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London Wall was the defensive wall first built by the Romans around Londinium, their strategically important port town on the River Thames in what is now the United Kingdom, and subsequently maintained until the 18th century. It is now the name of a road in the City of London running along part of the course of the old wall between Wormwood Street and the Rotunda junction where St. Martin's Le Grand meets Aldersgate Street. Until the later Middle Ages the wall defined the boundaries of the City of London. ==Construction of the Roman wall== The wall appears to have been built in the late 2nd or early 3rd century, certainly between 190 and 225, and probably between 200 and 220.〔Ross & Clark 2008, p. 47.〕 This was around 80 years after the construction in 120 of the city's fort, whose north and west walls were thickened and doubled in height to form part of the new city wall. It continued to be developed until at least the end of the 4th century, making it among the last major building projects undertaken by the Romans before the Roman departure from Britain in 410. Although the exact reason for the wall's construction is unknown, it may have been connected to the invasion of northern Britain by Picts who overran Hadrian's Wall in the 180s.〔(Channel4.com Timeline of Romans in Britain )〕 Alternatively, many historians link the building of London Wall with the political crisis that had emerged in the 190s when two men – Septimius Severus, and the governor of Britain Clodius Albinus – claimed the right to succession as emperor. The wall may have been constructed on the orders of Albinus in the 190s, who, in a power struggle with his rival, may have felt the need to protect his capital. Septimius eventually defeated his rival in 197. Along with Hadrian's Wall and the road network, the London Wall was one of the largest construction projects carried out in Roman Britain. The wall was constructed largely from Kentish ragstone brought by water from Maidstone. It has been calculated that some 1,300 barge journeys would have been required to transport the 85,000 tons of stone from Kent. Once built, the wall was 3.2 kilometres (2 miles) long, enclosed an area of about , and was 6 to 9 feet (2 to 3 m) wide and about 20 feet (6 m) high.〔(London Wall ) Museum of London, Retrieved 30 May 2010.〕 It had a ditch or ''fossa'' in front of the outer wall, measuring some 6 feet (2 m) deep by between 9 and 15 feet (3 to 5 m) wide. It included a number of bastions (at least twenty-two) spaced about 70 yards (64 m) apart, on the eastern section of the wall.〔Those on the western section, such as the well-preserved example that can be seen at the Barbican Estate, next to the church of St Giles-without-Cripplegate, were added in the 13th century (Chapman, Hall & Marsh 1986, nos. 15–17).〕 The economic stimulus provided by the wall and Septimius's campaigns of conquest in Scotland appear to have revived Londinium's fortunes somewhat in the early third century.. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「London Wall」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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