Reconstructed Roman Watchtower

Summary

Reconstruction of a Roman watchtower built in 1905 within what was thought of at the time as a Roman military enclosure. This site is now interpreted as an Iron Age defended farmstead or small settlement. The tower is included within the surrounding scheduled monument.

Reasons for Designation

The reconstructed Roman watchtower is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Date: as an early example of experimental archaeology, being the earliest identified example in England of a historical reconstruction of a Roman building;
* Architecture: a well-built and interesting interpretation of Roman illustrations of watchtowers;
* Group value: with the surrounding scheduled monument of which it is part, as well as the registered Kirklees Park and its other listed garden structures.

History

The watchtower was built in 1905 at around the same time that part of the surrounding earthwork ramparts were investigated archaeologically by Sir George Armytage (6th Baronet). Armytage concluded that what is now considered to be an Iron Age defended settlement or farmstead (and was designated a scheduled monument in 1936) was a Roman military site. The watchtower, built as a summerhouse and viewing platform as part of the Edwardian improvements to Kirklees Park (a Grade II Registered Historic Park and Garden, was modelled on depictions of watchtowers carved on Trajan's Column in Rome, erected in AD 113. As such it is thought to have been the first example of a historical reconstruction of a Roman building erected in England, being roughly contemporary with the reconstruction of the Roman defences at Cardiff (1898-1923) and at Saalburg in Germany 1898-1907, and much earlier than the fort reconstructions at Metchley Birmingham (1953) and Lunt, Coventry (1970s).

Details

Reconstruction of a Roman watchtower, used as a summerhouse and viewing platform, 1905, for Sir George Armytage.

MATERIALS: coursed stone with quoining, the top floor originally with applied timbers and render to give the appearance of timber framing. Slate roof.

PLAN: square, single celled with an external staircase to the first floor on the southern side.

EXTERIOR: at the time of inspection the watchtower was largely obscured by vegetation. The tower stands to full height, being of three storeys with a low-pitched pyramidal roof which originally had a wide overhang to protect the external second floor walkway which encompassed the tower; however most of the roof covering and some of the timber structure has been lost to decay, and only fragmentary remains of some of the supports provide evidence of the walkway. The central, nearly square windows to each side of the second floor have been bricked up, as has the doorway onto the walkway. Openings on the first floor remain open, (a doorway and two round arched windows) as does the ground floor doorway which has a timber lintel carrying the date MCMV. The external staircase is of stone and lacks any handrail.

INTERIOR: only fragmentary remains of the structure of the first and second floors remain. The walls appeared to have been unplastered.

DESIGNATION: the tower forms part of a scheduled monument (Castle Hill univallate defended settlement, Kirklees Park).

Sources

Books and journals
Wallace, C, The Arbeia Journal in Reconstructed Roman Watchtower of the Early C20 at Kirklees, Vol. 8, (2005), 129-131

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.