Portgate
fortified gateway in Hadrian's Wall, in Northumberland, UK
The Portgate was a fortified gateway, constructed as part of Hadrian's Wall where it crossed the Roman road now known as Dere Street, which preceded Hadrian's Wall by around 50 years. It was built to control traffic along Dere Street as it passed north through Hadrian's Wall. The gate's remains exist beneath the old B6318 Military Road to the south-west of the Stagshaw Roundabout (the B6318 was diverted slightly for the construction of the Stagshaw Roundabout, leaving two short sections of the existing road unlinked – the remains of the Portgate are buried beneath the western section).
Origins of the name
If any name was given to the structure by the Romans, it is no longer known. The name Portgate is thought to be of Anglo-Saxon origin.
Construction
The Portgate was constructed from very large masonry blocks. It projected between 3.06 metres (10.0 ft) and 3.66 metres (12.0 ft) north of the wall, sitting astride the wall. It was probably a square or rectangular structure.
Excavations and investigations
1732 - John Horsley reported visible remains of a fortification at the location, stating
There has been a square castellum, half within the wall and half without. There is a suggestion even today that the ditch of the wall turned northward round such a building.
“Portgate” enters the record as fortified gateway in Hadrian's Wall, in Northumberland, UK. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Portgate, fortified and gateway can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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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 Jul 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7231729. Authority coordinates are 55.013, -2.022. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1732.
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This entry incorporates text from “Portgate” 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.