Northwest Europe, 05 Britain (Britannia), 5C ENGLAND, Roman Period (43-410), Northern Frontier (79-184): Hadrian’s Wall (122)

In 122 the Roman emperor Hadrian (62; r.117-38) decided to build a great barrier, Hadrian’s Wall, across the Solway-Tyne isthmus. It was a stone rampart (the western section was originally built of turf and later rebuilt in stone) on a stone base and included milecastles with two turrets inbetween them; and a fort about every five miles. From north to south it comprised a ditch, curtain wall, military way (road) and a vallum (a ditch with a mound on both sides). It extended seventy-three miles (117.5 km) across northern England. 

The Lowland tribes were left in peace until 139 when the Quintus ⁰²Lollius Urbicus (fl.135-160), governor of Britain (139-142) led an army north of the wall and reoccupied the Lowlands; the hostile elements of the Selgovae and possibly the Novantae simply retreated further north.

In 142 the emperor Antoninus Pius (fl.120-161) ordered the construction of a new wall, the Antonine Wall, to be built across the Clyde-Forth isthmus. It was a turf fortification on a stone base. It stretched thirty-nine miles (63 km) and included sixteen forts with small fortlets inbetween them. From north to south it comprised a mound, ditch, berm (level space between a wall and ditch), curtain wall and a military way. It stretched thirty-nine miles (63 km) across the ‘waist of Scotland’ at the Central Lowlands.

There was insufficient manpower to keep both walls in commission. At Hadrian’s Wall the army abandoned most of the forts, removed milecastle gates, filled the vallum ditch and the gaps made through its mounds at regular intervals. 

Although the Antonine Wall in the north was much shorter than Hadrian’s Wall, it had a significant disadvantage. Roman expansion required that those living beyond the frontier to be responsive to threats and inducement, and those living within the frontier should accept Romanization. The people on both sides of the Antonine Wall fulfilled none of these conditions so the rear of the wall was never fully pacified and its front remained unsecured.

There is evidence of revolt around 155 to 158 in the area northwest of Hadrian’s Wall. It is possible that the Brigantes and maybe some of the other tribes living south of Hadrian’s Wall were also involved. Troops from the Antonine Wall confronted the rebels and reinforcements under ²⁹Julius Verus (fl.132-163), governor of Britain (154-158), squashed the rebellion in 158. Although at forty miles (70 km) in length the new wall was only half that of Hadrian’s, it was later determined (probably due to an increasing demand for troop transfers from Britain to deal with events in mainland Europe) that the forces available were insufficient to occupy both walls and patrol the extended coastline.

Not actually on the line of Hadrian’s Wall, the Roman fort of Arbeia at South Shields on the right (south bank) of the Tyne Estuary was built in 160. It was later converted into a maritime supply fort for Hadrian’s Wall housing twenty-two granaries that could hold enough grain to supply more than forty thousand men for three months.

Antonius Pius died and was succeeded by Marcus Aurelius (58; r.161-180). Marcus sent Statius Priscus (fl.132-162), governor (c.161-c.162), but he was soon recalled to deal with a crisis on the eastern frontier. 

He was replaced by Calpurnius (19) Agricola (fl.158-169), governor of Britain (c.163-c.166), who probably oversaw final abandonment of the Antonine Wall and the re-commissioning of Hadrian’s Wall around 163.

Experience had shown that the wall as a physical barrier did not preclude the need for a military presence on both sides of it. North of the wall from west to east there were Roman outpost forts at Birrens/Blatobulgium in Dumfries and Galloway; Netherby/Exploratorum and Bewcastle/Fanum Cocidi in Cumbria; Risingham/Habitancum and High Rochester/ Bremenium in Northumberland; and Cappuck and Newstead/ Trimontium in Scottish Borders.The historian ⁰⁴Cassius Dio (c.156-c.235) records that c.180 tribes from the north breached Hadrian’s Wall and killed a general and his guards, presumably during an inspection of the wall. The governor ⁰³Ulpius Marcellus (fl.176-185), governor (c.178-c.184), gained victory by 184, but abandoned the forts at Birrens and Newstead (and probably Cappuck), while upgrading those at Risingham and High Rochester. He probably concluded treaties with a few of the tribes but the unrest and fighting continued into later years.