Fectio tower

[Chuck Russell]

hehehe. i've got 30 acres, about half wooded half fielded. so i have my own lumber of hardwood and such

so, who wants to help me build it?

[Robert Vermaat]

I see that those usual idiots that someone calls "writers", signed the north side of your tower with their stupidity... :x

Yes, that happened over the Xmas holidays.. It seems the tower needs a permanent guard!

Who you have got the necessary support for build that?
- voluntary internal work?
- sponsor founds?;
- local city town hall support?;
- group own funds?

As I wrote above, we did not build it, it was constructed by the people from the Forestry Commision who own the land, but with added funds from the Province of Utrecht. We get to play with it. I live close by, I often just take a ride past it - it's a great place to take pictures.

[Jona Lendering]

The only side of the tower at Fectio that Robert did not show is the top. :wink:
And this photo may be interesting too. You can see a modern fort; Robert's tower is to the south of it; to the northwest, on a light green field (with a thrasher), is the site of the ancient fort Fectio.

[TITVS SABATINVS AQVILIVS]

Bravo, cool! I'm not still inured to that satellite marvel: any time I use or see it I'm amazed yet...

Valete,

[Robert]

He guys, if you want to build your own tower, remember this replica is hotly debated as not being the correct type for the Limes of the Netherlands. You can also achieve great results with the methode described as being more typical for the Netherlands, a sturdy wooden frame on a stone foundation with the holes filled in by dough and wattle, then slapped with a good dose of plaster. (the English term escapes me :oops: ) This is how the Romans build a lot of structures, including castella, in Holland in the first and first half of the second century. Cinderblocks will get you the desired effect, as long as you get the limeplaster on the in- and outside right :lol: Mind you, the roof and balcony will still cause woodworking headaches, but it still is a lot simpler then the Germanic "logcabin" structure attempted with good result here.

PS The site in Aalen Jona posted shows the construction I wanted to descibe! Many happy hours building, it's worth it!

[Robert Vermaat]

this replica is hotly debated as not being the correct type for the Limes of the Netherlands.

Not hotly debated, it's just plain wrong! 8) We tell that to everybody - it's in fact a copy from a German tower which is of course also very wrong (thát one should have been in stone..).
But when we play with it, who cares!

Until you've built your towers Robert, this is all we've got..

[Robert]

Take hart, fair friend! I was indeed being carefull in my criticism, at least you have a tower to play with and all I have is a nice website and wonderfull dreams of re-enactment heaven for all Romans cry: Nijmegen is the last resort, ather that, Cuijk is the very last possibility, but that's late Roman (don't smirk!) and not really a Limes site anymore (then again, neither is Nijmegen across the Waal, though they might have had a castellum there to keep the Batavians in line across the bridge), being the second line of defence guarding the strategic bridge across the Maas there. We could really use a good lobby with Nijmegen. RATters rally!? :wink:

[jvrjenivs]

We could really use a good lobby with Nijmegen.

I had much better connections when we had our "Guusje". So, I'm sorry I cant help you anymore. Anyway, Success with getting thinks done. (I know it isn't a good roman site, but isn't groesbeek an option? They're working hard on their reputation of a museumcity, and have a lot of ground where possible a museum could built..)

[Robert Vermaat]

I had much better connections when we had our "Guusje".

I heard the bad news - silly new management!

[Restitvtvs]

... You can also achieve great results with the methode described as being more typical for the Netherlands, a sturdy wooden frame on a stone foundation with the holes filled in by dough and wattle, then slapped with a good dose of plaster. ...

Robert W: Excellent post.

RE "dough and wattle" translation, could that be "wattle and daub"?

Do you mean a stone and frame watchtower something like this is Aalen DE?



Or Rheinbrohl DE?


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... nbrohl.jpg

Or Pulverberg bei Sayn DE?

http://www.bendorf-geschichte.de/img0012a.jpg

[Robert]

RE "dough and wattle" translation, could that be "wattle and daub"? :oops:

Sorry, wrong recipe, spellchecks don't pick up on the wrong use of a frase. Most embarassing! Yes, your absolutly right, that is what I meant. The towerconstruction I refer too is indeed depicted in the Aalen tower, this is generaly seen as state of art for this type. Although the towers all have the same architecture (three floors, door in middle floor, sightseeing balcony), the Romans used material localy available, so the Dutch towers may have hade a sturdy wooden base instead of stone ("wattle and daub" lower wall would not stand up to much punishment, on the other hand, these buildings were watchtowers, not fortifications in a true sense.
If you want to browse through a lot of what the Germans have erected along the Limes through time, try this link, very interesting, gives nice pictures and data. http://www.limesprojekt.de/limes4a.htm

Enjoy!

[Gaivs Antonivs Satvrninvs]

I'm quite excited to see that replica in Aalen. I'll be there in May.
They didn't have nearly that much when I was there last(1984).

[Robert]

It's a scale model, mind you, I don't know if they have erected a full size replica, but doubt it. Here's another link on the German "wachturm" :

http://www.limes-in-deutschland.de/gall ... sturm.html

If you Google "Limesturm" pictures there is a whole lot to be seen, lots of towers and drawings, in fact, it's towers galore :lol:

The forts are often referred to as "castellum" or "castella", but good results are also achieved typing in "burgus" or "Kleinkastell" or "limeskastell" . Even if you "no speek Germanic", the pictures are fun D

[Robert Vermaat]

Next Sunday, November 17 2013, there will be a ceremony celebrating the 10th anniversary of the 'Fectio watchtower', located near Fort Vechten, The Netherlands. Taking part will be a mixed group of about 20 Romans from several groups, both Principate as well as Late Roman. We hope to get most of the 'cast' to return, 10 years later!

Unfortunately the tower itself has been closed for the past 2 seasons, let us hope that this small event will remedy that in the near furure.

An image of the ceremony in 2003:


Webpage from 2003: http://www.fectio.org.uk/groep/vechtenshows.htm
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/eve...501946112/

[M. Demetrius]

Here's to good weather for the dedication. Why was the tower closed, Robert?