The wall itself was six to ten feet thick and fifteen feet high. It was faced with a ditch with an earthwork to the south. There were twenty four large forts with large garrison and every Roman mile a smaller milefort with smaller garrisons and between the mileforts, signal outposts.

Two decades later, the Roman frontier was pushed north, but by 166 AD the frontier was fixed at Hadrian’s Wall. After the departure of the legions in the early fifth century, the wall was used as a source of building material by just about everyone in the north of England. It was not until the 19th Century when the historical significance of the wall was recognized and large stretches of it were preserved. Hadrian’s Wall is now a world historical site and hiking and picnicking along the wall is a popular pastime. There are also several sites of interest along the wall that can be visited, from west to east.