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Having explored Roman ruins in previous trips around the Mediterranean in Turkey, Egypt, Croatia and Italy, we decided during this visit to the U.K. to explore the northern reaches of the Roman Empire.
Emperor Hadrian wanted to consolidate his empire rather than expand it so in 122 AD he ordered that a wall be built across England from Newcastle to Carlisle. It took soldiers from all three legions in Britain over ten years to build 73 miles of 15-foot wall with a broad deep ditch to the north that made it impossible to approach unseen. A protected gate, or milecastle, was built each mile along the wall, to provide protection for the soldiers keeping watch and two observation towers were built between each milecastle. The wall helped prevent attacks from the barbarians to the north and also designated who was under Roman protection and eligible to pay taxes.
From our B&B base at Carr Edge farm just north of Hexham we walked several miles along the wall from Housesteads Fort to Cawfields Quarry passing the sycamore tree made famous in the movie Robin Hood with Kevin Costner. We also visited the excavation site at Vindolanda where the earliest Roman
texts and letters written with ink on wooden wafers have recently been unearthed and translated to provide details of day to day life in the area.
Settlements grew up outside the forts to provide entertainment for the soldiers and part them from their hard-earned wages. These grew into towns still in existence today. By 407 the Romans were withdrawing from Britain and, after protecting Roman Britain for nearly 300 years, parts of the walls were recycled into churches, crofts, farmhouses and the omnipresent pubs, several of which we visited to sample the present day fare.
The remaining sections of the wall are low enough to see rolling green hills with rocky outcrops or an occasional pub or farmhouse and the inevitable sheep for miles in every direction. Stands of trees to act as windbreaks are few but temperatures were mild and we dodged the few rain showers that came our way so that walking was most enjoyable.
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Carr Edge farm B&B
