![]() Hadrian’s death in AD 138 brought a new emperor to power. These remains are undated, however.įind out more about legions and auxiliaries Excavation has demonstrated the existence of civil settlements in the 3rd century and geophysical survey has recorded the urban sprawl spreading well beyond the forts. Little is known about these people in the early years of the Wall it would appear that they were not allowed to settle in the zone between the Wall and the Vallum. The troops based in the forts and milecastles of the Wall were mostly recruited from the north-western provinces of the Roman empire, though some were from further afield.Īrmy units tend to be accompanied by camp followers. Each fort on the Wall appears to have been built to hold a single auxiliary unit. The 500-strong mixed infantry and cavalry unit was the workhorse of the frontier. They were organised into regiments nominally either 500 or 1,000 strong and either infantry or cavalry or both. The purpose of the Vallum, as this earthwork is known, was presumably to protect the rear of the frontier zone.Īfter the forts had been added, the width of the Wall was narrowed to 8 Roman feet (2.4 metres) or less and the standard of craftsmanship reduced, both presumably in order to speed work.Īlthough mainly built by legionaries, the Wall was manned by auxiliaries. ![]() Causeways, surmounted by gates, were provided at forts. This consisted of a central ditch between two mounds. The addition of the forts was followed by the construction of an earthwork to the south 120 Roman feet (an actus – about 35 metres) wide. The position of the forts and the provision of so many gates suggest that a requirement for increased mobility led to this change. This allowed three main gates, each with two entrances, making the equivalent of six milecastle gates, to provide access to the north the double-portal south gate was supplemented by two small side gates. The forts, each apparently built for a single unit and at a basic spacing of 7⅓ miles, were placed astride the Wall wherever possible. To the north of the turf sector lay three advance forts, all probably part of this plan, but otherwise the forts remained on the Stanegate behind the Wall.īefore the first plan was completed, a radical change led to the placing of forts on the wall line and down the Cumbrian coast, and the construction of an earthwork to the south. The turf sector was 20 Roman feet (6 metres) wide. The stone wall, with a maximum height of about 15 feet (4.6 metres), was 10 Roman feet (3 metres) wide, wide enough for there to have been a walkway along the top, and perhaps also a parapet wall. At each mile a gate was protected by a small guard post called a milecastle.īetween each pair of milecastles lay two towers (turrets), creating a pattern of observation points every third of a mile. In front of both was a substantial ditch, except where crags or rivers made this unnecessary. Building in the east started at the point where the road from the south, Dere Street, met the Wall and where later a gate, the Portgate, was erected.Īs first planned, most of the Wall was to be built in stone, but the eastern 30-mile section was in turf. Its line was carefully chosen to make best use of the topography, and it was surveyed from each end towards the middle, or rather towards the crags, in sections. The Wall was placed slightly north of the existing line of military installations between the River Tyne and the Solway Firth. The inscription on the Ilam pan, a 2nd-century souvenir of Hadrian’s Wall found in 2003, suggests that it was called the vallum Aelii, Aelius being Hadrian’s family name. Before work was completed, 14 forts were added, followed by an earthwork known as the Vallum to the south. The original plan was for a wall of stone or turf, with a guarded gate every mile and two observation towers in between, and fronted by a wide, deep ditch. The building of Hadrian’s Wall probably began that year, and took at least six years to complete. Hadrian came to Britain in AD 122 and, according to a biography written 200 years later, ‘put many things to right and was the first to build a wall 80 miles long from sea to sea to separate the barbarians from the Romans’. The forts here were linked by a road, now known as the Stanegate, between Corbridge and Carlisle. ![]() By about AD 100 the northernmost army units in Britain lay along the Tyne–Solway isthmus. Permanent conquest of Britain began in AD 43.
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