Hadrian's Wall

Project #1668 on iSENSEProject.org

HADRIAN'S WALL

Hadrian's Wall was ordered to be built by the Emperor Hadrian in England in 122 A.D.  It lies at the northern border of England where it meets Scotland.  The original wall was 80 miles long, 9.8 feet wide, and 16-20 feet tall.  It had a military road on the English side and a ditch on the other side.  There were milecastles positioned every mile and turrets in between.  The most popular belief is that Emperor Hadrian wished to keep his empire in tact, so he commanded that wall be constructed to keep out the barbarians to the north.  Another idea for the construction of the wall was to cut down on immigration and smuggling.  Today, most of the wall's stones have been dismantled by farmers and can be seen in walls partitioning off people's property and farms.  

I had the pleasure of hiking the Hadrian's Wall Path in August 2010.  The map represents the starting locations for each day of the trip.  We began in Bowness-on-Solway on the west coast of England and hiked east to Wallsend (Segedunum in Latin).  We hiked through farms, mountains, and cities.  

1.)   a.) Using the map entitled "Hadrian's Wall Path" first, which days involved the most walking?  How do you know?

       b.) Now look at the table, was your answer to #1a correct?

2.) When looking at the "England" map, find the line of longitude that runs through London.  

       a.)  What is it called?  Why is it important?

       b.)  What do you notice about the longitude measurements in the table over the course of the hike?  

3.) What are some possible explanations for hiking more miles at the beginning and end of the path?  What do you think we saw in the middle?

4.)  Using the scatter plot, what is the total distance traveled?  Check your answer with the table.

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/hadrians-wall/

https://www.google.com/maps

ANSWERS

1.) Days 1, 6, 7 

2a) Prime Meridian through Greenwich, England.  0 degrees longitude

2b.) The longitudes get closer to 0 since we hiked east and closer to the Prime Meridian.

3.) The beginning was pretty flat farm land.  The center portion contained mountains.  And the final days brought us into an suburban/urban environment.

4.) 7335 miles