Turret 50A (High House) was one of the regularly spaced stone watch towers built along Hadrian's Wall in the 120s AD, located in the central western sector between Milecastle 50 (High House) and Milecastle 51 (Wall Bowers), in the Birdoswald sector. Like other turrets on this stretch, it was originally constructed in the Turf Wall phase as a stone tower, then incorporated into the rebuilt stone Wall later in the 2nd century. It would have housed a small detachment of auxiliary soldiers providing observation and signalling along the frontier.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Turret 50A sits on the Turf Wall sector west of the River Irthing, an area significant for demonstrating the original turf-and-timber construction of the western Wall and its subsequent replacement in stone. Its position contributes to understanding the spacing and operation of the standard milecastle-turret system in this stretch garrisoned from Birdoswald (Banna).
The turret was identified and partially examined during the systematic investigations of the Turf Wall sector in the early-to-mid 20th century (notably the work of F.G. Simpson and I.A. Richmond), confirming a stone tower set into the turf rampart, but little detailed published material exists for this specific structure. No substantial finds assemblage is recorded in the readily available literature, and the site has no upstanding remains visible today.
Turret 50A (High House) was one of the regularly spaced stone watch towers built along Hadrian's Wall in the 120s AD, located in the central western sector between Milecastle 50 (High House) and Milecastle 51 (Wall Bowers), in the Birdoswald sector. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a watch tower site from the Roman period in Britain.
Turret 50A (High House) 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 Turret 50A (Turf Wall) (0.2 km), Turret 50B (Appletree) (0.5 km), Milecastle 50 (High House) (0.5 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 50A (High House)