Burgh-by-Sands Watch Tower

Hadrians Wall Signal Station

Also shown on the Aerial photographs of the Early Hadrianic Fort is a 19m wide circular cropmark lying close to it’s south-east gate. This feature has been identified as a Roman watch tower similar to those employed along the Gask Ridge in Tayside. The defenses consisted of a circular, v-shaped ditch 7½ feet wide by 6 feet deep (c. 2.3 x 1.8 m), backed by a timber-fonted rampart varying in width between 13 and 15 feet (4 – 4.5 m); a single gateway lay to the south-east. These outworks surrounded a centrally-placed, square, four-post timber tower which has been dated by the finding of black-burnished ware pottery shards in one of the main postholes to about 120AD, when this type of pottery fist began to appear. This timber watch-tower was not in service long before being demolished and replaced by the Burgh-by-Sands I fort on the same site atop the hill.

Map References for Burgh-by-Sands Watch Tower

OS National Grid Reference: NY 3244 5825
Dimensions: c. 65 feet (c. 20 m)
Area: c. 368 yards² (c. 314 m²)

Roman Roads near Burgh-by-Sands Watch Tower

Wall: ESE (5.25) to Uxelodvnvm (Stanwix, Cumbria) Stanegate: E (6) to (Carlisle, Cumbria) Wall: W (3.5) to Concavata (Drumburgh, Cumbria) [link_post post_id="9634" type="link"]Stanegate: W (6) to Kirkbride (Cumbria) Roman Military Way: SE (2.5) to Grinsdale

Sites near Burgh-by-Sands Watch Tower