Talk:Milecastle

Merge proposal
As I am about to embark on expanding the Milecastle article, detailing each Milecastle on the Wall, I will take the opportunity to merge the Milecastle gateways article. Does anyone have any objections? MortimerCat 00:54, 30 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Agreed. --Dweller 10:09, 31 July 2006 (UTC)


 * I cannot see any valid reason for not doing so. Look forward to reading the final results --DazB

General comments
The present tense is inappropriate. A milecastle WAS a fortified structure. None of them are now, they just exist as remains, A milecastle didn't have a duty, but it had a role. There were not 81 of them, there were 80, numbered from No.1 in Wallsend to No. 80 at Bowness-on-Solway, though there has been a suggestion (Hill, 2001) that an additional milecastle existed at the eastern end of the wall in Wallsend (which would have to be numbered 0). However, there is no physical evidence for this.

There are 81 milecastle forts along Hadrian's Wall, supplemented by 160 manned turrets

If I read this correctly, the turrets are still manned. There is only evidence for 158 turrets, and no evidence that they were all manned, though it's generally assumed that they were, at least part of the time. The name generally used in historical and archaeological reference works is simply milecastlle. There's no concensus for the number of forts along the line of the wall. It may be 16, or it may be 17.

Citation No.2 is to a website article. Citations should be to reference works, not articles like the one cited, which in any case contains inaccuracies, and appears to come to several different conclusions to the sources IT cites. I'll rewrite the first paragraph to reflect all this, and remove citation No.2. Rambler24 (talk) 19:35, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

Update - I've rewritten the first section to generalise the topic, corrected the statistics, added more constructional details, and mentioned the Cumbrian Coast defensive system, which also included milecastles. Unneeded or doubtful references have been removed. The Gateways section cites no reference. I've added a tag and I'll look for some. Rambler24 (talk) 22:18, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

Individual milecastle article expansion
I've made a start expending the Milecastle stubs (zero to three so far). Comments on the format would be welcomed sooner rather than later (that way I don't have to go back over so many to make changes. General questions:
 * What about an infobox?
 * Could we do with a separate article(s) for Turrets/Towers? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sam.roebuck (talk • contribs) 14:21, 4 May 2010 (UTC)

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