Turret 79B (Jeffrey Croft) was one of the pair of small stone watchtowers placed between Milecastle 79 (Solway House) and Milecastle 80 (Bowness-on-Solway) at the western end of Hadrian's Wall, in the sector running along the Solway shore. Like other turrets on the Wall, it would have been constructed in the 120s AD under Hadrian and operated as an observation and signalling post manned by a small detachment from the auxiliary garrison of the nearest fort (Bowness, Maia), likely in use into the later 2nd or 3rd century before abandonment.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
At the extreme western terminus of the Wall, Turret 79B formed part of the surveillance network watching the Solway Firth crossings, where the frontier transitioned into a coastal system of milefortlets and towers extending down the Cumbrian coast. Its position was strategically important for monitoring tidal fords that offered a route around the Wall's western end.
Very little is recorded archaeologically for this specific turret; its position has been inferred from spacing between known milecastles rather than from substantial excavation, and no structural remains are visible above ground today, the site lying under cultivated land near the Solway shore. No significant finds assemblage is published for it.
Turret 79B (Jeffrey Croft) was one of the pair of small stone watchtowers placed between Milecastle 79 (Solway House) and Milecastle 80 (Bowness-on-Solway) at the western end of Hadrian's Wall, in the sector running along the Solway shore. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a watch tower site from the Roman period in Britain.
Turret 79B (Jeffrey Croft) 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 Knockcross Roman temporary camp at Grey Havens (0.2 km), Turret 79A (0.4 km), Maia (0.6 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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