Hadrian's Wall is one of the best known Roman monuments in Britain. It was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987. The Emperor Hadrian ordered its construction in AD 122 and for nearly three centuries it was the north-west frontier of the Roman empire. Hadrian's Wall has been visited, written about, surveyed and excavated for over four centuries.

In 1851, the great nineteenth century authority on Hadrian's Wall, John Collingwood Bruce, published The Roman Wall, followed by an abridged edition in 1863. The Handbook to the Roman Wall has subsequently been revised on several occasions. This, the fourteenth edition, has been completely re-written by David Breeze, though acknowledging the style of earlier editions. This authoritative account will be of value to all interested in Hadrian's Wall.