Roman BritainTurret 1A
Roman Watch Tower · Military

Turret 1A

Roman Britain
Pleiades ID: 967060286
Site type
Watch Tower
Category
Military
Latitude
54.9829
Longitude
-1.5531
Overview

History & context

Turret 1A, also known as Stott's Pow turret, was one of the small interval towers built into the curtain of Hadrian's Wall, positioned between Milecastle 1 (Stott's Pow) and Milecastle 2 at the eastern end of the Wall near Wallsend (Segedunum). Like other Wall turrets, it would have been a roughly square stone tower of c. 4.3m internal width, built into the thickness of the Wall and serving from the 120s AD until the abandonment of the Wall frontier in the late 4th century, though with periods of disuse and rebuilding.

Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →

Significance

Historical significance

Its primary function was observation and signalling along the easternmost stretch of the Wall, controlling the approach to the terminal fort at Segedunum and the Tyne estuary. As part of the regular system of two turrets between each milecastle, it represents the standardised surveillance architecture imposed on the northern frontier.

Archaeology

Archaeological record

Turret 1A lies beneath the modern urban fabric of Wallsend and has not, to my knowledge, been substantively excavated or located on the ground; its existence is essentially inferred from the standard turret-spacing of the Wall system rather than confirmed by recorded structural remains.

About this site

Questions & answers

What is Turret 1A?

Turret 1A, also known as Stott's Pow turret, was one of the small interval towers built into the curtain of Hadrian's Wall, positioned between Milecastle 1 (Stott's Pow) and Milecastle 2 at the eastern end of the Wall near Wallsend (Segedunum). It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a watch tower site from the Roman period in Britain.

What type of Roman site is Turret 1A?

Turret 1A 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.

What other Roman sites are near Turret 1A?

Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Milecastle 1 (Stott's Pow) (0.2 km), Turret 0B (St. Francis) (0.7 km), Turret 1B (0.7 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.

How can I research the history of the area around Turret 1A?

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 Research

Generate a full report for this location

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 1A