Turret 73B was a small stone watch tower on Hadrian's Wall, situated between Milecastles 73 (Dykesfield) and 74 (Burgh-by-Sands West), in the low-lying ground west of Burgh-by-Sands on the approach to the Solway Firth. Like other turrets on the Wall, it was constructed in the 120s AD under Hadrian and would have been garrisoned, intermittently, until the later 2nd or possibly 3rd century, providing observation over the flat coastal landscape towards the estuary.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
In this western, marshy sector the Wall (here originally turf, later rebuilt in stone) was less about repelling massed assault than monitoring movement across the fordable Solway, and turrets such as 73B formed part of that surveillance network. Its position contributes to understanding how the frontier system was adapted to the distinctive terrain of the Cumbrian coastal plain.
Very little is recorded for Turret 73B specifically; its precise site has not been securely identified on the ground and it has not been the subject of significant published excavation, with knowledge largely inferred from the standard turret spacing along this stretch of the Wall. No notable finds assemblage is associated with it in the published literature.
Turret 73B was a small stone watch tower on Hadrian's Wall, situated between Milecastles 73 (Dykesfield) and 74 (Burgh-by-Sands West), in the low-lying ground west of Burgh-by-Sands on the approach to the Solway Firth. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a watch tower site from the Roman period in Britain.
Turret 73B 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 73A (0.5 km), Milecastle 74 (Burgh Marsh) (0.5 km), Milecastle 73 (Dykesfield) (0.9 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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