Milecastle 45 (Walltown) is a milecastle on Hadrian's Wall, situated on the dramatic crags of the Whin Sill near Walltown, Northumberland, between Turret 44b and Turret 45a. Built in the 120s AD as part of the original Hadrianic Wall scheme, it would have garrisoned a small detachment (likely 8–32 men) drawn from auxiliary units, controlling movement through a gateway in the curtain wall and remaining in use, with interruptions, into the late 4th century.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
As one of the milecastles along the most rugged central sector of the Wall, it formed part of the tight surveillance system of fortlets and turrets between Great Chesters (Aesica) and Carvoran (Magna), monitoring the frontier where the crags themselves provided formidable natural defence. Its position on the Whin Sill meant the northern gateway opened onto a cliff, making it functionally redundant for traffic — a feature shared with several central-sector milecastles.
Milecastle 45 has not been extensively excavated, and its remains are poorly preserved compared to better-known examples such as MC 42 (Cawfields) or MC 39 (Castle Nick); its plan and constructional type (long-axis vs. short-axis, gateway type) are not securely established from published work. Surface traces and the line of the Wall are visible, but detailed structural and finds evidence for this particular milecastle rem
Milecastle 45 (Walltown) is a milecastle on Hadrian's Wall, situated on the dramatic crags of the Whin Sill near Walltown, Northumberland, between Turret 44b and Turret 45a. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fortlet site from the Roman period in Britain.
Milecastle 45 (Walltown) 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 45A (Walltown) (0.4 km), Turret 44B (Mucklebank) (0.4 km), Turret 44A (Allolee West) (0.8 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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