![]() Moreover, later ‘temporary’ camps also did not connect with the road – which questions whether (a defence line) was its purpose. ![]() Most Forts and the Stanegate are not found to connect (with intersecting sub-roads) on only two occasions, and the rest show no connection. Stanegate Road (when not part of an existing B-road system) is inconsistent in width and structure -moving from bank track to road with two ditches on each side to a ditch with two banks far from straight and usually starts and ends in ravens. Moreover, the research has shown the ‘raw’ Stanegate road without the ‘hidden’ parts below the B-roads – we are only looking at 20% of the declared road being visible on LiDAR maps. This evidence is compounded when you release that of the 80mile border from coast to coast – Stonegate, at best, covers just 38.1 miles (47%) of the ‘defensive gap’, and hence suggestions of extension over and above the existing line existed (even without support from OS maps). Stanegate as portrayed by archaeologistsĪs for the Stanegate that was supposed to connect to the main forts in the area as a ‘defensive shield’ we actual found that it is very little to no evidence of the ‘Stanegate Roman Road’, which (according to the current theory proposed by English Heritage) ‘consolidated as a frontier’ during the late first and early second century AD and helped crystallise Roman tactics and military expectations in the area. This might give us a clue to the function of this rough and wonky road, as the stone for the wall would have needed to be delivered by cart if the Vallum canal was not available. Instead, the perceived road is fragmented and only becomes ‘alive’ as an independent road when the Vallum separates from the wall at any distance. That over 50% of Military Way does not exist as a separate road, as described by archaeologists. Within the book we look at associated aspects of this area like Military Way which was supposed to be constructed to patrol the so-called ‘Military Zone’ – to find that: Sadly, these ideas that have been constructed over the last 200 years are somewhat questionable. ![]() Relatively soon after it was constructed, some 20 to 30 years perhaps, the Vallum seems to have lost its function – the mounds were cut through and the ditch filled in at fairly regular intervals. It was out of use by the time the forts along the Wall were re-commissioned in the late second century AD following the return of the garrison from the Antonine Wall. The gateway at Benwell supports this idea. The numerous gateways along the Wall at forts and milecastles suggest that the frontier was intended as much to control movement as to provide a defensive line. Traders would have moved goods across the frontier but their movements would have been controlled and their goods taxed. This would have helped protect the rear of the Wall and its associated military installations, with civilian access being closely controlled. The Vallum’s purpose is unclear. Many archaeologists think it marks the southern boundary of a military zone with the Wall itself forming the northern boundary. Evidence from the excavated Vallum crossing at Benwell in Newcastle shows these crossing points had impressive monumental gateways. The VallumĬrossing points seem to have been located south of each of the forts along Hadrian’s Wall and near several of the milecastles. Usually, the Vallum runs close behind the Wall but in the rocky and hilly central section the Vallum lies up to 700 metres from the Wall. The whole complex is around 36 metres across. In fact, the Vallum is made up of several different elements – a ditch around 6 metres wide and 3 metres deep two mounds either side of the ditch about 6 metres wide and 2 metres high and set back from the ditch by around 9 metres and often a third mound on the southern edge of the ditch. Many visitors confuse the Vallum with Hadrian’s Wall itself because it’s such an obvious and impressive feature in the landscape. The Vallum is a massive earthwork constructed shortly after Hadrian’s Wall itself and lying just south of it. Traditional archaeologists and archaeological establishments like English Heritage suggest that: The details of the survey are contained in a New Book called ‘Ancient Prehistoric Canals (Dykes) – The Vallum’ now available on Amazon. The first ever detailed survey of the Vallum at Hadrian’s Wall proves conclusively that the Roman’s built of an existing ‘DyKE’ structure to move quarried materials and provide stone to Hadrian’s Wall.
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