Hadrian's Wall

3rd June 2014

I've always been interested in Hadrian's Wall since first reading about it in some history class during grade school.  Luckily Suzanne is also interested in it and during her recent visit we decided to look at a better section of the remaining structure.  

This particular bit Birdoswald Roman Fort, is located on the western end, near Carlisle, Cumbria.  It consists of portions of the wall, of course, but also the remains of one of the forts along the wall.  According to the literature one of these existed every Roman mile (just a bit shorter than a modern mile) and between them were smaller posts every quarter mile or so.  Each fort had about 1,000 soldiers.  

Suzanne decided to visit with some of the locals...

I can't resist a good flower...

This was obviously a strategic point to place the wall, it overlooks a river on one side and sits atop a steep rise from the river.  This is looking south into England.  North, past the wall, is Scotland (actually a few miles further north, but 1800 years ago it was considered the land of the barbarians, or Picts, as the Romans called them).

More locals...

As we walked back to the car, this is the view towards the East.  We walked along the wall for about a quarter mile, the foundation of a post was there and looking through the brush we could see the wall continuing on through the valley and beyond.

A very nice site and a "must do" if visiting Northern England / Southern Scotland.  

Until next time...