Milecastle 3
Tyne and Wear,England, UK
Milecastle 3 probably overlooked the Ouseburn ravine
Location
Milecastle 3 Location inTyne and Wear
Coordinates	54°58′33″N1°35′20″W / 54.975901°N 1.589009°W /54.975901; -1.589009
Grid reference	NZ26406466

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Milecastle 3 (Ouseburn) was amilecastle of theRomanHadrian's Wall. No remains exist, but it was thought to have been located at the junction of theA187 Byker Bridge and Stephen Street.

No evidence exists as to theconfiguration ortype of Milecastle 3, though the curtain wall at this stage was almost certainly anarrow configuration.^[1]

• 1732 -Horsley surveyed the milecastle, recording its position.^[2]

• 1776 - The location was visited byStukeley, who sketched the area for hisIter Boreale'.^[3]

• 1789 - Brand visited the site, but noted that many of the stones had been removed from the foundations some years previously, for use in the building of an adjoining house.^[4]

• 1848 - Collingwood Briuce reported that a small, partly illegiblealtar had been found close to the presumed site of the milecastle. The altar (NMR Number: NZ 26 SE 227) was dedicated by Julius Maximus. Having searched the area, he could find no trace of Roman remains.^[1]
• 1858 -Henry MacLauchlan surveyed the area but reported no dependable trace of the milecastle.^[5]
• 1928 - FG Simpson measured the distance fromMilecastle 2 to Milecastle 3 as 1,450 yards (1,330 m).^[5]
• 1979 - Exploratory trenches were sunk during the building of theMetro, revealing no trace of the milecastle.^[5]

Each milecastle on Hadrian's Wall had two associatedturret structures. These turrets were positioned approximately one-third and two-thirds of aRoman mile to the west of the Milecastle, and would probably have been manned by part of the milecastle's garrison. The turrets associated withMilecastle 3 are known asTurret 3A andTurret 3B.

Nothing is known ofTurret 3A and it was presumed to be located around54°58′30″N1°35′46″W / 54.974892°N 1.596128°W /54.974892; -1.596128 (Turret 3A).^[6] In September 2022 Pre-Construct Archaeology announced that they had located the turret at approximately54°58′28″N1°35′44.5″W / 54.97444°N 1.595694°W /54.97444; -1.595694, during surveys in advance of construction of student accommodation. Excavations found the walls of the turret in addition to a ditch and six obstacle pits. Turret 3A became the most easterly known turret on the wall. The turret was recorded as having a length of around 12 metres (39 ft) and foundations of 2.36–2.46 metres (7 ft 9 in – 8 ft 1 in) in width. The interior of the turret is thought to have been truncated by late 19th or early 20th century construction work. A Roman tegula tile was recovered, suggesting that the turret may have had a tiled roof.^[7]

Nothing is known ofTurret 3B.^[8]
Presumed location:54°58′20″N1°36′09″W / 54.972217°N 1.602403°W /54.972217; -1.602403 (Turret 3B)

• Daniels, Charles (1979), "Review: Fact and Theory on Hadrian's Wall",Britannia,10:357–364,JSTOR 526069

• Milecastles of Hadrian's Wall

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Use dmy dates from April 2022
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• Articles with OS grid coordinates