History
Hadrian's wall from Hotbank Crags
In the beginning...
Built around AD122, the original construction of Hadrian’s Wall took six years to complete and it is estimated that more than a million cubic metres of stone were used. It has sixteen permanent bases, of which Housesteads Fort is one of the best preserved.
After declaring that the Empire needed securing, not expanding, Emperor Hadrian ordered the building of the eighty mile wall across the northern frontier, along the valleys of Tyne, Irthing and Eden between Newcastle and Carlisle.
It is thought that the wall was built across one of the narrowest parts of the country linking two rivers. As well as marking the northern boundary of Roman Britain, the wall may have been used as a defence barrier or as a way of collecting taxes on goods leaving and entering the area.
The Fort was home to many soldiers and excavations at the fort revealed a turreted curtain wall, three barrack blocks and well-preserved latrines.
Remains at the centre of the plot show the commandant’s house, the barracks, granaries and the fort hospital, as well as the civilian settlement, the ‘vicus’, that was situated south of the fort. This contained an inn, shops and workshops and was where soldiers would spend their free time.
In one building, known as the ‘murder’ house, two buried skeletons were found, one with a knife fragment in his ribs. As burials were not permitted in Roman settlements, it is assumed that the man and woman were murdered and their bodies hidden.
Inside the English Heritage museum a replica of what the Fort would have looked like is on show.