A walk along Hadrian's Wall, Housesteads, Northumberland
2,803 views · Published 7 July 2007 · 2:00 · Indexed 3 October 2026
Channel: Alan Heath · 2007 · Travel & Events
SEE MY TRAVEL GROUP ON FACEBOOK : https://www.facebook.com/motorhomefulltime This is the best preserved part of Hadrian's Wall. Taking the bus from the car park of the Northumbria National Park in Once Brewed, we travelled to Housesteads fort and then walked back along the wall. The views here are quite magnificent, the Roman empire to the south and the barbarians to the north. The engineering feat of the Romans nearly 1,900 years ago can really be appreciated here. Hadrian's Wall was 117.5 km long, it varied in height depending on what construction materials were available nearby. In this area the wall was around 2.4m high and we can still see where the ditches were located. Roman Emperor Hadrian came to Britain in 122CE and the wall was no doubt planned before then, maybe even started before then. The wall was a clear indication of Roman power but also an indication that enough was enough and that the Empire was not going to continue growing. Hadrian's father Trajan had extended the Empire with the acquisition of Dacia in modern Romania and Mesopotamia in modern Iraq but Hadrian retreated from these areas. Hadrian followed the principle of Augustus a century earlier that consolidation, not enlargement was the name of the game. Would it not have been easier for Hadrian simply to have conquered the remainer of Britain rather than build a wall? After all, he knew it was an island. This is a good question, the north had a low population and indeed the Empire did make north briefly later. I am unable to give an answer. The Wall served more of a statement than a military value. It showed outsiders how strong Rome was and was useful in collecting taxation revenues. Certainly in other parts of the Empire, the 'barbarians' outside were beginning to live like Romans at this time and organise towns, roads etc. The wall took only six years to finish although no doubt extra work was continually being done. At each of the 80 Roman miles there was a milecastle holding a handful of troops who could be called out if necessary. These milecastles were located within signalling or physical view of each other and so they are not equidistant. The garrison was made up of auxiliaries, sometimes from far away places. The fortress of Arbeia (not strictly speaking a border fortress) at South Shields was garrisoned by people from Iraq! Although there were attacks on the wall, on the whole it was peaceful. In 410CE, Rome itself was under attack and Roman troops were pulled out of Britain. The locals, who were Romanised, were told that they needed to take care of their own defence. The wall lasted long after the Romans went. Most damage was done in the eighteenth century as stone was removed for road and agricultural use. Fortunately the wall was protected from the nineteenth century onwards. 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 Photographs only, no video
