Turret 70A (Braelees) was one of the standard interval observation towers built along Hadrian's Wall in the 120s AD, situated west of milecastle 70 in the Solway sector between Burgh-by-Sands and Drumburgh. Like its neighbours in this western stretch, it would have been a small stone tower roughly 4–5 m square internally, set into the curtain wall, manned by a handful of auxiliary soldiers detached from forts to the rear.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
In this low-lying coastal sector approaching the Solway estuary, the turret formed part of a surveillance system watching the tidal flats and crossings into the province from southwest Scotland — terrain where the frontier was vulnerable to small-scale incursion rather than set-piece assault. Its function was observation and signalling rather than defence in depth.
Very little is recorded for Turret 70A specifically; its site is conjectured from the regular Roman spacing rather than confirmed by substantial excavation, and like much of the Wall in the Burgh Marsh area its remains have been heavily affected by alluvial conditions and stone robbing. No significant finds assemblage from this turret is published.
Turret 70A (Braelees) was one of the standard interval observation towers built along Hadrian's Wall in the 120s AD, situated west of milecastle 70 in the Solway sector between Burgh-by-Sands and Drumburgh. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a watch tower site from the Roman period in Britain.
Turret 70A 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 70 (Braelees) (0.5 km), Turret 70B (0.5 km), Milecastle 71 (Wormanby) (1 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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