Wall Mile 36

Hadrian's Wall stretches from the east to west coast of England and was an important frontier of the Roman Empire. Building of the wall began in AD 122 and took six years to complete it's 84 mile (80 Roman mile) length. Soldiers were garrisoned along the line of the wall in large forts, smaller milecastles, and intervening turrets. The Vallum, a large ditch with mounds on either side, ran along the south side of the wall, protecting the rear of the frontier. Hadrian's Wall was designated as a World Heritage Site in 1987.

Wall Mile 36:

Wall Mile 36 has some of the best conserved continuous sections of the wall. It includes Housesteads, which is one of the best preserved forts on Hadrian's Wall, built around 124 AD. The fort covers an area of approximately 5 acres, and was garrisoned by around 1,000 infantry. There is a museum on the site, including Roman artefacts from the fort. 

• Milecastle 36 (King's Hill) - few surface remains, largely destroyed by surface quarrying and stone robbing.
• Turret 36A (Kennel Crags) - visible only as a slight earthen platform
• Knag Burn Gate - gateway through the wall east of Housesteads
• Housesteads Fort
• Turret 36B (Housesteads) - demolished when Housteads fort was built in c. AD 124

Scheduled Monument (#1010964): Hadrian's Wall and associated features between the boundary east of turret 34a and the field boundary west of milecastle 36 in wall miles 34, 35 and 36

The Wall survives intermittently as an upstanding feature throughout this section.

At Busy Gap a section of ditch was cut which survives as a feature, 12m wide and up to 1.2m deep. West of milecastle 36 another shorter section of ditch was cut, now measuring 2.1m in depth and 10m in width. To the north of the Wall, at the foot of Kings Hill crags is a narrow linear earthwork, up to 7m wide which has been identified as a prehistoric field boundary.

Milecastle 36 occupies the summit of Kings Hill. It survives as a turf-covered feature. The east and west walls are indicated by robber trenches up to 0.5m deep. The featureless interior of the milecastle is overlain by stone which has tumbled onto it from the adjacent Wall. The milecastle was excavated during 1946 and was found to have narrow walls. The north gate had been reconstructed in a post-Hadrianic period, probably around AD 180. The south gate had been destroyed.

Branch roads survive linking the Military Way with the south gates of both milecastles 35 and 36. At milecastle 35 the low, uneven turf-covered mound of the causeway is up to 5.5m wide and 0.2m high. At milecastle 36 the turf- covered causeway is up to 4m wide and 0.3m high. 

Scheduled Monument (#1018585): Housesteads fort, section of Wall and vallum between the field boundary west of milecastle 36 and the field boundary west of turret 37a in wall miles 36 and 37

Between milecastle 36 and the stretch of consolidated Wall, the Wall survives as a turf-covered mound overlain on its north face by a modern field wall made from reused Roman masonry.

Turret 36a, located in 1911, occupies the crest of Kennel Crags. It is visible as an irregular turf-covered platform measuring 17m north east by 6m south west, and up to 1.1m high. No internal features are visible and it is partly overlain by stone which has tumbled onto it from the adjacent Wall. Excavations during 1946 showed that the turret had narrow walls and a door in the east side.

Turret 36b was built before Housesteads fort, occupying part of the crest of Housesteads Crags later overlain by the fort. The foundation courses of the turret have been exposed by excavations within Housesteads fort. It survives as an upstanding structure which has been consolidated and is in the care of the Secretary of State as part of the fort.

The civil settlement outside the fort [Housteads], usually referred to as a vicus, is very extensive stretching for at least 200m south of the fort. It also clustered around the east and west sides of the fort. In its initial phase the vicus was situated to the south of the vallum. However, by the third century AD at the latest the vallum was levelled and the vicus was moved up the hill and constructed immediately adjacent to the fort. To the south of the fort over 20 buildings were excavated during the 1930s, although only six remain on view as upstanding buildings with consolidated stone walls. They are believed to be the foundations of a group of shops and/or taverns. Outside the fort's east gate small robber trenches demarcate the ground plans of some of the vicus buildings.

Scheduled Monument (#1010965): The vallum and early Roman road between the field boundary east of turret 34a and the field boundary west of milecastle 36 in wall miles 34, 35 and 36

The vallum survives as a series of upstanding earthworks throughout this section. The north mound of the vallum has been reduced by pasture improvement, though it still averages 1m in height. A number of low points in the mound throughout its course denote crossings over the vallum. The south mound averages about 1.2m in height, but in places it is overlain and partly obliterated by a modern field wall. The vallum ditch is well preserved, averaging 2m in depth.

The causeway of an early Roman road is located running parallel to the vallum on its north side opposite Moss Kennels. It is visible as a turf-covered mound, averaging 8m wide and 0.4m high for approximately 400m throughout the western part of this monument. Further east it has been reduced by ploughing and is no longer visible as an upstanding earthwork, although buried remains will survive beneath the present ground surface. It has a level surface with some of the metalling exposed.