Milecastle 31, conventionally known as Carrawburgh (the site of Brocolitia fort lies nearby, not Carrowburgh), is a milecastle on Hadrian's Wall positioned between Turret 30b and Turret 31a, in the central sector of the Wall west of Sewingshields. Like other milecastles, it was a small fortlet built into the curtain of the Wall in the 120s AD under Hadrian, housing a garrison of perhaps 20–30 auxiliaries, and was likely occupied into the later 4th century with periods of refurbishment under Severus and in the 4th century.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Its primary function was to control a gateway through the Wall, monitoring small-scale movement, taxation of goods, and providing a base for patrolling the adjacent stretch of curtain and turrets. It is unremarkable among the milecastles but forms part of the systematic frontier scheme that defines Hadrian's Wall as a unified military landscape.
Milecastle 31 has not been the subject of major modern excavation and remains largely unexplored compared with milecastles such as 37 (Housesteads) or 39 (Castle Nick); its plan and dimensions are inferred chiefly from surface survey and the standard typology of central-sector milecastles. No significant published assemblage of finds is associated specifically with this milecastle.
Milecastle 31, conventionally known as Carrawburgh (the site of Brocolitia fort lies nearby, not Carrowburgh), is a milecastle on Hadrian's Wall positioned between Turret 30b and Turret 31a, in the central sector of the Wall west of Sewingshields. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fortlet site from the Roman period in Britain.
Milecastle 31 (Carrowburgh) 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 *Brocolitia (0 km), Coventina's Well (0.2 km), Turret 31A (The Strands) (0.3 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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