Roman Watchtower 14/55

The Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes, with a length of 550 km from Eining near Regensburg to Rheinbrohl on the Rhine, is the largest archaeological monument in Germany and has been recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Limes (Latin: border path/wall) refers to the border fortifications of the Roman Empire, which were erected towards the end of the 1st century AD.

This border was monitored by more than 900 towers, which were built in timber construction during the initial phase, starting around 80 AD. Stone towers followed, which were plastered from 150 AD onwards. Excavations have shown that the white plaster often had cracked joints, which were painted in terracotta. This created the impression of beautiful ashlar masonry.

1.05 km from Wp 14/54, the 6.2 × 5.9 m large, somewhat dilapidated stone tower foundation is visibly preserved in the forest. The tower, with its 0.76 m thick walls, was already excavated, examined, measured, and drawn in 1789 by the ecclesiastical councilor and professor of mathematics, Ignaz Pickel (1736–1818) from Eichstätt. Tuff stones, which do not occur in this area, were found on the paved floor inside the tower. The tower, which at its highest point was still 5 Nuremberg feet (1.50 m) high at the time, had a ground-level, laterally offset entrance. As the findings showed, the Limes wall, which according to Pickel was 4 feet (1.20 m) wide in this area and apparently still in good condition at the time, was subsequently built onto the tower. Friedrich Ohlenschlager (1840–1916) also saw the structure in 1890 preserved "almost man-high with mortared wall" and mentioned that the Pappenheim dean and consistorial councilor Michael Redenbacher (1764–1816) had additionally observed herringbone patterns in the masonry. However, already in Ohlenschlager's time, the inhabitants of the community of Kaldorf destroyed what had been the best-preserved tower in the area as a cheap quarry.[2] A restoration to a height of 0.60 meters after the devastations was already described by archaeologist Dietwulf Baatz in 1974 as "conserved a long time ago."