{"id":11180,"date":"2012-07-12T18:24:03","date_gmt":"2012-07-12T23:24:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?p=11180"},"modified":"2022-01-17T19:24:00","modified_gmt":"2022-01-18T00:24:00","slug":"northernmost-romans-britain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/northernmost-romans-britain\/","title":{"rendered":"Northernmost Romans in Britain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Romans occupied and controlled a large southern swath of the island of Great Britain as they expanded their empire. How far north, I wondered, did they extend their empire there before it began to contract? What was their high-water mark?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hadrian’s Wall<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Romans arrived on Britain in the year 43 and would remain as a ruling presence until 410. Hadrian’s Wall served as a de facto boundary for much of that time. However, the Roman Empire extended farther north for at least a generation as I’ll explore further. Nonetheless, I started my northernmost quest with Hadrian’s Wall because of its durability. What began in 122 at the behest of the Roman emperor Hadrian would serve as a defensive fortification for the remainder of the Roman occupation. Its stonework was so well-constructed that much of the wall remains today and can be observed via the Hadrian’s Wall Path<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Hadrian's<\/a>
Hadrian’s Wall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Romans chose a route that reduced construction requirements, following a natural narrowing of Great Britain between the current towns of Bowness-on-Solway on the Solway Firth and Wallsend on the River Tyne (see approximate route map on modern roads<\/a>). Wallsend, in fact, derives its name from Hadrian’s Wall. It was quite literally the Wall’s End.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hadrian’s Wall may have been as much a demonstration of might and power as an actual physical military deterrent along its seventy-three miles<\/a>. It likely would not have halted a determined, advancing army. Rather, it became a line-in-the-sand. It served as a means to control the movement of people and goods in and out of the empire. It wasn’t a strict border per se where “enemy” territory began immediately past the wall. Roman influence seeped any number of miles further into the countryside. It would have been at least as porous as walled portions of the border between modern Mexico and the United States, and maybe more since they didn’t have the luxury of surveillance cameras and four-wheel drives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brocolitia<\/h3>\n\n\n\n