The Military Road is a name given locally to part of the B6318 road in Northumberland

Northumberland

Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, which runs from Heddon-on-the-Wall

Heddon-on-the-Wall

Heddon-on-the-Wall is a village just outside Throckley, Northumberland, England, located on Hadrian's Wall. Heddon-on-the-Wall is roughly nine miles west of the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne...

  in the east to Greenhead

Greenhead, Northumberland

Greenhead is a village in Northumberland, England. The village is on the Military Road , about from Chollerford, from Haltwhistle and from Brampton, Cumbria along the A69 road. The A69 road bypasses the village, but until the 1980s all vehicular traffic passed through the village. The village...

  in the west.

For much of its length the road is straight and displays the characteristics of a Roman road

Roman road

The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...

. However the term "military road" comes from the building of the road by Hanoverian forces in 1746 in order to suppress the Jacobites

Jacobite Rising of 1745

The Jacobite rising of 1745, often referred to as "The 'Forty-Five," was the attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for the exiled House of Stuart. The rising occurred during the War of the Austrian Succession when most of the British Army was on the European continent...

 to the North.

The main feature of the road is that it runs alongside Hadrian's Wall

Hadrian's Wall

Hadrian's Wall was a defensive fortification in Roman Britain. Begun in AD 122, during the rule of emperor Hadrian, it was the first of two fortifications built across Great Britain, the second being the Antonine Wall, lesser known of the two because its physical remains are less evident today.The...

 for much of its length, and some parts of the road are built on the foundations of the wall.

History

The construction of the historical Military Road, on which the B6318 partially runs, is credited as one of the most damaging single operations to Hadrian's Wall in recorded history. General George Wade

George Wade

Field Marshal George Wade served as a British military commander and Commander-in-Chief of the Forces.-Early career:Wade, born in Kilavally, Westmeath in Ireland, was commissioned into the Earl of Bath's Regiment in 1690 and served in Flanders in 1692, during the Nine Years War, earning a...

 began construction of the road in 1746, in the wake of the latest Jacobite Risings, in which Bonny Prince Charlie had avoided his forces in Newcastle

Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...

 and been able to attack Carlisle in the west.

In light of this, the road was considered a matter of urgency, as Wade was anxious to move troops from Newcastle to Dumfriesshire

Dumfriesshire

Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries is a registration county of Scotland. The lieutenancy area of Dumfries has similar boundaries.Until 1975 it was a county. Its county town was Dumfries...

 and there was no route with which to efficiently transfer military forces. Much of the material from the wall (primarily limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 and sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

) was salvaged and used for hardcore in its construction.

The topography west of Sewingshields made it necessary for the road to diverge from the wall, thus preserving what remains today.

General Wade was also responsible for a series of highways in Scotland

Old military roads of Scotland

A network of military roads was constructed in the Scottish Highlands during the middle part of the 18th century as part of an attempt by the British Government to bring order to a part of the country which had risen up in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715....

. These include roads at Corrieyairack Pass

Corrieyairack Pass

The Corrieyairack Pass is an 770m high pass in the Scottish Highlands at .This pass would be relatively obscure were it not for General Wade's military road built over it in 1731, between Fort Augustus in the Great Glen to the north and Melgarve in Strath Spey in the south...

 and Aberfeldy.