Turret 33B (Coesike) is one of the standard interval watch towers on Hadrian's Wall, situated between Milecastles 33 and 34 in the central sector east of Housesteads. Built in the 120s AD as part of the original Wall scheme under Hadrian, it consisted of a small stone tower roughly 4m square internally, bonded into the curtain wall, and would have housed a small detachment of auxiliary soldiers providing observation and signalling along this stretch of the Whin Sill.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Coesike is notable because it is one of the turrets demonstrably decommissioned during the Wall's operational life: its recess in the curtain was deliberately walled up, probably in the later 2nd or early 3rd century, reflecting a wider reduction of turret manning in the central sector once the system matured.
The turret was excavated by Charles Daniels in 1965, which revealed two periods of occupation, evidence of internal hearths and a platform, and the clear demolition deposit indicating the structure was levelled to wall-walk height and its recess blocked. Finds were modest and typical of turret assemblages — pottery, nails, and small fittings — consistent with short-term, low-status military occupation rather than any specialised function.
Turret 33B (Coesike) is one of the standard interval watch towers on Hadrian's Wall, situated between Milecastles 33 and 34 in the central sector east of Housesteads. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a watch tower site from the Roman period in Britain.
Turret 33B (Coesike) 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 34 (Grindon) (0.4 km), Turret 33A (0.5 km), Coesike West temporary camps (0.6 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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