Hadrian's wall boosted economy for ancient Britons, archaeologists discover

Telegraph ^ | Saturday, November 22, 2008 | Patrick Sawer

[SunkenCiv]

The 73-mile long Roman wall, built in AD 122 to defend the Roman Empire from hostile Celtic tribes, created a thriving economy to serve the occupying army, according to aerial surveys. Farmers, traders, craftsmen, labourers and prostitutes seized the occasion to make money from the presence of hundreds of Roman troops... The research carried out by English Heritage has revealed over 2,700 previously unrecorded historic features, including prehistoric burial mounds and first century farmsteads, medieval sheep farms, 19th century lead mines and even a WWII gun battery, sited along the 15 foot high wall which stretched from Wallsend on the English east coast to Bowness-on-Solway on the west coast. The study, based on over 30,000 aerial photographs taken over the last 60 years, offers an insight into the impact of the wall on the area's history and landscape. Among the most startling discoveries are dozens of Roman-era farms and settlements strung out along a 15 mile corridor either side of the 10ft thick wall. Instead of being wiped out by the Romans, the local population appears to have flourished as part of a booming military economy. One farm trapped between the new wall and the gigantic defensive earthworks built by the Romans appears to have adapted to its new surroundings – much like a modern farm stuck between two motorways. Other aerial shots show significant settlements next to the wall's military forts at sites such as Chesters and Housesteads – suggesting the presence of a large civilian population providing services to the Roman legionnaires and officers.

[SunkenCiv]

• The Iron Age hillfort on Warden Hill, near the village of Fourstones lies within sight of the Hadrian's Wall fort at Chesters.
• Traces of a Romano-British farmstead just 2.5km south of Hadrian?s Wall, near Burgh by Sands. The round enclosure has clearly been superseded by a larger, more complex farmstead of rectangular plan, an indicator of Romanization and increased prosperity
• This extract from an RAF vertical photograph taken on the 28th August 1945, shows a heavy anti-aircraft gun battery with a sizable camp for the crew nearby. Below the guns is a large octagonal arrangement of posts which held a wire mesh for calibrating
• The late Medieval farmstead at Errington Hill Head stands out clearly under a light covering of snow. The corduroy patterns of medieval and post-medieval cultivation give a very different picture of a landscape now used extensively as pasture.
• Earthwork remains of the Medieval manor and village of Ingoe, Northumberland. Many sites similar to this were mapped and recorded in detail for the first time.
• The remains of the deserted medieval village of East Matfen are sharply defined by the low winter sunlight

[SunkenCiv]

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[JoeProBono]

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Tell me why things like this are surprising?

[conservativeharleyguy]

Yeah, it kept all of those dirty, pale-blue Picts and Celts from coming over to do the jobs that “the English wouldn’t do anymore”.

[SunkenCiv]

Hey, it was good enough for the Roman Empire...

[SunkenCiv]

I got nothin’.

[PzLdr]

And it worked.

[ikka]

That is IT!

We build a massive 20 foot high wall along the southern border of the USA ... Obama has his public works project, illegals start to go home, unemployment goes down even further as a result, and then we let turkeys run wild all along the wall ... and have a big ole turkey shoot second week of November each year!

[HangThemHigh]

"Hey, it was good enough for the Roman Empire."

But they knew how to deal with troublemakers.

[SunkenCiv]

“I am Spartacus!”

[SunkenCiv]

I think you’re onto something.