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Photo Pages: Hadrian's Wall - Misc. Earthwork in England in Northumberland
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Submitted by C_Michael_Hogan on Friday, 14 December 2007 Page Views: 5411
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 Site Name: Hadrian's Wall Alternate Name: Roman Wall
Country: England County: Northumberland Type: Misc. Earthwork
Nearest Town: Newcastle upon Tyne
Map Ref: NY9170
Latitude: 55.024453N Longitude: 2.14231W
Condition:| 5 | Perfect | | 4 | Almost Perfect | | 3 | Reasonable but with some damage | | 2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site | | 1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks | | 0 | No data. | | -1 | Completely destroyed |
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Ambience:| 5 | Superb | | 4 | Good | | 3 | Ordinary | | 2 | Not Good | | 1 | Awful | | 0 | No data. |
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Access:| 5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access | | 4 | Short walk on a footpath | | 3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk | | 2 | A long walk | | 1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find | | 0 | No data. |
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Accuracy:| 5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates | | 4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map | | 3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map | | 2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village | | 1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town | | 0 | no data |
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   Hadrian's Wall submitted by C_Michael_Hogan
Misc. Earthwork in Northumberland
Hadrian's wall is the largest and most impressive monument built by the Romans in Britain. The wall included at least 16 major forts, 81 smaller milecastle forts and about 160 manned turrets; a substantial defensive ditch and rampart aided the military function. Discoveries at the wall include 1900 year old human skeletons, stone ovens, inscribed stones, stone gates and the oldest paper writing remains found in all of Britain. The work herein is based upon my fieldwork of the summer of 2006 in addition to review of archival data.
HISTORY. Begun by Agricola as a massive ditch spanning the width of Britain in the late first century AD, Emperor Hadrian ordered a greatly expanded wall fortification to be built in 122 AD, Hadrian conceived the project as fundamentally a border control function to prevent infiltration of Picts and Scotii from the north. The military strength of the wall was never garrisoned to repel a major invasion force, but sentinel coverage was intended to interdict small bands of men who generally had the intent to disrupt civil settlements and damage crops and property of the settled province of Brittania. (Johnson, 2004)
When the Antonine Wall was built further north, Hadrian's Wall assumed a lesser role, but was revitalised as the major frontier defence under Emperor Severan in the late second century. In the year 367, well after the more northern border was abandoned., an alliance of Scotii, Picts and Saxons overran the wall and roamed northern Britain at will for two years, until Rome sent a legion to push the interlopers back; this event further demonstrates that the wall itself was not intended to repel even a moderate scale attack. In 409 AD the Romans withdrew from Britain, (Brown, 2006) and some of the forts were used thereafter by certain local tribes. In 1987 Hadrian's Wall was inscribed as a World Heritage Site.
DESIGN. The wall spans the entire width of Britain from the Tyne Estuary to the Solway Firth, running about 117 kilometres. Retaining the Agricola ditch as an initial defence, adding an outer glacis and entrapment schemes, a curtain wall is the centrepiece of the design. The natural granitic Whin Sill landform was utilised as the backbone of the eastern range of the wall, while turf and timber were preferred on the Solway plain, where stone is scarce. The wall width varies from 2.2 to 3.1 metres thick and stood 4.6 to 6.2 metres high, including a course of crenellated battlements; (Johnson, 2004) the core of the stone wall was rubble. (Fields, 2003) In a subsequent visit to the Great Wall of China, I was struck by the similarity in styles, both using undulating natural terrain and like scales of construction, with similar battlement geometry, watchtowers and parapets.
West of the River Irthing, turf and timber prevailed, while cut stones with limed mortar interstices were used to the east. There were a total of 16 to 18 major forts along the wall, depending on which source is consulted; furthermore, there were 81 smaller evenly dispersed milecastle forts, as well as about 160 watchtowers, the latter structures holding only eight men. The major forts typically held merely a cohort level troop strength, (Hutton, 1802) while the milecastle stations were garrisoned by roughly 100 defenders. These light troop numbers and use of auxiliaries underscore that the wall was built to inhibit immigration, rather than defend a massive invasion from the north.
SITE SPECIFIC FEATURES. Each reach of the wall holds its own unique features, associated with the local geography, agriculture and civilian settlements. The western fort of Banna, for example, is a good example of a turf fort that was later converted to stone construction; Banna is also noted for its elaborate nearby granaries. (Biggins, 1999). Vindolanda is a large fort immediately south of Hadrian's Wall (photo), which is noted for its extraordinary finds of hundreds of writing tablets and leather items; the written records preserved here by unusual subsurface chemistry are some of the oldest writings known in Britain. (Hogan, 2007) The Vercovicium fort on the Whin Sill is noted for being an integrated structure inside of the wall, whereas most forts extruded into barbarian territory; it also has best preserved Roman latrines Roman Britain. (Biggins, 2004) Cavalry forts were situated at either end of the wall, with Cilurnum at the River Tyne is the best preserved such fort; Cilurnum was dedicated to the goddess Disciplina (per stone inscription) and was manned by the first cohort of the Germanic Vangiones tribe for a time.
Stone inscriptions citing the provincial governor Nepos have been found at several of the forts including Condercum and Cawfields, the latter being another fort protruding south and noted for a very strong stonework south gate, whose foundations are fully in tact. Milecastle 38, Hotbank (photo), is noteworthy for the joint inscription bearing names of Hadrian and Nepos. Lime kiln remains are found at numerous points along the alignment, and their use is recorded specifically at Vindolanda.
REFERENCES
* Stephen Johnson (2004) "Hadrian's Wall", Sterling Publishing Company, Inc, 128 pages, ISBN 0713488409
* Thomas Brown (2006) "Celtic Roots", Trafford Publishing ISBN 1552125858
* Nic Fields (2003) "Hadrians Wall: 122-410 AD", Osprey Publishing, Great Britain, 64 pages ISBN 1841764302
* William Hutton (1802) "The History of the Roman Wall: Which Crosses the Island of Britain", J.Nichols and Son, Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street, London, 350 pages
* Biggins, J. A. and Taylor, D. J. A. (1999) "A Survey of the Roman Fort and Settlement at Birdoswald, Cumbria", Britannia. 30. 91-110.
* C. Michael Hogan (2007) "Vindolanda Roman Fort", The Megalithic Portal ed. Andy Burnham
* Biggins, J. A. and Taylor, D. J. A., (2004) "A Geophysical Survey of Housesteads Roman Fort", Archaeologia Aeliana 33 51- 60.
The above is original work of C. Michael Hogan, prepared for the Megalithic Portal.
More pictures in our eGallery: Hadrian's Wall
 Hadrian's Wall submitted by nicoladidsbury
View along Hadrians Wall with Cawfields Milecastle, and the vallum banks and ditches
 Hadrian's Wall submitted by nicoladidsbury
Hadrian's Wall at Birdoswald Roman Fort
 Hadrian's Wall submitted by nicoladidsbury
Hadrians Wall near Birdoswald Roman Fort
 Hadrian's Wall submitted by jeffrep
Stone Steps Near Hadrian's Wall West of Housesteads, Northumberland.
 Hadrian's Wall submitted by jeffrep
Hadrian's Wall Between Housesteads and Steel Rigg, Northumberland.
 Hadrian's Wall submitted by jeffrep
Hadrian's Wall Between Housesteads and Steel Rigg with Crag Lough in the Distance, Northumberland.
 Hadrian's Wall submitted by jeffrep
Hadrian's Wall Between Housesteads and Steel Rigg, Northumberland.
 Hadrian's Wall submitted by C_Michael_Hogan
Ridge of high ground above Vindolanda Roman fort: one of the ruined stretches of Hadrian's Wall indicating the use of a natural high ridge for defencive construction.
 Winshield Crag, Hadrian's Wall submitted by ShropshireTraveller
Roman Gallery. Hail Mithras! The strengthening sun above Hadrian's Wall, with mist hanging over the lower land to the north.
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| "Hadrian's Wall" | Login/Create an Account | 3 comments |
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Re: Hadrian's Wall (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Tuesday, 22 April 2008 | Hello - thank you for the article. The article states that "Cilurnum was dedicated to the goddess Disciplina (per stone inscription)"
I am wondering, what did the stone inscription say, exactly, and what is its English translation? From another site I found:
"DISCIPVLINAE IMP HAD AVG ALA AVG OB VIRT APPEL"
Is this the same inscription to which you are referring?
Thank you. | [ Reply to This ]
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Re: Hadrian's Wall (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Sunday, 27 September 2009 | Agricola's Ditch was the 18th/19th century name for the Vallum, which was buit after the wall was started. You quote Hutton - read it! There were 80 milecastles and 158 turrets. There were not, and are not, any "stone gates". The Picts and Scotti inhabited the area to the north of the Antonine Wall, not Hadrian's Wall. You quote (Johnson, 2004) - he makes that clear. There's no evidence whatsoever for "crenellated battlements".
That the milecastles were garrisoned by "100 defenders" is nonsense - they are around 20 yards square internally - room for two barracks each holding 10-15 men.
Banna wasn't a "turf fort" - it was a timber fort with a retaining turf rampart. The granaries weren't "nearby", they were IN the fort.
Cawfields in NOT a fort, it's a milecastle, No. 42.
A previously enthusiastic reader of "The Megalithic Portal" | [ Reply to This ]
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Re: Hadrian's Wall (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Wednesday, 14 October 2009 | Who's the "Emperor Severan" you refer to? The Whin Sill isn't granite, it's dolerite. Your "fieldwork"? No evidence for that here - do you mean you've visited some of the sites, like thousands of other tourist?
"a substantial defensive ditch and rampart aided the military function" - wasn't THAT the Wall?
"Emperor Hadrian ordered" - we don't know what he ordered, only what was built. "The military strength of the wall was never garrisoned" - that's babble.
"this event further demonstrates that the wall itself was not intended to repel even a moderate scale attack" - it merely shows the wall was insufficiently garrisoned at the time.
"I was struck by the similarity in styles, both using undulating natural terrain and like scales of construction, with similar battlement geometry" - so you know what Hadrians Wall looked like when intact then? News to rhe rest of us.
If you HAD been to China, you'd have been struck by the fact that the Great Wall is many times more massive - nothing like Hadrian's Wall at all.The only thing they have in common is stone construction. A defensive wall HAS to use natural terrain, there's nothing else available.
"In the year 367, well after the more northern border was abandoned" - I'll say it was, 200 years well after.
"including a course of crenellated battlements" you're obviously privy to information denied to the rest of us, including distinguished archaeologists.
I don't think Hutton (1802) should be relied upon to provide any reliable analysis of Roman remains. he was an untrained amateur antiquarian. It was his erroneous interpretation of the Vallum and Wall that led him to postulate that Agricola built part of the Vallum. No one apart from you believes that today, but clearly you know better.
So Housesteads (Vercovicium) was "an integrated structure inside of the wall". Must have been a pretty small fort, the Wall is only 8 feet wide at that point.
"Cavalry forts were situated at either end of the wall, with Cilurnum at the River Tyne is the best preserved such fort" - that implies Cilurnum was situated at one end of the Wall.
Must do better - three out of ten.
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