Milecastle 60 (High Strand) was a small fortlet on Hadrian's Wall, situated between Milecastle 59 (Old Wall) and Milecastle 61 (Wallhead) in the Cumbrian sector west of the River Irthing. Constructed in the AD 120s under Hadrian and likely garrisoned by around a dozen to thirty auxiliary soldiers, it functioned as a controlled crossing point through the Wall and as a base for patrolling the curtain. It would have remained in intermittent use until the later 4th century, with the usual gaps during Antonine reoccupation of southern Scotland.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
As one of the milecastles in the relatively low-relief central-western stretch of the Wall, it formed part of the systematic frontier surveillance and traffic-control apparatus, regulating north–south movement and serving as a node between the turrets to either side. It has no particular distinction in the historical record beyond its place in the standard milecastle sequence.
Very little survives or has been investigated at High Strand: the site lies in cultivated land where the Wall has been almost entirely robbed, and its position is known largely from spacing calculations and antiquarian observation rather than from excavation. No significant finds, structural plan, or confirmed gateway type (long-axis or short-axis) has been published for this milecastle.
Milecastle 60 (High Strand) was a small fortlet on Hadrian's Wall, situated between Milecastle 59 (Old Wall) and Milecastle 61 (Wallhead) in the Cumbrian sector west of the River Irthing. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fortlet site from the Roman period in Britain.
Milecastle 60 (High Strand) 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 59A (0.9 km), Watchclose Roman temporary camp (1.3 km), Milecastle 59 (Old Wall) (1.4 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
Aubrey Research generates detailed historical reports for any location in Britain, incorporating Roman heritage, Domesday Book records, scheduled monument data, archaeological finds and much more. Enter a nearby address to begin.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any address in Britain — drawing on Roman heritage, Domesday records, scheduled monument data, archaeological finds and medieval history to reveal the complete story of a landscape.
Research the area around Milecastle 60 (High Strand)