Birdoswald Roman Fort

Birdoswald Roman Fort stands above the River Irthing on Hadrian’s Wall. The fort was established shortly after AD 122, when work on the Wall began. According to English Heritage, its defences are the best preserved of any along the Wall. The garrison here was the Cohors I Aelia Dacorum, a unit of about 1,000 Dacians recruited from what is now Romania, attested in the 3rd century. Five of the six gates are visible, and the east gate is regarded as the best-preserved fort gate on the Wall; two well-preserved granaries can also be seen.

Later came a medieval tower house and, in the 16th century, a fortified farmhouse (bastle) whose occupants complained of cattle thefts in 1588 and 1590. Around 1849 the owner, Henry Norman, excavated the walls and gates. To the east and west of the fort the Wall survives up to 2.5 m high, and Turret 49b stands about 325 m to the west.