Milecastle 38
milecastle on Hadrian's Wall
Milecastle 38 (Hotbank) was a milecastle on Hadrian's Wall in the vicinity of Hotbank Farm, (grid reference NY77276813). It is notable for the joint inscription bearing the names of the emperor Hadrian and Aulus Platorius Nepos, the governor of Britannia at the time the Wall was built.
Description
The site of Milecastle 38 is in the vicinity of Hotbank Farm, Little remains of the milecastle except rubble walls outlined by robber trenches.
Excavations
The milecastle was excavated in 1935 and found to be 18 metres (59 ft) east–west by 15 metres (49 ft) north–south. It was found to have a short axis, with a Type I gateway. Pottery finds indicated an occupation of the 4th century. There was a rectangular building in the south-west corner and a causeway, 3.6 metres (12 ft) wide, to the east. A tombstone was found, inscribed "...us.. xit annis... mensibus du...ebus quinque", re-used as a pivot stone in the south gateway.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6851174. Authority coordinates are 55.007, -2.357. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1935.
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This entry incorporates text from “Milecastle 38” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.