Milecastle 39 on Hadrian's Wall

[Genghis Cunn]

I grew up near the Wall, but now live in Australia. I was last at M39 in 2011; in 2016 I was at Housesteads immediately to the East, but didn't walk West. Interesting to see places I know - not just the Wall - in a game with an historic setting. My grandparentds were southern Irish, northern Irish, Scottish and Northumbrian (with a bit of Viking ancestry), so my sympathies tend to lie with the Picts. Sorry to read that it's not yet in profit, I enjoyed Ex Conq and Ex Vik is a big step forward from that.

[Nova]

Thanks! I hope we did the place justice.

[Genghis Cunn]

Nova, I thought you might have been inaccurate - the wall was a barrier, Hadrian decided there was no value in going further north, the Wall was for protection against the marauding Picts rather than a customs barrier, and there are few openings. A road (still used) was built from Wallsend (near the mouth of the Tyne) and the Irish Sea, a little south of the Wall. I didn't think that there'd be a gate/door at M39. But - https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Milecastle_39_on_Hadrian%27s_Wall.jpg - there's an opening here, which appears to be part of the design, though it might have been post-Roman. Just over the hill to the east is Housesteads, one of the biggest and best-preserved forts. As you can see, the wall was largely built on the edge of a North-facing escarpment; I rolled all the way down as a boy playing Picts-and-Romans. Great countryside.

[[__h.stickeye_]]

Originally posted by Genghis Cunn:

Nova, I thought you might have been inaccurate - the wall was a barrier, Hadrian decided there was no value in going further north, the Wall was for protection against the marauding Picts rather than a customs barrier, and there are few openings. A road (still used) was built from Wallsend (near the mouth of the Tyne) and the Irish Sea, a little south of the Wall. I didn't think that there'd be a gate/door at M39. But - https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Milecastle_39_on_Hadrian%27s_Wall.jpg - there's an opening here, which appears to be part of the design, though it might have been post-Roman. Just over the hill to the east is Housesteads, one of the biggest and best-preserved forts. As you can see, the wall was largely built on the edge of a North-facing escarpment; I rolled all the way down as a boy playing Picts-and-Romans. Great countryside.

dude cmon, what.