Turret 3A is one of the regularly spaced observation towers built into the curtain of Hadrian's Wall, positioned between Milecastle 3 and Milecastle 4 in the eastern sector approaching the Tyne crossing at Newcastle (Pons Aelius). Like other turrets on the Wall, it would have been a small stone tower (roughly 4–4.5 m square internally) projecting slightly south from the Wall, garrisoned by a handful of soldiers detached from the nearest fort, and active from c. AD 122 through the later 2nd century, with possible reuse into the 3rd century.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
As part of the Wall's signalling and surveillance system in the urban eastern stretch, Turret 3A contributed to short-range observation and communication between milecastles in a densely garrisoned zone close to the Wall's eastern terminus at Wallsend (Segedunum) and the bridgehead at Newcastle. It is not individually distinguished in the literature, being one of the more obscure turrets of this sector.
The site lies under the modern built-up area of Newcastle upon Tyne, and no substantive excavation of Turret 3A is recorded in the standard surveys; its existence is inferred from the regular Wall-system spacing rather than confirmed by structural remains. I do not know of any published finds specifically attributable to it.
Turret 3A is one of the regularly spaced observation towers built into the curtain of Hadrian's Wall, positioned between Milecastle 3 and Milecastle 4 in the eastern sector approaching the Tyne crossing at Newcastle (Pons Aelius). It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a watch tower site from the Roman period in Britain.
Turret 3A 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 3 (Ouseburn) (0.5 km), Turret 3B (0.5 km), Milecastle 4 (0.9 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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