Milecastle 40 (Winshields) is a Hadrianic milecastle on the central, high-elevation sector of Hadrian's Wall, sitting just below Winshields Crag — the highest point on the Wall at 345m. Built in the 120s AD as part of Hadrian's frontier system and garrisoned intermittently into the late 4th century, it is a long-axis milecastle (Type II), measuring roughly 18m by 15m internally, with stone gateways and a small barrack capacity probably housing 8–32 auxiliary soldiers detached from the cohort based at Vercovicium (Housesteads) or Aesica (Great Chesters).
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Its position controlled one of the steepest and most defensible stretches of the Whin Sill escarpment, where the Wall reaches its greatest height; the milecastle would have monitored cross-frontier movement through extremely difficult terrain. It is one of a sequence of central-sector milecastles whose construction style has helped date the building phases of the Wall itself.
The site was partially excavated in 1908 by the Cumberland Excavation Committee, which identified the north and south gates, walls surviving to several courses, and confirmed the long-axis plan; finds were limited, and no full modern excavation has been undertaken. The remains are visible as low turf-covered footings, and associated turrets 40a and 40b have been recorded along the adjacent Wall curtain.
Milecastle 40 (Winshields) is a Hadrianic milecastle on the central, high-elevation sector of Hadrian's Wall, sitting just below Winshields Crag — the highest point on the Wall at 345m. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fortlet site from the Roman period in Britain.
Milecastle 40 (Winshields) 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 39B (Steelrigg) (0.5 km), Turret 40A (Winshields) (0.6 km), Peel Gap Tower (0.8 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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