For six years, starting in 122, the ancient Romans built a defensive wall in what is now Britain. The building got its name from the name of the Roman emperor Hadrian, on whose instructions the rampart was built. Its length is 120 kilometers. The main function of the earthen structure was to protect the state from both outside raids and population movements outside the empire.
The rampart was built mainly of stones on which peat was laid. Later this material was stolen. The height of the walls of the rampart in its western part reaches six meters, the width between them is almost 2.5 meters, in the eastern part the height is two times less, but the width is 2 times greater. In order to strengthen the protective capabilities of the structure, the Romans dug ditches on both sides of the shaft. On the northern side, such a ditch had a depth of 8 meters.
16 forts and watchtowers were built along the entire Val Hadrian. These towers were installed so that, if necessary, the signals transmitted between them were visible. A military road was built inside the rampart.
Interestingly, at first it was not allowed to build residential buildings near Hadrian's Val. But later it turned out that someone still needed to serve the military. Then the corresponding law was actually canceled, and near the fortresses, houses began to appear little by little, and later whole cities.
Until at the beginning of the 5th century Roman Britain ceased to exist, the earthen rampart still performed some of its functions. Although, according to many historians, he was not able to provide complete safety from raids from the Celts. More often than not, the structure only made it possible to know in advance about the upcoming attack and take measures. After the Romans left the territory of Britain, the locals used the building material of the shaft for a long time in the construction of not only ordinary houses, but also churches and even castles. Only at the end of the 18th century was it forbidden to use stones and peat from the Adrian's Wall.
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Later, the Roman building was bought by one of the British archaeologists, who later transferred it into the possession of the National Trust. Nowadays, any traveler who wishes to follow the traces of the Roman military road has the opportunity to visit this ancient monument in the northern part of Great Britain. The 15th National Tourist Route has even been laid here. The starting point of the route can be reached from almost any nearest village or city by bus. Of course, the shaft has not been completely preserved; only a few sections remain in more or less good condition.
Vale Hadrian is mentioned in literature and cinematography. Rudyard Kipling described the shaft in three of his stories, telling about a centurion who served here under the emperor-usurper of the West of the Roman Empire - Maximus. This shaft is also the prototype of the Wall in the fantasy novel series by George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, the first published book in this series is Game of Thrones.
And Adrianov Val was the same concrete wall in the movie "Doomsday", which the government built to separate Scotland, infected with a dangerous virus. Also, some scenes from the movie "King Arthur" were filmed near Hadrian's Val.