Hadrian's Wall

Imagine a wall 10 to 20 feet wide, and 12 to 20 feet tall, that stretches for nearly 80 miles, begun in AD 122, completed in about 6 years, and you will be imagining Hadrian's Wall! Emperor Hadrian, a Roman Emperor, travelled to England as part of a journey to view all of his lands. He decided that a wall should be built to separate his territory from the barbarians to the north. (That would be those poor Scots, once again. It's a recurring theme here, I'm afraid.) Of course, it wouldn't be enough just to build a massive wall, it would need to be guarded. Hadrian ordered that small forts be constructed along the wall with a distance of about one Roman mile between each one. These small forts, or milecastles, had walls that were 10 feet thick, and 20 feet high to match the wall. They usually marked a place where there was an opening in the wall, which allowed the forces to regulate travel. It also made these milecastles "customs posts" where taxes could be levied and collected on people, goods, and livestock travelling back and forth through the wall. There were 80 of these milecastles along Hadrian's Wall.

Hadrian's Wall and milecastle remains

That seems like quite an impenetrable wall, but that wasn't enough for Hadrian and the Romans. On the south side of the wall a "vallum", or ditch, was built along the entire length of the wall. This vallum was 20 feet wide and 10 feet deep. This added another obstacle for enemies, and another layer of protection for the Romans. As if that wasn't enough, a decision was made to build regular forts along the route as well. It is unknown with certainty how many were built, but the number seems to be somewhere between 14 and 17 forts. Seems like a bit of "overkill" doesn't it? One thought is that Hadrian wanted all of this to be built to reflect the power of the mighty Roman Empire, and, of course, Hadrian himself. Regardless, parts of the wall remain intact and the ruins of milecastles and forts are being excavated all along the route.
Scott and I stopped at Vindolanda, one of the Roman forts being excavated along Hadrian's Wall. We enjoyed walking through the ruins and listening to a lively guide describe what life must have been like at the fort. There have been excavations going on here for 40 years, and they anticipate they will go on for another 200 years or so. It is really quite amazing to think we were standing in the remains of a fort that was almost 2000 years old! There is a museum here too, and lots of artefacts have been recovered. It was interesting to learn that there is some uniqueness to the soil in this area which allowed preservation of things not usually recovered, including handwritten notes and log books!

The remains of the Roman Fort at Vindolanda

Our guide explained the ruin in front of him. This would have been a building where grain was stored. Wooden planks were laid down across the stone walls and the grain was stored on top. Enough grain was held in these buildings to feed the people living in the fort for an entire year. This would be insurance against crop failure or siege. Dogs were dropped into the gaps in the walls to run under the floorboards to chase out mice or birds which might be nesting underneath. If you look carefully, you can see a reconstruction of a milecastle in the background. One turret is made of timber, as some of the earliest were made originally. Eventually, though, all of the timber was replaced with stone, as is the second turret.

As usual, the scenery was beautiful and we have included a few photos for you.

It was a short walk from the excavation site at Vindolanda to the museum. This stream and stone bridge were along that walkway.

Anyone remember the large sycamore tree from the Robin Hood movie? If you do, this is it!