Milefortlet 5

Milefortlet 5 stands on a flat field just south of Cardurnock in Bowness. The site lies within a former wartime airfield now used as pasture. Nothing remains above ground, but aerial photographs from 2006 show faint cropmarks of its northern edge. The nearest stretch of coast is Moricambe Bay to the south. The next known fort is Milefortlet 9, eight Roman miles away. Earlier milefortlets 6, 7 and 8 were once thought lost to the bay, but no evidence supports their existence. Excavations in 1943–4 uncovered three building phases before the site was levelled for an airfield. The first phase dates to the Hadrianic period. In the Antonine era the fortlet was reduced in size. By the 4th century its ramparts were rebuilt on three sides and a stone building added inside. A Roman road running southwest was found in 1992–3. Two small watchtowers once stood about one-third and two-thirds of a Roman mile west of Milefortlet 5. Their exact positions are uncertain because Moricambe Bay interrupts the coastline. The milefortlet and its towers formed part of a chain of coastal defences linked to Hadrian’s Wall.