Klosterwald Limes Watchtower (Wp 10/35)
About
Watchtower Wp 10/35 stood in the Klosterwald forest, one link among roughly ninety towers the Roman army raised along the Odenwald limes between the Main and Neckar rivers. Like its neighbors it began as a wooden post spaced about 709 meters from the next tower in the chain, close enough to keep constant visual contact along the forested ridge. Soldiers rebuilt it in stone as the frontier matured. Its excavated foundation still marks the site today, a short walk from the better-known tower at Kahler Buckel.
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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