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by kikokikokiko 1001 days ago
Slightly related: I always get surprised by how "small" Hadrian wall is. I mean, it was just to demarcate tthe point where the barbarians "should not" cross I believe? For sure it wasn't working as a regular wall to stop any invasions.
5 comments
londons_explore 1001 days ago
The wall is nearly 2000 years old.

It used to be 15 feet high and 10 feet wide. [1]

Nearly everything else that old has fallen down to the foundations. It turns out nature is good at knocking stuff down till it's about a foot high, and then just leaves the footings of all the walls.

Plenty of castles and stuff have 1 foot high walls now.

Also, people steal the stones to build other stuff. But it's more effort to steal stones already buried in the ground.

[1]: https://www.google.com/search?q=how+high+was+hadrians+wall

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lawlessone 1001 days ago
Yeah , people take stones to clear land for farming or to build walls to enclose their farms.

Can't be too mad about it though, the wall was probably relatively new to them

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scott_w 1001 days ago
Also historical preservation was less important to the people at the time when life was, frankly, much harder than it is today. Most well preserved buildings today are the ones that were useful to keep around - for their original or for a new purpose.
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lawlessone 1001 days ago
Roman ruins in post roman Britain must have looked almost magical.
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dhx 1001 days ago
It may have originally looked a bit more like the wall of Rindoon, County Roscommon, Ireland: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rindoon_Wall_28-10-2...

Rindoon is one of the most intact medieval villages (ruins). Thankfully it hasn't yet been vandalised, reconstructed or commercialised. As common for archaeological sites across Ireland, it is an amazing place to visit, particularly as you'd probably have it all to yourself to explore depending on season and day.

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toyg 1001 days ago
Dude, it's a ruin. It's like saying you're surprised most houses in archeological digs have no standing walls.
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tssva 1001 days ago
It was 3m thick and 4.2m tall with guard posts every 1/3rd mile. Seems like pretty significant defense to invasions.
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jjgreen 1001 days ago
... with each guard muttering to themselves "what a shite posting" (in Latin).
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londons_explore 1001 days ago
Even a 1 foot high wall is hard to sneakily move at night.

It's a marker on the ground of 'my territory' vs 'your territory'. If you catch someone the wrong side of it, they have no excuse of 'oh, I thought this was my land'.

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