Hadrian's Wall

July 2009

I confess:  I love rock piles.  I really get excited about rubble that  someone I don't know, in a time long distant, made into a home or a palace or even just a wall.  I planned this trip around 3 H's: Harrogate, the Highlands, and Hadrian's Wall.

My Roman history book puts Hadrian down as one of the "good emperors," although the Jews in revolt in 131 AD didn't think so.  He was born in Italica, Spain (near Seville), a place where I took far too many pictures of Roman rock ruins on a prior trip.  Hadrian  liked to build and travel and establish boundaries for the massive Roman Empire.   And so, in 122 AD, he ordered a defensive wall  built from sea to sea (73 miles) across northern England.  For over 300 years, it defined the border between the civilized Romans and those nasty northern barbarians ( as they saw it).  To this day, remnants of the wall, towers, forts, bridges, milecastles (outlooks placed every mile), and towns stretch in a line from Newington-upon-Tyne in the east past Carlisle in the west.

From documentaries, I had the impression that the wall was almost inaccessible and could be found and traveled only with difficulty.  To the contrary, I discovered the AD122 bus (named for the date the wall started and painted unmistakably with wall scenes),  runs back and forth along the wall all day, transporting tourists, hikers with dogs and backpacks, and locals with bikes between sites and towns.  Many folk have the enjoyable leisure to "walk the wall" for a few miles or days, using the bus rarely.  Any way you choose to go, it is a memorable adventure.

You can start the AD122 bus route in Newcastle, but  I chose to start and end my trip in Hexham  My first stop was Chesters, a  Roman calvary fort that was being invaded that day by a curious school group.  Nice rock remains of barracks and baths in lush fields.

Then on to Housesteads (Vercovicium)which is the most photographed/painted of the sites, as the fort sits atop a high ridge overlooking green rolling meadows filled with peaceable sheep.  Hard to believe this area ever needed defending.  They say walking this segment of the wall is "strenuous," but "magnificent."   Housesteads has the best view, but my next stop, Vindolanda, had the most to see.

There are active archaeological digs going on in this Roman town by the wall with some of the most remarkable Roman finds in Britain.  The ruins and reproductions of the fort and town are interesting, but the real jewel is the museum down a long hill.   It was in Vindolanda that they found over 1,400 wooden writing tablets that have somehow survived in the cold mud for nearly 2,000 years.

 Letters between officers and wives, household accounts, an invitation from a lady to her birthday party, supply lists provide a priceless peek into Roman life on the wall. The British Museum holds the originals, but this little museum had a fascinating display on their discovery and significance.  In addition, there are textiles ( including a Roman sock missing its pair), weapons, jewelry, a very rare horse hair crest for a Roman helmet, early Christian symbols, and more.  I had not allowed adequate time to take it all in before I had to catch the bus for my final stop at Birdoswald where one sees some of the best-preserved gate portals on the wall and the remains of the granaries for feeding man and beast.

As the gates at Birdoswald shut behind me at closing time, I sat on a rock in the shade of a spreading tree, listening for the sounds of marching legions, the chatter of friendly women, and the laughter of little children who once marched, visited, and played along the wall.  For a moment, I thought I heard them, but then my AD122 time machine (bus) arrived to transport me forward almost 1,900 years to head home for dinner.
Click here for slide show:
Hadrian's Wall
Music:  Rozsa, Quo Vadis--Ave Caesar, Music Inspired by the Romans
More Information:  http://www.hadrians-wall.org/