Greetings Gold and Silver Level Templar Knights! This week, you find me near the border between England and Scotland. Because I’m going to be walking the length of Hadrian’s Wall. This was a gigantic wall constructed across the length of Britain from Newcastle to Carlisle to keep out the barbarians from Scotland.
Because of Covid, I decided not to bother flying anywhere for a summer break this year. Instead, I’ve returned to a magical place not visited since 1974 - when I was eleven years old. Here I am today at the easternmost end of Hadrian’s Wall.
This was a spectacular engineering achievement - even by Roman standards. A chunky wall punctuated by fortresses and watchtowers designed to establish a hard frontier between the Roman Empire and whatever lay to the north.
The idea of a wall separating ‘civilisation’ from savagery has been imprinted on our minds. It’s at the heart of the Game of Thrones story. A bleak part of the empire that soldiers from Syria to Spain and Germany were sent on compulsory tours of duty.
It was a line drawn first by the Emperor Domitian and then Hadrian intended to consolidate their empire and essentially go no further. Although, emperors like Trajan, Antoninus Pius and Septimius Severus did try to invade Scotland. These ambitious expeditions faltered in the face of a determined fightback by the Caledonian tribes and the cost of holding on to the new territory.
From the reign of Hadrian in the early second century AD until three hundred years later and the Roman departure from Britain under the Emperor Honorius - the wall was an effective military barrier. But once the legions were pulled away by an empire in deep trouble, things started to crumble.
Roman Britain fragmented into British and Saxon fiefdoms. And the wall became increasingly an irrelevance. It was quarried for building materials and the great blocks of stone ended up in medieval abbeys, castles and farm walls.
Over the last two hundred years, history buffs have led the way in defending what’s left of the wall for future generations. And some of the remains are truly impressive. You’ll see them in the next few days through my camera lens!
While a US submariner in the mid-90's, our boat pulled into Scotland a few times. Once while riding a train to Edsel, I remarked on all of the stone walls erected around fields. A fellow passenger told me these were constructed to keep adolescent boys mind's off of the opposite sex many, many years ago.
I wonder if Hadrian partially intended this similar distractive motive beyond keeping the 'savages' out of Roman territory? It certainly was long lasting employment nevertheless.