Pulverberg Limes Watchtower (Wp 1/54)
About
The watchtower on the Pulverberg above Sayn kept watch over the Brexbach valley from a wooded summit east of the Rhine. Local preservationists rebuilt its tower in 1912, one of the earliest Limes reconstructions anywhere in Germany, using the debris mound of the original as their guide. Roman soldiers built the first post here as part of the frontier's push inland from the Rhine in the early second century. Hikers today reach it by the Saynsteig trail, which climbs the same ridge the tower once watched.
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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