More information : NZ 1786 6627. Milecastle 9 (GSC) (Site of) (T.I.) (1)
Situated 300 yards beyond Chapel House Farm, and excavated in 1929. Its north gate was found to be a variant of Type II. The internal width was 48ft 10 inches; length 60 feet and its walls of same thickness and construction as the broad wall. Coins of Valentinian I and Tetricus were also found. The military way was discovered 32 feet south running E-W with a branch road to the gateway. It was more than 17 ft. wide, of sandstone penning with traces of a curb on the north side. Plan. (2-3)
The major part of the milecastle has now been covered by road widening, but the southern portion is still evident as an ill defined ground swelling within an arable field. There is no evidence of the military way or branch road. (4)
As described by authority 4 but it is even more ill-defined now. Site only, no intelligible remains. There is no trace of the section further east (shown on the 1/2500 on reverse of the OS 495) either. (5)
Hodgson writes "about 1790 strong foundations of masonry were dug up at Chapel Houses, on the site called Chapel" (6a). MacLauchlan describes the remains of Chapel House as destroyed so that the outlines can barely be seen (6b). The milecastle was relocated in 1928, 1602 yards from Milecastle "in the first field, south of the road, to the east of the modern Blucher Pit village", the north part lying under the modern turnpike (6c). The milecastle was excavated in 1929 by Birley and found to be 48 feet 10 inches wide and 60 feet long internally; the walls in the west and east half were foundation courses only and the north face of the south wall was six courses high above the foundation stones. The east walls were 9 feet broad and the south wall was 8 feet 6 inches wide. The foundations had been set into clay whilst the upper courses were set in lime. At the south-east angle the masonry had been robbed but the foundation clay showed that the corner was rounded inside and out. The south gate wall course had been removed, but from the position of the stop-block it was thought to have been 9 feet wide at the entrance. Several phases of occupation were recorded in the interior, and the pottery reflected each Wall period (6d). NZ 1786 6626: To summarise; about 1790 the masonry for Milecastle 9 was robbed, and in 1858 MacLauchlan could barely see the outline of it. The Milecastle was relocated in 1928, then excavated in 1929 by Birley (6d). The Military Way (NZ 1766. 12) was found 32 feet south of the milecastle (3) and mentioned by Bruce in 1955 (2). In 1951 the north gate was recorded as being Type IV (2). The Ordnance Survey depicts the site at NZ 1786 6627 in 1964 (1). By 1966 the major part of the milecastle was covered by a modern road, the south end was defined as a swelling only (4). In 1979 and 1993 there were no clear surveyable remains, although the south side could be seen as a faint platform (5) and (6b). The south part of the milecastle now shows as the very faintest trace of a platform; not surveyable. (6)
Scheduled (7)
The milecastle was investigated as part of the Milecastles Project in 2000. A T-shaped trench was excavated in the south-east corner of the milecastle. It was built on banded strata representing pre-Roman occupation, and the double row of postholes found by Birley may relate to this occupation. The walls were 3.1 metres wide. A stone building occupied the east side of the interior of the milecastle. A ditch parallel to the walls and contemporary with their construction lay to the east, and may have been part of a ditched enclosure around the milecastle. A trench may have cut through from the south through the entrance to such an enclosure. (8-9)
Located on the English Heritage map of Hadrian's Wall 2010. (10) |