by thomas arne) - it stretches like a stone snake over the hills and fields of northern england. it was built by roman soldiers during the reign of emperor hadrian in the second century c.e., and ever since it's been known as hadrian's wall. it runs east to west for about 70 miles, starting almost at the north sea and ending at the irish sea. the height of the wall varied. at it's highest point, the wall rose up 20 feet above the grassy land. it took 16,000 roman soldiers 10 years to build. historians argue over just why the wall was built. some believe it was a barrier to separate roman-controlled britain on this side from the wild barbarian tribes on the other side. another theory was that by building a wall with gates and checkpoints, it allowed the romans to collect taxes on those passing through. or it could have just been built to show off the power that was rome. whatever the reason, forts were built along the wall and manned by soldiers. these are the remains of one of the bigger forts. as the years passed, the romans left england and the soldiers left the wall. in later