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SOUTH CHINA SEA (Oct. 15, 2020) Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Handling) 1st Class Keyonnia Cook, from Augusta, Georgia, signals to the pilot of an F/A-18E assigned to the “Eagles” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 115 aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) while conducting security and stability operations in the South China Sea. Ronald Reagan, the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 5, provides a combat-ready force that protects and defends the U.S. as well as the collective maritime interests of its allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Codie L. Soule)
And why you had to come and end all my stability? Why couldn't you just stay in my dreams? Why had to come and turn my world, my head, my heart upside down? I have a feeling, and I know it's platonic, but not tire of saying: I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU!
By: me :)
PS: esse coração,eu fiz com massinha de modelar,que minha sobrinha ganhou e me pediu pra ir brincar com ela...Eu adorei,e tive que tirar uma foto :x
PHILIPPINE SEA (March 14, 2020) The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin (DDG 89) launches a torpedo during an anti-submarine exercise. Mustin is underway conducting operations in support of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific while assigned to Destroyer Squadron 15 the Navy’s largest forward-deployed DESRON and the U.S. 7th Fleet’s largest principal force. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Askia Collins)
An old image when I had my time shooting on one of the most bombed islands in World War II.
***Canon EOS 7D + Canon EF17-40mm f/4L USM ӏ Exposure details: 17mm at f/8, 1/400s, ISO 400
PHILIPPINE SEA (Jan. 10, 2021) An F-35B Lightning II assigned to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) prepares to launch from the flight deck of amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6). America, lead ship of the America Amphibious Ready Group, along with the 31st MEU, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility to enhance interoperability with allies and partners and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
PHILIPPINE SEA (Aug. 7, 2022) Sailors remove chocks and chains from a CH-53 Super Stallion, assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 262 (Reinforced), prior to take-off from amphibious assault carrier USS Tripoli (LHA 7). Tripoli is operating in U.S. 7th Fleet to enhance interoperability with allies and partners and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and maintain stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Malcolm Kelley)
EAST CHINA SEA (Aug. 4, 2020) The amphibious dock landing ship USS Germantown (LSD 42) executes a reverse engine maneuver during a full power engine run. Germantown, part of America Expeditionary Strike Group, is operating in the 7th Fleet area of operations to enhance interoperability with allies and partners, and serves as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Taylor DiMartino)
Quoted from: www.cbsnews.com/news/ai-stable-diffusion-stability-ai-law...
"Stability AI, the first open-source image generator, trained its systems on images from across the internet. An independent analysis of the origin of those images shows at least 15,000 came from gettyimages.com; 9,800 from vanityfair.com; 35,000 from deviantart.net; and 25,000 from pastemagazine.com."
None of the artists whose images were used, gave permission for them to be used in this way.
BAY OF BENGAL (Oct. 16, 2021) U.S. Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) conducts a fueling-at-sea with Royal Australian Navy Anzac-class frigate HMAS Ballarat (FFH 155) as part of Maritime Partnership Exercise (MPX) 2021. MPX is a multilateral maritime exercise between the Royal Australian Navy, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, U.K. Royal Navy, and U.S. maritime forces; focused on naval cooperation, interoperability, and regional security and stability in the Indo-Pacific and is an example of the enduring partnership between Australian, Japanese, U.K., and U.S. maritime forces who routinely operate together in the Indo-Pacific, fostering a cooperative approach toward regional security and stability. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Christian Huntington)
North Pier was the second of fourteen piers designed by Eugenius Birch, and since Margate Pier was destroyed by a storm in 1978, it is the oldest of the remaining examples of his work still in use. It was the first of Birch's piers to be built by Glasgow engineering firm Richard Laidlaw and Son.
The pier, which cost £11,740 to build, originally consisted of a promenade 468 yards (428 m) long and 9 yards (8.2 m) wide, extending to 18 yards (16 m) wide at the pier-head. The bulk of the pier was constructed from cast iron, with a wooden deck laid on top. The cast iron piles on which the structure rests were inserted using Birch's screw pile process; the screw-tipped piles were twisted into the sand until they hit bedrock. This made construction much quicker and easier, and guaranteed that the pier had a solid foundation. The cast iron columns, 12 inches (300 mm) in diameter, were filled with concrete for stability at intervals of 20 yards (18 m), and supported by struts that were on average were slightly more than 1 inch (25 mm) thick. The pier's promenade deck is lined with wooden benches with ornamental cast iron backs. At intervals along the pier are hexagonal kiosks built around 1900 in wood and glass with minaret roofs topped with decorative finials. On opening two of the kiosks were occupied by a bookstall and confectionery stall and the kiosks near the ends of the pier were seated shelters. The pier-head is a combination of 420 tons of cast iron and 340 tons of wrought iron columns; standing 50 feet (15 m) above the low water line, it sees a regular 35 feet (11 m) change in sea level due to the tide.
The North Pier is one of the few remaining examples of Birch's classic pier architecture and is a Grade II Listed building, the only Blackpool pier to hold that status. It was recognised as "Pier of the Year" in 2004 by the National Piers Society.
Two different views of Love & Stability by Reilly Creative.
Husband and wife duo Reilly Creative’s design has taken inspiration from Southampton’s flag, designed in 2017. It depicts an anchor and a Tudor rose. They have taken these elements and with a nod to the beautiful windows that can be found in Saint Marys Church, have turned them into a stained-glass effect design. We have called it Love, to represent the delicate rose and Stability, for the strength of an anchor.
Sponsored by Southampton Hospitals Charity
Over the summer of 2024, Southampton Hospitals Charity will be lighting up the South with a large-scale public art event that promises to captivate your senses and ignite your imagination.
There will be 40 8ft magnificent lighthouse sculptures on display through the streets and public spaces of Southampton and Cowes, each one a unique masterpiece designed by artists both local and well renowned, plus 40 mini lighthouses designed by local education groups, creating a family-friendly trail of discovery for visitors and residents to enjoy and explore.
The lighthouses will then be displayed together for a Farewell event in September 2024 which will be a chance to see all lighthouses gathered in one place, a truly unique sight. The sculptures will then go into auction to raise vital funds for Southampton Children’s Hospital.
PHILIPPINE SEA (Sept. 14, 2020) As seen from the amphibious dock landing ship USS Germantown (LSD 42), the amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6), left, conducts a replenishment-at-sea with the dry cargo/ammunition ship USNS Washington Chambers (T-AKE 11). Germantown, part of the America Amphibious Ready Group assigned to Amphibious Squadron 11, along with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility to enhance interoperability with allies and partners, and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Taylor DiMartino)
SOUTH CHINA SEA (March 5, 2016) An F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to the Black Aces of Strike Fighter Squaron (VFA) 41 launches from USS John C. Stennis' (CVN 74) flight deck. Providing a ready force supporting security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific, Stennis is operating as part of the Great Green Fleet on a regularly scheduled 7th Fleet deployment. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kenneth Rodriguez Santiago / Released)
PHILIPPINE SEA (Aug. 24, 2022) A CH-53 Super Stallion, assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 262 (Reinforced), flies over amphibious assault carrier USS Tripoli (LHA 7). Tripoli is operating in U.S. 7th Fleet to enhance interoperability with allies and partners and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and maintain stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Peter Burghart)
SASEBO, Japan (Aug. 9, 2020) Landing craft, air cushion 10, assigned to Naval Beach Unit 7, prepares to enter the well deck of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Germantown (LSD 42) as the ship conducts amphibious operations. Germantown, part of the America Expeditionary Strike Group, is operating in the 7th Fleet area of operations to enhance interoperability with allies and partners, and serves as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Taylor DiMartino)
Hold on to the One who sees all, knows all, controls all, and helps all those who trust in Him- JESUS.
Bryan Guras
Lens Mitakon Speedmaster 25mm 0.95
Flash cactus rf60 in softbox 80 80 in the leftt of the shoes. Triggered with cactus v5
Hadrian's Wall is a stone and turf fortification built by the Roman Empire across the width of Great Britain. It was the second of three such fortifications built across Great Britain, the first being Gask Ridge and the last the Antonine Wall. All three were built to prevent military raids by the Pictish tribes (ancient inhabitants of Scotland) to the north, to improve economic stability and provide peaceful conditions in the Roman province of Britannia to the south, and to physically mark the frontier of the Empire. Hadrian's Wall is the best known of the three because it remains the most physically preserved and evident today.
The wall was the northern border of the Empire in Britain for much of the Roman Empire's rule, and also the most heavily fortified border in the Empire. In addition to its use as a military fortification, it is thought that the gates through the wall would also have served as customs posts to allow trade taxation.
A significant portion of the wall still exists, particularly the mid-section, and for much of its length the wall can be followed on foot. It is the most popular tourist attraction in Northern England, where it is often known simply as the Roman Wall. It was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. English Heritage, a government organization in charge of managing the historic environment of England, describes it as "the most important monument built by the Romans in Britain".[1]
Sections of Hadrian's Wall remain near Greenhead and along the route, though other large sections have been dismantled over the years to use the stones for various nearby construction projects.
Sections of Hadrian's Wall remain near Greenhead and along the route, though other large sections have been dismantled over the years to use the stones for various nearby construction projects.
The Roman name of the Wall
No stone inscription survives to confirm what the Wall was called in antiquity, and no historical source gives it a name. However, the discovery of a small enamelled bronze Roman cup in Staffordshire in 2003 has provided a clue. The cup is inscribed with a series of names of Roman forts (see also the botrom of this page) along the western sector of the Wall, together with a personal name and a phrase:
MAIS COGGABATA VXELODVNVM CAMBOGLANNA RIGORE VALI AELI DRACONIS
Here we have Bowness (MAIS, followed by what must be the correct name for Drumburgh-by-Sands (COGGABATA) until now known only as CONGAVATA from the late Roman document, the Notitia Dignitatum. Next comes Stanwix (VXELODVNVM), then Castlesteads (CAMBOGLANNA), before we get to the most tantalizing part.
RIGORE seems to be the ablative form of the Latin word rigor. This can mean several things, but one of its less well-known meanings is ‘straight line’, ‘course’ or ‘direction’. This was used by Roman surveyors and appears on a number of inscriptions to indicate a line between places. So the meaning could be ‘from the course’, or better in English 'according to the course'.
The Staffordshire Moorlands cup, which provides the ancient name of Hadrian's Wall.
The Staffordshire Moorlands cup, which provides the ancient name of Hadrian's Wall.
There is no such word as vali, but in antiquity Hadrian’s Wall was known as the Vallum, the Latin word for a frontier which is today incorrectly applied to the ditch and mounds dug by the Roman army just south of the Wall. The genitive form of Vallum is Valli, so one of the most likely meanings is VAL[L]I, ‘of the frontier’. Omitting one of a pair of double consonants is common on Roman inscriptions, and transcribing an inscription from a written note is the easiest way to miss out letters. Another similar bronze vessel, known as the Rudge Cup (found in Wiltshire in the 18th century) has VN missing from the name VXELODVNVM, for example, although the letters appear on the Staffordshire cup. The Rudge Cup only bears fort names.
The name AELI is also in the genitive. This was Hadrian's nomen, his main family name and we know that the Roman bridge at Newcastle-upon-Tyne was called Pons Aelius.
Finally we have the name DRACONIS, which can be translated as ‘[by the hand – or property] of Aelius Draco’. It was normal for Roman manufacturers to give their names in the genitive (‘of’), and ‘by the hand’ would be understood. The form is common, for example, on samian pottery.
The translation, therefore, could be:
‘Mais, Coggabata, Uxelodunum, Camboglanna, according to the line of the Aelian frontier. [By the hand or The property] of Draco’.
This would mean the Romans knew Hadrian's Wall as Vallum Aeli, 'the Aelian frontier'.
Dimensions
Hadrian's Wall was 80 Roman miles (73.5 English miles or 117 kilometres) long, its width and height dependent on the construction materials which were available nearby: east of River Irthing the wall was made from squared stone and measured 3 m (9.7 ft) wide and 5 to 6 metres (16–20 ft) tall; west of the river the wall was made from turf and measured 6 metres (20 ft) wide and 3.5 metres (11.5 ft) high. This does not include the wall's ditches, berms, and forts. The central section measured 8 Roman feet wide (7.8 ft or 2.4 m) on a 10 foot base.
Route
Map showing the location of Hadrian's Wall.
Map showing the location of Hadrian's Wall.
Hadrian's Wall extended west Segedunum at Wallsend on the River Tyne to the shore of the Solway Firth. The A69 and B6318 roads follow the course of the wall as it starts in Newcastle upon Tyne to Carlisle, then on round the northern coast of Cumbria. The Wall is entirely in England and south of the border with Scotland by 15 kilometres (9 mi) in the west and 110 kilometres (68 mi) in the east.
Hadrian
Hadrian's Wall was built following a visit by Roman emperor Hadrian (AD 76–138) in AD 122. Hadrian was experiencing military difficulties in Britain, and from the peoples of various conquered lands across the Empire, including Egypt, Judea, Libya, Mauretania, and many of the peoples conquered by his predecessor Trajan, so he was keen to impose order. However the construction of such an impressive wall was probably also a symbol of Roman power, both in occupied Britain and in Rome. Frontiers in the early empire were based more on natural features or fortified zones with a heavy military presence. Military roads or limes often marked the border, with forts and signal towers spread along them and it was not until the reign of Domitian that the first solid frontier was constructed, in Germania Superior, using a simple fence. Hadrian expanded on this idea, redesigning the German border by ordering a continuous timber palisade supported by forts behind it. Although such defences would not have held back any concerted invasion effort, they did physically mark the edge of Roman territory and went some way to providing a degree of control over who crossed the border and where.
Hadrian reduced Roman military presence in the territory of the Brigantes and concentrated on building a more solid linear fortification to the north of them. This was intended to replace the Stanegate road which is generally thought to have served as the limes (the boundary of the Roman Empire) until then.
Construction
Construction probably started in 122 AD and was largely completed within eight years, with soldiers from all three of the occupying Roman legions participating in the work. The route chosen largely paralleled the nearby Stanegate road from Luguvalium (Carlisle) to Coria (Corbridge), which was already defended by a system of forts, including Vindolanda. The Wall in part follows the outcrop of a harder, more resistant igneous dolerite rock escarpment, known as the Great Whin Sill.
The initial plan called for a ditch and wall with 80 small, gated milecastle fortlets every Roman mile holding a few dozen troops each, and pairs of evenly spaced intermediate turrets used for observation and signalling. The wall was initially designed to a width of 3 metres (10 ft) (the so-called "Broad Wall"). The height is estimated to have been around 5 or 6 metres (16–20 ft). Local limestone was used in the construction, except for the section to the west of Irthing where turf was used instead as there were no useful outcrops nearby. The turf wall was 6 metres wide (20 ft) and around 3.5 metres (11.5 ft) high. Milecastles in this area were also built from timber and earth rather than stone but turrets were always stone. The Broad Wall was initially built with a clay-bonded rubble core and mortared dressed rubble facing stones, but this seems to have made it vulnerable to collapse and repair with a mortared core was sometimes necessary.
Roman fort at Corstopitum.
Roman fort at Corstopitum.
The milecastles were of three different designs, depending on which Roman legion built them — the Second, Sixth, and Twentieth Legions, whose inscriptions tell us were all involved in the construction. Similarly there are three different turret designs along the route. All were about 493 metres (539 yd) apart and measured 4.27 metres square (46.0 sq ft) internally.
Construction was divided into lengths of about 5 miles (8 km). One group of each legion would create the foundations and build the milecastles and turrets and then other cohorts would follow, building the wall itself.
Early in its construction, just after reaching the North Tyne (construction worked from east to west), the width of the wall was narrowed to 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) or even less (sometimes 1.8m) (the "Narrow Wall"). However, Broad Wall foundations had already been laid as far as the river Irthing, where the Turf Wall began, and many turrets and milecastles were optimistically provided with stub 'wing walls' in preparation for joining to the Broad Wall; a handy reference for archaeologists trying to piece together the construction chronology.
Within a few years it was decided to add a total of 14 to 17 (sources disagree) full-sized forts along the length of the wall, including Vercovicium (Housesteads) and Banna (Birdoswald), each holding between 500 and 1,000 auxiliary troops (no legions were posted to the wall). The eastern end of the wall was extended further east from Pons Aelius (Newcastle) to Segedunum (Wallsend) on the Tyne estuary. Some of the larger forts along the wall, such as Cilurnum (Chesters) and Vercovicium (Housesteads), were built on top of the footings of milecastles or turrets, showing the change of plan. An inscription mentioning early governor Aulus Platorius Nepos indicates that the change of plans took place early on. Also some time still during Hadrian's reign (i.e., before AD 138) the wall west of the Irthing was rebuilt in sandstone to basically the same dimensions as the limestone section to the east.
Vallum at Hadrian's Wall near milecastle 42
Vallum at Hadrian's Wall near milecastle 42
After the forts had been added (or possibly at the same time), the so-called Vallum was built on the southern side. It consisted of a large, flat-bottomed ditch 6 metres (20 ft) wide at the top and 3 metres (10 ft) deep bounded by a berm on each side 10 metres (33 ft) wide. Beyond the berms were earth banks 6 metres (20 ft) wide and 2 metres (6.5 ft) high. Causeways crossed the ditch at regular intervals. Initially the berm appears to have been the main route for transportation along the wall. The Vallum probably delineated a military zone rather than intending to be a major fortification, though the British tribes to the south were also sometimes a military problem.
The Wall was thus part of a defensive system which, from north to south included:
* a glacis and a deep ditch
* a berm with rows of pits holding entanglements
* the curtain wall itself
* a later military road (the "Military Way")
* a north mound, a ditch and a south mound to prevent or slow down any raids from a rebelling southern tribe.
Roman-period names
The remains of milecastle 39, near Steel Rigg
The remains of milecastle 39, near Steel Rigg
The Roman-period names of some of the Hadrian's Wall forts are known, from the Notitia Dignitatum and other evidence:
* Segedunum (Wallsend)
* Pons Aelius (Newcastle on Tyne)
* Condercum (Benwell Hill)
* Vindobala (Halton Chesters)[2]
* Hunnum (Rudchester)[2]
* Cilurnum (Chesters aka Walwick Chesters)[2]
* Procolita (Carrowburgh)
* Vercovicium (Housesteads)
* Aesica (Great Chesters)[2]
* Magnis (Carvoran)
* Banna (Birdoswald)
* Camboglanna (Castlesteads)
* Uxelodunum (Stanwix. Also known as Petriana)
* Aballava (Burgh-by-Sands)
* Coggabata (Drumburgh)
* Mais (Bowness)
Outpost forts beyond the Wall include:
* Habitancum (Risingham)
* Bremenium (Rochester)[2]
* Ad Fines (Chew Green) [1]
Supply forts behind the wall include:
* Alauna (Maryport)
* Arbeia (South Shields)
* Coria (Corbridge)
* Vindolanda (Little Chesters)[2]
* Vindomora (Ebchester)[2]
Garrison
The wall was garrisoned by auxiliary (i.e., non-legionary) units of the army (non-citizens). Their numbers fluctuated throughout the occupation, but may have been around 9,000 strong in general, including infantry and cavalry. The new forts could hold garrisons of 500 men while cavalry units of 1,000 troops were stationed at either end. The total number of soldiers manning the early wall was probably greater than 10,000.
They suffered serious attacks in 180, and especially between 196 and 197 when the garrison had been seriously weakened, following which major reconstruction had to be carried out under Septimius Severus. The region near the wall remained peaceful for most of the rest of the 3rd century. It is thought that many in the garrison may have married and integrated into the local community.
Part of Hadrian's wall near Housesteads.
Part of Hadrian's wall near Housesteads.
After Hadrian
In the years after Hadrian's death in 138, the new emperor, Antoninus Pius essentially abandoned the wall, though leaving it occupied in a support role, and began building a new wall in Scotland proper, about 160 kilometres (100 mi) north, the Antonine Wall. This turf wall ran 40 Roman miles (about 37.8 mi or 61 km) and had significantly more forts than Hadrian's Wall. Antonine was unable to conquer the northern tribes and so when Marcus Aurelius became emperor, he abandoned the Antonine Wall and occupied Hadrian's Wall once again in 164. It remained occupied by Roman troops until their withdrawal from Britain.
In the late 4th century, barbarian invasions, economic decline, and military coups loosened the Empire's hold on Britain. By 410, the Roman administration and its legions were gone, and Britain was left to look to its own defences and government. The garrisons, by now probably made up mostly of local Britons who had nowhere else to go, probably lingered on in some form for generations. Archaeology is beginning to reveal that some parts of the Wall remained occupied well into the 5th century. Enough also survived in the 8th century for spolia from it to find its way into the construction of Jarrow Priory, and for Bede to see and describe the Wall thus in Historia Ecclesiastica 1.5, although he misidentified it as being built by Septimius Severus:
“ after many great and dangerous battles, he thought fit to divide that part of the island, which he had recovered from the other unconquered nations, not with a wall, as some imagine, but with a rampart. For a wall is made of stones, but a rampart, with which camps are fortified to repel the assaults of enemies, is made of sods, cut out of the earth, and raised above the ground all round like a wall, having in front of it the ditch whence the sods were taken, and strong stakes of wood fixed upon its top. ”
But in time the wall was abandoned and fell into ruin. Over the centuries and even into the 20th century a large proportion of the stone was reused in other local buildings.
In fiction
Sycamore Gap (the "Robin Hood Tree")
Sycamore Gap (the "Robin Hood Tree")
* Hadrian's Wall was featured extensively in the movie King Arthur (which depicted the story of the people the Arthurian legends were supposedly based on). The one kilometre (0.6 mi) long replica, located in County Kildare, Ireland, was the largest movie set ever built in that country, and took a crew of 300 construction workers four and a half months to build. The fort in the movie where Arthur and his Sarmatian "knights" were garrisoned was based on the Roman fort named Vindolanda, which was built around AD 80 just south of Hadrian's Wall in what is now called Chesterholm, in Northern England. In the movie, the fort is attached to the wall.
* Sycamore Gap, a section of the wall between two crests just west of milecastle 38, is locally known as the "Robin Hood Tree". This location was used in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, as the setting for an interlude during Robin's journey from the White Cliffs (actually shot at the Seven Sisters Hills) to Nottingham via Aysgarth Falls.
OSAN AB, 41, South Korea (Sept. 13, 2016) - A U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer, escorted by U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons, performs a flyover over Osan Air Base. The flyover highlighted the close cooperation between American and Republic of Korea military forces that keeps them ready to respond at any time to threats to stability and security. The B-1s are currently assigned to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Dillian Bamman) 160913-F-LM669-062
** Interested in following U.S. Pacific Command? Engage and connect with us at www.facebook.com/pacific.command and twitter.com/PacificCommand and www.pacom.mil/ **
Hadrian's Wall is a stone and turf fortification built by the Roman Empire across the width of Great Britain. It was the second of three such fortifications built across Great Britain, the first being Gask Ridge and the last the Antonine Wall. All three were built to prevent military raids by the Pictish tribes (ancient inhabitants of Scotland) to the north, to improve economic stability and provide peaceful conditions in the Roman province of Britannia to the south, and to physically mark the frontier of the Empire. Hadrian's Wall is the best known of the three because it remains the most physically preserved and evident today.
The wall was the northern border of the Empire in Britain for much of the Roman Empire's rule, and also the most heavily fortified border in the Empire. In addition to its use as a military fortification, it is thought that the gates through the wall would also have served as customs posts to allow trade taxation.
A significant portion of the wall still exists, particularly the mid-section, and for much of its length the wall can be followed on foot. It is the most popular tourist attraction in Northern England, where it is often known simply as the Roman Wall. It was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. English Heritage, a government organization in charge of managing the historic environment of England, describes it as "the most important monument built by the Romans in Britain".[1]
Sections of Hadrian's Wall remain near Greenhead and along the route, though other large sections have been dismantled over the years to use the stones for various nearby construction projects.
Sections of Hadrian's Wall remain near Greenhead and along the route, though other large sections have been dismantled over the years to use the stones for various nearby construction projects.
The Roman name of the Wall
No stone inscription survives to confirm what the Wall was called in antiquity, and no historical source gives it a name. However, the discovery of a small enamelled bronze Roman cup in Staffordshire in 2003 has provided a clue. The cup is inscribed with a series of names of Roman forts (see also the botrom of this page) along the western sector of the Wall, together with a personal name and a phrase:
MAIS COGGABATA VXELODVNVM CAMBOGLANNA RIGORE VALI AELI DRACONIS
Here we have Bowness (MAIS, followed by what must be the correct name for Drumburgh-by-Sands (COGGABATA) until now known only as CONGAVATA from the late Roman document, the Notitia Dignitatum. Next comes Stanwix (VXELODVNVM), then Castlesteads (CAMBOGLANNA), before we get to the most tantalizing part.
RIGORE seems to be the ablative form of the Latin word rigor. This can mean several things, but one of its less well-known meanings is ‘straight line’, ‘course’ or ‘direction’. This was used by Roman surveyors and appears on a number of inscriptions to indicate a line between places. So the meaning could be ‘from the course’, or better in English 'according to the course'.
The Staffordshire Moorlands cup, which provides the ancient name of Hadrian's Wall.
The Staffordshire Moorlands cup, which provides the ancient name of Hadrian's Wall.
There is no such word as vali, but in antiquity Hadrian’s Wall was known as the Vallum, the Latin word for a frontier which is today incorrectly applied to the ditch and mounds dug by the Roman army just south of the Wall. The genitive form of Vallum is Valli, so one of the most likely meanings is VAL[L]I, ‘of the frontier’. Omitting one of a pair of double consonants is common on Roman inscriptions, and transcribing an inscription from a written note is the easiest way to miss out letters. Another similar bronze vessel, known as the Rudge Cup (found in Wiltshire in the 18th century) has VN missing from the name VXELODVNVM, for example, although the letters appear on the Staffordshire cup. The Rudge Cup only bears fort names.
The name AELI is also in the genitive. This was Hadrian's nomen, his main family name and we know that the Roman bridge at Newcastle-upon-Tyne was called Pons Aelius.
Finally we have the name DRACONIS, which can be translated as ‘[by the hand – or property] of Aelius Draco’. It was normal for Roman manufacturers to give their names in the genitive (‘of’), and ‘by the hand’ would be understood. The form is common, for example, on samian pottery.
The translation, therefore, could be:
‘Mais, Coggabata, Uxelodunum, Camboglanna, according to the line of the Aelian frontier. [By the hand or The property] of Draco’.
This would mean the Romans knew Hadrian's Wall as Vallum Aeli, 'the Aelian frontier'.
Dimensions
Hadrian's Wall was 80 Roman miles (73.5 English miles or 117 kilometres) long, its width and height dependent on the construction materials which were available nearby: east of River Irthing the wall was made from squared stone and measured 3 m (9.7 ft) wide and 5 to 6 metres (16–20 ft) tall; west of the river the wall was made from turf and measured 6 metres (20 ft) wide and 3.5 metres (11.5 ft) high. This does not include the wall's ditches, berms, and forts. The central section measured 8 Roman feet wide (7.8 ft or 2.4 m) on a 10 foot base.
Route
Map showing the location of Hadrian's Wall.
Map showing the location of Hadrian's Wall.
Hadrian's Wall extended west Segedunum at Wallsend on the River Tyne to the shore of the Solway Firth. The A69 and B6318 roads follow the course of the wall as it starts in Newcastle upon Tyne to Carlisle, then on round the northern coast of Cumbria. The Wall is entirely in England and south of the border with Scotland by 15 kilometres (9 mi) in the west and 110 kilometres (68 mi) in the east.
Hadrian
Hadrian's Wall was built following a visit by Roman emperor Hadrian (AD 76–138) in AD 122. Hadrian was experiencing military difficulties in Britain, and from the peoples of various conquered lands across the Empire, including Egypt, Judea, Libya, Mauretania, and many of the peoples conquered by his predecessor Trajan, so he was keen to impose order. However the construction of such an impressive wall was probably also a symbol of Roman power, both in occupied Britain and in Rome. Frontiers in the early empire were based more on natural features or fortified zones with a heavy military presence. Military roads or limes often marked the border, with forts and signal towers spread along them and it was not until the reign of Domitian that the first solid frontier was constructed, in Germania Superior, using a simple fence. Hadrian expanded on this idea, redesigning the German border by ordering a continuous timber palisade supported by forts behind it. Although such defences would not have held back any concerted invasion effort, they did physically mark the edge of Roman territory and went some way to providing a degree of control over who crossed the border and where.
Hadrian reduced Roman military presence in the territory of the Brigantes and concentrated on building a more solid linear fortification to the north of them. This was intended to replace the Stanegate road which is generally thought to have served as the limes (the boundary of the Roman Empire) until then.
Construction
Construction probably started in 122 AD and was largely completed within eight years, with soldiers from all three of the occupying Roman legions participating in the work. The route chosen largely paralleled the nearby Stanegate road from Luguvalium (Carlisle) to Coria (Corbridge), which was already defended by a system of forts, including Vindolanda. The Wall in part follows the outcrop of a harder, more resistant igneous dolerite rock escarpment, known as the Great Whin Sill.
The initial plan called for a ditch and wall with 80 small, gated milecastle fortlets every Roman mile holding a few dozen troops each, and pairs of evenly spaced intermediate turrets used for observation and signalling. The wall was initially designed to a width of 3 metres (10 ft) (the so-called "Broad Wall"). The height is estimated to have been around 5 or 6 metres (16–20 ft). Local limestone was used in the construction, except for the section to the west of Irthing where turf was used instead as there were no useful outcrops nearby. The turf wall was 6 metres wide (20 ft) and around 3.5 metres (11.5 ft) high. Milecastles in this area were also built from timber and earth rather than stone but turrets were always stone. The Broad Wall was initially built with a clay-bonded rubble core and mortared dressed rubble facing stones, but this seems to have made it vulnerable to collapse and repair with a mortared core was sometimes necessary.
Roman fort at Corstopitum.
Roman fort at Corstopitum.
The milecastles were of three different designs, depending on which Roman legion built them — the Second, Sixth, and Twentieth Legions, whose inscriptions tell us were all involved in the construction. Similarly there are three different turret designs along the route. All were about 493 metres (539 yd) apart and measured 4.27 metres square (46.0 sq ft) internally.
Construction was divided into lengths of about 5 miles (8 km). One group of each legion would create the foundations and build the milecastles and turrets and then other cohorts would follow, building the wall itself.
Early in its construction, just after reaching the North Tyne (construction worked from east to west), the width of the wall was narrowed to 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) or even less (sometimes 1.8m) (the "Narrow Wall"). However, Broad Wall foundations had already been laid as far as the river Irthing, where the Turf Wall began, and many turrets and milecastles were optimistically provided with stub 'wing walls' in preparation for joining to the Broad Wall; a handy reference for archaeologists trying to piece together the construction chronology.
Within a few years it was decided to add a total of 14 to 17 (sources disagree) full-sized forts along the length of the wall, including Vercovicium (Housesteads) and Banna (Birdoswald), each holding between 500 and 1,000 auxiliary troops (no legions were posted to the wall). The eastern end of the wall was extended further east from Pons Aelius (Newcastle) to Segedunum (Wallsend) on the Tyne estuary. Some of the larger forts along the wall, such as Cilurnum (Chesters) and Vercovicium (Housesteads), were built on top of the footings of milecastles or turrets, showing the change of plan. An inscription mentioning early governor Aulus Platorius Nepos indicates that the change of plans took place early on. Also some time still during Hadrian's reign (i.e., before AD 138) the wall west of the Irthing was rebuilt in sandstone to basically the same dimensions as the limestone section to the east.
Vallum at Hadrian's Wall near milecastle 42
Vallum at Hadrian's Wall near milecastle 42
After the forts had been added (or possibly at the same time), the so-called Vallum was built on the southern side. It consisted of a large, flat-bottomed ditch 6 metres (20 ft) wide at the top and 3 metres (10 ft) deep bounded by a berm on each side 10 metres (33 ft) wide. Beyond the berms were earth banks 6 metres (20 ft) wide and 2 metres (6.5 ft) high. Causeways crossed the ditch at regular intervals. Initially the berm appears to have been the main route for transportation along the wall. The Vallum probably delineated a military zone rather than intending to be a major fortification, though the British tribes to the south were also sometimes a military problem.
The Wall was thus part of a defensive system which, from north to south included:
* a glacis and a deep ditch
* a berm with rows of pits holding entanglements
* the curtain wall itself
* a later military road (the "Military Way")
* a north mound, a ditch and a south mound to prevent or slow down any raids from a rebelling southern tribe.
Roman-period names
The remains of milecastle 39, near Steel Rigg
The remains of milecastle 39, near Steel Rigg
The Roman-period names of some of the Hadrian's Wall forts are known, from the Notitia Dignitatum and other evidence:
* Segedunum (Wallsend)
* Pons Aelius (Newcastle on Tyne)
* Condercum (Benwell Hill)
* Vindobala (Halton Chesters)[2]
* Hunnum (Rudchester)[2]
* Cilurnum (Chesters aka Walwick Chesters)[2]
* Procolita (Carrowburgh)
* Vercovicium (Housesteads)
* Aesica (Great Chesters)[2]
* Magnis (Carvoran)
* Banna (Birdoswald)
* Camboglanna (Castlesteads)
* Uxelodunum (Stanwix. Also known as Petriana)
* Aballava (Burgh-by-Sands)
* Coggabata (Drumburgh)
* Mais (Bowness)
Outpost forts beyond the Wall include:
* Habitancum (Risingham)
* Bremenium (Rochester)[2]
* Ad Fines (Chew Green) [1]
Supply forts behind the wall include:
* Alauna (Maryport)
* Arbeia (South Shields)
* Coria (Corbridge)
* Vindolanda (Little Chesters)[2]
* Vindomora (Ebchester)[2]
Garrison
The wall was garrisoned by auxiliary (i.e., non-legionary) units of the army (non-citizens). Their numbers fluctuated throughout the occupation, but may have been around 9,000 strong in general, including infantry and cavalry. The new forts could hold garrisons of 500 men while cavalry units of 1,000 troops were stationed at either end. The total number of soldiers manning the early wall was probably greater than 10,000.
They suffered serious attacks in 180, and especially between 196 and 197 when the garrison had been seriously weakened, following which major reconstruction had to be carried out under Septimius Severus. The region near the wall remained peaceful for most of the rest of the 3rd century. It is thought that many in the garrison may have married and integrated into the local community.
Part of Hadrian's wall near Housesteads.
Part of Hadrian's wall near Housesteads.
After Hadrian
In the years after Hadrian's death in 138, the new emperor, Antoninus Pius essentially abandoned the wall, though leaving it occupied in a support role, and began building a new wall in Scotland proper, about 160 kilometres (100 mi) north, the Antonine Wall. This turf wall ran 40 Roman miles (about 37.8 mi or 61 km) and had significantly more forts than Hadrian's Wall. Antonine was unable to conquer the northern tribes and so when Marcus Aurelius became emperor, he abandoned the Antonine Wall and occupied Hadrian's Wall once again in 164. It remained occupied by Roman troops until their withdrawal from Britain.
In the late 4th century, barbarian invasions, economic decline, and military coups loosened the Empire's hold on Britain. By 410, the Roman administration and its legions were gone, and Britain was left to look to its own defences and government. The garrisons, by now probably made up mostly of local Britons who had nowhere else to go, probably lingered on in some form for generations. Archaeology is beginning to reveal that some parts of the Wall remained occupied well into the 5th century. Enough also survived in the 8th century for spolia from it to find its way into the construction of Jarrow Priory, and for Bede to see and describe the Wall thus in Historia Ecclesiastica 1.5, although he misidentified it as being built by Septimius Severus:
“ after many great and dangerous battles, he thought fit to divide that part of the island, which he had recovered from the other unconquered nations, not with a wall, as some imagine, but with a rampart. For a wall is made of stones, but a rampart, with which camps are fortified to repel the assaults of enemies, is made of sods, cut out of the earth, and raised above the ground all round like a wall, having in front of it the ditch whence the sods were taken, and strong stakes of wood fixed upon its top. ”
But in time the wall was abandoned and fell into ruin. Over the centuries and even into the 20th century a large proportion of the stone was reused in other local buildings.
In fiction
Sycamore Gap (the "Robin Hood Tree")
Sycamore Gap (the "Robin Hood Tree")
* Hadrian's Wall was featured extensively in the movie King Arthur (which depicted the story of the people the Arthurian legends were supposedly based on). The one kilometre (0.6 mi) long replica, located in County Kildare, Ireland, was the largest movie set ever built in that country, and took a crew of 300 construction workers four and a half months to build. The fort in the movie where Arthur and his Sarmatian "knights" were garrisoned was based on the Roman fort named Vindolanda, which was built around AD 80 just south of Hadrian's Wall in what is now called Chesterholm, in Northern England. In the movie, the fort is attached to the wall.
* Sycamore Gap, a section of the wall between two crests just west of milecastle 38, is locally known as the "Robin Hood Tree". This location was used in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, as the setting for an interlude during Robin's journey from the White Cliffs (actually shot at the Seven Sisters Hills) to Nottingham via Aysgarth Falls.
bighugelabs.com/flickr/scout.php?mode=history&id=1352...
[...] True stability results when presumed order and presumed disorder are balanced. A truly stable system expects the unexpected, is prepared to be disrupted, waits to be transformed [...]
-- Quote by Tom Robbins, American Novelist (1936)
(Italian volcano Stromboli vs Sun)
Sunset view from Tropea, Italy (August, 2007)
This BoriquaSis describes herself as "a Butterfly, Beautiful to look at but hard to catch" #SL2AiGen
I feel that Peaceful life!
This is a rebuild of my old Aaron's dragon suit. Reworked the transformation feature and improved the articulation cum stability. Transformation can be seen on my youtube channel youtu.be/PnvZXXj68Qk
PHILIPPINE SEA (Sept. 14, 2020) An MH-60S Seahawk helicopter from the “Archangels” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 25, Detachment 6 participates in a replenishment-at-sea between the amphibious dock landing ship USS Germantown (LSD 42) and the dry cargo/ammunition ship USNS Washington Chambers (T-AKE 11). Germantown, part of the America Amphibious Ready Group assigned to Amphibious Squadron 11, along with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility to enhance interoperability with allies and partners, and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Taylor DiMartino)
My USNC entry to the Lego Halo Contest.
The Panther was built as an anti-vehicle platform for the SPARTAN Laser and as a test bed for smaller-scale applications of the Scorpion MBT's independent tread suspension. The Panther's speed, stability, and all-terrain capabilities make it a favorite among USNC ground troops.
PHILIPPINE SEA (Aug. 26, 2020) The forward-deployed amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) and the amphibious dock landing ship USS Germantown (LSD 42) transit the Philippine Sea to maintain stability in the region. America, flagship of the America Amphibious Ready Group, assigned to Amphibious Squadron Eleven, along with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations to enhance interoperability with allies and partners and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Matthew Cavenaile)
Below the floor housing the guilty but insane lies the abandoned rooms of the "J" building of the Oregon State Hospital. This building is in the process of being torn down due to stability concerns with it's foundation (among other issues).
On a side note this area was also the location where One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest was filmed in 1975.
One person can exemplify stability in a changing world.
This Subtractive Filter Harris Shutter Effect image was constructed from three successive frames after warping/registering static details on the crossing guard. A moving camera gave colored background ghosts due to parallax shift, while moving pedestrians generated additional colored ghosts.
Quick links to related images
Read how to construct this type of image from three sequential photos.
Other subtractive filter Harris shutter effect images
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This was a 3-image handheld HDR composite. I achieved a reasonable amount of stability by resting my camera on the railing along the edge of the river, and simply hoping that I could hold everything reasonably still while I took three long-exposure shots in a row...
In the near foreground, you see the remains of an old wooden freight pier. Behind that is the new concrete pier at 70th Street, constructed by Donald Trump's empire when he built the complex of new apartment buildings along the western edge of Manhattan in this area of the upper west side.
In the far distance is the vast wilderness of New Jersey, where rumor has it that the Dark Side of the Force resides...
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As I've pointed out in three earlier sets of Flickr album (shown here and here and here, I do not dance the tango, and I know little or nothing about its history, its folklore, or even its steps and rhythms. I'm vaguely aware that it originated in Argentina in the 1890s, that a new style known as "tango nuevo" began to emerge in the late 1990s, and that various actors and actresses -- including Jessica Biel, Colin Firth, Antonio Banderas, Madonna, Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, among others -- have performed the tango in various movies. But beyond that, it never really occurred to me that it played any significant role here in the U.S.
That is, not until the summer of 2009, when I happened to return to my hotel, while on a business trip to Washington, DC, just as a local gathering of tango aficionados was dancing to their music in a nearby square known as Freedom Plaza. I photographed the event and learned from one of the participants that there were similar informal events in New York City. I was reminded of the tango again in the spring of 2010, and discovered that a tango "event" would be taking place on a Sunday afternoon at Pier 45, where Christopher Street runs into the Hudson River in Greenwich Village. The event takes place every Sunday, usually from 4-8 PM, and I made my first visit in mid-April, which led to this set of photos. I returned again on a hot Sunday evening in July -- indeed, it was so hot that the music did not even begin until 6 PM. But then the dancers began to appear, one couple after another, until there were a couple dozen couples filling a large space under a sheltering canopy.
Meanwhile, some Internet searches informed me that similar tango events take place at the South Street Seaport, in Central Park -- and even in my own neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, down along the Hudson River in Riverside Park South, at 68th Street. That's where this particular set of photos was taken ... with a very small group of dancers who began trickling onto the scene just as the sun dropped below the New Jersey skyline at 7:30 PM. The temperature was mild, the dusk sky was beautiful, and the music was wonderful ...
If you'd like to watch NYC tango dancing on your own, check out Richard Lipkin's Guide to Argentine Tango in New York City.
I revisited Donmouth Nature Reserve today 2/3/2018, prompted by the severe weather conditions that the so called "Beast From The East" has brought to the UK in the past few days, I decided to visit and capture any impacts it may have had along the coastline.
I found that the walk paths have eroded due to the heavy tides and tall waves that have battered the shore over the past few days, you can see the pathway clumps of grass that previously sat above the coastline now laying on the shore waiting for the sea to drag them off to the bottom of the North Sea.
Today was bitterly cold, the sea raged though I enjoyed a magnificent walk along the shore capturing what lay before me.
Check out my photos previously posted to appreciate the impact this "BFTE" has had on this beautiful nature reserve.
Coastal erosion is the wearing away of land and the removal of beach or sand dunes sediments by wave action, tidal currents, wave currents, drainage or high winds (see also beach evolution). Waves, generated by storms, wind, or fast moving motor craft, can cause coastal erosion, which may take the form of long-term losses of sediment and rocks, or merely the temporary redistribution of coastal sediments; erosion in one location may result in accretion nearby.
The study of erosion and sediment redistribution is called 'coastal morphodynamics'.
It may be caused by hydraulic action, abrasion, impact and corrosion by wind, water, and other forces, natural or unnatural.
On non-rocky coasts, coastal erosion results in dramatic (or non-dramatic) rock formations in areas where the coastline contains rock layers or fracture zones with varying resistance to erosion.
Softer areas become eroded much faster than harder ones, which typically result in landforms such as tunnels, bridges, columns, and pillars.
Over time the coast generally evens out. The softer areas fill up with sediment eroded from hard areas, and rock formations are eroded away.
Also abrasion commonly happens in areas where there are strong winds, loose sand, and soft rocks.
The blowing of millions of sharp sand grains creates a sandblasting effect. This effect helps to erode, smooth and polish rocks.
The definition of abrasion is grinding and wearing away of rock surfaces through the mechanical action of other rock or sand particles.
Examples
Small-scale erosion destroys abandoned railroad tracks
A place where erosion of a cliffed coast has occurred is at Wamberal in the Central Coast region of New South Wales where houses built on top of the cliffs began to collapse into the sea. This is due to waves causing erosion of the primarily sedimentary material on which the buildings foundations sit.[2]
Dunwich, the capital of the English medieval wool trade, disappeared over the period of a few centuries due to redistribution of sediment by waves.
Human interference can also increase coastal erosion:
Hallsands in Devon, England, was a coastal village that washed away over the course of a year, an event directly caused by dredging of shingle in the bay in front of it.
The California coast, which has soft cliffs of sedimentary rock and is heavily populated, regularly has incidents of housing damage as cliffs erodes .
The Holderness coastline on the east coast of England, just north of the Humber Estuary, is one of the fastest eroding coastline in Europe due to its soft clay cliffs and powerful waves.
Groynes and other artificial measures to keep it under control has only accelerated the process further down the coast, because longshore drift starves the beaches of sand, leaving them more exposed. The White Cliffs of Dover have also been affected.
Fort Ricasoli in Kalkara, Malta already showing signs of damage where the land is being eroded Fort Ricasoli, a historic 17th century fortress in Malta is being threatened by coastal erosion, as it was built on a fault in the headland which is prone to erosion.
A small part of one of the bastion walls has already collapsed since the land under it has eroded, and there are cracks in other walls as well.
Wave action
Hydraulic action
Hydraulic action occurs when waves striking a cliff face compress air in cracks on the cliff face. This exerts pressure on the surrounding rock, and can progressively splinter and remove pieces. Over time, the cracks can grow, sometimes forming a cave. The splinters fall to the sea bed where they are subjected to further wave action.
Attrition
Attrition occurs when waves cause loose pieces of rock debris (scree) to collide with each other, grinding and chipping each other, progressively becoming smaller, smoother and rounder. Scree also collides with the base of the cliff face, chipping small pieces of rock from the cliff or have a corrasion (abrasion) effect, similar to sandpapering.
Solution
Solution is the process in which acids contained in sea water will dissolve some types of rock such as chalk or limestone.
Corrasion
Corrasion or otherwise known as abrasion occurs when waves break on cliff faces and slowly erode it. As the sea pounds cliff faces it also uses the scree from other wave actions to batter and break off pieces of rock from higher up the cliff face which can be used for this same wave action and attrition.
Corrosion
Corrosion or solution/chemical weathering occurs when the sea's pH (anything below pH 7.0) corrodes rocks on a cliff face. Limestone cliff faces, which have a moderately high pH, are particularly affected in this way. Wave action also increases the rate of reaction by removing the reacted material.
Factors that influence erosion rates
Primary factors
The ability of waves to cause erosion of the cliff face depends on many factors.
The hardness (or inversely, the erodibility) of sea-facing rocks is controlled by the rock strength and the presence of fissures, fractures, and beds of non-cohesive materials such as silt and fine sand.
The rate at which cliff fall debris is removed from the foreshore depends on the power of the waves crossing the beach. This energy must reach a critical level to remove material from the debris lobe. Debris lobes can be very persistent and can take many years to completely disappear.
Beaches dissipate wave energy on the foreshore and provide a measure of protection to the adjoining land.
The stability of the foreshore, or its resistance to lowering. Once stable, the foreshore should widen and become more effective at dissipating the wave energy, so that fewer and less powerful waves reach beyond it. The provision of updrift material coming onto the foreshore beneath the cliff helps to ensure a stable beach.
The adjacent bathymetry, or configuration of the seafloor, controls the wave energy arriving at the coast, and can have an important influence on the rate of cliff erosion. Shoals and bars offer protection from wave erosion by causing storm waves to break and dissipate their energy before reaching the shore.
Given the dynamic nature of the seafloor, changes in the location of shoals and bars may cause the locus of beach or cliff erosion to change position along the shore.
Coastal erosion has been greatly affected by the rising sea levels globally.
Donmouth Local Nature Reserve is a beach site in the historic Old Aberdeen part of the City where the River Don meets the sea.
A great place to see seals and a range of interesting birds. The beach area has changed over time as the river has changed its course. There are lots of interesting plants in the dunes and beach area. Bird hide is an excellent shelter from which to watch the wildlife. The paths run across King Street to the Brig 'o Balgownie., the original bridge in to the City from the North, then down the other side of the river to the sea.
The site was designated a Local Nature Reserve in 1992
Paths are good although wheelchair access to the beach would be difficult as the boardwalk can get covered with sand.
There is plenty of free car parking on the Beach Esplanade and at the car park in Donmouth Road. There are cycle racks on Beach Esplanade
Bridge Of Don has five spans of dressed granite, and rounded cutwaters that carry up to road level to form pedestrian refuges. The spans are 75 feet (23 m), with a rise of 25 feet (7.6 m).
It was widened in 1958-59, from 24 feet (7.3 m), to 66 feet (20 m) by the construction of a new concrete bridge adjacent to the old one.
It now carries four lanes of the A956 road, and is the last bridge on the River Don before it meets the sea. The bridge is just downstream from a substantial island in the river. Around the area of the bridge is the Donmouth Local Nature Reserve, designated as a LNR in 1992.
Near to the bridge are a number of World War II era coastal defences, including a pill box.
Mudflats
Mudflats are formed when fine particles carried downstream by the river are deposited as it slows down before entering the sea, and to a lesser extent by fine particles washed in by the tide. The sand spit at the mouth of the Don provides shelter from the wind and waves allowing this material to build up. The mud flats are a very rich and fertile environment. Despite their rather barren appearance they support a surprisingly diverse invertebrate fauna which includes; worms, molluscs and crustacea. These invertebrates are vitally important to wildfowl and wading birds within the estuary.
Salt marsh
Along the upper shore of the south bank saltmarsh has developed. This habitat would once have been much more extensive prior to the tipping of domestic and other refuse in the area and the formation in 1727 of an artificial embankment to prevent flooding of the river into the Links. This habitat is now reduced to a narrow strip of vegetation along the river margins upstream from the Powis Burn.
The species composition of the salt marsh varies according to the salinity of the water i.e. the proximity to the sea. Close to the Powis Burn this habitat is dominated by reed sweet-grass (Glyceria maxima) with reed canary-grass (Phalaris arundinacea), sea club-rush (Scirpus maritimus), spike-rush (Eleocharis palustris), hemlock water-dropwort (Oenanthe crocata) and common scurvygrass (Chochlearia officinalis).
Further inland reed sweet-grass continues to dominate but hemlock water-dropwort is more abundant with meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) and valarian (Valariana officinalis),
Sand dunes
Sand dunes are found in the more exposed parts of the estuary at the river mouth. Again, this habitat was once much more extensive in this locality with dune grasslands stretching from Aberdeen Beach inland as far as King Street, southwards from the estuary of the Dee, northwards to the Sands of Forvie and beyond. Many of the dunes formed part of Seaton Tip, and following tipping the area was grassed over. Other areas have been formally landscaped to form golf courses or planted with native trees in 2010 to create a new woodland area.
Some remnants of the natural dune flora can be seen in the 'roughs' on the Kings Links golf course and near the mouth of the river.
Above the high water mark, fore dunes with thick clumps of the pioneer grass species including sea lyme grass (Elymus arenarius) and marram grass (Ammophila arenaria) occur. Few other species are able to cope with the shifting sand. The largest area of these young dunes is to the north and west of the headland. Further inland where the dunes are sheltered from the actions of the wind and waves, and soils are more developed, more stable dunes are present supporting a more diverse grassland habitat.
Strand line plants which are able to tolerate occasional coverage by sea water include sea rocket (Cakile maritima), frosted orache (Atriplex laciniata), sea sandwort (Honkenya peploides) and knotgrass (Polygonum aviculare). Bur-reed (Sparganium sp.) has been recorded; presumably washed down by the river.
Marram grass (Ammophila arenaria) and sea lyme grass (Elymus arenarius) dominate the fore dunes. The latter species is not native to this area but appeared in 1802. It is thought to have been unintentionally introduced into the area by fishing boats. For a number of years it remained uncommon but from 1870 onwards it spread rapidly along the coastline (Marren, 1982).
In the more stable dunes red fescue (Festuca rubra), sand sedge (Carex arenaria), yellow rattle (Rhinanthus minor), wild pansy (Viola tricolour), harebell (Campanula rotundifolia), bird's-foot-trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) and lesser meadow-rue (Thalictrum minus) are abundant. Small amounts of kidney vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria), valerian (Valeriana officinalis) and spring vetch (Vicia lathyroides) are present.
Scattered willows (Salix sp.) and sycamore (Acer pseudoplantanus) have seeded into this area. Gorse (Ulex europaeus) scrub has colonised the dunes in some areas and appears to be spreading.
Scrub
This habitat is almost entirely artificial with only the gorse scrub on the inner dunes being a semi-natural habitat. Alder and willow were planted along the south bank of the river in about 1970 and these shrubs are now generally well established. Further shrub planting on the south bank was carried out in 1990.
Willow (Salix sp.) and alder (Alnus glutinosa) were planted in the 1970's along the south bank of the River Don eastwards of the Bridge of Don. The trees to the west of this strip are doing considerably better than those to the east. More recent planting was carried out in 1990 with hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) elder (Sambucus nigra), goat willow (Salix caprea) and alder.
Underneath the scrub neutral grassland is present with cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata), false oat-grass (Arrhenatherum elatius), cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris), sweet cicely (Myrrhis odorata), hedge woundwort (Stachys sylvatica) and hedge bindweed (Calystegia sepium).
Grassland
Much of the grassland within the reserve is formed on imported soil and is intensively managed. This includes grassland on the north and south sides of the Esplanade. Daffodils are present in the grassland on the north side of the road. On the north bank to the east of the Bridge of Don is rank grassland on a steep south-facing slope. This is unmanaged and contains some patches of scrub.
Rough grassland is present on the headland. This area has been modified by tipping, with rubble to the east and with grass cuttings to the west. The grassland contains a mixture of neutral grassland, dune grassland, ruderal, and introduced garden species. This area attracts flocks of seed eating birds in late summer and autumn.
Improved grassland is present on the headland and along the south bank of the estuary downstream from the bridge of Don. Much of this vegetation has developed on imported soil and contains a high proportion of ruderal species and garden escapes. On the headland, broadleaved dock (Rumex obtusifolius), nettle (Urtica dioica), coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara), spear thistle (Cirsium vulgare), cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris), hemlock (Conium maculatum) and hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) are abundant. Sweet cicely (Chaerophyllum bulbosum) is widespread and in late summer fills the air with the scent of aniseed.
To the south of the Esplanade the grassland is managed with an annual cut.. The grassland does flood to form pools. Early in the year cuckoo flower (Cardamine pratensis) is common, meadow foxtail (Alopecuris pratensis)is known to occur around the margins of these pools.
Woodland
Semi-mature woodland is present on the steep sided south bank of the river upstream from the Bridge of Don. Most of this woodland has been planted in the mid 1930's though some older oak and elm trees are present. These may be relicts of former woodland cover. The woodland in the reserve is part of a strip of woodland along the River Don corridor which continues upstream from the Brig 'o' Balgownie.
Woodland is present on the south bank upstream from the Bridge of Don.
Much of the woodland consists of even aged stands with willow (Salix sp.), sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus), ash (Fraxinus excelsior), beech (Fagus sylvatica) and alder (AInus glutinosa).
At the top of the slope mature oak (Quercus sp.) and elm (Ulmus glabra) are present. The ground flora contains tufted hair-grass (Deschampsia caespitosa), red campion (Silene dioica), ramsons (Allium ursinum) and lady fern (Athyrium felix-femina) .In a few areas dense shading is caused by the trees and in these areas the ground flora is poor.
On the north bank scattered trees are present, mainly willow and sycamore with some scrub.
I was at an event tonight near Piccadilly Circus and took a couple of pictures on the way home so my camera bag did its best to resemble a tripod (in the case of the RA picture). I had to rely on anything else I could find for stability for the other two shots. I generally like to shoot at the lowest ISO if possible. But as I discovered at the event I was at tonight: my pictures at a low ISO using flash were dreadful. The ones using a higher ISO were usable (but admittedly a little grainy). I spoke to a colleague whose son is a professional photographer with the RAF about that dilemma. And he said that his son uses whatever ISO he needs to get the shot he wants. Sounded like pretty sensible advice to me.
I just liked the golden colour of the buildings and the fact that the traffic island mirrored the shape of the street.
Swahili racing teams come together several times a year to compete in traditional hand-crafted arabic-styled Mashua dhows in the Lamu Archipelago just off Kenya's northern Swahili Coast.
Intense village rivalries build over the years, often reaching pitch fever on race day. This magnificent racing dhow and crew are in the lead as they move into the final leg of the race. They are the ultimate winners and will return to their village on the island of Pate with team bragging rights and a certain village swagger that will likely last several months until the next race.
Six crewmen in the lead dhow are perched on an adjustable plank that hangs out over the choppy waters for added balance, speed and stability. About sixteen young crewmen all together are crowed into each dhow to give the necessary weight, balance and stability against a stiff coastal trade wind.
The ubiquitous trade winds have been instrumental in the evolution of Swahili culture and commerce over the years since it was first established in the 14th Century as an Omani trading outpost and settlement on the classic coastal run between Zanzibar and the Arabic world further to the north.
The art of Swahili dhow racing requires considerable team skill as the dhows tack and manoeuvre back and forth through the Manda channel and ultimately out to the edge of the open sea. The finest dhows are selected from each village to race under sail through a complicated series of buoys, combining speed and balance with elaborate tacking and maneuvering competence.
The races are usually organized in conjunction with a cultural festival or an Islamic religious holiday. This particular Shela-based race on the island of Lamu is organized yearly by Peponi's on New Year's Day.
In celebration of the 31st anniversary of the launching of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers aimed the renowned observatory at a brilliant "celebrity star," one of the brightest stars seen in our galaxy, surrounded by a glowing halo of gas and dust.
The price for the monster star's opulence is "living on the edge." The star, called AG Carinae, is waging a tug-of-war between gravity and radiation to avoid self-destruction.
The expanding shell of gas and dust that surrounds the star is about five light-years wide, which equals the distance from here to the nearest star beyond the Sun, Proxima Centauri.
The huge structure was created from one or more giant eruptions about 10,000 years ago. The star's outer layers were blown into space – like a boiling teapot popping off its lid. The expelled material amounts to roughly 10 times our Sun's mass.
These outbursts are the typical life of a rare breed of star called a luminous blue variable, a brief convulsive phase in the short life of an ultra-bright, glamorous star that lives fast and dies young. These stars are among the most massive and brightest stars known. They live for only a few million years, compared to the roughly 10-billion-year lifetime of our Sun. AG Carinae is a few million years old and resides 20,000 light-years away inside our Milky Way galaxy.
Luminous blue variables exhibit a dual personality: They appear to spend years in quiescent bliss and then they erupt in a petulant outburst. These behemoths are stars in the extreme, far different from normal stars like our Sun. In fact, AG Carinae is estimated to be up to 70 times more massive than our Sun and shines with the blinding brilliance of one million suns.
"I like studying these kinds of stars because I am fascinated by their instability. They are doing something weird," said Kerstin Weis, a luminous blue variable expert at Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany.
Major outbursts such as the one that produced the nebula occur once or twice during a luminous blue variable's lifetime. A luminous blue variable star only casts off material when it is in danger of self-destruction as a supernova. Because of their massive forms and super-hot temperatures, luminous blue variable stars like AG Carinae are in a constant battle to maintain stability.
It's an arm-wrestling contest between radiation pressure from within the star pushing outward and gravity pressing inward. This cosmic match results in the star expanding and contracting. The outward pressure occasionally wins the battle, and the star expands to such an immense size that it blows off its outer layers, like a volcano erupting. But this outburst only happens when the star is on the verge of coming apart. After the star ejects the material, it contracts to its normal size, settles back down, and becomes quiescent for a while.
Like many other luminous blue variables, AG Carinae remains unstable. It has experienced lesser outbursts that have not been as powerful as the one that created the present nebula.
Although AG Carinae is quiescent now, as a super-hot star it continues pouring out searing radiation and powerful stellar wind (streams of charged particles). This outflow continues shaping the ancient nebula, sculpting intricate structures as outflowing gas slams into the slower-moving outer nebula. The wind is traveling at up to 670,000 miles per hour (one million km/hr), about 10 times faster than the expanding nebula. Over time, the hot wind catches up with the cooler expelled material, plows into it, and pushes it farther away from the star. This "snowplow" effect has cleared a cavity around the star.
The red material is glowing hydrogen gas laced with nitrogen gas. The diffuse red material at upper left pinpoints where the wind has broken through a tenuous region of material and swept it into space.
The most prominent features, highlighted in blue, are filamentary structures shaped like tadpoles and lopsided bubbles. These structures are dust clumps illuminated by the star's reflected light. The tadpole-shaped features, most prominent at left and bottom, are denser dust clumps that have been sculpted by the stellar wind. Hubble's sharp vision reveals these delicate-looking structures in great detail.
The image was taken in visible and ultraviolet light. Ultraviolet light offers a slightly clearer view of the filamentary dust structures that extend all the way down toward the star. Hubble is ideally suited for ultraviolet-light observations because this wavelength range can only be viewed from space.
Massive stars, like AG Carinae, are important to astronomers because of their far-reaching effects on their environment. The largest program in Hubble's history – the Ultraviolet Legacy Library of Young Stars as Essential Standards – is studying the ultraviolet light of young stars and the way they shape their surroundings.
Luminous blue variable stars are rare: Less than 50 are known among the galaxies in our local group of neighboring galaxies. These stars spend tens of thousands of years in this phase, a blink of an eye in cosmic time. Many are expected to end their lives in titanic supernova blasts, which enrich the universe with heavier elements beyond iron.
Hubble Trivia:
- Launched on April 24, 1990, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has made more than 1.5 million observations of about 48,000 celestial objects.
In its 31-year lifetime, the telescope has racked up more than 181,000 orbits around our planet, totaling over 4.5 billion miles.
- Hubble observations have produced more than 169 terabytes of data, which are available for present and future generations of researchers.
- Astronomers using Hubble data have published more than 18,000 scientific papers, with more than 900 of those papers published in 2020.
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy in Washington, D.C.
For more information: www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/hubble-captures-giant-s...
This is a rebuild of my old Aaron's dragon suit. Reworked the transformation feature and improved the articulation cum stability. Transformation can be seen on my youtube channel youtu.be/PnvZXXj68Qk
PHILIPPINE SEA (Sept. 15, 2016) Sailors aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54) heave in a line during a replenishment at sea with the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6). Bonhomme Richard, flagship of the Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group, on patrol in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations to support security and stability in the Indo-Asia Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class David Holmes/Released)
TIMOR SEA (May 13, 2022) Landing Craft Mechanized (LCM) 8, assigned to 36 Water Transport Troop, 10 Force Support Battalion, Australian Army, conducts amphibious operations with U.S. Navy forward-deployed amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland (LSD 48) in support of Operation Croc Response. Ashland, part of the America Expeditionary Strike Group is operating in U.S. 7th Fleet to enhance interoperability with allies and partners, serving as a ready-response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Ensign Juliana LaFrance)
Hadrian's Wall is a stone and turf fortification built by the Roman Empire across the width of Great Britain. It was the second of three such fortifications built across Great Britain, the first being Gask Ridge and the last the Antonine Wall. All three were built to prevent military raids by the Pictish tribes (ancient inhabitants of Scotland) to the north, to improve economic stability and provide peaceful conditions in the Roman province of Britannia to the south, and to physically mark the frontier of the Empire. Hadrian's Wall is the best known of the three because it remains the most physically preserved and evident today.
The wall was the northern border of the Empire in Britain for much of the Roman Empire's rule, and also the most heavily fortified border in the Empire. In addition to its use as a military fortification, it is thought that the gates through the wall would also have served as customs posts to allow trade taxation.
A significant portion of the wall still exists, particularly the mid-section, and for much of its length the wall can be followed on foot. It is the most popular tourist attraction in Northern England, where it is often known simply as the Roman Wall. It was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. English Heritage, a government organization in charge of managing the historic environment of England, describes it as "the most important monument built by the Romans in Britain".[1]
Sections of Hadrian's Wall remain near Greenhead and along the route, though other large sections have been dismantled over the years to use the stones for various nearby construction projects.
Sections of Hadrian's Wall remain near Greenhead and along the route, though other large sections have been dismantled over the years to use the stones for various nearby construction projects.
The Roman name of the Wall
No stone inscription survives to confirm what the Wall was called in antiquity, and no historical source gives it a name. However, the discovery of a small enamelled bronze Roman cup in Staffordshire in 2003 has provided a clue. The cup is inscribed with a series of names of Roman forts (see also the botrom of this page) along the western sector of the Wall, together with a personal name and a phrase:
MAIS COGGABATA VXELODVNVM CAMBOGLANNA RIGORE VALI AELI DRACONIS
Here we have Bowness (MAIS, followed by what must be the correct name for Drumburgh-by-Sands (COGGABATA) until now known only as CONGAVATA from the late Roman document, the Notitia Dignitatum. Next comes Stanwix (VXELODVNVM), then Castlesteads (CAMBOGLANNA), before we get to the most tantalizing part.
RIGORE seems to be the ablative form of the Latin word rigor. This can mean several things, but one of its less well-known meanings is ‘straight line’, ‘course’ or ‘direction’. This was used by Roman surveyors and appears on a number of inscriptions to indicate a line between places. So the meaning could be ‘from the course’, or better in English 'according to the course'.
The Staffordshire Moorlands cup, which provides the ancient name of Hadrian's Wall.
The Staffordshire Moorlands cup, which provides the ancient name of Hadrian's Wall.
There is no such word as vali, but in antiquity Hadrian’s Wall was known as the Vallum, the Latin word for a frontier which is today incorrectly applied to the ditch and mounds dug by the Roman army just south of the Wall. The genitive form of Vallum is Valli, so one of the most likely meanings is VAL[L]I, ‘of the frontier’. Omitting one of a pair of double consonants is common on Roman inscriptions, and transcribing an inscription from a written note is the easiest way to miss out letters. Another similar bronze vessel, known as the Rudge Cup (found in Wiltshire in the 18th century) has VN missing from the name VXELODVNVM, for example, although the letters appear on the Staffordshire cup. The Rudge Cup only bears fort names.
The name AELI is also in the genitive. This was Hadrian's nomen, his main family name and we know that the Roman bridge at Newcastle-upon-Tyne was called Pons Aelius.
Finally we have the name DRACONIS, which can be translated as ‘[by the hand – or property] of Aelius Draco’. It was normal for Roman manufacturers to give their names in the genitive (‘of’), and ‘by the hand’ would be understood. The form is common, for example, on samian pottery.
The translation, therefore, could be:
‘Mais, Coggabata, Uxelodunum, Camboglanna, according to the line of the Aelian frontier. [By the hand or The property] of Draco’.
This would mean the Romans knew Hadrian's Wall as Vallum Aeli, 'the Aelian frontier'.
Dimensions
Hadrian's Wall was 80 Roman miles (73.5 English miles or 117 kilometres) long, its width and height dependent on the construction materials which were available nearby: east of River Irthing the wall was made from squared stone and measured 3 m (9.7 ft) wide and 5 to 6 metres (16–20 ft) tall; west of the river the wall was made from turf and measured 6 metres (20 ft) wide and 3.5 metres (11.5 ft) high. This does not include the wall's ditches, berms, and forts. The central section measured 8 Roman feet wide (7.8 ft or 2.4 m) on a 10 foot base.
Route
Map showing the location of Hadrian's Wall.
Map showing the location of Hadrian's Wall.
Hadrian's Wall extended west Segedunum at Wallsend on the River Tyne to the shore of the Solway Firth. The A69 and B6318 roads follow the course of the wall as it starts in Newcastle upon Tyne to Carlisle, then on round the northern coast of Cumbria. The Wall is entirely in England and south of the border with Scotland by 15 kilometres (9 mi) in the west and 110 kilometres (68 mi) in the east.
Hadrian
Hadrian's Wall was built following a visit by Roman emperor Hadrian (AD 76–138) in AD 122. Hadrian was experiencing military difficulties in Britain, and from the peoples of various conquered lands across the Empire, including Egypt, Judea, Libya, Mauretania, and many of the peoples conquered by his predecessor Trajan, so he was keen to impose order. However the construction of such an impressive wall was probably also a symbol of Roman power, both in occupied Britain and in Rome. Frontiers in the early empire were based more on natural features or fortified zones with a heavy military presence. Military roads or limes often marked the border, with forts and signal towers spread along them and it was not until the reign of Domitian that the first solid frontier was constructed, in Germania Superior, using a simple fence. Hadrian expanded on this idea, redesigning the German border by ordering a continuous timber palisade supported by forts behind it. Although such defences would not have held back any concerted invasion effort, they did physically mark the edge of Roman territory and went some way to providing a degree of control over who crossed the border and where.
Hadrian reduced Roman military presence in the territory of the Brigantes and concentrated on building a more solid linear fortification to the north of them. This was intended to replace the Stanegate road which is generally thought to have served as the limes (the boundary of the Roman Empire) until then.
Construction
Construction probably started in 122 AD and was largely completed within eight years, with soldiers from all three of the occupying Roman legions participating in the work. The route chosen largely paralleled the nearby Stanegate road from Luguvalium (Carlisle) to Coria (Corbridge), which was already defended by a system of forts, including Vindolanda. The Wall in part follows the outcrop of a harder, more resistant igneous dolerite rock escarpment, known as the Great Whin Sill.
The initial plan called for a ditch and wall with 80 small, gated milecastle fortlets every Roman mile holding a few dozen troops each, and pairs of evenly spaced intermediate turrets used for observation and signalling. The wall was initially designed to a width of 3 metres (10 ft) (the so-called "Broad Wall"). The height is estimated to have been around 5 or 6 metres (16–20 ft). Local limestone was used in the construction, except for the section to the west of Irthing where turf was used instead as there were no useful outcrops nearby. The turf wall was 6 metres wide (20 ft) and around 3.5 metres (11.5 ft) high. Milecastles in this area were also built from timber and earth rather than stone but turrets were always stone. The Broad Wall was initially built with a clay-bonded rubble core and mortared dressed rubble facing stones, but this seems to have made it vulnerable to collapse and repair with a mortared core was sometimes necessary.
Roman fort at Corstopitum.
Roman fort at Corstopitum.
The milecastles were of three different designs, depending on which Roman legion built them — the Second, Sixth, and Twentieth Legions, whose inscriptions tell us were all involved in the construction. Similarly there are three different turret designs along the route. All were about 493 metres (539 yd) apart and measured 4.27 metres square (46.0 sq ft) internally.
Construction was divided into lengths of about 5 miles (8 km). One group of each legion would create the foundations and build the milecastles and turrets and then other cohorts would follow, building the wall itself.
Early in its construction, just after reaching the North Tyne (construction worked from east to west), the width of the wall was narrowed to 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) or even less (sometimes 1.8m) (the "Narrow Wall"). However, Broad Wall foundations had already been laid as far as the river Irthing, where the Turf Wall began, and many turrets and milecastles were optimistically provided with stub 'wing walls' in preparation for joining to the Broad Wall; a handy reference for archaeologists trying to piece together the construction chronology.
Within a few years it was decided to add a total of 14 to 17 (sources disagree) full-sized forts along the length of the wall, including Vercovicium (Housesteads) and Banna (Birdoswald), each holding between 500 and 1,000 auxiliary troops (no legions were posted to the wall). The eastern end of the wall was extended further east from Pons Aelius (Newcastle) to Segedunum (Wallsend) on the Tyne estuary. Some of the larger forts along the wall, such as Cilurnum (Chesters) and Vercovicium (Housesteads), were built on top of the footings of milecastles or turrets, showing the change of plan. An inscription mentioning early governor Aulus Platorius Nepos indicates that the change of plans took place early on. Also some time still during Hadrian's reign (i.e., before AD 138) the wall west of the Irthing was rebuilt in sandstone to basically the same dimensions as the limestone section to the east.
Vallum at Hadrian's Wall near milecastle 42
Vallum at Hadrian's Wall near milecastle 42
After the forts had been added (or possibly at the same time), the so-called Vallum was built on the southern side. It consisted of a large, flat-bottomed ditch 6 metres (20 ft) wide at the top and 3 metres (10 ft) deep bounded by a berm on each side 10 metres (33 ft) wide. Beyond the berms were earth banks 6 metres (20 ft) wide and 2 metres (6.5 ft) high. Causeways crossed the ditch at regular intervals. Initially the berm appears to have been the main route for transportation along the wall. The Vallum probably delineated a military zone rather than intending to be a major fortification, though the British tribes to the south were also sometimes a military problem.
The Wall was thus part of a defensive system which, from north to south included:
* a glacis and a deep ditch
* a berm with rows of pits holding entanglements
* the curtain wall itself
* a later military road (the "Military Way")
* a north mound, a ditch and a south mound to prevent or slow down any raids from a rebelling southern tribe.
Roman-period names
The remains of milecastle 39, near Steel Rigg
The remains of milecastle 39, near Steel Rigg
The Roman-period names of some of the Hadrian's Wall forts are known, from the Notitia Dignitatum and other evidence:
* Segedunum (Wallsend)
* Pons Aelius (Newcastle on Tyne)
* Condercum (Benwell Hill)
* Vindobala (Halton Chesters)[2]
* Hunnum (Rudchester)[2]
* Cilurnum (Chesters aka Walwick Chesters)[2]
* Procolita (Carrowburgh)
* Vercovicium (Housesteads)
* Aesica (Great Chesters)[2]
* Magnis (Carvoran)
* Banna (Birdoswald)
* Camboglanna (Castlesteads)
* Uxelodunum (Stanwix. Also known as Petriana)
* Aballava (Burgh-by-Sands)
* Coggabata (Drumburgh)
* Mais (Bowness)
Outpost forts beyond the Wall include:
* Habitancum (Risingham)
* Bremenium (Rochester)[2]
* Ad Fines (Chew Green) [1]
Supply forts behind the wall include:
* Alauna (Maryport)
* Arbeia (South Shields)
* Coria (Corbridge)
* Vindolanda (Little Chesters)[2]
* Vindomora (Ebchester)[2]
Garrison
The wall was garrisoned by auxiliary (i.e., non-legionary) units of the army (non-citizens). Their numbers fluctuated throughout the occupation, but may have been around 9,000 strong in general, including infantry and cavalry. The new forts could hold garrisons of 500 men while cavalry units of 1,000 troops were stationed at either end. The total number of soldiers manning the early wall was probably greater than 10,000.
They suffered serious attacks in 180, and especially between 196 and 197 when the garrison had been seriously weakened, following which major reconstruction had to be carried out under Septimius Severus. The region near the wall remained peaceful for most of the rest of the 3rd century. It is thought that many in the garrison may have married and integrated into the local community.
Part of Hadrian's wall near Housesteads.
Part of Hadrian's wall near Housesteads.
After Hadrian
In the years after Hadrian's death in 138, the new emperor, Antoninus Pius essentially abandoned the wall, though leaving it occupied in a support role, and began building a new wall in Scotland proper, about 160 kilometres (100 mi) north, the Antonine Wall. This turf wall ran 40 Roman miles (about 37.8 mi or 61 km) and had significantly more forts than Hadrian's Wall. Antonine was unable to conquer the northern tribes and so when Marcus Aurelius became emperor, he abandoned the Antonine Wall and occupied Hadrian's Wall once again in 164. It remained occupied by Roman troops until their withdrawal from Britain.
In the late 4th century, barbarian invasions, economic decline, and military coups loosened the Empire's hold on Britain. By 410, the Roman administration and its legions were gone, and Britain was left to look to its own defences and government. The garrisons, by now probably made up mostly of local Britons who had nowhere else to go, probably lingered on in some form for generations. Archaeology is beginning to reveal that some parts of the Wall remained occupied well into the 5th century. Enough also survived in the 8th century for spolia from it to find its way into the construction of Jarrow Priory, and for Bede to see and describe the Wall thus in Historia Ecclesiastica 1.5, although he misidentified it as being built by Septimius Severus:
“ after many great and dangerous battles, he thought fit to divide that part of the island, which he had recovered from the other unconquered nations, not with a wall, as some imagine, but with a rampart. For a wall is made of stones, but a rampart, with which camps are fortified to repel the assaults of enemies, is made of sods, cut out of the earth, and raised above the ground all round like a wall, having in front of it the ditch whence the sods were taken, and strong stakes of wood fixed upon its top. ”
But in time the wall was abandoned and fell into ruin. Over the centuries and even into the 20th century a large proportion of the stone was reused in other local buildings.
In fiction
Sycamore Gap (the "Robin Hood Tree")
Sycamore Gap (the "Robin Hood Tree")
* Hadrian's Wall was featured extensively in the movie King Arthur (which depicted the story of the people the Arthurian legends were supposedly based on). The one kilometre (0.6 mi) long replica, located in County Kildare, Ireland, was the largest movie set ever built in that country, and took a crew of 300 construction workers four and a half months to build. The fort in the movie where Arthur and his Sarmatian "knights" were garrisoned was based on the Roman fort named Vindolanda, which was built around AD 80 just south of Hadrian's Wall in what is now called Chesterholm, in Northern England. In the movie, the fort is attached to the wall.
* Sycamore Gap, a section of the wall between two crests just west of milecastle 38, is locally known as the "Robin Hood Tree". This location was used in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, as the setting for an interlude during Robin's journey from the White Cliffs (actually shot at the Seven Sisters Hills) to Nottingham via Aysgarth Falls.
PHILIPPINE SEA (Aug. 24, 2016) An MH-60S Sea Hawk, assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 25, lands on the flight deck of amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) during flight operations. Bonhomme Richard, flagship of the Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations in support of security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Diana Quinlan/Released)
La Casa de los Tiros es un museo e inmueble situado en la ciudad española de Granada, comunidad autónoma de Andalucía. Se encuentra ubicada en el barrio del Realejo, en la calle Pavaneras. Su nombre se debe a las piezas de artillería que hay en sus almenas. Actualmente es la sede del Museo Casa de los Tiros de Granada; durante algunos años, fue sede asimismo del Ateneo de Granada.
Fue construida en el siglo XVI a similitud de los palacios granadinos de la época y adquirida por Gil Vázquez de Rengifo, comendador de Montiel y uno de los caballeros que participaron en la Conquista de Granada junto a los Reyes Católicos. La casa formó parte de la muralla del barrio de los Alfareros, de ahí su aspecto de fortaleza militar. Del edificio original solo se conserva el Torreón, en torno al cual se ha ido construyendo posteriormente.
Los primeros propietarios de la casa fueron los Granada Venegas, linaje que comienza con Pedro de Granada (Cidi Yahya) noble descendiente de Yusuf IV e hijo del infante del Almería y Alcaide de Baza, se reconvirtió al cristianismo. Se casó con su prima Cetti Meriem, que cambió su nombre por el de María Venegas una vez reconvertida junto a su marido, comenzando con esta unión el linaje de los Granada-Venegas.
La casa ha pertenecido hasta 1921 a los marqueses de Campotejar, título que le fue otorgado a la familia Granada Venegas en reconocimiento a los servicios prestados a la corona. Tras un largo pleito mantenido con ellos (desde el siglo XVIII al XX), pasó a manos del Estado.
La fachada de la torre, pues tal es la forma del edificio, de sillería y decorada por cinco esculturas sobre consolas, que representan a Hércules, Teseo, Mercurio, Jasón y Héctor. Los héroes están representados en actitud de disposición a entrar en batalla en cualquier momento. Tienen los pies separados para alcanzar mayor estabilidad, los hombros enderezados y la vista enfocada fijamente a la lejanía. Las figuras son en tamaño natural y dado que la fachada del estrecho edificio de tres pisos carece de otros elementos decorativos, su virilidad y belicosidad causan una gran impresión.4En la fachada se abre una gran puerta adintelada del siglo XVII y sobre ésta hay tallada una espada que perfora un corazón. Se puede leer el siguiente lema: "El (corazón) manda". Encontramos dos balcones y tres aldabas de bronce, sujetas por corazones a modo de clavos que las sujetan, donde puede leerse: "¡El corazón manda! Gente de guerra, exercita las armas.
El corazón se quiebra cual aldaba llamándonos a la batalla y Aldabadas son las que da Dios y las siente el corazón"
El zaguán, de gran altura, ocupa la parte baja de la torre, cubierto por un techo de madera plano con grandes vigas apoyadas en zapatas góticas. Entre las vigas, pinturas policromadas de animales mitológicos y fieras luchando.
El patio de formas sencillas, con paredes encaladas, y al estilo musulmán con una pequeña fuente en medio y columnas nazaríes.
La escalera principal moderna, datada del siglo XVIII y culminada con bóveda con ventanas, da paso a la planta superior, y decorada con una colección procedente del Generalife de retratos de los reyes españoles de la Casa de Austria realizados por los retratistas de la Corte, copias efectuadas durante los siglos XVI y XVII.
La escalera principal en el siglo XVI, contiene decoración pictórica mural, representando a las virtudes: Caridad, Esperanza, Justicia y una Inmaculada.
En la parte trasera del edificio se encuentra el pequeño jardín, tan típico de las construcciones granadinas, donde se encuentran cipreses, parterres de boj, granados, naranjos y arrayanes. Cuenta con una fuente y un estanque, así como con bustos y esculturas. Algunos de sus arbustos tienen nombres, al haber sido plantados por intelectuales de la época, como es el caso de un laurel que plantó Elena Martín Vivaldi.
La Cuadra Dorada, la sala más emblemática del edificio, con armadura renacentista que decora su techo y pinturas murales. Su nombre hace referencia a la abundancia de reflejos dorados de su alfarje o artesonado. Formado por grandes tablones con bajorrelieves y textos, apoyados en grandes vigas y zapatas con formas de personajes históricos, representando un tablero de ajedrez, siendo una muestra de aquellos que lucharon por conseguir la unidad de España, describiendo bajo cada uno las hazañas que los hicieron famosos. Se encuentra Alarico, Hermenegildo, Recaredo, Alfonso V, López de Mendoza, así como los Reyes Católicos artífices de dicha unidad y Carlos I, que la elevó a categoría de Imperio, e Isabel de Portugal . Los frescos ubicados en las paredes representan a héroes y guerreros, y hay cuatro tondos con las figuras en relieve de heroínas de la Antigüedad.
es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casa_de_los_Tiros
The Casa de los Tiros is a museum and building located in the Spanish city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the Realejo neighbourhood, on Pavaneras Street. Its name comes from the artillery pieces on its battlements. It is currently the headquarters of the Museo Casa de los Tiros de Granada; for some years it was also the headquarters of the Granada Athenaeum.
It was built in the 16th century in the style of the Granada palaces of the time and was acquired by Gil Vázquez de Rengifo, Commander of Montiel and one of the knights who took part in the Conquest of Granada alongside the Catholic Monarchs. The house formed part of the wall of the Alfareros quarter, hence its appearance as a military fortress. Of the original building, only the tower remains, around which construction has been carried out since then.
The first owners of the house were the Granada Venegas, a lineage that began with Pedro de Granada (Cidi Yahya), a noble descendant of Yusuf IV and son of the Infante del Almería and Alcaide de Baza, who reconverted to Christianity. He married his cousin Cetti Meriem, who changed her name to María Venegas once she and her husband were reconverted, thus beginning the lineage of the Granada-Venegas family.
The house belonged until 1921 to the Marquises of Campotejar, a title granted to the Granada Venegas family in recognition of their services to the crown. After a long dispute with them (from the 18th to the 20th century), it passed into the hands of the State.
The façade of the tower, which is the shape of the building, is of ashlar masonry and decorated with five sculptures on consoles, representing Hercules, Theseus, Mercury, Jason and Hector. The heroes are depicted in an attitude of readiness to enter battle at any moment. Their feet are splayed for stability, their shoulders are straight and their gaze is fixed in the distance. The figures are life-size, and since the façade of the narrow three-storey building lacks other decorative elements, their virility and bellicosity make a strong impression.4 A large 17th-century lintelled door opens on the façade, and above it is carved a sword piercing a heart. The following motto can be read: "El (corazón) manda" (The (heart) rules). There are two balconies and three bronze doorknockers, held in place by hearts like nails, which read: 'The heart rules! People of war, exercise your weapons.
The heart breaks like a knocker calling us to battle and knockers are those given by God and felt by the heart".
The high entrance hall occupies the lower part of the tower, covered by a flat wooden roof with large beams supported by Gothic footings. Between the beams are polychrome paintings of mythological animals and wild beasts fighting.
The courtyard is simple in form, with whitewashed walls, and in the Muslim style with a small fountain in the middle and Nasrid columns.
The modern main staircase, dating from the 18th century and crowned with a vaulted ceiling with windows, leads to the upper floor, decorated with a collection from the Generalife of portraits of the Spanish kings of the House of Austria by court portraitists, copies made during the 16th and 17th centuries.
The main staircase, dating from the 16th century, contains pictorial mural decoration, representing the virtues: Charity, Hope, Justice and an Immaculate Conception.
At the back of the building is the small garden, so typical of Granada buildings, where there are cypresses, boxwood, pomegranate, orange and myrtle trees. It has a fountain and a pond, as well as busts and sculptures. Some of the shrubs have names, having been planted by intellectuals of the time, such as a laurel tree planted by Elena Martín Vivaldi.
The Cuadra Dorada, the most emblematic room in the building, with Renaissance armour decorating its ceiling and mural paintings. Its name refers to the abundance of golden reflections in its alfarje or coffered ceiling. Formed by large planks with bas-reliefs and texts, supported by large beams and footings in the shape of historical figures, representing a chessboard, it is a sample of those who fought to achieve the unity of Spain, describing under each one the exploits that made them famous. There is Alaric, Hermenegildo, Recaredo, Alfonso V, López de Mendoza, as well as the Catholic Monarchs, the architects of this unity and Carlos I, who elevated it to the category of Empire, and Isabella of Portugal. The frescoes on the walls depict heroes and warriors, and there are four tondos with relief figures of heroines of antiquity.
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This is a rebuild of my old Aaron's dragon suit. Reworked the transformation feature and improved the articulation cum stability. Transformation can be seen on my youtube channel youtu.be/PnvZXXj68Qk