Key Stage 2 history · British history

KS2 Roman conquest and Hadrian’s Wall: a guide for parents

After the invasion of AD 43, the Romans spent decades extending their control over Britain. Key Stage 2 children learn how the conquest happened in stages, why Emperor Hadrian ordered a wall to be built in the north around AD 122, and how historians use sources such as the writing tablets found at Vindolanda to build a picture of life on the frontier.

Roman conquest and Hadrian’s Wall, explained

The National Curriculum asks children in Years 3 to 6 to learn about the Roman Empire and its impact on Britain. The programme of study gives non-statutory examples, one of which is the successful invasion by Claudius and conquest, including Hadrian’s Wall. Schools choose how far to go, and Boudica’s revolt and the ‘Romanisation’ of Britain are often taught as topics of their own. Children are expected to note connections, contrasts and trends over time, to use terms such as empire, province and frontier correctly, and to understand how knowledge of the past is built from sources.

The conquest took many years. After the landing in AD 43, the Romans took the south-east first, and by about AD 47 their control reached roughly from the River Exe to the Humber. Wales and the north were harder to take. A tribal leader called Caratacus resisted for around eight years before he was defeated, and in AD 60 or 61 Boudica’s revolt in the east nearly drove the Romans out. Roman governors built forts and roads, and the new town of Londinium grew into the main centre of the province. In the late AD 70s and early 80s the governor Agricola led armies far into Scotland, but the Romans never held all of it, and they later pulled back.

Emperor Hadrian visited Britain in AD 122, and building began on a great wall across the north. It ran for 80 Roman miles, about 73 modern miles or 117 kilometres, from Wallsend on the River Tyne in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the west. Soldiers from three legions built it, mostly in stone, with a turf section in the west that was later rebuilt. Every Roman mile there was a small fort with a gate, called a milecastle, and between each pair there were two turrets for lookouts. Larger forts for the garrisons stood along or near the line. A deep ditch ran in front of the Wall on the north side, and behind it, on the south side, ran a second earthwork called the Vallum: a wide ditch between two mounds. Later, a second wall was built further north, the Antonine Wall, but it was given up within a generation.

Why was it built? Historians suggest several reasons: to defend the province, to control who crossed and collect taxes on goods, and to show Roman power. The gates at each milecastle show that people were meant to pass through, so it was not a sealed barrier. Children sometimes think it marks the border between England and Scotland, but the whole Wall lies in England, and its eastern end is many miles south of the border. What we know comes from the remains of the wall, from inscriptions carved in stone, and from thin wooden writing tablets found at the fort of Vindolanda, just south of the Wall. They include a birthday party invitation, and a letter telling a soldier that socks, sandals and underpants have been sent to him. Most of them date from around AD 100, before the Wall was built.

Words your child will hear

Province: An area outside Italy that was ruled by Rome, such as Britain.
Governor: The person Rome put in charge of a province, who also led the army there.
Frontier: The edge of an empire or country, where one territory meets another.
Milecastle: A small fort with a gate, built every Roman mile along Hadrian’s Wall.
Turret: A small tower on the Wall where soldiers could keep watch.
Garrison: The soldiers who live and work in a fort.
Inscription: Writing carved into stone or metal, for example to record who built something.

What the National Curriculum says

The programme of study for Key Stage 2 says:

Pupils should be taught about the Roman Empire and its impact on Britain
Pupils should note connections, contrasts and trends over time and develop the appropriate use of historical terms.
Pupils should understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources.

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

A worked example: reading a source

A wooden tablet from Vindolanda is an invitation to a birthday party. What can it tell us, and what can’t it tell us?

Describe the source. It is a thin leaf of wood written on in ink, in Latin, around AD 100. It was sent by Claudia Severa, the wife of an officer at another fort, to Sulpicia Lepidina, the wife of the commander at Vindolanda, and it invites her to a birthday celebration on 11 September.
Say what it tells us. Officers’ families lived at the frontier and wrote to each other, so these were not just camps for soldiers. Some people could read and write Latin, and they used a calendar. They could travel between forts to visit.
Say what it cannot tell us. It was written by and for wealthy women, so it says little about ordinary soldiers, or about the Britons who lived nearby. It also dates from before the Wall was built, so it cannot tell us how the Wall was built.
Combine it with other sources. Other tablets from the same fort mention soldiers’ requests and supplies. Stone inscriptions record which legions built sections of the Wall, and the remains of the forts show how they were laid out.

The tablet shows that officers’ families lived on the frontier, that people wrote letters and kept social lives, and that some could read Latin. It cannot tell us about ordinary soldiers or the local Britons, or about building the Wall, so we need other sources to complete the picture.

Common mistakes and how to help

“Hadrian’s Wall is the border between England and Scotland”

It runs across the north and looks like a border on a map.

What helps: Show a map. The Wall lies in northern England, and the modern border is further north. The Roman frontier was between Roman and non-Roman land, which is a different idea.

“The Wall was built to keep everyone out”

Walls in stories are usually barriers.

What helps: Look for the gates at every milecastle. Soldiers watched and controlled who came and went, and collected taxes. It was part of a system with forts and roads, not just a wall.

“Slaves built it”

Films often show enslaved people building ancient monuments.

What helps: Inscriptions record that Roman soldiers from the legions built the Wall. Ask your child what that tells us about the army’s skills.

“The Romans conquered the whole island”

A date like AD 43 and a famous wall can make it seem simple.

What helps: The conquest took many years and was never finished. The Romans did not hold all of Scotland and never took Ireland. The Wall is one sign of where they decided to stop.

How to help at home

Measure a Roman mile. A Roman mile was 1,000 paces, and a Roman pace was two steps, so a Roman mile is about 2,000 of an adult’s steps. Count 100 paces together in a park, counting each time the same foot lands, and see how far you get. Ten times that would be one Roman mile. Then compare it with a journey you know well: the Wall was 73 modern miles long, so how far along it would a trip to a relative’s house take you?
Write a Vindolanda-style note. Ask your child to write a short note on a strip of card, inviting a friend to a party, or asking for something to be sent. Then talk about what a historian could learn about your family from it 2,000 years from now.
Draw a map of the frontier. On a map of Britain, mark Londinium, Colchester, Wallsend, Bowness-on-Solway and the line of the Wall. Add the modern border between England and Scotland and compare them.
Design a milecastle. Build a small fort from boxes or blocks with a gate, a lookout and room for soldiers. Ask your child what the soldiers would watch for and how they would send messages.
Visit a Roman site with an adult. If you can, visit part of the Wall or a Roman fort or museum. Stay on the paths, don’t climb on the stonework, and let your child hunt for inscriptions, gates and the sites of turrets.

Leads on to

Key Stage 3: Medieval Britain 1066 to 1509
Key Stage 3: Tudors and Stuarts: Britain 1509 to 1745
Key Stage 3: Britain 1745 to 1901: industry and empire
Key Stage 3: Britain and the world, 1901 to today
Key Stage 3: The Holocaust