Wall Mile 79

Hadrian's Wall runs westwards along the crest of a raised beach from Port Carlisle for 700m and then turns north west to run towards Bowness-on-Solway. West of the site of milecastle 79, for a distance of 200m, the remains of the Wall lie beneath a field boundary visible as a bank 1m high surmounted by a hedge. The indications are that the Wall survives as upstanding remains of the core and probably also the faces several courses high with undisturbed tumble on either side beneath the earth bank. At the west end of this length the Wall is exposed either side of a modern field gate, standing up to four courses high with the footing flags exposed across the gateway. However, around the site of milecastle 79 and west of the north westerly turn in direction the Wall survives as a buried feature with no visible indications on the ground. The Wall in this sector was initially constructed in turf, which was replaced on the same line in the second half of the second century AD by the Stone Wall. It has not yet been determined whether the Wall was fronted by a ditch in this section. The proximity of the coast would have made a ditch superfluous and a ditch of the normal wall ditch proportions would have been liable to tidal flooding.

Milecastle 79 is situated 350m west of Field View Lane. Excavations of the milecastle were undertaken in 1949 by Richmond and Gillam. Like all milecastles in the western part of Hadrian's Wall, it was originally constructed with turf ramparts and timber gateways and internal buildings. It measured 14.9m east to west and 12.5m north to south internally. This was replaced at some time in the second half of the second century by a stone built milecastle which measured 17.7m internally. The gates of the stone milecastle were found to have been reduced in size after the initial construction. A timber framed building is also known to have stood in the eastern half of the stone milecastle.

The exact position of Turret 79a has not yet been confirmed. On the basis of the usual spacing it is expected to be located approximately 400m west of milecastle 79 where the Wall changes direction. Turret 79a is expected to survive as buried remains.

Turret 79b is situated approximately 250m south east of the houses at the east end of Bowness-on-Solway in the field known as Jeffrey Croft. Its site is indicated by a very slight platform, visible on the ground. It was partly excavated in 1934 by Simpson, Richmond and MacIntyre to confirm whether the Turf Wall extended westwards as far as the west end of Hadrian's Wall at Bowness. The south wall was found to be 1.12m wide and the west wall, 0.96m wide, was traced for 4.64m from the south west corner. It was constructed on a foundation of two layers of cobbles sandwiched in red clay, with three courses of masonry surviving above. The difference in thickness of the south and west walls and the evidence that it was originally built as a free-standing tower abutted by the Turf Wall demonstrated it to be the type of turret characteristic of the Turf Wall, and the most westerly turret known on Hadrian's Wall. When the Wall was rebuilt in stone, the Turf Wall turrets, which were originally built in stone themselves, were retained with the new wall.

The course of the Roman road known as the Military Way, which ran along the corridor between the Wall and vallum linking turrets, milecastles and forts, has not been confirmed in this section. It is expected to run parallel to the Wall a few metres from its south face.

The course of the vallum is known in this section with intermittent surface traces visible. The vallum ditch survives as a faint shallow depression and a short section of the south mound is visible as an earthwork averaging 0.5m high to the south west of milecastle 79. Elsewhere the vallum mounds are not visible on the ground and survive as buried remains.

The course of the vallum westwards is not known from a point 150m west of the measured site of turret 79a, and its western terminus has not yet been discovered.