Milecastle 49

Milecastle 49 (Harrows Scar), one of the milecastles on Hadrian's Wall, is situated immediately west of the gorge of the River Irthing (OS grid reference NY 620 664), where the Wall was carried over the river by the bridge at Willowford. The scar or cliff and hence the milecastle are named after an ancient tenement called The Harrows which stood nearby. The tenement is shown on William Howard's 1603 map of the Barony of Gilsland and on an estate map of The Shaws commissioned by John Carrick around 1800. An unfortunate tendency to include an apostrophe in the milecastle name dates back to the 19th century, but this should be resisted.

Harrows Scar measures 19.8m east to west by 22.9m north and no contemporary internal buildings are now visible. It is built with narrow gauge defensive walls which are bonded with the Narrow Wall curtain of Hadrian's Wall on either side. It has Type III gateways. It lies 1458m west of Milecastle 48 and 1391m east of Milecastle 50.

It was excavated in 1898, and in 1953 by I.A. Richmond, when parts of the underlying Turf Wall milecastle (49TW) were identified.

The monument is currently in the care of English Heritage. It was designated as a Scheduled Monument (number:13987) on 14 July 1997.