Hadrian's Wall and the Edge of the Empire

Editor's note

One night at Haltwhistle, in the middle of Wall country, with the day spent at the western end. Carlisle began as Luguvalium, the Roman settlement on Hadrian's Wall, and became the stronghold of the western border. Its castle was begun under William Rufus and its keep dates from between 1122 and 1135, one of only about a hundred tower keeps in the country; Mary, Queen of Scots was held in the Warden's Tower for a few months in 1568. The cathedral began as an Augustinian priory church, and Tullie covers the Wall and the Border Reivers. Birdoswald, above the Irthing gorge, is where the Wall was first built of turf and later replaced in stone, so both lines can be traced, along with the fort's walls, gates and granaries.

Editor's note

Two nights at Greencarts Farm outside Hexham, close to the central sector. Housesteads, the Roman Vercovicium, was built around AD 124 on the crags of the Whin Sill, and its latrines, granaries and hospital are still laid out; the First Cohort of Tungrians garrisoned it from about AD 205. At Vindolanda, just south of the Wall, the museum shows tablets on loan from the British Museum; more than 1,700 of these ink letters on wood have been found, the oldest surviving handwritten documents in Britain. The Hadrian's Wall Path passes Sycamore Gap, where the tree was felled in September 2023. Chesters, the Roman Cilurnum, was built across the Wall with gates opening north for the cavalry, and Corbridge became the most northerly town in the Roman Empire.

Editor's note

Two nights at Durham Grange, on the edge of Durham, for the ground the Romans left behind. Benedict Biscop founded St Peter's at Monkwearmouth in AD 674-5 and, a decade later, its twin, St Paul's at Jarrow; the double monastery became a centre of learning that produced Bede. England had no masons, so Biscop brought them from Francia, and glassmakers to glaze the windows, which began glassmaking on the Wear. At Jarrow the dedication stone of 23 April 685 is set above the chancel arch, one of the oldest church dedication stones in England. Beamish, founded in 1970 and open to visitors since 1972, gives the other North East: a 1900s town with shops, a bank and trams, and a 1940s farm.

Editor's note

One night at Coast and Castles Camping outside Alnwick. Warkworth stands in a loop of the River Coquet, less than a mile from the sea. The Percys took it in the 14th century, and Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, added the great keep above the village. He helped put Henry IV on the throne, then he and his son Henry 'Hotspur' Percy rebelled. After Hotspur was killed at Shrewsbury in 1403 the earl fled here and was pardoned; he rebelled again in 1405, and the defenders gave in, the king wrote, after seven shots from his cannon. Dunstanburgh, the largest castle in Northumberland by area, is reached only on foot, a mile and a quarter from Craster, where Robson's has cured herring over oak smoke since 1856.

Editor's note

One night at Budle Farm near Bamburgh, within reach of the crossing. Holy Island is reached across a tidal causeway, so the tide tables decide the shape of the day. St Aidan founded Lindisfarne Priory here in AD 634 and Vikings raided it in 793, which is the far end of a thread that starts with a Roman frontier and runs on through Monkwearmouth and Jarrow. Lindisfarne Castle, a 16th-century fort from a later border than the Roman one, was converted by Edwin Lutyens in 1901. The dunes and mudflats around the island are a national nature reserve, and the birdwatching is the reason to walk out on to them.