Hadrian's Wall - Milecastle 80

Hadrian's Wall Milecastle

Milecastle 80 was one of a series of – Milecastles or small fortlets built at intervals of approximately one Roman mile along Hadrian’s Wall.

The mile fort was in the village of Bowness-on-Solway . It probably stood on the area of the Maia Wall Fort , which secured the westernmost end of Hadrian’s Wall. It was probably completely removed during its construction or destroyed by the erosion of the coast, as no traces could be found there. Hadrian’s Wall was believed to end there. From the 16th to the 19th century, however, eyewitness reports kept surfacing that the wall continued beyond Bowness a little further west. This would be the equivalent of closing the wall on the banks of the Tyne, east of the Segedunum fort . Archaeologists have not yet been able to confirm this information.

If Hadrian’s Wall actually only extended as far as Maia Wall Fort , the fortifications to the west of it would already be part of Cumbria’s coastal protection. The camp was on a cliff near the high water mark, this would be an ideal position for the end point of the wall. The watchtowers between MK 80 of Hadrian’s Wall and KK 1 would then be classified as WT 0A and WT 0B of the coastal protection. It is believed that coastal protection began at this fort. WT 0A could e.g. B. have stood on the western slope of the Bownesser beach cliff, near the west gate of Maia. To date, however, there is no archaeological evidence for the existence of these two towers.

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