Milecastle 61 (Wallhead) was a small fortlet on Hadrian's Wall, located between Turret 60b and Turret 61a in the western sector of the Wall in Cumbria. Like other milecastles, it would have been built in the 120s AD under Hadrian and occupied, with interruptions, into the late 4th century, garrisoned by a small detachment (probably 8–32 men) drawn from auxiliary units stationed at nearby forts such as Stanwix or Burgh-by-Sands.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
As one of the regularly-spaced milecastles along the Wall, it functioned as a controlled crossing point and observation post, regulating movement of people, livestock and goods across the frontier. In this western sector the Wall was originally built in turf and later rebuilt in stone, so Milecastle 61 is among the milecastles that likely went through this turf-to-stone transition.
Very little is recorded for Milecastle 61: its position is established by the standard Roman milecastle spacing and from antiquarian and survey work, but no significant modern excavation has been published, and surface remains are slight in this heavily ploughed, low-lying landscape west of Carlisle. Its presumed plan, gate arrangement and construction sequence are inferred largely from better-preserved western milecastles such as MC 50TW (High House) and MC 79 (Solway House).
Milecastle 61 (Wallhead) was a small fortlet on Hadrian's Wall, located between Turret 60b and Turret 61a in the western sector of the Wall in Cumbria. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fortlet site from the Roman period in Britain.
Milecastle 61 (Wallhead) 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 Moss Side 1 and 2 Roman temporary camps (0.5 km), Milecastle 62 (Walby East) (1.3 km), Milecastle 60 (High Strand) (1.7 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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