Northumbria And The Romans

The Romans arrived in Britain in 55 BC, in the first of two military reconnaissances led by Julius Caesar. No invasion was planned at that time, only the construction of healthy trade links with an area which was very disorganised, broken down as it was into a large number of small warring tribes. About a century later one of the southern British tribes requested help from the Romans in a local squabble and the new Roman Emperor, Claudius, used it as a pretext to invade. The invaders met with fierce resistance, and it was not for another forty years, in AD 80 that the land was subdues as far as the river Tyne. The Romans would have attempted to subdue the entire island, but in AD 86 one of the three legions was removed for use elsewhere and they decided to consolidate their position. Over the years that followed the ongoing raids by the Celtic clans were a constant thorn in the side of the Romans, and when Emperor Hadrian visited in AD 122 he initiated the building of the Roman wall. This was to act as a permanent line of defence and a base for further ventures into the northern lands. The wall was completed in AD 163. It was nine and a half feet wide and sixteen feet tall, with a further four feet of breastwork on the northern side. To the north were also a shallow mound, and a ditch. It stretched for 73 miles, and incorporated 16 forts, 80 smaller milecastles, and 158 towers. Behind the wall was a military road.

The wall was not insurmountable, and was frequently breached by the northern tribes in their desire to pillage the townships to the south. As long as men were there to replenish it, however, the frontier was always easily restored. The raiders were not bent on overthrowing the Romans, only in booty that they could carry away to their homes in the northern highlands.

This is not to say that the tribesmen were undisciplined, however, in AD 367 there was a co-ordinated attack by the Picts behind the wall, the Saxons, and the Celtic tribes or Ireland. Although the tribes were eventually repulsed (heavily laden with their plunder) the attack was the beginning of the end for the Roman occupation. In AD 410 they finally withdrew from the island.