London Wall who overran Hadrian's Wall in the 180s. It may be linked to the political crisis that emerged in late 2nd century when the governor of Britain Clodius Albinus was consolidating his power after claiming the right of succession as Roman emperor. After a struggle with his rival, Septimius Severus, Albinus was defeated in 197 AD at the Battle of Lugdunum (near Lyon, France). The economic stimulus provided by the wall and Septimius's subsequent campaigns in Scotland improved Londinium's financial prosperity in the early 3rd century. The wall's gateways coincided with their alignment to the British network of Roman roads. The
City Wall and Moat wooden towers. Attackers had to construct bridges from their wooden towers in order to reach the top of the wall, thus exposing themselves to the defenders of the city. Archaeologists have not been able to provide a precise date for the construction of the city wall and its moat, although historical chronicles suggest the 9th century. Both wall and moat were built atop the Phoenician cemetery, and cut across the ruins of the Phoenico-Persian, Hellenistic and Roman residences. In the late 19th century, the city wall and its moat lost their strategic significance. By the early 1900s, the wall had