Northumberland Holiday Guide 2009
From Romans to
REIVERS
Exploring Northumberland’s historical sites - from Iron Age hillforts and
Roman Walls to Saxon churches and Medieval castles...
Hadrian’s Wall, Mario Czekirda
Today Northumberland enjoys peace and tranquillity in her After the Romans abandoned any hope of conquering
remote hills, rolling countryside and unspoilt coast – but it
Britain’s far north, Hadrian’s Wall became part of a larger
wasn’t always so. Northumbrian swords were only sheathed
frontier complex that included garrison forts, ‘rapid response’
after the Jacobite Rebellion (1745) which brought to an end
milecastles, signal towers and a chain of coastal defences that
1,000 years of Anglo-Scottish warfare.
stretched for 150 miles between the North and Irish seas.
Hadrian’s original 73 miles of Wall runs from the Solway coast
west of Carlisle to the aptly named Wallsend near Newcastle
For ten centuries the land from the Tyne to the Tweed was
city centre. The best preserved and most scenic stretch is the
soaked in blood and the gaunt ruins of the county’s many
central section that runs alongside the B6318 ‘Military Road’
castles bear witness to this turbulent past. Even before
between Heddon and Greenhead.
Rome’s legions conquered Britain, Iron Age tribes fortified
Northumberland’s highest peaks and these hillforts still guard
No-one should visit Northumberland without seeing the
the summits of the Cheviot and Simonside Hills.
spectacular stretch of the Wall at Once Brewed where the
The hillforts are large but it was the Romans who built the
ancient stones cling to the crags of a volcanic fault called
largest of Northumberland’s ancient fortifications and one place
Whin Sill. From Steel Rigg car park, near the Northumberland
to start exploring the county’s fascinating history is the World
National Park Visitor Centre, there’s a moderate six
Heritage Site of Hadrian’s Wall.
mile circular walk to the impressive legionary fortress at
Housesteads which takes in the most breathtaking views of
Hadrian’s Wall
the Wall as well as the best surviving forts, turrets, milecastles
Hadrian’s Wall was begun in 122AD when the Emperor decreed and even the lone Sycamore tree seen in the film Robin Hood
his vast empire should be limited by easily defensible frontiers. Prince of Thieves.
4 www.visitnorthumberland.com
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