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<\/p>\nThe vast majority of the 1,800-year-old structure has been demolished, but the startup building is home to the only example left of a Roman defensive tower in London.<\/p>\n
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The City Wall at Vine Street museum is located in the same building as Northeastern University\u2019s start-up hub in London. Photo by Carmen Valino for Northeastern University<\/p>\n
Title:<\/strong> London Wall<\/p>\n Built by:<\/strong> The Romans, circa 200 CE (Common Era)<\/p>\n Materials:<\/strong> Stone<\/p>\n Size: 2.5 miles long, six meters tall<\/p>\n Location:<\/strong> Northeastern University\u2019s Startup Hub, 9a Crosswall, London<\/p>\n About:<\/strong>\u00a0London stood as a walled city for some 1,500 years, with the Romans the first to fortify the city. Today, only a few sections of the sprawling 2.5-mile structure remain accessible.\u00a0<\/p>\n Northeastern University\u2019s startup hub has a prime viewing spot<\/a> for one such section. In the same building as the hub on Crosswall is the only example of a Roman bastion \u2014 a defensive tower \u2014 surviving in the U.K. capital, forming part of The City Wall At Vine Street museum<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Romans founded London, under the name \u201cLondinium,\u201d around 50 CE. It would take another century-and-a-half for the wall to be built.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to English Heritage<\/a>, the charity that protects historic monuments, the Roman wall was more than two meters thick at its base and would have been six meters high. The wall originally included four city gates, with an additional entrance at the army\u2019s fortress at the north-west side. Small square towers around the circuit granted access to a walkway along the top of the wall.<\/p>\n It is believed the encasing was initially built as a status symbol, with the Romans using it to highlight the importance of London as their largest British city. But unrest in the empire would see the fortifications bolstered before the Romans eventually left London in the fifth century.<\/p>\n The area inside the wall was \u201cabandoned\u201d and \u201cleft in ruins\u201d during this period, Northeastern associate professor Lars Kjaer<\/a> explains. The medieval historian says it remained like that for centuries until the Anglo-Saxons, who occupied Britain between 410-1066, eventually repurposed the walls in the ninth century to protect against Viking raids.<\/p>\n Large parts of the Roman wall were incorporated into medieval defenses of the city, with the barrier being raised to 10 meters and gates being added. The Roman elements of the partition can still be identified in the lower parts by its characteristic horizontal bands of red tiles.<\/p>\n By the 17th century, the wall\u2019s fortunes declined, and \u2014 with London\u2019s population booming \u2014 much of it was pulled down to make way for housing and infrastructure such as the railways and new roads.<\/p>\n The wall continues to affect London\u2019s geography today, with place names such as Aldgate and Bishopsgate marking where the gated access ways once were. But one of the best places to grasp its original scale is on part of Northeastern\u2019s campus.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/RomanWall.jpg\")
The London Wall, as seen through the internal window of Northeastern\u2019s startup hub. Photo by Carmen Valino for Northeastern University<\/p>\n