Milecastle 18 (East Wallhouses) was a milecastle of the Roman Hadrian's Wall. It is located to the west of the settlement of East Wallhouses in Northumberland and is visible as a platform in the ground. The milecastle is of a unique construction, having a gateway associated with builders of the Legio II Augusta and a layout typical of the Legio VI Victrix or Legio XX Valeria Victrix. Historians have suggested that it may have been begun by men of one legion and finished by those of another. One of Milecastle 18's associated turrets shows evidence of being used as a workshop, possibly for the repair of shoes.
Milecastle 18 was a long-axis milecastle with Type I gateways. Long axis milecastles were usually built by the Legio VI Victrix or Legio XX Valeria Victrix, whilst those with type I gateways are thought to have been built by Legio II Augusta. Milecastle 18 is the only one of the series of 80 to have the combination of type I gateways and a long axis. The gateway of this milecastle is of a rougher construction than others with type I gateways. The milecastle has a broad north wall but narrow side walls suggesting that this example was begun by troops of one legion but completed by those of another.
The milecastle is situated on the Military Road just to the west of East Wallhouses. It measures 53 feet 8 inches (16.36 m) east to west and 59 feet 6 inches (18.14 m) north to south with side walls 7 feet 9 inches (2.36 m) thick. It was scheduled as an ancient monument on 14 July 1997. There are no structural remains though part of the milecastle is visible as a 0.5-metre-high (1.6 ft) platform next to the road, which covers much of the former milecastle.
1931 – Milecastle 18 is found to be largely robbed of stone when excavated, except the portion preserved beneath the modern road.
1978 – Excavations slightly to the west of the milecastle toward a farm reveal the presence of cobbles and sandstone that may be associated with a roadway approaching the south gate of the fort possibly as part of the Roman Military Way.
1999 – The ditch outside of this milecastle is excavated. It is found to be 13 m (43 ft) across and between 2.74 and 2.96 m (9 ft 0 in and 9 ft 9 in) deep with a U-shaped profile. There is no sign of a causeway across it, though one used to exist across the Vallum, south of the wall.
Each milecastle on Hadrian's Wall had two associated turret structures. These turrets were positioned approximately one-third and two-thirds of a Roman mile to the west of the Milecastle, and would probably have been manned by part of the milecastle's garrison. The turrets associated with Milecastle 18 are known as Turret 18A and Turret 18B.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Milecastle 18 (East Wallhouses) was a milecastle of the Roman Hadrian's Wall. 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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