The essential feature of the Vallum was the ditch, which could only be crossed at forts. Its later features (the crossings, milecastle causeways and the marginal mound) are described and analysed, and the evidence accrued through excavations over the last 120 years is listed and assessed, and a sequence proposed. SUMMARY The primary elements of the Vallum are described and the original form of the Vallum confirmed. ![]() Renewed analysis, however, suggests that work was segmented and prioritised on the basis of a thorough terrain assessment, both on a macro-level (defining the successive seasons’ targets) and on a more local level allowing individual stretches and structures, or even parts of them like milecastle towers, to be prioritised according to topographical sensitivity. This is usually explained as following from allotment patterns, work logistics and/or the availability of building materials. The structural time slice of the resulting Narrow Wall decision sheds light on the Wall’s very disjointed building order. If Hadrian inspected work in progress in Britain as well, it is the so-called ‘fort decision’ that presents itself as the direct outcome of his visit to a project that clearly embodied the emperor’s personal vision of the ideal frontier barrier. The visit of 122 was part of a well-prepared journey of inspection that also encompassed the German palisade that had been commissioned c. 119, following Hadrian’s first difficult year of succession and a wave of wars that had shaken every corner of the empire. ![]() This paper argues that the Wall decision came much earlier, c. It is usually thought that the construction of Hadrian’s Wall followed from the emperor’s visit to Britain in 122.
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