Life on Hadrian's Wall

When Emperor Hadrian decided to have a cross-country boundary wall built across northern England, he ordered all the extras - a north ditch, a south ditch (the vallum), forts, fortlets, milecastles and turrets. This military zone was about law and order and trade. It was policed by auxiliary soldiers who would have gone hungry without efficient supply bases, who would have been bored without lively, local villages to have fun in and who would have gone smelly without a good bath.

Hadrian's Wall is not just about the forts and Wall in the central sector. You can visit Roman bathhouses, Roman temples, the vallum, forts, turrets, milecastles, civilian settlements and a military supply base or two.

Remember the Roman Army occupied most of Britain for nearly three hundred years and in that time Hadrian's plans got changed a little. That's three centuries of building, battling, rebuilding, drinking, repairing, partying, bartering, more repair work, growing old and dying.

It's a wonderful story of meticulous planning, strategic positioning, good food and the best cloaks that money could buy (made in Britain).