HISTORY ~ It was in 122 A.D that the Roman Emperor Hadrian visited Britain. He very soon recognised the difficulties in establishing control in Caledonia (Scotland) and saw that it would be impossible to introduce the barbarian picts to the Roman way of life. Therefore Emperor Hadrian ordered the construction of a great wall which would mark the northern limits of his empire and consolidate the hold on those parts of Britain already subdued.

Hadrian's Wall runs coast to coast from the east to the west of Britain. From Wallsend in Tyneside to Bowness-on-Solway in Cumbria. It stretches the mighty distance of 80 Roman miles (73½ English miles or 117 kilometres).

The Wall was originally was to be ten feet wide and about fifteen feet high, faced front and rear with carefully cut stones set in mortar. It would have an infill of rubble and lime cement or sometimes, clay.

The front face of the wall sported a crenulated parapet, behind which the soldiers patrolled the wall in defense against the barbarian picts and brigantes. These were neither English or Scottish by origin, but tribal descendants of earlier inhabitants of Britain. When Hadrian's Wall was built neither the English nor the Scots had yet settled our country, England or Scotland simply did not exist in Roman times.

Although he foundations of Hadrian's Wall were ten-foot wide and laid from Newcastle-upon-Tyne eastward for 23 Roman miles to Chesters in Northumberland, a few short lengths further west, the wall is reduced to eight or sometimes, six feet in width. It would appear that at some time during the early construction of the Wall, a decision was made probably by Hadrian, to reduce its width, probably in order to speed-up the work.

Originally, the wall to the west of the River Irthing was built out of turf - approximating sixteen feet wide, and this would be topped by a wooden palisade and walkway and punctuated by timber-framed turrets and milecastles. This 'wall of turf' was not long after all replaced by stone probably within a few years of its construction.

WALKING HADRIAN'S WALL ~ the Hadrian's Wall Path as it's officially known, is one of England's most recently opened National Trails. It stretches 135 kilometres (84 English miles) and takes an average of 7 days to complete from end to end, starting at Wallsend on Tyne and finishing at Bowness-on-Solway on Cumbria's west coast. The landscape and terrain encountered provide a varied and exhilerating background for walkers whilst the remains of Roman Forts along the route afford welcome breaks to appreciate the historic and more serious side to what preserving 'The Wall' is all about.