Hadrian’s Wall Forts & Milecastles Reference Guide

A fact-checked reference for adult history fans: why and how Hadrian’s Wall was built, its dimensions, the plan and how it changed, milecastles, turrets and their numbering, six forts from Housesteads to Arbeia, who garrisoned them, what you can still see, what happened after Rome, and every place where our sources disagree.

What’s inside:

- About this guide and contents

- Why and how the Wall was built

- The Wall in figures, with our cross-section

- The plan, and how it changed

- Milecastles, turrets and the numbering system

- Housesteads, Chesters, Birdoswald, Vindolanda, Segedunum and Arbeia

- Who garrisoned the forts: a table with sources

- What you can still see, and after Rome

- Two pages of places where the sources disagree

- Notes

Pages: 17 (including cover and credits). Sizes: A4 (210 × 297 mm) and US Letter (8.5 × 11 in), both PDFs included in one zip.

Printing: Print at 100% / actual size on A4 or US Letter. Inside pages use light backgrounds and print well in black and white; covers are dark, so start from page 2 to save ink.

Every fact is checked against named source pages from English Heritage, National Trails, GOV.UK, Northumberland National Park, the British Museum, the Vindolanda Trust, North East Museums and UNESCO (checked 29 Oct 2026), and the sources are listed on the pack’s credits page. Figures that can change, such as English Heritage’s visiting details, are printed with that date. Where sources disagree, each version is shown with its source.

There are no photos in this pack: all drawings, puzzles and layouts are REALLYBYTE’s own work. Drawings are simplified impressions and plans, not reconstructions or scale plans, and not copied from any site plan, museum image or guidebook. Not affiliated with English Heritage, the National Trust, UNESCO or any museum. Their names, and the names of sites, are used only to identify the places and sources we describe.

Licence: personal use. Print as many copies as you need for yourself and your household. Please don’t resell, re-upload or share it publicly. For club, school or commercial use, please email info@reallybyte.com.

Made by REALLYBYTE, the team behind hadrians-wall.forts.im. Questions: info@reallybyte.com

This is a digital download: no physical item will be shipped.