SECOND CENTURY BRITAIN
The romans having built the Hadrian's Wall in a defensive
position between the Tyne and the Solway came under continuous
pressure from the Picts of Scotland, so accordingly in about AD
140, the romans decided to mount a campaign in Southern Scotland
to be rid of this nuisance the Picts, about two years later the
romans started to build a new wall across the narrow waist of
Scotland, with the wall commanding a wide view and giving a
excellent defensive position. The wall was built from Bridgenness
on the river Forth to Old Kilpatrick on the river Clyde, the wall
was built under the orders of the Governor of Britain Lollius
Urbicus, who had been given the order by the Emperor Antonninus
Pius, hence the walls name The Antonnine Wall. The wall was built mostly of turfed earth on a stone base, and
had steeply sloping sides for stability. The base was an average
4.6 metres (15 feet) wide, with the top being only about 1.8 m (6
ft) wide, with a height of 3.6 m (12 ft). On top of this was a
wooden walkway about 4.6 m (15 ft) high, the wall was protected
on the northern side by a ditch which was on average of 12.m (40ft)
wide and 3.6 m (12 ft) deep. Between the wall and ditch there was
a flat space, known as the berm, which was 3 - 4m ( 10 - 15 ft)
wide and to the rear of this was the Military Way, which also ran
the full length of the wall. At the time the wall was protected
by a large fort every 9.7 Km (6 miles) with smaller forts or
milecastles in between them. A few years after the wall was built
the Picts managed a break through and over ran the romans. When
the romans managed to re-occupy the land, they increased its
garrison and replaced the milecastles with larger forts. Instead
of having a major fort every 9 -11 Km there now was a large fort
every 3 Km, but the new forts were not the same size as the
larger forts before. Due to continued pressure from the Picts (who
where known as the Painted Ones by the romans) who were a fierce
warrior race, the romans fell back to Hadrians wall ( which was
built of stone) in about AD 170. So the Antonnine wall had a short
life of about a quarter of a century, it has had a lasting effect
upon Scotland being part of the Highland Line. The invisible
barrier between the Celts (Picts) and the Britons, between
Highland and Lowland Scotland.
