Turret 1B, conventionally known as Wallsend Turret, would have stood between Milecastle 1 and Milecastle 2 at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall, just west of the terminal fort at Segedunum (Wallsend). Built in the 120s AD as part of Hadrian's original Wall scheme, it formed one of the regularly spaced observation and signalling towers set roughly a third of a Roman mile apart, and would have remained in use, with periods of refurbishment and possible abandonment, into the later 4th century.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
As one of the easternmost turrets on the Wall, it occupied a strategic position overlooking the approaches to the Tyne and the fort at Segedunum, contributing to the dense surveillance and signalling network at the Wall's vulnerable river terminus. Its position so close to the terminal fort meant it was integrated into the immediate tactical screen of Segedunum's garrison rather than serving a remote frontier role.
The turret has not been securely located or excavated on the ground, having been lost beneath the industrial and urban development of Wallsend; no structural remains or finds attributable to it are recorded in the published literature. Its position is inferred from the standard Hadrianic spacing between Milecastles 1 and 2 rather than from direct evidence.
Turret 1B, conventionally known as Wallsend Turret, would have stood between Milecastle 1 and Milecastle 2 at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall, just west of the terminal fort at Segedunum (Wallsend). It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a watch tower site from the Roman period in Britain.
Turret 1B 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 2 (Walker) (0.4 km), Turret 1A (0.7 km), Turret 2A (0.7 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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