Hadrian’s Wall

Tuesday June 18th

Today has been very busy indeed. We have visited The Roman Army Museum, the Wall and the Milecastle at Cawfields, Vindolanda and the Vindolanda Museum, and Housteads Fort and the Housteads Museum. This has all involved walking almost 5 miles, and I am totally exhausted and might not write much as I think I need to sleep!

We drove away from our overnight hotel, went a little further north towards Carlisle, and then turned eastwards so as to be able to see Hadrian’s Wall. Our first visit was to the Roman Army Museum, which seems to be fairly new and would really appeal to children as the displays are very imaginative. There are lifelike Roman soldiers and cavalrymen, for instance.

There are artefacts which have come from excavations, with explanations. I really liked this Roman soldiers boot

 

It looks quite fashionable, but has a great many hobnails in the sole as the soldier did so much marching he needed something hardwearing.

The museum shows a number of films, and the longest one, Edge of Empire, which is in 3D with lots of CGI, is quite entertaining. It shows you CGI reconstructions of the Wall, the forts and the towns and gives you the story of a young recruit, explaining his life and times. The CGI generated section showing the army marching in massed ranks over the countryside really made you appreciate the might of the Roman Army and how intimidating they must have seemed. 

As we drove along, I pointed out the Wall on the skyline to Paul, but he refused to believe it was anything other than an ordinary wall round fields. The Milecastle I pointed out he was sure was just a sheep fold.



In the end, we had to stop and walk up to it to settle the argument. This particular Milecastle is called Cawfields, and Paul eventually had to agree it wasn’t a sheepfold. The Wall is a few feet high in this area, and you can walk along it.

For some reason, I left my walking poles in the car on this occasion, and I could really have used them as the climb up to the Wall and the Milecastle is quite steep.

Our next visit was to Vindolanda, and occupied much of the day as it is so extensive. Not only is the fort big enough for hundreds of soldiers with their horses and stores, it also has its own little town, the vicus, outside the main gate. I wanted to start with a quick lunch and a visit to the museum, but this necessitated a very long walk through the whole site and down into a little valley below it. It was impossible not to stop on the way down, to wander round the replica wall for instance.

There were some very good views of the site from the top of the tower.

The museum is just stuffed full of artefacts dug up at the site. I particularly liked this belt buckle.

It is hard to believe it is at least 1,700 or 1,800 years old. I’m wearing one just like it at present to hold up my trousers.

I also liked this display of Samian Ware.

Archaeologists think most of this collection is brand new, but arrived chipped and broken, probably much to the disappointment of the recipient.

There are more household objects than I could possibly photograph, boots and shoes, leather objects, textiles, combs and jewellery, tools and wooden objects, coins and weapons. Along with the weapons is a skull believed to be the skull of a local who was killed in battle against the Romans somewhere between 208AD and 211AD. He was beheaded and his head was then mounted on a pike on the ramparts to serve as a warning to other locals. I didn’t photograph that!

The stars of the museum, which I also didn’t photograph because the light had to be kept so low, are the Vindolanda writing tablets. These are lists and personal letters, mostly written in the before the construction of the Wall in 120AD, and the first ones were discovered in 1973. 9 of them are on display in a special darkened room, but you can explore the text of others in an interactive display.

We admired the replica buildings and replica tombstones in the pretty little valley below the museum, then  climbed up the steep hill back to the fort and the vicus outside the main gate, in which lived the local traders and those who supplied services to soldiers and the fort, wives, children and slaves. This is the Main Street through the fort, the Via Principalis.

It leads right up through the centre of the fort, and out into the vicus. You can see it has water channels at the side, covered over with paving slabs. These were probably used to supply water to different parts of the fort, and they came down through the vicus, though the only building in the vicus which made use of the water supply was the butchers shop.

By the time we had explored the fort, with its headquarters building, its commanders house, the barracks and the granaries, and looked at the rows of shops in the vicus, it was getting quite late and my back was making my life difficult, so we decided to set off for Housteads fort, a few miles down the road.

I must say I had no idea how far Housteads Fort was from the car park and entrance, or I might have thought twice about the walk. I’d certainly have taken my walking poles!

This view is taken below the fort, looking back towards the entrance building. You can’t see the entrance building, it’s behind that large clump of trees towards the back of my photo; you can just see the road back to the entrance snaking back round the right of the clump of trees.

By the time I had got all the way up there, I needed to catch my breath, so we went into our 3rd museum,of the day and looked at the artefacts in there. I particularly liked this statue of a winged victory

She is shown within a shrine, and appears to be hovering about to land, with her foot on a globe. The Wall itself was a symbol of victory as it marked the end of fighting in the north, and 4 different statues of victory have been found at Housteads.

Housteads is also very extensive, but it is built on a really steep hillside so it is much harder to access than Vindolanda. 

This is the main gate, with the Via Principalis rising steeply away from us. It was so steep, steps have been installed so sightseers have a slightly easier time. Heaven knows what it was like having to stagger up and down that steep street carrying things or carrying out your duties as a soldier. 

We were able to stumble up the steep hillside to see the headquarters building, the granary and the hospital. Then, we had to contemplate the very long downhill walk back to the car park. Once we had made it back down again, it was 6 o’clock and too late to see Chesters Fort, but I wasn’t particularly sorry. I think I have probably seen enough Roman forts for a while! We drove off towards Gateshead and our overnight hotel.