Running for 73 modern or 80 Roman miles from Wallsend on the River Tyne to Bowness on the Solway Firth, Hadrian’s Wall is the best known visible remains of a roman frontier today. Consisting of an almost unbroken line of stone wall, punctuated by mile castles and forts, it protected Rome’s northern territories from the first century AD until the end of Roman Britain.
The History of Hadrian’s Wall
Hadrian’s Wall was built in the early second century AD to protect Rome’s British territories. Despite defeating the Caledonians at the battle of Mons Graupius forty years after the conquest of southern Britain, the Romans were forced to withdraw their lines south to the estuaries of the River Tyne and the Solway Firth. An unofficial frontier was established between these two points with a road running the between Carlisle and Corbridge for communications.
No formal defences existed until the 120s AD when the Emperor Hadrian set the extent of the empire in order to stabalize it and allow for the effective defence of existing Roman territory. Accordingly, a wall was ordered to be built across the neck of what is now Northern England.
The wall took six years to build. It was constructed by Roman army units from Caerleon, York and Chester. Roman legions were routinely staffed with skilled engineers, architects, surveyors, and masons who had the requisite skills for construction work.
Initially, a small sector of the wall was constructed of turf embankments but eventually this was replaced until the entire length of the wall was constructed from stone. Various other upgrades and modifications took place over time.
After Hadrian’s death, his wall was abandoned for twenty years in favour of the Antonine Wall. This was built 100 miles north between the Forth and Clyde estuaries in response to Roman advances made under the Emperor Antoninus Pius. This wall was quickly abandoned and Hadrian’s Wall reoccupied, only falling into gradual disuse in the fifth century AD after the roman withdrawal from Britain.
Fortifications of Hadrian’s Wall
Soldiers did not patrol the length of the wall or attempt to defend Roman territory from it. Rather the wall acted as a barrier. It was one part of a series of defensive fortifications designed to control both military and civilian movements across the frontier.
A series of ditches and embankments lay on either side of the wall for its entire length. To the north, a 10ft deep, 30ft wide ditch was constructed in areas where the landscape was not defended by natural features such as crags and escarpments. The most northerly side of the ditch was slightly higher than that closest to the wall, putting anyone attempting to approach the wall from the ditch at a disadvantage by making them more visible and exposed.
Behind the wall and the Roman road in Roman territory, ran the wall’s vallum, a10 foot deep, 20 ft wide ditch flanked by two 10ft high and 20ft wide mounds. This effectively functioned as the border of the empire. It was only possible to cross the vallum at Roman forts which housed the troops ready to be deployed into enemy territory. Built straddling the wall wherever possible, forts along Hadrian’s Wall were prolific.
Whilst forts controlled crossings of the vallum, crossings over the wall itself were controlled by mile castles. As the names suggest, these were situated every mile along the wall’s length. Each mile castle consisted of two turrets flanking an access gateway. Each mile castle had barracks to house the troops that manned it. Generally only eight men were required at one time in a mile castle although there is one example built to take thirty two men.
Sources
Hadrian’s Wall: A Souvenir Guide to the Roman Wall by David Breeze. English Heritage
Natasha Sheldon - A writer since 2000, Natasha Sheldon holds a BA Hons in ancient history and archaeology and MA in ancient history and historiography.
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