Döllchenschneise Limes Watchtower (Wp 10/14)
About
Watchtower Wp 10/14 stood an der Döllchenschneise, a forest ride on the Odenwald limes near the fort at Hainhaus. Its garrison kept the chain of signal posts unbroken along a stretch of frontier where dense woodland cut sightlines short. The tower began as timber during the early second-century push that opened the Odenwald line, part of the same building campaign attested at neighboring posts. Records show the post stayed in use until about 159 CE, when the frontier here was eventually abandoned and the line pulled forward.
What happened here
A small stone tower with a timber top, sited so that it can see the next one along the line. Half a dozen men live in it. They watch the ground in front, and they watch the tower on either side. A signal — fire and smoke at night, something visible by day — passes a warning down the chain far faster than a rider can, though it can only carry a message that was agreed in advance. The rest of the time it is a lookout post on a road, a river crossing or a frontier line, and the work is boredom punctuated by inspections. Supplies come up from the fort behind. Towers on a frontier stand within sight of each other for hundreds of miles.
Sources
Nearby
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