Hadrian’s Wall: everything you wanted to know | History Extra
"‘How much of the wall is missing? And further, wondering how much of it is in local people's houses now? Has it been has it been reused in properties near the wall?’
‘The wall has a fantastic post Roman history. And what you see are actually kind of different phases in which the wall is used as a quarry. So in the Middle Ages, even in the early Middle Ages, so for example, Hexham Abbey, the crypt at Hexham Abbey, is built entirely from reused Roman stones from the nearby Roman town of Corbridge, and probably also the Roman fort at Chester's. And they particularly chose some decorated stones at key locations. We can see other churches and castles in the Middle Ages that are, you know, are being built from Roman stones from Hadrian's Wall. Thirlwall Castle is a really great example here. It's, it's a fascinating kind of 14th century stone built castle, it's maybe 150 meters north of the line of Hadrian's Wall. And why not, you've got this really convenient already shaped pile of stone that's right there, that you know, the castle is almost entirely built from it looks like. Subsequently, that castle was then quarried, the stones from the castle were quarried to build the farm in the cottages and farmhouses, and barns and even some of the the field walls. You know, the stone fencing which is right there. So this is really interesting lifecycle to the stone...
So then when it comes to kind of working out how much the wall is missing, it's actually quite difficult, because there's no one location where Hadrian's Wall stands to its full height. So we are, we rely upon historic descriptions from Bede, for example, who in the eighth century wrote that the wall was 12 feet tall in his day. You know, we estimate the wall was perhaps 15 feet tall. So when you think of what's missing, there's, there's no area where the wall is anywhere near’s that tall. And then you think there's all the forts, the Mile Castles, the turrets, I suspect we're probably missing at least 90%'...
‘What was its main purpose?’...
‘One of the best ways to think about it is from historical perspective. And this is something that David Brees [sp?], another very prominent wall archaeologist has his captured quite nicely in inadequately [sp?]. Essentially, our views of what Hadrian's Wall is used for, its intended purpose is often very much due to the kind of the politics of our own day...
Throughout most of history, it was evident, self evident to the people living near the wall or who knew about it, what Hadrian's Wall was for. It was a defensive barrier. They didn't really question that. And even actually, in fact, in the Elizabethan period, there was a plan, probably from one of the, the kind of the border lords, march lords, that even you know, seems to have been inspired by Hadrian's Wall to build a new border wall between, you know, England and Scotland, to reduce border reaving. So it's, it's clearly seen as a defensive barrier historically.
What happens though, is that the Mile Castles are discovered... the Mile Castles are these kind of what we would call a fortlet. They're not particularly large, think of, you know, kind of about 40 meters square, though they they're rectangular, and they can vary from that. They're not substantially large. But they are a small kind of fortification with a gateway that allows you access through the wall barrier. A few of these were known, but once it was realized that they could be found regularly, every mile, which is why they're called Mile Castles, that made people start to wonder, well, wait, that's, that's not particularly defensive, if you can, if there's a gate every mile, that's, that's really kind of permeable. So that started introducing the question of, well, maybe Hadrian's Wall isn't entirely about defense, maybe is meant to be much more permeable, maybe it is meant to actually give extra gateways and act as a giant customs booth.
And you'll find periods where that fav that interpretation is favored, you know, particularly kind of the later 19th century or the 20th century, we've kind of got that, the perceived height of the British Empire, where security is not an imperial concern, so much as revenue. That interpretation also gains more favor again, after the war after World War Two, as the EU is being formed, and you're starting to get open borders. And so borders, you know, are not being perceived as something that has to be defended, but actually, you know, become economic opportunities.
That, interpretation, though, has shifted back again, over the past 20 years towards a more defensive interpretation. And and that’s for a couple of reasons. One is a new form of evidence, which has been discovered and identified in the past 30 years. And these are the berm obstacles. So excavations that have occurred at the east end of Hadrian's Wall in the Greater Newcastle area, have found evidence of pits built on the narrow strip of land between the wall curtain and the ditch to its north. And within those kind of pits, there's then evidence for what we call post holes. So it's the kind of the archaeological remains effectively of wooden stakes. And we know from the writings of Julius Caesar, that there are these things called kipi [sp?], which are effectively, they're branches, cut from trees, they take all the leaves off. And then they sharpen the ends of those branches, and put them in holes in the ground, and make sure they're interlocked, effectively creating barbed wire. And so what we can see is that actually, when Hadrian's Wall was built, certainly at the east end of Hadrian's Wall, not only is the the ditch and then the wall, but between the ditch and the wall, there's this thick line of barbed wire, you know, Roman equivalent of barbed wire, you know, that's another that's clearly defensive. That's, you know, there's no way around that that's, that's another obstacle, another barrier...
The other form of evidence is kind of this reassessment of, of ancient sources that indicate when Hadrian came to power, there seems to have been a war in Britain. And the warfare in Britain was being compared to the warfare and Palestine in Judea, which was of a very substantial scale, and lots of loss of life. So actually, there seems to be a very high level of violence, of warfare happening in northern Britain. And so that may have been the impetus for building Hadrian's Wall…
Border control is not mutually exclusive with defense. And, you know, over the 300 years of its life, you know, the, the wall wouldn't have been in a constant state of war, and it evolved, there are changes. There's evidence to suggest that, you know, it did get perhaps a bit more peaceful, because some of the turrets, some of the towers, which were excellent observation platforms, watch towers, they're demolished. You know, they're getting rid of watch towers. So that suggests you know, that they don't necessarily need them, at least not along the whole length of the wall.’"
