Hadrian's Wall

Hadrian's Wall is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian [1]. Running from Wallsend on the River Tyne in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the west of what is now northern England, it was a stone wall (in its final version) with large ditches in front and behind, stretching across the whole width of the island [1]. Soldiers were garrisoned along the line of the wall in large forts, smaller milecastles, and intervening turrets [1]. Almost all the standing masonry of the wall was removed in early modern times and used for local roads and farmhouses [1]. The length of the wall was 80 Roman miles, equivalent to 73 modern miles or 117 kilometres [1]. On completion, only three-fifths of the wall was built from stone; the remaining western section was a turf wall, later rebuilt in stone [1].