Milecastle 18 (East Wallhouses) is a Hadrian's Wall milecastle on the Stanegate frontier line, situated between Turrets 17b and 18a on the stretch of Wall east of Halton Chesters. Built in the 120s AD as part of Hadrian's original frontier scheme and likely garrisoned, with interruptions, into the later 4th century, it would have housed a small detachment (perhaps 8–32 men) and controlled a gateway through the Wall. Its precise plan-type (long-axis or short-axis, and whether built in stone or initially turf) is not securely established from surface evidence.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
As one of the regularly spaced fortlets punctuating the Wall at one Roman mile intervals, MC18 functioned as a controlled crossing point for traffic, taxation, and surveillance between the military zone and the lands to the north. It is one of the less prominent milecastles in the central sector, with no major epigraphic finds attributed to it that would identify its building legion or garrison unit.
Little has been recovered from MC18: it has not been the subject of major modern excavation, and its position is known largely from the regular spacing of milecastles along the Wall and from limited antiquarian and 20th-century observation, with the modern Military Road (B6318) overlying much of the structure. No upstanding remains are visible, and finds assemblages, internal building plans, and detailed phasing remain essentially unrecorded for
Milecastle 18 (East Wallhouses) is a Hadrian's Wall milecastle on the Stanegate frontier line, situated between Turrets 17b and 18a on the stretch of Wall east of Halton Chesters. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fortlet site from the Roman period in Britain.
Milecastle 18 (East Wallhouses) 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 18A (Wallhouses East) (0.5 km), Turret 17B (0.5 km), Turret 17A (Welton East) (1 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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