OS grid reference NY79086894 | ||
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The Knag Burn Gateway is a gateway which was built into Hadrian's Wall some time after construction of the wall itself, generally acknowledged to be during the fourth century.
Contents
Location
Knag Burn Gateway is located at the point where Hadrian's Wall crosses the Knag Burn, just to the East of Housesteads, between the fort and Turret 36B. The burn itself passes beneath the wall via a culvert a few metres to the West of the gateway.
Description
Knag Burn Gateway is one of the few gates through the wall that isn't part of a milecastle or fort. The remains indicate that the structure consisted of a single passage gateway, with guard-chambers on either side and a gate at each end, thus allowing controlled passage through the wall. Professor I A Richmond has suggested that the gateway was constructed to allow trade traffic through the wall some time in or after the fourth century.
The gateway was discovered in 1855 and excavated in 1936 and 1988. The structure consists of the 3.7 metres (12 ft) wide gateway with two small structures either side.
The two cell structures at either side of the gateway measure 4.65 metres (15.3 ft) by 3.25 metres (10.7 ft), with entrances 0.95 metres (3 ft 1 in) wide (on the side nearest the gateway), which open onto a passage.