Hadrian’s Wall: Milecastles, Turrets and the Curtain
Edited by Derek A. Welsby Edited by Nick Hodgson
Paperback (Published)
(November 2025)
ISBN: 9781805831457
7.99 x 10.91 inches
Price: $63.00
In stock
Four detailed studies reassess the design and form of Hadrian’s Wall, its milecastles and turrets. Drawing on the archaeological record, the contributors explore how the Wall’s structure and superstructures shaped its purpose and meaning within the Roman frontier system.
This book contains four substantial studies scrutinising aspects of the evidence for the design and form of the curtain, milecastles and turrets of Hadrian’s Wall as preserved in the primary archaeological record. Together they constitute a fresh assessment of the original appearance of the Wall and its structures, a matter of long-running controversy since nowhere does any part of the Wall survive to full height. The nature of the top of the curtain, and the form of superstructures over milecastle gateways, are not simply structural details of merely academic interest: the contributors show that both have a profound impact on how we interpret the function of the linear barrier both in its initial conception and as used over three centuries by the Roman army.
List of Figures
List of Tables
Introduction – Derek A. Welsby and Nick Hodgson
Laying out the ground plans of turrets and milecastles on Hadrian’s Wall – Derek A. Welsby
Introduction
Turrets
Milecastles
Discussion
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
Did Hadrian’s Wall have a wall walk? – Paul Bidwell
Introduction
The width of the Wall
Walls blocking turret recesses
The line of the later Stone Wall in relation to the stone turrets originally built as part of the Turf Wall Chamfered stones from a string course
The bridges on the line of the Wall
A crenellated parapet
Weaponry and use of the Wall-walk as a fighting-platform
Surveillance, patrols and defence
The Antonine Wall
Conclusions
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
The stones from a chamfered string course on Hadrian’s Wall and their implications for the appearance of the Wall-top – Nick Hodgson
Introduction
The chamfered string course stones
The chamfered string course and the wider question of parapet and wall-walk
The wall-walk as a fighting platform or a sentry walk
Acknowledgements
Appendix 1: Published records of chamfered string course stones from Hadrian’s Wall
Appendix 2: The Berm Obstacles
Bibliography
Milecastle gate towers: present or absent? – Derek A. Welsby
Introduction
Discussion
The presence or absence of towers over milecastle gateways
Tower or no tower?
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Appendix 1. Inventory of milecastle gates where there is relevant data for use in this study
Appendix 2. Measurements of the visible stonework in milecastle and fort gates along Hadrian’s Wall
Bibliography
,
List of Figures
List of Tables
Introduction – Derek A. Welsby and Nick Hodgson
Laying out the ground plans of turrets and milecastles on Hadrian’s Wall – Derek A. Welsby
Introduction
Turrets
Milecastles
Discussion
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
Did Hadrian’s Wall have a wall walk? – Paul Bidwell
Introduction
The width of the Wall
Walls blocking turret recesses
The line of the later Stone Wall in relation to the stone turrets originally built as part of the Turf Wall Chamfered stones from a string course
The bridges on the line of the Wall
A crenellated parapet
Weaponry and use of the Wall-walk as a fighting-platform
Surveillance, patrols and defence
The Antonine Wall
Conclusions
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
The stones from a chamfered string course on Hadrian’s Wall and their implications for the appearance of the Wall-top – Nick Hodgson
Introduction
The chamfered string course stones
The chamfered string course and the wider question of parapet and wall-walk
The wall-walk as a fighting platform or a sentry walk
Acknowledgements
Appendix 1: Published records of chamfered string course stones from Hadrian’s Wall
Appendix 2: The Berm Obstacles
Bibliography
Milecastle gate towers: present or absent? – Derek A. Welsby
Introduction
Discussion
The presence or absence of towers over milecastle gateways
Tower or no tower?
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Appendix 1. Inventory of milecastle gates where there is relevant data for use in this study
Appendix 2. Measurements of the visible stonework in milecastle and fort gates along Hadrian’s Wall
Bibliography
Derek Welsby completed a PhD on Roman military archaeology, going on to spend most of his career excavating along the Nile and in the deserts of Central and Northern Sudan. For much of that time he was an assistant keeper based in what is now the Department of Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum. He has excavated on Roman sites in the UK, Turkey and Libya and has travelled extensively throughout the Empire.
Nick Hodgson holds a BA degree from Oxford and PhD from Newcastle. He was formerly Principal Keeper of Archaeology, Tyne & Wear Museums (now Northeast Museums). He has excavated and published widely on Hadrian’s Wall and is currently preparing the results of the long-running excavations at South Shields Roman fort, at the eastern end of the Wall, for publication.
- Edited by Derek A. Welsby
- Edited by Nick Hodgson
Other Titles in this Series
Roman Pottery and Glass Manufactures: Production and Trade in the Adriatic Region and Beyond
Proceedings of the 4th International Archaeological Colloquium (Crikvenica, 8-9 November 2017)
Between Roman Culture and Local Tradition
Roman Provincial Coinage of Bithynia and Pontus during the Reign of Trajan (98-117 AD)
The Urbanisation of the North-Western Provinces of the Roman Empire
A Juridical and Functional Approach to Town Life in Roman Gaul, Germania Inferior and Britain
Investigations into the Dyeing Industry in Pompeii
Experimental Archaeology and Computer Simulation Techniques
Similar Books
Balthasar Caymox of Nuremberg
Early Modern German Print Publishers: Popular Prints of the Seventeenth Century
Formulary apportionment in international tax law
An allocation method for the age of globalization and digitalization
Volume 210
Linguistic and Cultural Dynamics in a Frontier Society
New Perspectives on Northeastern Bavaria and Western Bohemia in the Early Middle Ages
Volume 9
The Documentation of Historical Facts in Trial Judgments of the International Criminal Court
A Constitutional Theory of International Criminal Proceedings
Volume 66
»In die Saiten flüchtig greif’ ich«
Poetik und Praxis romantischer Lied-Lyrik: Vom frühromantischen Experiment zur Leitform im 19. Jahrhundert
Volume 50
Althochdeutsche Stabreimdichtungen
Hildebrandslied, Muspilli und kleinere Denkmaler. Von Grund auf neu ediert, mit Erschliessungshilfen versehen, ubersetzt und eingeleitet von Frank Schafer
Auf Gedeih und Verderb
Die Pestiziddebatte seit dem Kaiserreich zwischen Hunger, Profit und Massenmord
DGB, IBFG und die Anfänge der europäischen Integration 1949–1958
Die Europapolitik des Deutschen Gewerkschaftsbundes und des Internationalen Bundes Freier Gewerkschaften in den Verhandlungen zur Europäischen Gemeinschaft für Kohle und Stahl und zu den Römischen Verträgen
Die Pfingstbewegung in Deutschland während der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus
Kontinuitäten und Diskontinuitäten von der Weimarer Republik bis zur frühen Bundesrepublik
Heimito von Doderers Roman No 7/II: Der Grenzwald
Historisch-kritische Edition – Kommentar – Studien zur Entstehungsgeschichte
Protestantische Identitäten und evangelische Texte um 1900
Schriften und Biografica der Pfarrer Julius Antonius, Julius Ergenzinger, Alfred Formey, Cornelius Wilkens und Paul von Zimmermann. Unter Mitarbeit von Teresa Emich
»Français en Allemagne et Allemand en France«
Formationen und Figurationen des Kulturtransfers bei und um Adelbert von Chamisso
Alltag – Erinnerung – Aufarbeitung an der Universität Wien
Historische Wissenschaften in Austrofaschismus, Nationalsozialismus und Nachkriegszeit
