Thank you for this discussion regarding Hadrian’s Turret 3b, PCA and project details. It’s very informative; introducing the concept & process of pre-construct archaeology. Super!
I find this information fascinating and quite amazing. The fact that the Romans constructed that structure nearly 2000 years ago and it is still in place today is tremendous.
Thank you for sharing your findings. I have often speculated that there is far more archaeological excavation happening than the public are ever aware of, and your channel (partially) confirms this - even the name of your company/organisation does so. Best and good luck wishes for growing your channel and bringing your work into mainstream awareness.
Since no military contractor is going to build a wall any thicker than absolutely necessary the thicker walls of this turret suggest that it was taller than other turrets. It's alignment with the Tyne suggests that it may have had a navigation function, perhaps facilitating shipping at night through maintenance of a lantern on the top.
Hi James, thanks for your comment. It’s a very good point about the sightlines towards the Tyne and that the substantial foundations may indicate that T3a was taller than the other turrets (although the reduction in the original width of Hadrian’s Wall from 10 Roman feet to 8 likely didn’t see a reduction in the height of the structure so this may not be the case). To go back to your point about navigation, the position of the turrets within the central sector of Hadrian’s Wall were placed to prioritise sightlines towards the Stanegate road to the south and the forts along its length which indicates that they were also used for signalling. Like you suggest, there’s no reason why Turret 3a in the eastern sector couldn’t signal to passing traffic on the Tyne or have featured a lantern to aid in navigation at night as towers were certainly used in later periods from at least 1536 to aid in navigation around the mouth of the Tyne. I’ve expanded on a few points raised in the talk including more info on the width of the foundations, in the accompanying article for Current Archaeology magazine that you may be interested in (a digital copy can be accessed here: the-past.com/feature/surprises-from-the-roman-frontier-excavating-hadrians-wall-in-urban-tyneside/). Thanks for watching!
So glad they protected the historical remains of our history and moved the architecture, too many councils bend the knee to big money developers and destroy our history. I really like the detailed information gleaned from modern archaeology when done properly. it is a shame that you weren't allowed more scope and a larger dig area.
My office used to be an old cottage in Coquet Street at the southern edge of this site in the early 2000s, when I worked for Tyne-Tees Television. What's the current latest speculation/evidence (if any)about how the wall crossed the Ouseburn? R (Australia)
Hi, thanks for watching. Unfortunately we still don’t know exactly how the Wall crossed the Ouseburn valley and the burn. This is due to extensive industrial development within the valley that has vastly changed the topography of the area. From an engineering perspective, the area around and east of Newcastle would have been one of the more difficult sections to build east of the Whin Sill ridge as the Wall had to negotiate three deep valleys of the Ouseburn, the Pandon and the Lort Burns. The Ouseburn would have been much wider in the Roman period as it was narrowed during the construction of the quay walls. As the river is still tidal at this point, the Wall may have been carried across the Ouse Burn on several piers. Of course this is just speculation and hopefully future development in the valley will uncovered more remains of Hadrian’s Wall in the vicinity of the Ouse Burn. An interpretation panel was created during the construction of Farm View in 2014 (eastern side of the watercourse) that shows an artistic reconstruction of the Wall crossing the valley (drive.google.com/file/d/1U0TaGbzcIB60AheOKVmtRLSQRfwD4NxO/view?usp=drivesdk.). Scott (PCA)
@14.21 the plan with the cippi pits. The 4 to the right seem very regular don't they - as if they make up 4 corners of a porch or entrance (postholes?, maybe with flat stones in the bottom as foundations for posts, hence not so deep?) - also - they pretty well align to the wall of the turret. Do you think there could have been doorways/entrances through the main wall to the turret? I know this wouldn't explain the 2 to the left - I guess I can't get my head round these small shallow holes as being all that effective for defence - esp when you compare to the wall itself and all that effort put in.
I never did understand the reasoning behind two walls when the Alban people had metallurgy and could build ships. Reminds me of another Republic that likes walls.
Thank you. Such an interesting and well presented video. Sorry if this is an obvious question but how do you know to call the turret 3a? I have visited turret 21(?) near Silloth. Is there a map of the wall? Are the turrets numbered from one end of the wall?
Thanks Paul, glad you enjoyed the video! The numbering system for the turrets/milecastles of Hadrian’s Wall was devised by Robin George Collingwood in 1930 and goes from east to west starting at Wallsend Roman fort. There were at least 160 turrets along the length of the Wall, but only 57 of these (including T3a) have been investigated. The milecastles are numbered 0-80 from Wallsend to Bowness with two turrets spaced in between which are assigned a or b so the turrets west of MC3 are T3a and T3b. In 1987 an additional tower was discovered on the Wall at Peel Gap (between Turrets 39a and 39b) which doesn’t fit into the original numbering scheme so there may be additional turrets which aren’t included in Collingwood’s 1930 system. Peel Gap turret was thought to have been built to cover a blind spot in the bottom of Peel Gap that wasn’t visible from T39a and T39b. English Heritage/Historic England have produced a very useful map of Hadrian’s Wall at 1:25000 scale which labels the MC’s/T’s (where known). The latest edition was published in 2014 so doesn’t include T3a (or any of the Wall installations around and east of Newcastle). David Breeze’s 2006 edition of J. Collingwood Bruce’s Handbook to the Roman Wall (14th edition) is also very useful and describes each Wall mile from east to west. Thanks again for watching, Scott (PCA)
Hi, thanks for watching! We didn't use GPR on this site as remains of Hadrian's Wall had been exposed within the trenching works undertaken in 2015. This made it a lot easier for our excavation as we could target and expose those areas. T7b is a great little turret, it's similar to T3a as it also lies outside of where it should be to better exploit views across the landscape (in T7b's case this would be the small valley of the Denton Burn). Scott (PCA)
just thinking, wouldnt thatch be a fire hazzard for a defensive roof - esp with fire arrows? I'm sure if they'd used slate or tile they would have been looted over centuries for sure - for roofing small outbuildings , or even for damp proof courses. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence and all that:)
'Demolition pile covering the West end of the trench'. One plank of wood and a stick does not constitute demolition rubble, besides you can easily recognise if consists of uniformly sized aggregate. Rubble does not look like this. I can see weeds growing around the pile and tracked vehicle, but not a single one having taken root on the pile, this would indicate that it has only very recently been deposited there. Considering the above and the exploration work taking place, are we to deduce that this pile is hiding something beneath it?
Hi, thanks for watching. The pile at 8:08 is the demolition material to the south of the trench within the eastern part of the site. It had a uniform size because the rubble from the demolition of Norris House has been graded and passed through a screen (cycle through historic images on Google Street view from Stepney Bank to see this in action from March 2021). The pile was moved around after the demolition works to enable geotechnical investigations on the site (boreholes). Hope this clarifies things (and don't worry nothing was hidden).
I've noticed an alleged Time Team dig supposedly in 5:39 South Shields which is obviously in Wallsend or its environs. I just wish TV producers would get their facts correct.
Hi, the excavation mentioned at 5:39 was on Shields Road in Byker rather than in South Shields. Time Team did excavate at Arbeia (South Shields Roman fort), but this is outside the area covered in the talk. Hope this helps. Scott (PCA)
Hi Christopher, no coins unfortunately. The only Roman find we had from the turret was one fragment of roof tile however we were limited to only exposing the structure as it is to be preserved in situ so couldn't excavate any further (it does appear that any occupation levels within the turret had been truncated during later centuries of activity so finds are likely to be limited). The 2015 evaluation of the site did find a spindle whorl made from a piece of Roman Samian pottery which is primarily a late Roman phenomenon however this was recovered from the rubble collapse of the structure. There is an interesting reference in the archives to a schoolboy finding a Samian bowl opposite the site in the 1950s so there is hopefully more to find in the area. Thanks for watching, Scott (PCA)
Thank you for this discussion regarding Hadrian’s Turret 3b, PCA and project details. It’s very informative; introducing the concept & process of pre-construct archaeology. Super!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Good work. Thorough investigation to be sure.
Thank you for the informative and well-researched video. I will share it with others at our site.
Thanks Bart, glad you enjoyed the video. Hope you've been excavating somewhere interesting!
Scott (PCA)
I find this information fascinating and quite amazing. The fact that the Romans constructed that structure nearly 2000 years ago and it is still in place today is tremendous.
Thank you for sharing your findings. I have often speculated that there is far more archaeological excavation happening than the public are ever aware of, and your channel (partially) confirms this - even the name of your company/organisation does so. Best and good luck wishes for growing your channel and bringing your work into mainstream awareness.
Unfortunately, our Replacements will not be interested in the slightest!
Thanks for watching Gaz, glad you enjoyed!
Scott (PCA)
Since no military contractor is going to build a wall any thicker than absolutely necessary the thicker walls of this turret suggest that it was taller than other turrets. It's alignment with the Tyne suggests that it may have had a navigation function, perhaps facilitating shipping at night through maintenance of a lantern on the top.
Hi James, thanks for your comment. It’s a very good point about the sightlines towards the Tyne and that the substantial foundations may indicate that T3a was taller than the other turrets (although the reduction in the original width of Hadrian’s Wall from 10 Roman feet to 8 likely didn’t see a reduction in the height of the structure so this may not be the case). To go back to your point about navigation, the position of the turrets within the central sector of Hadrian’s Wall were placed to prioritise sightlines towards the Stanegate road to the south and the forts along its length which indicates that they were also used for signalling. Like you suggest, there’s no reason why Turret 3a in the eastern sector couldn’t signal to passing traffic on the Tyne or have featured a lantern to aid in navigation at night as towers were certainly used in later periods from at least 1536 to aid in navigation around the mouth of the Tyne. I’ve expanded on a few points raised in the talk including more info on the width of the foundations, in the accompanying article for Current Archaeology magazine that you may be interested in (a digital copy can be accessed here: the-past.com/feature/surprises-from-the-roman-frontier-excavating-hadrians-wall-in-urban-tyneside/). Thanks for watching!
So glad they protected the historical remains of our history and moved the architecture, too many councils bend the knee to big money developers and destroy our history. I really like the detailed information gleaned from modern archaeology when done properly. it is a shame that you weren't allowed more scope and a larger dig area.
I live a few miles south of greenhead and there's lots of evidence of Roman activity all around here. 👍❤️💛💚
My office used to be an old cottage in Coquet Street at the southern edge of this site in the early 2000s, when I worked for Tyne-Tees Television. What's the current latest speculation/evidence (if any)about how the wall crossed the Ouseburn? R (Australia)
Hi, thanks for watching. Unfortunately we still don’t know exactly how the Wall crossed the Ouseburn valley and the burn. This is due to extensive industrial development within the valley that has vastly changed the topography of the area.
From an engineering perspective, the area around and east of Newcastle would have been one of the more difficult sections to build east of the Whin Sill ridge as the Wall had to negotiate three deep valleys of the Ouseburn, the Pandon and the Lort Burns. The Ouseburn would have been much wider in the Roman period as it was narrowed during the construction of the quay walls. As the river is still tidal at this point, the Wall may have been carried across the Ouse Burn on several piers. Of course this is just speculation and hopefully future development in the valley will uncovered more remains of Hadrian’s Wall in the vicinity of the Ouse Burn. An interpretation panel was created during the construction of Farm View in 2014 (eastern side of the watercourse) that shows an artistic reconstruction of the Wall crossing the valley (drive.google.com/file/d/1U0TaGbzcIB60AheOKVmtRLSQRfwD4NxO/view?usp=drivesdk.).
Scott (PCA)
@@Scottjamesvance Brilliant! Thanks for taking the time, Scott. R (Australia)
@14.21 the plan with the cippi pits. The 4 to the right seem very regular don't they - as if they make up 4 corners of a porch or entrance (postholes?, maybe with flat stones in the bottom as foundations for posts, hence not so deep?) - also - they pretty well align to the wall of the turret. Do you think there could have been doorways/entrances through the main wall to the turret? I know this wouldn't explain the 2 to the left - I guess I can't get my head round these small shallow holes as being all that effective for defence - esp when you compare to the wall itself and all that effort put in.
First class vid,very informative,need more work done to find the Ouseburn crossing point,hard to believe nothing left on either bank.Well done.
Thanks David, glad you enjoyed the video!
Scott (PCA)
Thanks 👍
I never did understand the reasoning behind two walls when the Alban people had metallurgy and could build ships. Reminds me of another Republic that likes walls.
Thank you. Such an interesting and well presented video.
Sorry if this is an obvious question but how do you know to call the turret 3a? I have visited turret 21(?) near Silloth. Is there a map of the wall? Are the turrets numbered from one end of the wall?
Thanks Paul, glad you enjoyed the video! The numbering system for the turrets/milecastles of Hadrian’s Wall was devised by Robin George Collingwood in 1930 and goes from east to west starting at Wallsend Roman fort. There were at least 160 turrets along the length of the Wall, but only 57 of these (including T3a) have been investigated. The milecastles are numbered 0-80 from Wallsend to Bowness with two turrets spaced in between which are assigned a or b so the turrets west of MC3 are T3a and T3b. In 1987 an additional tower was discovered on the Wall at Peel Gap (between Turrets 39a and 39b) which doesn’t fit into the original numbering scheme so there may be additional turrets which aren’t included in Collingwood’s 1930 system. Peel Gap turret was thought to have been built to cover a blind spot in the bottom of Peel Gap that wasn’t visible from T39a and T39b.
English Heritage/Historic England have produced a very useful map of Hadrian’s Wall at 1:25000 scale which labels the MC’s/T’s (where known). The latest edition was published in 2014 so doesn’t include T3a (or any of the Wall installations around and east of Newcastle). David Breeze’s 2006 edition of J. Collingwood Bruce’s Handbook to the Roman Wall (14th edition) is also very useful and describes each Wall mile from east to west.
Thanks again for watching,
Scott (PCA)
Did you use GPR on site?
I used to walk past turret 7b every day in the 1950s when my mother took me shopping with her. 😁
Hi, thanks for watching! We didn't use GPR on this site as remains of Hadrian's Wall had been exposed within the trenching works undertaken in 2015. This made it a lot easier for our excavation as we could target and expose those areas. T7b is a great little turret, it's similar to T3a as it also lies outside of where it should be to better exploit views across the landscape (in T7b's case this would be the small valley of the Denton Burn).
Scott (PCA)
just thinking, wouldnt thatch be a fire hazzard for a defensive roof - esp with fire arrows? I'm sure if they'd used slate or tile they would have been looted over centuries for sure - for roofing small outbuildings , or even for damp proof courses. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence and all that:)
'Demolition pile covering the West end of the trench'. One plank of wood and a stick does not constitute demolition rubble, besides you can easily recognise if consists of uniformly sized aggregate. Rubble does not look like this. I can see weeds growing around the pile and tracked vehicle, but not a single one having taken root on the pile, this would indicate that it has only very recently been deposited there. Considering the above and the exploration work taking place, are we to deduce that this pile is hiding something beneath it?
Hi, thanks for watching. The pile at 8:08 is the demolition material to the south of the trench within the eastern part of the site. It had a uniform size because the rubble from the demolition of Norris House has been graded and passed through a screen (cycle through historic images on Google Street view from Stepney Bank to see this in action from March 2021). The pile was moved around after the demolition works to enable geotechnical investigations on the site (boreholes). Hope this clarifies things (and don't worry nothing was hidden).
I would love a job like this, any advice appreciated, tried looking for courses etc there isnt much around, have no experience but fascinated
I would start by digging with a group immediately, reading continually and doing an archaeological degree.
I've noticed an alleged Time Team dig supposedly in 5:39 South Shields which is obviously in Wallsend or its environs. I just wish TV producers would get their facts correct.
Hi, the excavation mentioned at 5:39 was on Shields Road in Byker rather than in South Shields. Time Team did excavate at Arbeia (South Shields Roman fort), but this is outside the area covered in the talk. Hope this helps.
Scott (PCA)
Any coin finds, for dating?
Hi Christopher, no coins unfortunately. The only Roman find we had from the turret was one fragment of roof tile however we were limited to only exposing the structure as it is to be preserved in situ so couldn't excavate any further (it does appear that any occupation levels within the turret had been truncated during later centuries of activity so finds are likely to be limited). The 2015 evaluation of the site did find a spindle whorl made from a piece of Roman Samian pottery which is primarily a late Roman phenomenon however this was recovered from the rubble collapse of the structure. There is an interesting reference in the archives to a schoolboy finding a Samian bowl opposite the site in the 1950s so there is hopefully more to find in the area.
Thanks for watching,
Scott (PCA)