PHOTOLIBRARY 50 Heritage December 2009
Roman Britain Hadrian s Wall The final frontier Stretching over 73 miles, from Wallsend in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the west, Hadrian s Wall continues to provide a striking insight into life on the outer limits of the Roman empire, writes Guy de la Bédoyère The Romans may have been responsible for building the spectacular Wall of Hadrian, but the result was a wonder even to them. Three Roman souvenirs of the wall have been found: one in France and two in Britain at Rudge in Wiltshire and on the Staffordshire Moorlands. These enamelled bronze vessels name several of the forts along the wall and the Staffordshire cup is inscribed with the wall s Latin name: the Aelian Frontier, after Hadrian s middle name, Aelius. Unravelling the secrets has been an incredible journey for the antiquarians, archaeologists and historians who have been studying it since the 18th century. When work first started on the wall in or around AD122, the Romans had been in Britain for almost 80 years. In that time they had invaded Scotland, but had pulled back to an area now between the cities of Newcastle and Carlisle. When Hadrian became emperor in 117 he knew the Empire had reached its limits. He embarked on a policy known as consolidating the frontiers, gave up remote conquered territory in parts of Central Europe and the Middle East and set about fixing the Empire s boundaries. Hadrian reached Britain in 119. It Guy de la Bédoyère is the author of Roman Britain: A New History, by Thames & Hudson Emperor Hadrian wasn t the only place he decided to build a physical barrier, but what made his structure so remarkable was the sheer complexity of the system perhaps even designed by him personally. Only a single line from a biography written around 200 years later gives us a clue as to why he built it. Hadrian erected a wall over a length of 80 miles which was to force apart the Romans and barbarians. However, with offensive warfare over, Hadrian was worried about idle frontier armies; building defences kept them busy. Inscriptions found along the wall record the lengths of sections built by November December 2009 Heritage 51
detachments from the three legions based in Britain, the II, VI and XX a sort of Roman quality control. The wall wasn t a solid barrier. It began as a 10ft-wide (Roman measure) stone curtain, destined to be 73 miles long, starting in what is now the middle of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Soldiers surveyed ahead and set out a 10ft foundation along with two milecastles. These small fortified gateways with barracks that accommodated about 20 troops were built approximately every Roman mile. In between, small look-out towers were built every third of a mile. Each of these had 10ft wing walls that were designed to join up to the wall as it was built. In front a massive ditch was dug with a ruthless disregard for native settlements in the area. The milecastle gates prove movement was allowed, but only under supervision. The wall was about controlling people, perhaps for taxation reasons, or perhaps to break up any threatening congregations of frontier barbarians, rather than stopping them. This scheme was designed to run as far west as the River Irthing near Birdoswald. The western sector was to be built of turf and timber but also had milecastles and turrets. The man in charge was the governor Aulus Platorius Nepos, named on several inscriptions from the wall. Divide and conquer No-one is sure how high the wall was, but it may have been around 11-13ft. No section survived at full height for long enough to be measured, so we don t even know if it had crenellations on the top. Recent evidence has suggested some parts were never finished or took generations to complete, so it s possible that parts of it never reached full height. Within only a couple of years dramatic changes were made to the plan. We don t know why, but it could have been because the sheer amount of stone needed was too much and it was taking too long. By AD125 the wall was being continued at only eight Roman feet wide, but was built on sections of already completed 10ft foundations. Milecastles and turrets prepared with 10ft wing walls were now butted up to the 8ft wall when the builders reached them. Milecastle 48 (Poltross Burn) shows this to good effect. But this narrowing of the wall was nothing compared to the other alterations: an extension to the east snaked down to the Tyne at a place now known as Wallsend. Fourteen fullsize forts including Housesteads, Benwell and Greatchesters, were built. These were either cavalry forts straddling the frontier (requiring the wall to be knocked down), or infantry forts Clockwise from above: an impression of how Hadrian s Wall might have looked; ruins of Vindolanda Roman Fort; Temple to Mithras altars from the third century AD; impression of Vindolanda bath house; comb and case ALAMY, VINDOLANDA, GETTY, PHOTOLIBRARY, ENGLISH HERITAGE Timeline 43 78-84 All dates AD Roman invasion of Britain under the Emperor Claudius The Roman governor Agricola takes Roman troops deep into Scotland: this is the furthest north the Romans ever reach 119 122 125 143 165 184 208 297 The Emperor Hadrian (117-138) visits Britain Hadrian s Wall is begun Barbarians driven back and the Antonine Wall is begun by Antoninus Pius (138-161) Major changes bring forts to the wall, and wall width reduced Tribes cross the wall and defeat legionary troops, causing serious damage. More warfare to suppress them follows By about this time the Antonine Wall is abandoned and Hadrian s Wall is recommissioned Septimius Severus (193-211) comes to Britain to campaign in Scotland. Hadrian s Wall is repaired and rebuilt Major rebuilding work under the emperors Diocletian and Maximianus is recorded at Birdoswald and Housesteads forts 52 Heritage December 2009 heritagemagazine.co.uk
Roman Britain Hadrian s Wall with their northern walls acting as the wall itself. Clearly someone had decided it was hopeless leaving the main garrisons a few miles to the south at places like Vindolanda. The wall was built by the Roman legions, who came up from their huge bases in the south to do the work. But the wall was manned by auxiliaries or hired professionals from round the Empire, who were divided up into units of 500 or 800, as either infantry, cavalry or mixed units. Gauls, Batavians, Sarmatian archers and Dacians were just some of the 10,000 men who came. And then there was the Vallum. It s a misnomer since vallum means frontier but today it s applied to a massive 114ftwide complex of ditch and flanking mounds built a short way south of the wall and parallel to it. The Vallum created a huge barrier to the wall zone from the south, which was, in theory, the settled part of the province, but perhaps the Romans had found that none of the locals could be trusted. One more fort remained to be added and Carrawburgh was built by AD130 to plug the gap between Chesters and Housesteads. The Vallum which had already been built here was filled in. New build By the mid second century the wall was temporarily abandoned after trouble with barbarians to the north and a new (turf) frontier known today as the Antonine Wall was built by Antoninus Pius (AD 138-161) in the area roughly between Edinburgh and Glasgow today. In retrospect it seems incredible that the Romans abandoned Hadrian s Wall, just like the decision by the British government to sell off airfields after the First World War, believing they d never need them again. By the 160s even the Antonine Wall had been abandoned, and Hadrian s Wall recommissioned. Some time in the second century AD the turf wall west of the Irthing was replaced in stone. People to the north were faced with a vast stone barrier apart from the milecastle gates and the northern gates of the forts. Recent work suggests the wall was whitewashed, with stonework possibly picked out in red. From this point on the structure became a permanent fact of life. The forts attracted civilian settlement, and 305-6 367 410 731 1600 1752 1851 1987 2002 2006 The emperor Constantius Chlorus campaigns in Scotland beyond the wall Roman control of Britain ends. The wall ceases to be administered in any formal sense William Camden produces the first major account of the wall A large section of the wall is demolished and used as the foundation for a new road to prevent any further Jacobite incursions to England Systematic mapping of the wall zone begins Barbarians cross the wall and ravage Britain. After this date the civilian settlements on the wall are largely given up The historian and monk Bede, based at Jarrow, describes the surviving wall as 8ft wide and 12ft high during his time First proper survey and account of the wall is published by John Collingwood Bruce Wall declared a World Heritage Site Fourteenth edition of John Collingwood Bruce s Handbook to the Roman Wall is published heritagemagazine.co.uk December 2009 Heritage 53
Roman Britain Hadrian s Wall soldiers to cut across and catch him. So large parts were pulled down and used for a road, which explains why much of the eastern sector is now buried under the B6318. Other sections were systematically dismantled for use as building stone by local farmers. English Heritage has been systematically mapping the entire frontier to create a permanent record of not only Roman, but also pre- and post-roman features of this monument Clockwise from top: aerial view of the abandoned medieval village of East Matfen, Tyne & Wear; a lone tree at Sycamore Gap, a famous landmark along Hadrian s Wall; decorative cup excavated from site houses, temples, inns, baths and industry all appeared around them. Survey work at Birdoswald has shown how extensive this settlement was. We know from Roman historians that intermittent warfare continued for centuries. The wall itself was hardly durable: its rubble core and dressed facing stones meant it had been easy to build but it also fell apart easily when water invaded, froze and expanded, so needed constant repair. By the time the Emperor Septimius Severus (AD193-211) arrived in Britain to try his luck invading Scotland, the wall required such substantial reconstruction it was believed that Severus had first built it. By the late fourth century the wall was semi-derelict, and Roman Britain was under threat from barbarians. Working parties from the beleaguered southern towns had arrived to help with the restoration. The civilian settlements had been largely abandoned, their inhabitants moving inside the forts along with what remained of the troops. At one time these had been foreign immigrants such as Gauls, Hungarians and Spaniards who cohabited with native women. Their descendants probably made up most of the garrisons in the late fourth century, with men (and women) who had only ever known life in northern Britain and called it their home. They sheltered in forts whose massive arched gateways were half-collapsed and whose walls had been shorn up with timber and remains of the gates. Some of the soldiers went off to try their luck in the armies of the pretenders to the imperial throne such as Magnus Maximus (AD383-8) or Constantine III (AD407-11). Those who were left made the best of what there was. The evidence from Birdoswald is of timber halls built amongst the decaying remnants of Roman stone granaries and barracks. With no written evidence, and the disappearance of Roman artefacts in the fifth century, it s anyone s guess what happened, but perhaps these descendants of Rome s frontier garrisons acted as local warrior bands led by chieftains. Centuries later their descendants were the rievers (cattle thieves) of the remote north who used the old forts as their bases. By early modern times the wall was a poor reflection of its former self. Bonnie Prince Charlie led his troops into England in 1745, partly because there was no east west route for the British Fortifying a future It s something of a miracle that any of the wall had survived, when consolidation, restoration and presentation only really began in the 20th century. Excavations, which were started in the 19th century, had already uncovered a complex history. In recent years major programmes of excavation at Birdoswald, Housesteads and Wallsend have brought modern archaeological techniques to the wall. Its designation as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987 was a boost as it encouraged a coordinated management plan to take account of archaeological needs, tourism and farming which is especially important as more than 90 per cent of the wall is privately owned. Since 2002 English Heritage has been systematically mapping the entire frontier in a bid to create a permanent record of not only the Roman, but also pre- and post-roman features of this remarkable monument. This year a 250,000 project to repair a half-mile section near the fort at Greatchesters was finally finished. It involved bringing in 450 tonnes of new stone. Around 1,900 years since its creation, the wall still remains a thing of wonder and is no less complex a system to manage and maintain than in the days of Hadrian himself. h ENGLISH HERITAGE, GUY DE BEDOYERE, PHOTOLIBRARY 54 Heritage December 2009