When Hadrian reached Britannia on his famous tour of the Roman provinces around 120, he directed an extensive defensive wall, known to posterity as Hadrian's Wall, to be built close to the line of the Stanegate frontier.

Located near the modern village of Bardon Mill, it guarded the Stanegate, the Roman road from the River Tyne to the Solway Firth.

* Stanegate, Roman road

The Stanegate, or " stone road " ( Old English ), was an important Roman road built in what is now northern England.

The Stanegate differed from most other Roman roads in that it often followed the easiest gradients, and so tended to weave around, whereas typical Roman roads follow a straight path, even if this sometimes involves having punishing gradients to climb.

Stanegate, within the Corbridge Roman Site

Roman milestone on the Stanegate near Vindolanda

From that point the course of the river as it turns west is lined with other Roman sites associated with the Roman Stanegate road and Hadrian's Wall.

The old Roman road or Stanegate passes just two miles to the north of the town.

Two important Roman roads in the region were the Stanegate and Dere Street, the latter extending through the Cheviot Hills to locations well north of the Tweed.

The Roman forts of Vercovicium ( Housesteads ) on Hadrian's Wall, and Vindolanda ( Chesterholm ) built to guard the Stanegate, had extensive civil settlements surrounding them.

The Stanegate began in the east at Corstopitum, where the important road, Dere Street headed towards Scotland.

Much of the Stanegate provided the foundation for the Carelgate ( or Carlisle Road ), a medieval road running from Corbridge market place and joining the Stanegate west of Corstopitum.

Stanegate, the military road from Carlisle to Corbridge, was built under the Emperor Trajan ( ruled 98-117 AD ) along the line of the future Hadrian's Wall, which was constructed by his successor Hadrian in 122-132 AD.

He also led a campaign into Scotland, but from these conquests he was recalled by the Emperor Domitian, and the border gradually solidified along the line of the Stanegate in Northern England.

When the Romans decided to withdraw from Scotland, the line of the Stanegate became the new frontier and it became necessary to provide forts at half-day marching intervals.

The retreat from Scotland took place in about 105 AD, and so the strengthening of the Stanegate defences would date from about that time.

From Haltwhistle Burn, the Stanegate continues west away from the course of the South Tyne and passes the major fort of Magnis ( Carvoran ), from Vindolanda and from Corstopitum.

It has also been suggested that the Stanegate may have run eastwards from Corstopitum towards present-day Newcastle, but there is no evidence to support this.

The ' Stanegate ' frontier, which consisted of itself and several other forts spanning east to Corbridge, was proving to be a far more stable frontier against the Picts than those established deeper into Caledonia.

In either case, the frontier probably moved south to the line of the Stanegate at the Solway-Tyne isthmus around this time.

From Vindolanda the Stanegate crosses the route of the present-day Military Road and passes just south of the minor fort of Haltwhistle Burn.

West of Corsopitum, the Stanegate crossed the Cor Burn, and then followed the north bank of the Tyne until it reached the North Tyne near the village of Wall.

Someone also suggested that these large roads were used to quickly move an army from the canyon to the outlier communities, a purpose similar to the road systems known for the Roman empire.

No larger settlements, however, have been found to have existed in this remote rural area, located at least 15 km from the nearest road even in Roman times, up to the early medieval period when the place is mentioned as a king's mansion for the first time, not long before Charlemagne became ruler of the Germanic Franks.

The Roman road between Salodurum ( Solothurn ) and Vindonissa passed through the area, along the route now covered by the Bahnhofstrasse.

Gobannium was a Roman fort guarding the road along the valley of the River Usk which linked the legionary fortress of Burrium ( Usk ) and later Isca Augusta or Isca Silurum, ( Caerleon ) in the south with Y Gaer, Brecon and Mid Wales.

The chief Roman road linking the provincial capitals of Cologne and Mainz cut right through the fort where it joined the fort's main road ( now, Römerstraße ).

On both sides of the road, the local settlement, Bonna, grew into a sizeable Roman town.

The luggage wagons, with a great amount of plunder, is said to have remained along the old Roman road, the main route from Poitiers to Bordeaux, to give protection to his weak right side.

Suetonius took a stand at an unidentified location, probably in the West Midlands somewhere along the Roman road now known as Watling Street, in a defile with a wood behind him — but his men were heavily outnumbered.

Most historians favour a site in the West Midlands, somewhere along the Roman road now known as Watling Street.

Hadrian's temple had actually been located there because it was the junction of the main north-south road with one of the two main east-west roads and directly adjacent to the forum ( which is now the location of the ( smaller ) Muristan ); the forum itself had been placed, as is traditional in Roman towns, at the junction of the main north-south road with the ( other ) main east-west road ( which is now El-Bazar / David Street ).

A Roman trade road between Salzburg and today ’ s Augsburg is said to have run through Dachau.

A little to the south of Fonni stood the Roman station of Sorabile, mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary as situated some 100 km from Caralis on the road to Olbia.

Remains of the Roman road, the bridge, a religious shrine, a Roman bath, a granary, some houses and the 4th-century castrum walls and gates, have been excavated.

According to legend, the Armenian-born Saint Servatius, bishop of Tongeren, died in Maastricht in 384 and was buried there along the Roman road, outside the castrum.

An audiovisual light show is presented nightly on the western side of the mountain ( access by car from the Arad road or by foot, down the mountain via the Roman ramp path ).

The Nuorese was crossed by a Roman road which connected Karalis ( Cagliari ) to Ulbia ( Olbia ).

This wealth was shown by the many monuments that were particularly imposing considering the relatively small size of the urban area: the forum, laid out in two terraces on both sides of the main road, was constructed in several phases between the reigns of Claudius and Antoninus Pius, and the theatre was enlarged and expanded in order to hold Roman games.

The inhabitants of Great Britain have been drinking ale since the Bronze Age, but it was with the arrival of the Romans and the establishment of the Roman road network that the first inns called tabernae, in which the traveller could obtain refreshment, began to appear.

Between the two ends of the range, the only passes worth mentioning are the Col de la Perche, between the valley of the Têt and the valley of the Segre, the Port d ' Envalira, the highest mountain pass in the Pyrenees and one of the highest points of the European road network, and the Col de Somport or Port de Canfranc, where there were old Roman roads, but apparently, no modern highways.

A paved Roman road in Pompeii, Italy

The Roman road system spanned more than 400, 000 km of roads, including over 80, 500 km of paved roads.