In case you missed the news, on 7 July UNESCO formally added the Antonine Wall in Scotland as a World Heritage Site. Congrats to all who rallied for the cause.

On Hadrian's death, the new emperor Antoninus Pius decided he needed to do something fab to gain "street cred." What does an emperor do? Conquer, of course. He pushed Roman legions up into Scotland, where he erected a new frontier, stretching 39 miles from Bo'ness to Old Kilpatrick (roughly the line of modern Edinburgh to Glasgow).

Unfortunately his hubris didn't outlast him. On Antoninus's death in 161 AD, the Romans decided that Scotland wasn't working for them, so they moved (retreated?) back south and refortified/manned Hadrian's Wall again, for good. After 161 Hadrian's Wall marked the northern limits of full Roman authority in Britain until the end of Roman Britain.

The Antonine Wall was always a turf & timber work, and thus doesn't give the same spectacle as the gorgeous stonework that survives along Hadrian's Wall. But in many places its ditch & ramparts (and even some fortlets) are extremely well-preserved. It's also interesting to see how ideas they tried at Hadrian's Wall did or didn't get repeated on the Antonine Wall. (No Vallum up there for one thing.)

The link above has a link of its own to an excellent guide to the Wall from Falkirk Council. Worth a look for any Wall buffs.