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Hadrian's Wall: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Hadrian's Wall
In the year 122, the Roman Emperor Hadrian stood on the northern edge of Britannia and made a decision that would define the empire's northern frontier for three centuries. He did not order the conquest of the wild lands beyond, but instead commanded the construction of a massive stone barrier to hold them at bay. This wall, stretching 73 miles from the River Tyne to the Solway Firth, was not merely a defensive structure but a psychological statement of imperial power, designed to separate the civilized world from the unconquered barbarian wilderness. The wall was built by three Roman legions, totaling 15,000 soldiers, who worked for six years to create a fortification that was originally ten Roman feet wide and eight feet high. While the wall is now a ruin, its foundations remain a testament to the engineering prowess and administrative will of the Roman Empire, which sought to impose order on a landscape that had never known such a boundary before.
Engineering The Northern Frontier
The construction of Hadrian's Wall was a feat of logistics and engineering that required the coordination of thousands of men and the transport of vast quantities of stone across difficult terrain. The wall was built with an alternating series of forts, each housing 600 men, and manned milecastles operated by between 12 and 20 men. The original plan called for a uniform width of 10 Roman feet, but during construction, the width was reduced to 8 Roman feet in the eastern half to save resources. This reduction created what is known as the Narrow Wall, while the western section was originally built of turf and timber before being replaced by stone. The wall was not a continuous battlement but a system of forts, milecastles, and turrets that provided shelter and living accommodation for Roman troops. The wall's design included a deep ditch known as the Vallum, which ran parallel to the wall and served as a barrier to movement. The wall's construction was a complex process that involved the use of wooden piles in boggy areas and the careful placement of turf blocks in the western section. The wall's design was a departure from traditional Roman military architecture, and its scale and design have led to exceptional suggestions of influence by some scholars, including the possibility that Hadrian was influenced by travelers' accounts of the Great Wall of China.
The Soldiers Behind The Stone
Following the completion of the wall, almost 10,000 soldiers were stationed along its length, not from the legions who built it, but from regiments of auxiliary infantry and cavalry drawn from the provinces. These soldiers had two basic functions: defense and frontier control. The soldiers stationed in the forts had the primary duty of defense, while the troops in the milecastles and turrets had the responsibility of frontier control. Evidence suggests that soldiers who manned the milecastles and turrets came from three, or even four, auxiliary units, including cohors I Batavorum, cohors I Vardullorum, and an un-numbered Pannonian cohort. The soldiers on the wall were not just defenders but also customs officers, monitoring the movement of people and goods through the gates. The wall was a physical barrier to slow the crossing of raiders, people intent on crossing its line for animals, treasure, or slaves, and then returning with their loot. The wall's defensive characteristics included pits known as cippi, which held branches or small tree trunks entangled with sharpened branches, making an attack on the wall even more difficult. The wall was not mainly a continuously-embattled defensive line, rather it would deter casual crossing and be an observation point that could alert Romans of an incoming attack and slow down enemy forces so that additional troops could arrive for support.
Hadrian's Wall was built starting in the year 122 by three Roman legions totaling 15,000 soldiers. The construction took six years to complete the massive stone barrier stretching 73 miles from the River Tyne to the Solway Firth.
What were the original dimensions of Hadrian's Wall?
The original plan called for a uniform width of 10 Roman feet, but the width was reduced to 8 Roman feet in the eastern half during construction. The wall was originally 10 Roman feet wide and 8 feet high before the reduction in the eastern section.
How many soldiers were stationed along Hadrian's Wall after completion?
Almost 10,000 soldiers were stationed along the length of Hadrian's Wall after its completion. These troops came from regiments of auxiliary infantry and cavalry drawn from the provinces rather than the legions who built the structure.
When did Roman rule end and when was Hadrian's Wall abandoned?
Roman rule in Britain ended by the year 410 when the Roman administration and its legions were gone. Archaeologists have revealed that some parts of the wall remained occupied well into the 5th century before falling into ruin.
Who preserved Hadrian's Wall in the 19th century?
John Clayton preserved much of Hadrian's Wall in the 19th century after inheriting Chesters from his father. He began buying land around Steel Rigg near Crag Lough in 1834 to prevent farmers from taking stones and used farm profits to restore sections of the wall.
When was Hadrian's Wall declared a World Heritage Site?
Hadrian's Wall was declared a World Heritage Site in the year 1987. In 2005 it became part of the transnational Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site which also includes sites in Germany.
The presence of the wall had a profound impact on the social and economic life of the region, creating a unified cultural area that was dominated by rectilinear enclosures and extensive farming settlements. The Roman soldiers of the garrison, with their families and other immigrants, may have amounted to some 22-30% of the population of the region. They could not have been supplied entirely from local resources, although any local surpluses would have been taxed or requisitioned. South of the wall, Roman-style settlements appeared in the early 2nd century, very shortly after the wall was built. North of the wall, a very different picture emerged, with a large area of what is now southern Scotland losing its monumental building tradition of substantial timber roundhouses and earthwork enclosures. The Romans may have cleared a zone of its population, as they are known to have done on the Rhine and for ten Roman miles beyond the Danube frontier. Limited contact across the wall was the norm, with Roman coins and pottery not moving across the wall, and the wall seems to have been an effective barrier to trade. A few elite centers continued to import Roman goods, and ongoing exchange may have been managed at a few specific crossing points. The wall was a symbol of Roman power, but it also created a new reality for the people who lived on either side of it.
The Wall After The Romans
After Hadrian's death in 138, the wall was left occupied in a support role, essentially abandoned by Emperor Antoninus Pius, who began building the Antonine Wall about 40 Roman miles to the north. The Antonine Wall was a turf wall that ran 40 Roman miles and had more forts than Hadrian's Wall. When Marcus Aurelius became emperor, he abandoned the Antonine Wall and reoccupied Hadrian's Wall as the main defensive barrier in 164. In 208, 211, Emperor Septimius Severus again tried to conquer Caledonia and temporarily reoccupied the Antonine Wall, but the campaign ended inconclusively, and the Romans eventually withdrew to Hadrian's Wall. By 410, the estimated end of Roman rule in Britain, the Roman administration and its legions were gone, and Britain was left to look to its own defences and government. Archaeologists have revealed that some parts of the wall remained occupied well into the 5th century. The wall fell into ruin, and over the centuries the stone was reused in other local buildings. Enough survived in the 7th century for spolia from Hadrian's Wall to find its way into the construction of St Paul's Church in Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Abbey, where the monk Bede lived his whole life. Bede described the wall as eight feet in breadth and twelve in height, and he was very familiar with the wall, having lived his whole life at Jarrow, just across the River Tyne from the eastern end of the wall at Wallsend.
The Antiquarian And The Wall
In the 19th century, the wall was in danger of being completely destroyed, as long sections of it were used for roadbuilding in the 18th century, especially by General Wade to build a military road to move troops to crush the Jacobite rising of 1745. The preservation of much of what remains can be credited to the antiquarian John Clayton, who trained as a lawyer and became town clerk of Newcastle in the 1830s. Clayton became enthusiastic about preserving the wall after inheriting Chesters from his father. 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 near Crag Lough. Eventually, he controlled land from Brunton to Cawfields, which included the sites of Chesters, Carrawburgh, Housesteads, and Vindolanda. Clayton carried out excavation at the fort at Cilurnum and at Housesteads, and he excavated some milecastles. He managed the farms he had acquired and succeeded in improving both the land and the livestock. He used the profits from his farms for restoration work, employing workmen 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 to gambling. Eventually, the National Trust began acquiring the land on which the wall stands. In 2021, workers for Northumbrian Water found a previously undiscovered 3-metre section of the wall while repairing a water main in central Newcastle upon Tyne.
The Wall In Modern Memory
Hadrian's Wall was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987, and in 2005 it became part of the transnational Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site, which also includes sites in Germany. The wall remains unguarded, enabling visitors to climb and stand on the wall, although this is not encouraged, as it could damage the historic structure. On the 13th of March 2010, a public event Illuminating Hadrian's Wall took place, which saw the route of the wall lit with 500 beacons. On the 31st of August and the 2nd of September 2012, there was a second illumination of the wall as a digital art installation called Connecting Light, which was part of the London 2012 Festival. In 2018, the organisations which manage the Great Wall of China and Hadrian's Wall signed an agreement to collaborate for the growth of tourism and for historical and cultural understanding of the monuments. The wall has also become a subject of popular culture, inspiring books, films, and poetry. The English poet W. H. Auden wrote a script for a BBC radio documentary called Hadrian's Wall, which was broadcast on the BBC's north-eastern Regional Programme in 1937. Auden later published a poem from the script, Roman Wall Blues, in his book Another Time. The poem is a brief monologue spoken in the voice of a lonely Roman soldier stationed at the wall. The wall has also been the inspiration for the Wall in the fantasy TV series Game of Thrones, in which the wall is also in the north of its country and stretches from coast to coast.