Milecastle 37 is a well-preserved fortlet on Hadrian's Wall, situated on the dramatic Whin Sill escarpment just west of Housesteads fort. Built in the early 130s AD during the initial construction of the Wall under Hadrian, it is a "long-axis" milecastle of short-axis variant measuring roughly 18 by 15 metres internally, with stone walls and twin gateways through the north and south curtain. It would have housed a small garrison of perhaps 8–32 auxiliaries detached from the Housesteads cohort, and remained in use, with phases of modification, into the late Roman period.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The north gate of Milecastle 37 carries one of the most important building inscriptions on the Wall (RIB 1634), recording construction by the Second Legion Augusta under the governor Aulus Platorius Nepos, thereby firmly dating Hadrianic Wall-building activity. The milecastle is also significant because its north gate opens onto a sheer drop down the Whin Sill crags, illustrating the rigid Hadrianic scheme of placing gates at regular intervals regardless of terrain — a practical absurdity later remedied by narrowing the gateway.
Excavated by R.C. Bosanquet in 1898 and revisited in the 20th century, the site preserves standing masonry including the springers of the north gate arch (partially reconstructed nearby), the inscription slab (now in
Milecastle 37 is a well-preserved fortlet on Hadrian's Wall, situated on the dramatic Whin Sill escarpment just west of Housesteads fort. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fortlet site from the Roman period in Britain.
Milecastle 37 (Housesteads) 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 37A (Rapishaw Gap) (0.5 km), Turret 36B (Housesteads) (0.5 km), *Vercovicium (0.5 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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Research the area around Milecastle 37 (Housesteads)