Just under a mile from Cawfields car park where the walk begins is Great Chesters Roman Fort. It is behind the tree, looking from the west.

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1 Tynedale U3A Hadrian s Wall Group Cawfields to Birdoswald Just under a mile from Cawfields car park where the walk begins is Great Chesters Roman Fort. It is behind the tree, looking from the west. Great Chesters/ Aesica It is 6 miles from Housesteads to the East and 3 miles from Carvoran to the West. It is smaller than most Wall forts at 3 acres. A large farm has been built in the north east corner. It measures 355ft by 419 ft. and like Housesteads faces east and is behind the wall. It is probably an after though as it was built after 128AD. It was built on the site of Milecastle 43, which had to be demolished. A road leading to the Stanegate enters the fort at the Southgate. The first garrison was the 6 th Cohort of Nervii, originally from Belgium, an infantry regiment. In 1894 during excavations a hoard of jewellery was found, dating from about 70AD to the third century and considered master pieces of Celtic art. The Westgate is the only gate visible and one of the gates was soon blocked and eventually both were blocked. The vault is all that remains of the Headquarters building. Although it cannot be seen from the site, the fort has an aqueduct extending 8 miles to the north winding along the contours of the hills. Page 1 of 6

2 Milecastle 44 The milecastle is a Roman mile (0.93 mi) west of the Great Chesters fort and survives as a small number of visible stones, and a turf-covered bank. The bank measures 11 ft. wide and 3.0 ft. high. It is a long-axis type measuring 67 ft. north-south by 56 ft.) east-west internally. An excavation was made by trenching around the inner face, but no published report is available. The rampart of the road leading to the milecastle from the Military Way is visible. Turrets 44 a & b Turret 44a is further along the ridge and can be identified as a small mound. At the end of ridge is Turret 44b, which is a well preserved structure. With walls up to 6ft high, overlooking a large gap in the ridge. There is a steep descent to King Arthur s Well and then the climb up Walltown Crags. The wall follows the cliff edge with outstanding views towards Scotland Milecastle 45 This is a long axis milecastle and stone has largely been taken and difficult to describe as a result. Turret 45a There is splendid section of wall from the milecastle to Turret 45a.Luckily this turret is not in the usual place or like Turret 45b would have been destroyed by quarrying operations Page 2 of 6

3 The path passes to the north of the quarry, which is now a picnic site and car park. The path joins a road and the museum is to the left. Carvoran Roman Fort The fort is located behind the Roman Army Museum (see Guide to Vindolanda) go past the ticket office and the fort is visible. It is about 3 miles west of Great Chesters and 3 mile east of Birdoswald. The fort is interesting in spite of the fact there is nothing to see. It is at the junction of the Stanegate (the earlier road which heads to Carlisle south of the River Irthing), the Maiden Way (the road heading south to Kirby Thore, between Appleby and Penrith) and Hadrian s Wall. It is usual in that it is 200yds south of the wall. What you can see is a turf platform surrounded by a ditch with some exposed masonry at the North West corner tower. It measures 435ft by 360ft just under 4 acres. Next to nothing is known of the interior, except that the bath house was inside the fort. It appears that a significant amount of stone has been extracted for the site. The first fort possibly dates from 80AD when it is thought that the Stanegate was built. There are indications that the fort was possibly reduced in size when incorporated into the Wall defences. The stone outer wall where built in 136/7AD by a cohort of Hamians, who garrisoned the fort at that time. As a result of a geophysical survey under taken in 2000, it was found that the fort faced south and there is a very extension civilian settlement to west, south and east. Milecastle 46 Back to the path and the milecastle is about 200yds into the field, it is easily to miss, and there is no information. Page 3 of 6

4 Down into the small valley crossing the River Tipait and the 12 the century Thirlwall Castle is on the right. This largely built of stone from the Wall. There is an uneventful 2 miles to Gilsland and into Cumbria. Milecastle 48 This is one of the most significant milecastles on the Wall, both in respect of its state preservation and information it has provided. It has broad gauge wall (9.5ft. thick) built of large masonry and being 70ft by 61ft. Inside were 2 large stone building probably barracks. The broad walls indicate that the milecastle was built well ahead of the wall and before the decision to narrow the wall. In addition there are three steps shown in the middle picture above, which indicate that the steps led to a walk way 12ft. from the floor. This is the only indication anywhere that the walls of the milecastle were 12ft. high and the wall itself was possibly also 12 ft. high. It is assumed though there is no evidence that there was a parapet and a walk along the top of the wall. Turrets 48a&48b From the milecastle the wall is almost continuous to Birdoswald Page 4 of 6

5 Turret 48a is 12ft by 13ft and recessed into the Wall so that the north wall two and half feet thick. The floor was originally clay, and then was replaced with flag floor 8 inches above it. Later still a 3 rd floor was added 2ft above the first flag floor. What is not explained is how you got through the door. Turret 48b is a similar size to T48a and again recessed into the wall.this time there were 4 floors 3 of which were flagged. Along the wall passed Willowford then descend into the Irthing.Valley. At the end of the wall in the picture is the bridge abutment in a field, where the river was 1900years ago. The description of Willowford Bridge is covered in the Birdoswald Guide HANSARD 1958 Extract from a House of Commons Debate It is reliably reported that on the section near Birdoswald four workmen are employed with only occasional supervision. They dismantle the Wall, nine feet at a time, stacking the square masonry and rubble filling and consolidating the foundations. The Roman mortar, which varied in colour from one age to the next and therefore shows repairs and alterations. which is a matter of importance to archæologists is destroyed without record. Far worse, the work emerging from the Page 5 of 6

6 hands of these excellent workmen is not Hadrian's Wall at all. It is a copy and one which has lost all the gifts of time. This is not the only place this has happened. 7% of the wall is visible, of which 2% is a nineteenth century reconstruction. Of the remaining 5% it is not known how must of the wall has been rebuilt. You will find none of this in any other guides. English Heritage now insists that after any excavation everything is re buried. Milecastle 49 This is a representation of how it looked in about 140AD with the first bridge at Willowford. Since the wall was built the river has moved nearly 80 yds. further west, and the slop to the bridge is far steeper. As originally built the wall would have been built of turf with probably a wooden palisade and milecastle would have used the same materials. The change occurred from the west bank of the River Irthing. The visible milecastle is 75ft by 65ft, and replacing after only about 10years the smaller turf milecastle The milecastle had been converted at one stage to a.farm house. This is the only place where 30 miles of turf wall is moved with the building of the stone wall. The turf wall joined the fort just north of the Eastgate of the fort, while the stone wall aligned with the north wall of Birdoswald Roman Fort. Page 6 of 6