Milecastle 76 was a small fortlet on the western sector of Hadrian's Wall, located in the vicinity of Drumburgh in modern Cumbria, near the Solway estuary. Like other milecastles, it would have been constructed in the 120s AD under Hadrian and garrisoned, with interruptions, into the later 4th century; in this western stretch the Wall was initially built in turf before being rebuilt in stone, so the milecastle likely had a corresponding turf-and-timber phase succeeded by a stone rebuild.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
As one of the chain of milecastles spaced at roughly Roman-mile intervals, it controlled local movement across the frontier and provided a small garrison post (typically 8–32 men), here close to the larger fort at Drumburgh (Coggabata) which dominated the Solway crossings. Its setting near the marshy coastal flats made it part of the system addressing the tidal fords that posed a vulnerability on the Wall's western flank.
The site is poorly preserved and has seen little modern excavation; its position has been inferred largely from spacing and antiquarian observation rather than confirmed structural remains, and no significant artefact assemblage is published. Honestly, very little specific to Milecastle 76 is recorded in the archaeological literature compared with better-known milecastles such as 79 (Solway House) or 48 (Poltross
Milecastle 76 was a small fortlet on the western sector of Hadrian's Wall, located in the vicinity of Drumburgh in modern Cumbria, near the Solway estuary. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fortlet site from the Roman period in Britain.
Milecastle 76 (Drumburgh) 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 Congavata (0.2 km), Turret 76A (Drumburgh) (0.5 km), Drumburgh Roman fort and Hadrian's Wall between Burgh Marsh and Westfield House in wall miles 76 and 77 (1 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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