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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Hadrian's Wall
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Defensive barrier, stretching 117km/73m coast-to-coast across northern England (from Bowness on the Solway Firth to Wallsend on the Tyne), which was built as the northern frontier of Roman Britain. The construction of the huge wall (originally about 4.6m/15ft high, 2.7m/9ft wide, and of solid masonry for most of its length) was ordered by the emperor *Hadrian when he visited Britain in AD 122; the work was largely complete by 130. There were small forts every Roman mile (1000 paces), and 17 larger garrisons in which the troops lived. Of these Chesters (the Roman Cilurnum, housing 500 cavalry) and Housesteads (probably Vercovicium, for 1000 infantry) are the best preserved; each has its own museum.
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However it is the Roman fort of Vindolanda, a few miles to the southwest of Housesteads, which has recently emerged as the most important site of all. A large oak palace of some 50 rooms, many with elaborate murals, was discovered there in the early 1990s. As yet only partly excavated, it has been dated to about AD 120; it is therefore believed likely to be the headquarters from which Hadrian supervised the construction of the wall.
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The next emperor, Antoninus Pius, moved the frontier further north to the *Antonine Wall, making Hadrian's Wall temporarily obsolete. On three later ocasions, when the garrison was partly withdrawn south of Hadrian's Wall (in 197, 296 and 367), it was much damaged by tribes from the north; and it has often been plundered for stone. Even so it remains for much of its length a most impressive feature.
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