Turret 27A (Low Brunton) is one of the regularly spaced stone watch towers built into the curtain of Hadrian's Wall, situated between Milecastle 27 (Low Brunton) and Milecastle 28 (Walwick), in the central sector east of the North Tyne crossing at Chesters. Like other turrets on this stretch, it was constructed in the 120s AD as part of the original Wall scheme and would have stood roughly one Roman third of a mile from its neighbouring turret, offering observation over the rolling ground descending toward the river.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Its role was primarily observational and signalling, providing a manned link in the chain of surveillance between the major garrison fort at Chesters (Cilurnum) and the adjacent milecastles. It is not individually distinguished in the literature, but forms part of the well-preserved central sector that defines our understanding of the Wall's turret system.
Turret 27A has seen only limited investigation compared with better-known turrets such as 26B or 29B (Black Carts), and no substantial published excavation record exists for it; its position is established largely through measurement from adjacent known structures. As with comparable turrets in this sector, it likely had a recessed stone base bonded into the Wall, a ground-floor entrance from the south, and would have been abandoned or reduced in use during the later 2nd or 3rd century, a pattern seen at neighbouring turrets where upper storeys were demolished and rec
Turret 27A (Low Brunton) is one of the regularly spaced stone watch towers built into the curtain of Hadrian's Wall, situated between Milecastle 27 (Low Brunton) and Milecastle 28 (Walwick), in the central sector east of the North 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 27A 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 Cilurnum (0 km), Baths of Cilurnum (0.1 km), Unnamed Roman bridgehead (0.2 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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