Milecastle 4 facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Milecastle 4 |
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| Tyne and Wear, England, UK | |
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Milecastle 4 is located beneath Newcastle Arts Centre, the flat-roofed brick building
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 Milecastle 4
Location in Tyne and Wear
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| Coordinates | 54°58′12″N 1°37′04″W / 54.969948°N 1.617812°W |
Milecastle 4 (also known as Westgate Road) was a small fort built by the Romans. It was part of Hadrian's Wall, a famous stone wall that stretched across northern England. Today, its remains are hidden beneath the Newcastle Arts Centre at 67-75 Westgate Road.
Interestingly, the actual spot where Milecastle 4 was found is not where experts first thought it would be. Its real location is between where two guard towers, called Turrets 4A and 4B, were expected to be. This discovery has made historians think about how the forts and towers along this part of Hadrian's Wall were originally numbered and placed.
Contents
Building Milecastle 4
Milecastle 4 was a specific type of small fort, longer than it was wide. We don't know what kind of gates it had. Historians believe it was built by one of two Roman armies. These were either the legio VI Victrix, who were based in Eboracum (York), or the Legio XX Valeria Victrix, who were based in Deva Victrix (Chester).
The fort was about 14.9 meters (49 feet) wide. It was probably around 18 meters (60 feet) long. The south wall that was dug up was 2.7 meters (9 feet) thick. It was built using clay to hold the stones together. The foundations, which are the parts underground, were 2.9 meters (9.5 feet) wide. These foundations were made of flat stones, which is common for wider wall forts. There was also evidence that the southern gate might have been blocked up at some point.
Digging Up the Past
Archaeologists have learned about Milecastle 4 through different digs and studies:
- 1929 and 1930 - Roman pottery was found about 1,440 meters (1,575 yards) along the wall from Milecastle 3. People thought this was the spot for Milecastle 4.
- 1961 - A historian named Birley agreed with this location.
- 1985 - The southwest corner of the fort was finally found. More digging happened here. They didn't find any layers showing people lived there for a long time. The foundations were covered by a layer of pottery pieces, mostly from the 2nd century. This suggests that the fort was taken down before the end of the 2nd century.
Guard Towers (Turrets)
Every milecastle along Hadrian's Wall had two smaller guard towers, called turrets, linked to it. These turrets were placed about one-third and two-thirds of a Roman mile to the west of the milecastle. Soldiers from the milecastle would likely have guarded these towers. The turrets connected to Milecastle 4 are known as Turret 4A and Turret 4B. However, as we learned, the milecastle was found between where these turrets were expected to be.
Turret 4A
We don't know anything about Turret 4A. Because Milecastle 4 was found further west than this turret was supposed to be, there are no official records or assumed location for it.
Turret 4B
Like Turret 4A, nothing is known about Turret 4B. Since Milecastle 4 was found further west than Turret 4A's expected spot, it's very unlikely that the locations first guessed by Birley were correct. However, there is still an official record for that original guessed location.
Location: 54°59′37″N 1°44′12″W / 54.993672°N 1.736733°W
Images for kids
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Milecastle 4 is located beneath Newcastle Arts Centre, the flat-roofed brick building
See also
In Spanish: Castillo miliar 4 para niños
