Turret 6A, known as Benwell Hill turret, was one of the small stone observation towers built into the curtain of Hadrian's Wall, positioned between Milecastle 6 (Benwell) and Milecastle 7 (Benwell Hill) in the western suburbs of modern Newcastle upon Tyne. Like other turrets on the eastern sector of the Wall, it was constructed in the 120s AD under Hadrian and would have stood roughly 4.5–6 m square internally, rising perhaps two storeys above the Wall walk, manned by a small detachment from the nearest auxiliary garrison (probably the ala at Condercum/Benwell).
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Its function was signalling and surveillance over the approach to the Tyne crossing and the road corridor running west from Pons Aelius, forming part of the regularised system of observation posts spaced roughly a third of a Roman mile apart along the frontier. It has no particular distinction over other eastern turrets and was likely abandoned, like many turrets, during the later 2nd or earlier 3rd century when the system was rationalised.
Very little survives or has been recorded of Turret 6A; this stretch of the Wall lies beneath the dense Victorian and modern development of Benwell, and the turret has not been the subject of significant published excavation. Its position is known principally from the regular spacing of the Wall's structures rather than from substantive in situ remains.
Turret 6A, known as Benwell Hill turret, was one of the small stone observation towers built into the curtain of Hadrian's Wall, positioned between Milecastle 6 (Benwell) and Milecastle 7 (Benwell Hill) in the western suburbs of modern Newcastle upon Tyne. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a watch tower site from the Roman period in Britain.
Turret 6A 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 Condercum (0.2 km), Turret 6B (Benwell Hill) (0.5 km), Milecastle 6 (Benwell Grove) (0.6 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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