Turret 18B (Wallhouses West) was one of the regularly-spaced stone watch towers built into the curtain of Hadrian's Wall, positioned between Milecastles 18 and 19 in the central sector east of Halton Chesters fort. Like other turrets on the Wall, it was constructed in the 120s AD under Hadrian and would have been a roughly 4–5 m square recessed tower projecting south from the curtain, garrisoned by a small detachment drawn from the nearest fort, probably operating into the later 2nd or 3rd century before abandonment.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Its primary function was observation, signalling and control of movement across the frontier, forming part of the integrated system of milecastles and turrets at one-third Roman mile intervals. It is not individually notable beyond its place within this regular scheme.
Very little is published about this particular turret; it lies beneath or close to the line of the Military Road (B6318), which has destroyed or obscured much of the Wall in this sector, and it has not been the subject of significant modern excavation. Its existence and approximate location are inferred chiefly from the regular turret spacing rather than from substantial surviving remains.
Turret 18B (Wallhouses West) was one of the regularly-spaced stone watch towers built into the curtain of Hadrian's Wall, positioned between Milecastles 18 and 19 in the central sector east of Halton Chesters fort. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a watch tower site from the Roman period in Britain.
Turret 18B (Wallhouses 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 Milecastle 19 (Matfen Piers) (0.5 km), Turret 18A (Wallhouses East) (0.5 km), Turret 19A (East Clarewood) (1 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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