  Torsional degrees of freedom play an important role in modern gravity
theories as well as in condensed matter systems where they can be modeled by
defects in solids. Here we isolate a class of torsion models that support
torsion configurations with a localized, conserved charge that adopts integer
values. The charge is topological in nature and the torsional configurations
can be thought of as torsional `monopole' solutions. We explore some of the
properties of these configurations in gravity models with non-vanishing
curvature, and discuss the possible existence of such monopoles in condensed
matter systems. To conclude, we show how the monopoles can be thought of as a
natural generalization of the Cartan spiral staircase.
