Milecastle 20 (Halton Shields) is one of the small fortlets built at roughly Roman-mile intervals along Hadrian's Wall, situated on the Stanegate ridge east of Halton Chesters fort. Constructed in the 120s AD as part of the original Hadrianic Wall scheme, it would have housed a small garrison detachment (typically 8–32 men) and controlled a gateway through the Wall, remaining in use, with phases of repair and possible abandonment, into the later 4th century.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Like other milecastles, it functioned as a controlled crossing point and observation post, regulating movement of people and goods across the frontier as much as providing military defence. Its position between Milecastle 19 (Matfen Piers) and the auxiliary fort at Halton Chesters (MC 21 area) places it within a well-monitored stretch of the central-eastern Wall.
The site has seen little modern excavation; its location is known largely from the regular spacing of milecastles, antiquarian observation, and aerial/geophysical evidence, and no major structural remains are visible above ground today as the Military Road (B6318) overlies much of the Wall here. No significant published finds assemblage exists specifically for MC 20, and its plan (long-axis or short-axis type) is not securely established.
Milecastle 20 (Halton Shields) is one of the small fortlets built at roughly Roman-mile intervals along Hadrian's Wall, situated on the Stanegate ridge east of Halton Chesters fort. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fortlet site from the Roman period in Britain.
Milecastle 20 (Halton Shields) 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 19B (West Clarewood) (0.5 km), Turret 20A (Carr Hill) (0.5 km), Turret 20B (Downhill East) (0.9 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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