Turret 26B (Brunton) is one of the best-preserved turrets on Hadrian's Wall, standing near Brunton House just north of the River Tyne crossing at Chesters. Built in the early 120s AD as part of the original Wall scheme, it is a recessed turret bonded into a stretch of broad-gauge stone Wall, and it remained in use through the 2nd century before apparent abandonment, with the surviving masonry rising to around 11 courses (c. 2.5 m).
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
As an intermediate watch tower between Milecastles 26 and 27, it formed part of the close-spaced surveillance and signalling system controlling movement across the Tyne valley just east of Cilurnum (Chesters fort). It is particularly valued today for preserving the junction between the original Broad Wall foundation and the later Narrow Wall superstructure, making it a key site for understanding Wall construction phases.
Cleared and consolidated in the 20th century (notably by F. G. Simpson), the turret preserves its south (rear) doorway, splayed door-jambs, a platform interpreted as a hearth or ladder base, and clear evidence of the Broad-to-Narrow Wall transition in its bonding. No substantial finds assemblage is published from the site, and internal stratigraphy was largely lost to early clearance.
Turret 26B (Brunton) is one of the best-preserved turrets on Hadrian's Wall, standing near Brunton House just north of the River Tyne crossing at Chesters. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a watch tower site from the Roman period in Britain.
Turret 26B (Brunton) 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 27 (Low Brunton) (0.5 km), Turret 26A (High Brunton) (0.5 km), Unnamed Roman bridgehead (0.7 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 26B (Brunton)