscriptions.
The site has seen little modern excavation; its position was identified largely through the regular spacing of milecastles and limited surface and trial investigation, and no substantial visible remains survive above ground in this stretch where the Wall lies beneath or beside the B6318 Military Road. Specific structural details — such as gate type (long-axis vs short-axis) and building phase — are not securely established for this milecastle, and finds assemblages from it are not significantly published.
Milecastle 17 (Welton) was a small fortlet on Hadrian's Wall, situated between Milecastle 16 (Harlow Hill) and Milecastle 18 (East Wallhouses) in the central-eastern sector of the Wall. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fortlet site from the Roman period in Britain.
Milecastle 17 (Welton) 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 16B (0.5 km), Turret 17A (Welton East) (0.5 km), Turret 16A (1 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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