Hadrian's Wall ( ) is a
stone or
turf and timber
fortification built by the
Roman Empire across the width of what is now
northern England.
Begun in 122, during the rule of emperor Hadrian, it was the first of two fortifications
built across Great Britain, the second being the Antonine Wall
in what is now Scotland. Hadrian's Wall is
the better known of the two because its physical remains are more
evident today.
Opinions differ, but the growing consensus is that the Wall was
built as a readily defended fortification which clearly defined the
northern frontier (
limes) of the Roman Empire
in Britain (
Britannia). It would also
improve economic stability and provide peaceful conditions in the
frontier zone.
The wall was the most heavily fortified border in the Empire. In
addition to its role as a military fortification, it is thought
that many of the gates through the wall would have served as
customs posts to allow trade and levy
taxation.
A
significant portion of the wall still exists, particularly the
mid-section, and for much of its length the wall can be followed on
foot by Hadrian's Wall
Path
or by cycle on National Cycle Route 72. It
is the most popular
tourist attraction in
Northern England, where it is often known simply as the
Roman Wall.
It was made a UNESCO
World Heritage Site in 1987.
English Heritage, a government
organisation in charge of managing the historic environment of
England, describes it as "the most important monument built by the
Romans in Britain".
Dimensions
Sections of Hadrian's Wall remain near
Greenhead and along the route, though other large sections have
been dismantled over the years to use the stones for various nearby
construction projects.
Hadrian's Wall was 80
Roman miles (73.5
statute miles or 117 kilometres) long, its width and height
dependent on the construction materials which were available
nearby.
East of River Irthing
the wall was made from squared stone and measured
3 metres (9.7 ft) wide and five to six metres
(16–20 ft) high, while west of the river the wall was made
from turf and measured 6 metres (20 ft) wide and
3.5 metres (11.5 ft) high. This does not include
the wall's ditches,
berms, and forts. The
central section measured eight Roman feet wide (7.8 ft or
2.4 m) on a base. Some parts of this section of the wall
survive to a height of .
Route
Map showing the location of Hadrian's
Wall
Hadrian's wall near Housesteads
Hadrian's
Wall extended west from Segedunum
at Wallsend
on the
River Tyne to the shore of the
Solway
Firth
. The A69 and B6318 roads follow the
course of the wall as it starts in Newcastle upon Tyne
to Carlisle
, then along
the northern coast of Cumbria
.
The wall
is entirely in England and south of the border with Scotland
by 15 kilometres (9 mi) in the west and
110 kilometres (68 mi) in the east.
Purpose of construction
Hadrian's Wall was built following a visit by
Roman Emperor Hadrian (AD 76–138) in AD 122.
Hadrian
was experiencing military difficulties in Roman Britain and from the peoples of various
conquered lands across the Empire, including Egypt
, Judea
, Libya
, Mauretania, and many of the peoples conquered by
his predecessor Trajan, so he was keen to
impose order. The construction of such an impressive wall
was, however, probably also a symbol of Roman power, both in
occupied Britain and in Rome.
Frontiers in the early empire were largely based on natural
features or fortified zones with a heavy military presence.
Military roads often marked the border, with forts and signal
towers spread along them, and it was not until the reign of
Domitian that the first solid frontier was
constructed, in
Germania Superior,
using a simple fence. Hadrian expanded this idea, redesigning the
German border by ordering a continuous timber
palisade supported by forts behind it. Although
such defences would not have held back any concerted invasion
effort, they did physically mark the edge of Roman territory and
went some way to providing a degree of control over who crossed the
border and where. The wall was constructed primarily to prevent
entrance by small bands of raiders or unwanted
immigration from the north, not as a fighting
line for a major
invasion. The wall would
have made cattle-raiding across the frontier extremely
difficult.
Hadrian
reduced Roman military presence in the territory of the Brigantes, who lived between the rivers Tyne and
Humber
, and concentrated on building a more solid linear
fortification to the north of them. This was intended to
replace the
Stanegate road which is
generally thought to have served as the
limes (the
boundary of the Roman Empire) until then.
Construction
Construction probably started sometime in AD 122 , and was largely
completed within six years. Construction started in the east,
between milecastles four and seven, and proceeded westwards, with
soldiers from all three of the occupying
Roman legions participating in the
work.
The
route chosen largely paralleled the nearby Stanegate road from Luguvalium
(Carlisle) to Coria
(Corbridge
), upon which were situated a series of forts,
including Vindolanda
. The wall in the east follows a hard,
resistant igneous
diabase rock escarpment,
known as the
Whin Sill.
The initial plan called for a ditch and wall with eighty small
gated
milecastle fortlets, one placed
every
Roman mile, holding a few dozen troops each, and pairs
of evenly spaced intermediate turrets used for
observation and signalling. However, very few
milecastles are actually situated at exact Roman mile divisions;
they can be up to 200 yards east or west because of landscape
features or to improve signalling to the
Stangegate forts to the south . Local
limestone was used in the construction, except for
the section to the west of Irthing where turf was used instead,
since there were no useful outcrops nearby. Milecastles in this
area were also built from timber and earth rather than stone, but
turrets were always made from stone. The Broad Wall was initially
built with a clay-bonded rubble core and mortared dressed rubble
facing stones, but this seems to have made it vulnerable to
collapse, and repair with a mortared core was sometimes
necessary.
The milecastles and turrets were of three different designs,
depending on which
Roman legion built
them — inscriptions of the
Second,
Sixth, and
Twentieth Legions, tell us that all
were involved in the construction. All were about 493 metres (539
yards) apart and measured 4.27 square metres (46.0 square feet)
internally.
Construction was divided into lengths of about 5 miles (8 km).
One group of each legion would excavate the foundations and build
the milecastles and turrets and then other
cohort would follow with the wall
construction. it was finished in 128 AD
Early in its construction, just after reaching the
North Tyne, the width of the wall was narrowed to
2.5 metres (8.2 ft) or even less (sometimes 1.8 metres) (the
"Narrow Wall").
However, Broad Wall foundations had already
been laid as far as the River Irthing, where the Turf Wall began, demonstrating that
construction worked from east to west. Many
turrets and
milecastles
were optimistically provided with stub '
wing
walls' in preparation for joining to the Broad Wall, offering a
handy reference for archaeologists trying to piece together the
construction chronology.
Within a
few years it was decided to add a total of 14 to 17 (sources
disagree) full-sized forts along the length of the wall, including
Vercovicium
(Housesteads
) and Banna
(Birdoswald
), each holding between 500 and 1,000 auxiliary troops (no legions were posted to the
wall). The eastern end of the wall was extended
further east from Pons
Aelius
(Newcastle) to Segedunum (Wallsend) on the Tyne estuary. Some of the larger
forts along the wall, such as Cilurnum
(Chesters) and Vercovicium (Housesteads), were
built on top of the footings of milecastles or turrets, showing the
change of plan. An inscription mentioning early
governor Aulus Platorius Nepos indicates that
the change of plans took place early on. Also some time still
during Hadrian's reign (before AD 138) the wall west of the Irthing
was rebuilt in sandstone to basically the same dimensions as the
limestone section to the east.
After the forts had been added (or possibly at the same time), the
Vallum was built on the
southern side. It consisted of a large, flat-bottomed ditch six
metres (20 ft) wide at the top and three metres (10 ft) deep
bounded by a berm on each side 10 metres (33 ft) wide. Beyond the
berms were earth banks six metres (20 ft) wide and two metres (6.5
ft) high.
Causeways crossed the ditch at
regular intervals. Initially the berm appears to have been the main
route for transportation along the wall.
The wall was thus part of a defensive system which, from north to
south included:
- a glacis and a deep ditch
- a berm with rows of pits holding
entanglements
- the curtain wall
- a later military road (the "Military Way")
- a north mound,a ditch and a south mound to prevent or slow down
any raids from a rebelling southern tribe.
Garrison
The wall was
garrisoned by auxiliary
(non-legionary) units of the army (non-
citizens). Their numbers fluctuated throughout the
occupation but may have been around 9,000 strong in general,
including
infantry and
cavalry. The new forts could hold garrisons of 500
men, while cavalry units of 1,000 troops were stationed at either
end. The total number of soldiers manning the early wall was
probably greater than 10,000.
They suffered serious attacks in 180, and especially between 196
and 197 when the garrison had been seriously weakened, following
which major reconstruction had to be carried out under
Septimius Severus. The region near the
wall remained peaceful for most of the rest of the third century.
It is thought that some in the garrison may have
married and integrated into the local community
throughout the years.
After Hadrian
In the
years after Hadrian's death in 138, the new emperor, Antoninus Pius essentially abandoned the
wall, leaving it occupied in a support role, and began building a
new wall called the Antonine
Wall, about 160 kilometres (100 mi) north, in what
later became known as the Scottish
Lowlands through the short strip running West South West to
East North East from coast to coast sometimes referred to as the
Central Belt or Central
Lowlands
. This turf wall ran 40 Roman miles (about )
and had significantly more forts than Hadrian's Wall. Antoninus was
unable to conquer the northern tribes, so when
Marcus Aurelius became emperor he abandoned
the Antonine Wall and reoccupied Hadrian's Wall as the main
defensive barrier in 164. The wall remained occupied by Roman
troops until their
withdrawal from Britain.
In the late fourth century, barbarian invasions, economic decline,
and military coups loosened the Empire's hold on Britain. By 410,
the Roman administration and its legions were gone, and Britain was
left to look to its own defences and government. The garrisons, by
now probably made up mostly of local Britons who had nowhere else
to go, probably lingered on in some form for generations.
Archaeology is beginning to reveal that some parts of the wall
remained occupied well into the fifth century. Enough also survived
in the eighth century for
spolia from it to
find its way into the construction of
Jarrow Priory, and for
Bede to see and describe the wall thus in
Historia Ecclesiastica 1.5, although he misidentified
it as being built by
Septimius
Severus:
But in time the wall was abandoned and fell into ruin. Over the
centuries and even into the twentieth century a large proportion of
the stone was reused in other local buildings.
It fascinated
John Speed, who published a
set of maps of England and Wales by county at the turn of the
seventeenth century. He describes it as 'the Picts Wall' (or
'Pictes'; he uses both spellings). A map of Newecastle (sic), drawn
in 1610 by William Matthew, describes it as 'Severus' Wall', thus
giving it the name ascribed by Bede. The maps for Cumberland and
Northumberland not only show the wall as a major feature, but are
ornamented with drawings of Roman finds, together with, in the case
of the Cumberland map, a cartouche in which he sets out a
description of the wall itself.
John Clayton
of the wall has disappeared. The preservation of what remains can
be credited to
John
Clayton. He trained as a lawyer and became town clerk of
Newcastle in the 1830s.
He became enthusiastic about preserving the
wall after a visit to Chesters. To prevent farmers taking stones from the
wall, he began buying some of the land on which the wall stood. In
1834 he started purchasing property around
Steel Rigg.
Eventually he had control of land from
Brunton
to Cawfields.
This
stretch included the sites of Chesters, Carrawburgh
, Housesteads and Vindolanda. Clayton carried out excavation work at the
fort at Cilurnum and at Housesteads, and he excavated some
milecastles.
Clayton managed the farms he had acquired and succeeded in
improving both the land and the livestock. His successful
management produced a cash flow which could be invested in future
restoration work.
Workmen were employed to restore sections of the wall, generally up
to a height of seven courses. The best example of the Clayton Wall
is at Housesteads. After Clayton’s death, the estate passed to
relatives and was soon lost at gambling. Eventually the
National Trust began the process of acquiring the land on which
the wall stands.
At
Wallington
Hall
, near Morpeth, there is a painting by William Bell Scott, which shows a
centurion supervising the building of the
wall. The centurion has been given the face of John
Clayton.
World Heritage Site
Hadrian's Wall near Birdoswald Fort,
with man spraying weed-killer to reduce biological weathering to
the stones
Hadrian's
Wall was declared a World Heritage
Site in 1987, and in 2005 it became part of the larger
"Frontiers of the Roman
Empire" World Heritage Site which also includes sites in
Germany
.
Hadrian's Wall Path
In 2003,
a National Trail
footpath was opened which follows the line of the wall from
Wallsend to Bowness-on-Solway
. Because of the fragile landscape, walkers
are asked only to follow the path in summer months.
Rudyard Kipling
English Noble Prize-winning author
Rudyard Kipling contributed to popular image
of the "Great Pict Wall" in his short stories about Parnesius, a
Roman legioner who defended the Wall against the picts and vikings.
These stories are part of
Puck of
Pook's Hill cycle!
Roman-period names
The remains of the fort at
Housesteads.
The only ancient source for its provenance is the
Augustan History. No sources
survive to confirm what the wall was called in antiquity, and no
historical literary source gives it a name. However, the discovery
of a small enamelled bronze Roman cup in Staffordshire in 2003 has
provided a clue. The cup is inscribed with a series of names of
Roman forts along the western sector of the wall, together with a
personal name and the phrase
MAIS COGGABATA VXELODVNVM
CAMBOGLANNA RIGORE VALI AELI DRACONIS.
Bowness (
MAIS) is followed by Drumburgh-by-Sands
(
COGGABATA) until now known only as
CONGAVATA from the late Roman document, the
Notitia Dignitatum. Next comes Stanwix
(
VXELODVNVM), then Castlesteads
(
CAMBOGLANNA).
RIGORE is the
ablative form
of the
Latin word
rigor. This can
mean several things, but one of its less-known meanings is
‘straight line’, ‘course’ or ‘direction’. This sense was used by
Roman surveyors and appears on several inscriptions to indicate a
line between places. So the meaning could be 'according to the
course'.
The Staffordshire Moorlands cup, which
may provide the ancient name of Hadrian's Wall.
There is no known word as
vali, but
vallum was
the Latin word for an earthen wall, rampart, or fortification;
today
vallum is applied to the ditch and
berm dug by the Roman army just south of the wall. The
genitive form of
vallum is
valli, so one of the
most likely meanings is
VAL[L]I, ‘of the
vallum’. Omitting one of a pair of double consonants is
common on Roman inscriptions; moreover, an error in the
transcription of a written note could be the reason: another
similar bronze vessel, known as the
Rudge
Cup (found in Wiltshire in the 18th century) has VN missing
from the name
VXELODVNVM, for example, although the
letters appear on the Staffordshire Moorlands cup. The Rudge Cup
only bears fort names.
The name
AELI was Hadrian's
nomen, his main family name, the
gens Aelia.
The Roman bridge at Newcastle-upon-Tyne
was called Pons Aelius.
DRACONIS can be translated as ‘[by the hand – or
property] of Draco’. It was normal for Roman manufacturers to give
their names in the genitive (‘of’), and ‘by the hand’ would be
understood. The form is common, for example, on
Samian ware.
The translation, therefore, could be:
"Mais, Coggabata, Uxelodunum, Camboglanna, according to the line of
the Aelian wall. [By the hand or The property] of Draco." Another
possibility is that the individual's name was Aelius Draco, which
would only leave us with an unspecified
vallum,
'wall'.
Forts
The Latin and Romano-Celtic names of some of the Hadrian's Wall
forts are known, from the
Notitia
Dignitatum and other evidence:
Poltross Burn, Milecastle 48
Outpost forts beyond the wall include:
Supply forts behind the wall include:
See also
Sycamore Gap (the "Robin Hood
Tree")
Notes
- Stephen Johnson (2004) Hadrian's Wall, Sterling Publishing
Company, Inc, 128 pages, ISBN 0713488409
- English Heritage
- BBC - History - Hadrian's Wall Gallery
- Stephen Johnson (2004) Hadrian's Wall, Sterling Publishing
Company, Inc, 128 pages, ISBN 0713488409
- School of the Moon. The Highland cattle-raiding
tradition. Stuart McHardy. Birlinn Press, Edinburgh 2004.
- breeze, D.J., and Dobson, B., 2000, Hadrian's Wall (fourth
edition), London: Penguin Books, pp86
- Wilson, 271.
- Wooliscroft, D., 1989, "Signalling and the design of Hadrian's
Wall", Archaeologia Aeliana 5th Series, Vol. XVII, pp5-20
- Lewis and Short, A Latin Dictionary [1]
- Note the suffix "chester", reflecting the presence of a Roman
castra.
- Sycamore Gap, a section of the wall between two crests just
east of Milecastle 39, is locally known as the "Robin Hood Tree"
for its use in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of
Thieves (1991).
References
- Wilson, Roger J.A., A Guide to the Roman Remains in
Britain. London: Constable & Company, 1980. ISBN
0-09-463260-X
- Forde-Johnston, James L. Hadrian's Wall. London:
Michael Joseph, 1978. ISBN 0-7181-1652-6.
- de la Bédoyère, Guy. Hadrian's Wall. A History and
Guide. Stroud: Tempus, 1998. ISBN 0-7524-1407-0.
- Burton, Anthony Hadrian's Wall Path. 2004 Aurum Press
Ltd. ISBN 1-85410-893-X
- Hadrian's Wall Path (map). Harvey, 12-22 Main Street, Doune,
Perthshire FK16 6BJ. harveymaps.co.uk
- Tomlin, R.S.O., 'Inscriptions' in Britannia (2004),
vol. xxxv, pp.344–5 (the Staffordshire Moorlands cup naming the
Wall).
- A set of Speed's maps were issued bound in a single volume in
1988 in association with the British Library and with an
introduction by Nigel Nicolson as 'The Counties of Britain A Tudor
Atlas by John Speed'.
External links
(Benwell
Hill
)
(Rudchester)
(Halton Chesters)
aka Walwick Chesters
)
(Carrowburgh
)
(Great Chesters)
(Carvoran)
(Castlesteads)
(Stanwix.
Also
known as Petriana
)
(Burgh-by-Sands
)
(Drumburgh
)
(Bowness-on-Solway
(Risingham)
(Rochester
)
) (north of Birdoswald)
) [694042]
(Maryport
)
(South Shields
)
(Ebchester
)
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