Turret 12A was a small stone watch tower on Hadrian's Wall, positioned in the standard Roman manner roughly one-third of a Roman mile west of Milecastle 12 (Heddon-on-the-Wall), in the sector where the Wall runs along the ridge above the Tyne valley west of Newcastle. Like other Wall turrets, it would have been constructed in the 120s AD under Hadrian and was likely occupied intermittently into the later 2nd century, with most Wall turrets in the eastern sector abandoned and walled up by the early 3rd century.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Its function was observation and signalling, providing line-of-sight surveillance between Milecastles 12 and 13 and contributing to the integrated communication system along the curtain wall. It is not individually notable, being a routine component of the Wall's regularly spaced turret system, but its position commanded views northward over the approaches to the Tyne crossing at Newburn.
The turret has not been the subject of significant published modern excavation, and its remains lie buried beneath later land use along the line of the B6318 Military Road, which here overlies the Wall. Specific structural details, garrison evidence, or finds from this particular turret are not recorded in detail in the published literature known to me.
Turret 12A was a small stone watch tower on Hadrian's Wall, positioned in the standard Roman manner roughly one-third of a Roman mile west of Milecastle 12 (Heddon-on-the-Wall), in the sector where the Wall runs along the ridge above the Tyne valley west of Newcastle. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a watch tower site from the Roman period in Britain.
Turret 12A (Heddon West) is classified as a Roman watch tower — a military site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Turret 12B (North Lodge) (0.5 km), Milecastle 12 (Heddon) (0.5 km), Milecastle 13 (Rudchester Burn) (1 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
Aubrey Research generates detailed historical reports for any location in Britain, incorporating Roman heritage, Domesday Book records, scheduled monument data, archaeological finds and much more. Enter a nearby address to begin.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any address in Britain — drawing on Roman heritage, Domesday records, scheduled monument data, archaeological finds and medieval history to reveal the complete story of a landscape.
Research the area around Turret 12A (Heddon West)