Milecastle 48

Milecastle 48 (The King's Stables), one of the milecastles on Hadrian's Wall, is situated just outside the village of Gilsland in Cumbria immediately adjacent to the Tyne Valley Line (OS grid reference NY63406620). It has been known locally as "The King's Stables" for over 100 years but recently the heritage industry has begun to call it Poltross Burn Milecastle.

The milecastle measures 18.5m east to west by 21.3m north to south, substantially larger than many other milecastles. Two rows of buildings are visible within, probably barracks, one either side of the north-south road running through the gateways. Interior buildings are not normally so well-preserved or substantial in other milecastles and it is remarkable that local people, "mining" the milecastle for building stone in the past, may have recognised the layout as similar to stable-blocks. The walls are broad gauge, including stub 'wing walls' which connect with the Narrow Wall curtain of Hadrian's Wall on either side. It has Type III gateways and lies 1521m west of Milecastle 47 and 1458m east of Milecastle 49.

An interesting feature of this milecastle is the survival of a substantial part of the flight of stairs giving access to the ramparts of Hadrian's Wall in the north-east corner, allowing a wall-walk height of 3.6m to be projected and suggesting a height for the curtain wall (including parapet) of around 4.6m.

Milecastle 48 was excavated in 1909 by J.P. Gibson and F.G. Simpson. The monument is currently in the care of English Heritage.

This milecastle was built by the Sixth Legion but manned by auxiliary troops, and was occupied until the Fourth Century AD, according to the English Heritage placard at the site.