Turret 31B was one of the small observation and signalling towers built into the curtain of Hadrian's Wall, positioned between Milecastles 31 (Carrawburgh) and 32 (Carraw), in the central sector of the Wall east of the fort of Brocolitia. Like the other turrets on the Wall, it was constructed in the 120s AD under Hadrian and functioned as a manned watchpost; turrets in this sector were generally abandoned or demolished in the later 2nd or early 3rd century when the garrison strategy shifted to concentrate troops in the milecastles and forts.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Its role was strictly military and observational — providing line-of-sight surveillance along the Wall corridor and the Vallum to the south, and serving as a communication relay between Milecastle 31 and the auxiliary fort at Carrawburgh roughly a mile to the west. It is not individually notable beyond its place within the regular Hadrianic turret system.
Very little is recorded specifically for Turret 31B; unlike better-investigated turrets in this sector (such as 29B or 33B), it has not been the subject of substantial published excavation, and its precise structural remains are largely known only from Wall surveys including those of the MacLauchlan and the later Hadrian's Wall survey programmes. Its predicted position is established by the regular spacing of the turret system rather than by extensive in-situ ev
Turret 31B was one of the small observation and signalling towers built into the curtain of Hadrian's Wall, positioned between Milecastles 31 (Carrawburgh) and 32 (Carraw), in the central sector of the Wall east of the fort of Brocolitia. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a fort site from the Roman period in Britain.
Turret 31B (Carraw East) is classified as a Roman fort — 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 32 (Carraw) (0.5 km), Turret 31A (The Strands) (0.5 km), Coventina's Well (0.7 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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Research the area around Turret 31B (Carraw East)