Ruud Streefkerk

The Hadrian Wall in Scotland was built by legionnaires. The western part (46 km) was 3m wide and was initially made up of slabs, earth and wood. That part was later replaced by a stone wall. The eastern part (73 km) was built in stone from the beginning. The stones were extracted in nearby quarries and were roughly tooled. Later built parts of the wall were about 2.3m wide. The height was probably between 3.6 and 5m. At fixed distances 80 smaller forts or 'mile castles' were built. Between these mile castles, which had a gate and were about a Roman mile apart (+ 1.5 km), two more watchtowers were built. Presumably, the gates in the wall served as customs posts, in order to be able to control the trade. Only in the second instance, a few years after the start of the construction, about 15 larger forts were built along the wall, which were connected by a Roman road.