Towers are ubiquitous military structures that were erected by the soldiers of the Roman army along the borders of their empire. Hundreds of them are known or suspected – 900 are estimated to be on the frontier in Germany alone. But these posts are far from standardised. Towers could be constructed of different materials, and be of different sizes, shapes, and heights; sometimes they were attached to linear barriers and sometimes not; sometimes doors were placed at ground level and elsewhere higher; often towers could be surrounded by a ditch; and, of course, they were built across a lengthy timespan. But were these towers ever locked, and, if not, what does that mean? Investigating the evidence from the Roman frontiers in Europe raises some intriguing implications.
When preparing the new edition of the Handbook to the Roman Wall – that is, Hadrian’s Wall – some years ago, David Breeze noted that at two of the turrets along this frontier, hearths had been placed in the entranceway, making it impossible to close the doors. In one instance, turret 10a (Throckley East), the excavator suggested that the hearths may have been created by squatters, but the investigator of the other turret, 18b (Wallhouses West), assigned the hearth to the earliest phase of occupation, which renders that explanation unlikely. If so, it suggests that the soldiers stationed there did not regard security as an issue.
This observation led on to a wider question: have any keys been found at turrets on Hadrian’s Wall? The answer is a definite ‘no’. Metal keys are common enough finds from Roman Britain and are usually easily recognisable. Examples have been found at several forts along Hadrian’s Wall, including Birdoswald, Housesteads, South Shields, Vindolanda, and Wallsend, though not all of them were used to secure doors. A set of smaller posts along the Wall known as milecastles are also lacking in keys, but part of ‘an L-shaped slide key’ was recovered from the Second World War excavations at a similar post, known to specialists as milefortlet 5 (Cardurnock), on the Cumbrian coast to the west of the Wall.
Adventures close to home