Turret 25B (St Oswald's) was one of the regularly-spaced observation and signalling towers built into the curtain of Hadrian's Wall, situated between Milecastles 25 (Codlawhill) and 26 (High Brunton) in the central sector east of the North Tyne. Like other Wall turrets, it was constructed in the 120s AD under Hadrian and would have been manned by detachments from the auxiliary garrisons of nearby forts (in this stretch, probably Chesters/Cilurnum); its occupation history likely followed the regional pattern of use through the 2nd century, with many such turrets abandoned or demolished in the later 2nd or early 3rd century while the curtain wall remained in use.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The turret formed part of the integrated surveillance and signalling system of the Wall, providing line-of-sight communication along the frontier and controlling movement across it. It is not individually distinguished in the literature, but contributes to the broader understanding of turret spacing and design in the relatively well-studied St Oswald's/Heavenfield stretch.
The turret was excavated in 1930, but little detailed published information about the finds or structural sequence is readily available, and there are no surface remains visible today. Based on comparable turrets in this sector (e.g. 25A, 26A, 26B), it would have been a roughly 4 m square internal stone tower bonded into or abutting the curtain, with a ground-floor doorway, a
Turret 25B (St Oswald's) was one of the regularly-spaced observation and signalling towers built into the curtain of Hadrian's Wall, situated between Milecastles 25 (Codlawhill) and 26 (High Brunton) in the central sector east of the North Tyne. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a watch tower site from the Roman period in Britain.
Turret 25B (St Oswald's) 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 26 (Planetrees) (0.5 km), Turret 25A (Hill Head) (0.5 km), Turret 26A (High Brunton) (1 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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