Milecastle 1 (Stott's Pow) was a
milecastle
A milecastle was a small fort (fortlet), a rectangular fortification built during the period of the Roman Empire. They were placed at intervals of approximately one Roman mile along several major frontiers, for example Hadrian's Wall in Great Br ...
of the
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of Roman civilization
*Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall (, also known as the ''Roman Wall'', Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Aelium'' in Latin) is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Roman Britain, Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...
. It was located near the (now disappeared) valley of Stott's Pow. Its remains are covered over, and are located beneath the recreation ground at Miller's Dene.
Early excavations and investigations of
Turret 0B were mistakenly interpreted as Milecastle 1.
[
] The Milecastle sits within the parish of Wallsend.
Construction
Milecastle 1 was a
short-axis milecastle of unknown
gateway type. Short-axis milecastles were thought to have been constructed by the
legio II Augusta
Legio II Augusta ( Second Legion "Augustus'") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army that was founded during the late Roman Republic. Its emblems were the Capricornus, Pegasus, and Mars. It may have taken the name "''Augusta''" from a victory ...
who were based in
Isca Augusta
Isca, variously specified as Isca Augusta or Isca Silurum, was the site of a Roman legionary fortress and settlement or ''vicus'', the remains of which lie beneath parts of the present-day suburban town of Caerleon in the north of the city of ...
(
Caerleon
Caerleon ( ; ) is a town and Community (Wales), community in Newport, Wales. Situated on the River Usk, it lies northeast of Newport city centre, and southeast of Cwmbran. Caerleon is of archaeological importance, being the site of a notable ...
).
Milecastle 1 Easting and Northing:
Easting: 360162
Northing: 563796
Milecastle 1 English Heritage number: 1003507.
Excavations and investigations
*1732 - Horsley recorded the milecastle as short-axis and also its proximity to Stott's Pow.
*1848 - Collingwood Bruce studied the wall
and wrote:
*1852-4 -
Henry MacLauchlan surveyed the milecastle's position and recorded it as a short-axis milecastle.
*1928 - F G Simpson tested the site and found only Roman occupation soil and debris remained, assuming that even the foundations had been robbed away. Simpson measured from outside edge of the east gate of
Segedunum
Segedunum was a Roman fort at modern-day Wallsend, North Tyneside in North East England. The fort lay at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall near the banks of the River Tyne. It was in use for approximately 300years from around 122AD to almost ...
to the centre of Milecastle 1 at . His measurements between the centres of Milecastle 1 and
Milecastle 2 was ed .
[
*1947 - The recreation ground which now covers the site of Milecastle 1 was leveled in 1947. Part of the "Wall Ditch" and traces of the milecastle were still according to Grace Simpson. She also stated in her notes (circa 1978) that the fragment of Wall Ditch had now completely disappeared but the trace of the milecastle was still faintly discernible.][
*1975 - ]English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...
Field Investigation. It was noted that:[
*1978 - Grace Simpson (circa 1978) that the fragment of Wall Ditch had now completely disappeared but the "trace of the Milecastle ... is still faintly discernible".]
Associated turrets
Each milecastle on Hadrian's Wall had two associated turret
Turret may refer to:
* Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building
* Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon
* Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...
structures. These turrets were positioned approximately one-third and two-thirds of a Roman mile
The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of length; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English ...
to the west of the Milecastle, and would probably have been manned by part of the milecastle's garrison. The turrets associated with Milecastle 1 are known as Turret 1A and Turret 1B.
Turret 1A
Turret 1B
Monument records
References
{{Milecastles
01