Turret 56A, known as Sandyside, was one of the regularly spaced stone watch towers built into the curtain of Hadrian's Wall, situated between Milecastles 56 (Castle Hill) and 57 (Cambeckhill) in the sector west of Birdoswald (Banna). Like other Wall turrets, it was constructed in the 120s AD under Hadrian and would have been roughly 4–5 m square internally, projecting slightly south from the Wall, providing an elevated observation and signalling post manned by a small detachment from the nearest fort garrison.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
As part of the integrated system of milecastles and turrets, Sandyside contributed to the surveillance and signalling chain along the western stone Wall, monitoring the approaches across the Irthing valley and into the Cumbrian plain. It is not individually notable beyond its place in this standard sequence, and like many turrets in this sector it was likely abandoned and demolished during the later 2nd or early 3rd century when the turret system was rationalised.
Little detailed excavation has been published specifically for Turret 56A; its position has been established largely through measurement along the Wall line and limited antiquarian and survey observation rather than full excavation. No significant assemblage of finds is recorded in the public literature for this particular turret, and its remains are not visibly upstanding today.
Turret 56A, known as Sandyside, was one of the regularly spaced stone watch towers built into the curtain of Hadrian's Wall, situated between Milecastles 56 (Castle Hill) and 57 (Cambeckhill) in the sector west of Birdoswald (Banna). It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a watch tower site from the Roman period in Britain.
Turret 56A (Sandyside) 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 56 (Walton) (0.5 km), Turret 56B (Cambeck) (0.6 km), The Roman bath house to the north east of Castlesteads Roman fort in wall mile 56 (0.6 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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