Hadrian’s Wall – Turret 26b – Brunton

Hadrian's Wall Turret

Brunton Turret, also known as Turret 26B, is one of the best preserved turrets on the line of Hadrian’s Wall, with a stretch of wall 69 metres in length. Brunton Turret was built by men of the Twentieth Legion. Brunton Turret is managed by English Heritage, as a free historic attraction for the public to explore. Visit Brunton Turret as part of the Chesters Roman Trail.

The turret stands to a height of 2.5 metres. Interestingly, the interior of the turret features the remains of an altar. The turret measures 12.75 by 11.5 feet internally and is set into the thickness of the Wall on its north side. The layout of the turret suggests that it was built first, then the Wall was built to connect to it.

In this section of the Wall the Broad Gauge wall meets the Narrow Gauge wall. When Hadrian’s Wall was begun, it was with a width of 3 metres. This was later altered to a narrower 2.3 metres. At Brunton and nearby Planetrees turrets you can see where the two widths of Wall join. On the east side of the turret is a wing wall to support the turret as it joins the Wall, and on the west, the turret is joined directly to the Wall. It seems possible that two different gangs of workers were responsible for each side of the turret, and came up with different solutions.

The threshold stone shows an obvious pair of deep grooves where the stone jambs stood, and a pivot hole and curved channel shows where the doorway hinged.

It seems most likely that the soldiers of the 20th Legion were responsible for the construction. Close to the turret, a centurial stone was found (see RIB 1444 below).

RIB 1444 - Centurial stone of Paulius Aper

From the ninth cohort the century of Paulius Aper (built this).

COH IX 𐆛
PAV APRI

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