Page 60 - RADC 2017

Milecastle 39 near Steel Rigg
Exercise Hadrian’s Wall – Part I
Maj Dave Edwards, RADC
When Publius Aelius Hadrianus became Emperor in 117 CE, he had a different philosophy to many of the previous Emperor’s. The time for expanding the Empire was over, and it was time to consolidate and retain what had already been conquered. The Barbarians across the Empire could not be Romanised,
and following a visit to Britain in 122 CE, Emperor Hadrian decided to build a wall to help stabilise Britannia. The wall’s main
purposes were to control movement and of course defence, but importantly also as a status symbol. The wall was 4-5 metres high, and rendered and painted white; this would have been an impressive statement of power. Geographically, the wall makes sense, sitting on a natural fault line offering natural defence and impressive views to the North, as well as running between a narrow section in England. The wall was 80 Roman Miles (73 miles), and runs from
Wallsend in Newcastle (Segedunum) to Bowness-on-Solway.
The Wall was extremely well constructed, and was characterised by Milecastles every Roman Mile, Turrets every 1/3 of a Roman mile, and often Forts incorporated into the wall, sometimes protruding beyond. Much of the wall, as well as many of the Turrets, Milecastles, Fort’s and bridges survive today. Even where the wall has gone, the defensive ditch and Vallum are often still visible. The Path along Hadrians wall totals 84 Miles, and on the 17 August 2017, 22 RADC Legionares set about conquering it.
Day 1
After a luxurious night in Carlisle castle,
we got a lift to Bowness-on-Solway in 2 separate groups. The first group was led by WO2 Humphreys and Maj Edwards (Latin: Maximus Gingeranius) sporting their Roman helmets. The second group was led by Maj Robin Dickson and Maj Ali Armer (who went all the way with a full centurion outfit!).
The weather was not kind, and much
of the route was flooded. We were soon soaked through, but we had regular breaks with fun facts about the wall, including the lives of the Barbarians North of the wall, Emperor Hadrian (complete with hipster beard and desire for Greek love) and a day in the life of a Roman Soldier.
We didn’t encounter much in the way of a wall, probably because this section was built as a turf wall. This, combined with the weather, did not contribute to high levels of morale. This was compounded further
58 RADC BULLETIN 2017
ADVENTUROUS TRAINING