The Romans Were Here!

The Romans were great builders. They weren't the first builders, but they put up things that are still working. Hadrian's Wall was to keep the bad guys out. It went from one side of England to the other. Today people hike along the wall. These parts were dug out of the ground. English people took away the rocks after the Romans left and used them to build houses, barns, and other things. These stones were under the ground until they were dug out. The wall was a nice place to live and work, except when you had to fight. Romans even brought their families to live here. Some of them were Christians and built little churches.

If you came to the town of Chester's Fort from across the river, you would have seen a whole town full of buildings. The part nearest to the river is the bath house. It had cool, warm and hot sections. They heated the water under the floors. Romans liked to be clean. They also knew about water pipes, drains and sewers. Their toilets didn't flush, but they took away the gunk.

This is a hand mill to grind wheat. All the pieces were still there. There was a bottom stone, a top stone, and a handle to go around the top stone so you could grind. Everyone ground wheat to make bread, rolls, and other good things to eat.

Here is a tunnel from one room to another that is still standing.

Maybe these arches had statues in them. Maybe they were "lockers" where people could change their clothes to go into the baths. They are very pretty.

Here is where warm air passed under the floors. England is a cold country in the winter. The Romans did not freeze. They just warmed up the place.

Here is a drain hole where water could come out. All of their buildings had ways for the water not to flood them out.

The Romans built two different bridges at Chester's Fort. They have found remains from both of them. This poster tells you about the first bridge, which was small, and the second bridge, which had much bigger, longer arches.

See the round stone on the end of this long column? It was made to fit into a hole in the top bridge piece. There is a sign that shows how they used pulleys to lift the top piece and line up the hole. I know they built wooden arch supports when they built bridges. But if they had any wizards around, I'll bet they also knew an easier way of lifting a piece into place. Having a wizard around can save lots of work. But you already knew this from your Muggle Studies class.

After about 300 AD the Romans went back to Rome with their army. Some of them stayed with their families and joined the local people. If they served their 25 years with the army, they could go where they wanted. Soldiers became citizens of Rome. Citizens had lots of rights, just like citizens of the United States do today. People who were not citizens could be put in jail and not have any rights to protect them. Citizens got to speak to a judge first. Being a citizen was a very good thing to be.

You might want to check out a library book about Hadrian's Wall. This is only one of the forts. There were a lot of them.