MYTHCONCEPTIONS

278: HADRIAN’S WALL

The myth

Hadrian’s Wall marks – or else used to mark – the boundary between England and Scotland.

The “truth”

Colloquially, Scotland is sometimes referred to by more southerly Britons as being anywhere “North of Hadrian’s Wall” – and a surprising number of people take this literally. In fact, the wall has always been in England, as long as England has existed, and no part of it has ever been in Scotland. To the south of the wall lies England, and to the north of the wall lies more England; Northumberland, chiefly. The formal boundary between England and Wales has varied over time, but it has never touched the wall.

Sources

www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/hadrians-wall; www. visitnorthumberland.com/explore/destinations/historical-sites/ hadrians-wall; www.themaparchive.com/product/hadrians-wall122-ce; Emperor of Rome by Mary Beard (Profile Books, 2023); SPQR by Mary Beard (Profile Books, 2015); UnRoman Britain by Miles Russell & Stuart Laycock (The History Press, 2010).

Mythchaser

Did Hadrian’s Wall ever represent a boundary – not between England and Scotland, obviously, which hadn’t yet been invented, but between Roman Britain and the barbarians? Almost every standard source says so. Construction of the 73-mile long wall, stretching from the east coast to the west, began in AD 122 early in the reign of Emperor Hadrian. He pursued a policy of consolidating and unifying the existing empire, rather than trying to expand it. Most histories describe the wall as a defensive structure, intended to protect the conquered south against raids from the unconquered north. However, at least one very significant authority disagrees. In her latest book, Mary Beard writes that “Despite appearances, even Hadrian’s wall in England does not mark the edge of Roman territory and influence, which went much further north (the Wall itself was more of a boastful assertion of Rome’s dominance over the landscape than a boundary marker).” Others have described the wall as primarily a customs post, or immigration checkpoint, rather than a fortified, physical barrier between civilisation and wildness, or even a line in the mud to signify an administrative boundary.