ABSTRACT
After nearly half a century of comparative inactivity the city began work on the most ambitious and enduring of all its public projects, the town wall (Figs 39 and 52). This was built around the landward approaches to the settlement — the riverside may not have been walled until later — and enclosed an area of 125 ha. The wall has been studied on numerous occasions, and its remains still stand in several places; John Maloney has published an excellent review of the evidence (Maloney 1983), and the following observations derive from his work. The wall was built of Kentish ragstone, with tile courses at regular intervals up its height, and had probably been surmounted by a parapet walk and breastwork. It was 2.7 m thick at the base, where faced with a red sandstone plinth, 2.4 m A reconstructed section through the city wall and associated ditch at Duke's Place (by J. Maloney). https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203498521/1453e588-fcd2-4265-9dbb-9c929092eb63/content/fig00040_B.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> Early third-century London, showing the extent of development in <italic>c.</italic> AD 230. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203498521/1453e588-fcd2-4265-9dbb-9c929092eb63/content/fig00041_B.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
