G M. BOUMPHREY
FOR THIS, his last talk in the present series, Mr. Geoffrey Boumphrey has explored Hadrian's Wall, the name given to the remains of the Roman fortifications which extended from Bowness on the Solway to Wallsend on the estuary of the Tyne. The wall was erected by order of the Emperor Hadrian under Platorius Nepos , Governor of Britain, A.D. 122 to 126.
In all probability forts were thrown up in the first place about four miles apart, then enlarged, and finally connected by a stone wall. Then further posts at every mile (milecastles) with intervening turrets, were built. The whole was erected to the north of an earthwork (vallum) which served as a visible delimitation of the civil frontier of Rome. Here and there traces have been found of a wall of turf which preceded the stone wall. It is not known that the wall was held by the Romans after A.D. 383.
The large number of listeners who have been interested in this series may care to increase their knowledge of Roman Roads by reading some of the books on the subject published at popular prices : ' Roman Britain,' by R. G. Collingwood , and ' The Story of the Road,' by Professor J. W. Gregory , both also published in Braille ; ' The Roads of England,' by R. M. C. Anderson ; ' Everyday Life in Roman Britain,' by Marjorie and C. H. B. Quennell , and ' The Story of the Wheel,' by Mr. Boumphrey himself.