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In 55 and 54 BC, Julius Caesar launched two swift invasions of southeast England from his base in Gaul, his success proving that Britain lay within the Roman grasp. The full-scale assault began under Claudius in 43 AD and, within forty years, Roman troops had reached the Firth of Tay. In 83 AD, the Roman governor Agricola ventured farther north, but Rome subsequently transferred part of his army to the Danube, and the remaining legions withdrew to the frontier which was marked by the Stanegate , a military roadway linking Carlisle and Corbridge. Emperor Hadrian , who toured Roman Britain in 122 AD, found this informal arrangement unsatisfactory. His imperial policy was quite straightforward - he wanted the empire to live at peace within stable frontiers, most of which were defined by geographical features. In northern Britain, however, there was no natural barrier and so Hadrian decided to create his own by constructing a 76-mile wall from the Tyne to the Solway Firth. It was not intended to be an impenetrable fortification, but rather a base for patrols that could push out into hostile territory. It was to be punctuated by milecastles , which were to serve as gates, depots and mini-barracks, and by observation turrets , two of which were to stand between each pair of milecastles. Before the Wall was even completed, major modifications were made: the bulk of the garrison had initially been stationed along the Stanegate, but they were now moved into the Wall, occupying a chain of new forts , which straddled the Wall at six- to nine-mile intervals. These new arrangements concentrated the Wall's garrison in a handful of key points and brought them nearer the enemy, making it possible to respond quickly to any threat. Simultaneously, a military zone was defined by the digging of a broad ditch, or vallum , on the south side of the Wall, crossed by causeways to each of the forts, turning them into the main points of access and rendering the milecastles, in this respect, largely redundant. The revised structure remained in operation until the last Roman soldiers left in 411 AD. Most of Hadrian's Wall disappeared centuries ago, yet walking its length remains a popular pastime, one which will be made easier by the opening of a waymarked trail, the Hadrian's Wall Path , in summer 2002; even if you're not up to tramping the entire course of the Wall, it's well worth walking at least one section to get an idea of the whole enterprise. Approached from Newcastle along the valley of the Tyne, via the Roman museum and site at Corbridge , the prosperous-looking market town of Hexham , with its fine eleventh-century abbey, makes a good base for transport and accommodation. Most visitors stick to the best-preserved portions of the Wall, which are concentrated between the hamlet of Chollerford , three miles north of Hexham, and Haltwhistle , sixteen miles to the west, which is also a decent base for accommodation and transport. It's here, especially between Housesteads and Steel Rigg , that the Wall is at its most beautiful, as it clings to the edge of the Whin Sill, a precipitous line of dolerite crags towering above the austere Northumberland National Park moorland. Walking this part of the Wall couldn't be easier: a footpath runs along the top of the ridge, incorporating a short stretch of the Pennine Way , which meets the Wall at Greenhead and leaves at Housesteads, where it cuts off north for Bellingham. Scattered along this section are a variety of key archeological sites and museums, notably Chesters Roman Fort and Museum , near Chollerford, the remains of Housesteads Fort and that of Vindolanda , and the milecastle remains at Cawfields , north of Haltwhistle.
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