In search of Roman Britain -- Hadrian's Wall

Yesterday was the day that we had planned to explore Hadrian’s Wall come hell or high water (we sort of knew which it was to be). So, even though it was still raining (surprised?), we set off after breakfast to do just that. We were a little discouraged when we first fired up the Mini Cooper because the downpour appeared to have abated not an iota. Water coursed down the street in great rivers and filled up the low spots in the roads to a depth of ten inches or more. Everywhere the countryside looking soggy and half-drowned. Still, we motored off toward the main highway hoping that we’d be able to find a wall site with an indoor museum if nothing else. However, we’d only driven perhaps a couple of miles when we broke out into the long missing sunshine. Immediately it got very warm in the car and I had to stop so we could discard our jackets and I could dig around for my sun glasses. Wonder of wonders, the sun was shining! Tell Noah it was a false alarm.

Well, long story short, the sun didn’t stay out ALL day as you probably already guessed. Still, it didn’t rain too much – just a light drizzle once in a while. We had an absolutely marvelous day learning about the Roman occupation of Britain which lasted from around 47 A.D. to around 400 A.D. We visited a couple of lovely museums containing some truly wonderful finds. The soil here around Hadrian’s Wall is so damp that things that get buried tend to be preserved darn near forever. When the Romans wanted to build a new building in a fort enclosure somewhere, they tended to knock the old structure down, bring in dirt and clay and cover the remains to a depth of a foot or so, then start the new building. This demolishing and filling technique insured that all the artifacts connected with the first structure were preserved in an anaerobic atmosphere that virtually insured their survival. They’ve found everything from 1000 leather shoes and a host of other leather items, to actual letters written by the soldiers on tree bark. Keep in mind that these letters date back to the year 100 A.D. or so. Imagine finding anything 1900 years old, let alone something as fragile as ink on slender shavings of bark!!!!

The wall itself is pretty darn impressive. I had wanted to see if for years. Imagine building a stone structure 10 feet wide and up to 36 feet high for 73 MILES across the hilly/rocky/boggy terrain! There were three Roman legions stationed in Britain. Incredibly, it only took them eight years or so to complete the wall. Nowadays it would take engineers that long to do the environmental impact study. Of course, the wall wasn’t all they built. Every mile or so they constructed a small fort large enough to house 25 or 30 men. These structures would be approximately 100 feet square (see photo of the wall and adjacent enclosure) and would most often have guard towers in addition to the crenelated walls. But even this wasn’t all the Roman legions accomplished. In addition to the wall they dug deep ditches on the Scottish side of the wall to further discourage potential attackers.

Of course, once the Romans left near the end of the 4th century, the wall began to deteriorate. Subsequent residents mined the wall for building materials for their houses, barns, and stone fences. After all, why quarry your own stone (the pictured lake is an old Roman quarry) when the Romans had done such a good job of it already. For that reason the wall in most places, if not gone completely, has been reduced to wall sections only a few feet high. Still, we found it very, very impressive.