Milecastle 56 (Walton) is one of the small fortlets built at roughly Roman-mile intervals along Hadrian's Wall, lying in the western sector between Banks East turret (52a) and the fort at Castlesteads (Camboglanna). Constructed in the early 130s AD as part of the original Wall scheme, it was initially built in turf in this sector (the Turf Wall) before later reconstruction in stone, probably in the Hadrianic or early Antonine period; it would have housed a small garrison of perhaps 8–32 auxiliary soldiers controlling a gate through the Wall.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
As a controlled crossing point, it regulated movement and presumably small-scale traffic and tax/toll collection across the frontier in the agriculturally productive Irthing–Eden corridor. It is one of the milecastles in the Turf Wall sector and therefore relevant to understanding the sequence and chronology of the Wall's conversion from turf to stone.
The site has not been extensively excavated and survives largely as a low earthwork; its existence and approximate position were established through the systematic measured spacing of milecastles along the Wall and through limited fieldwork rather than major published excavation. Little structural detail or artefactual assemblage is recorded specifically for MC56 compared with better-investigated milecastles such as 48 (Poltross Burn) or 50 (High House).
Milecastle 56 (Walton) is one of the small fortlets built at roughly Roman-mile intervals along Hadrian's Wall, lying in the western sector between Banks East turret (52a) and the fort at Castlesteads (Camboglanna). It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fortlet site from the Roman period in Britain.
Milecastle 56 (Walton) 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 55B (Townhead Croft) (0.4 km), Turret 56A (Sandyside) (0.5 km), Turret 55A (Dovecote) (0.9 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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