04-07-2009, 06:41 PM
Neil. I think that as you mention the structure of the south gates tends to mirror the north gates infact the Wall at milecastle 37 just west of Housesteads is only 8 feet thick, and one can't imagine there would have been any width whatever for such structures.
The milecastles were intended for traffic thro' the Wall and I find it a misconception when archaeologists or others begin to mention soldiers patroling the wall, as if there was about to be an attack at any time not so.
I do think that with the very good intelligence system that the Romans had they would have known exactly what was going on hundreds of miles away in Scotland at any time, infact the only times that the Wall became over run was when political or military mismanagement allowed that to happen.
Then of course we do find that after rebuilds the north gates of many of these milecastles were reduced to only Postern size such as infact MC 37 itself which was only 3ft 9inchs
The milecastles were intended for traffic thro' the Wall and I find it a misconception when archaeologists or others begin to mention soldiers patroling the wall, as if there was about to be an attack at any time not so.
I do think that with the very good intelligence system that the Romans had they would have known exactly what was going on hundreds of miles away in Scotland at any time, infact the only times that the Wall became over run was when political or military mismanagement allowed that to happen.
Then of course we do find that after rebuilds the north gates of many of these milecastles were reduced to only Postern size such as infact MC 37 itself which was only 3ft 9inchs
Brian Stobbs
