REPORT ON THE MAY 2009 MEETING

HAIRY HADRIAN'S WALL

Many talks and lectures have been delivered on the subject of Hadrian's Wall but perhaps not too many like that which Denis Inch, a freelance journalist, gave the Alston Moor Historical Society. This proved to be a lighthearted look at aspects of Hadrian's Wall based on Denis's wealth of knowledge on the subject and also from his personal experiences meeting visitors to the Wall. Whilst the talk was highly entertaining, it nevertheless contained much interesting information and the blend between humour and historical fact was nicely balanced.

An early clue to the nature of the talk was given in the title i.e. Hairy Hadrian's Wall. This is alone warranted an explanation and is accounted for by the fact that at the time of Hadrian it was the custom of Roman men to be clean shaven. Shaving must not have been a very pleasant experience as the razors were made of iron necessarily not very sharp. It seems that Hadrian was not keen on this daily routine and promptly set a new fashion by sporting a beard – a habit which fellow Romans were quick to embrace. Despite his hirsute appearance, Hadrian was a man of culture and supported the arts, one of his favourite haunts being the Tivoli Gardens, when in Rome.

He commissioned the Wall to be built when visiting Britain as part of a 3 year grand tour of his empire. He ordered it to run from Wallsend to the Solway, a distance of 73.5 miles and it comprised a series of milecastles, each one Roman mile from it's neighbour, with two turrets between them. A curtain wall joined the forts and this was up to 5/6 metres high in places. Construction commenced in AD122 and took 6 years. Building began in the east and was in sections, building a set of one milecastle and turrets first and then joining them with the wall. A vallum and military road ran the full length, much of the latter now being under the modern road known as the Military Road. The Wall west of Kirkoswald was built of turf. There was a time when it was thought that the Wall was the work of Septimus Severus, who undertook repair work after some attacks in 196/7, but more recent research has confirmed that Hadrian was indeed the instigator of its building.

Materials had to be obtained wherever available and the sheer scale of the logistics involved in moving stone, and building such an edifice, would be prodigious in modern times with plant and machinery but the Romans and their workers had no such assistance, using only horses and human strength. At its peak the military presence on the Wall was 9000 made possible by ther later addition of 14 or 17 forts (opinions differ as to the exact number). However despite common belief, very few of the soldiers were Italian and were auxiliaries drawn from all parts of the empire, including Bavaria, Holland, Belgium, Dalmatia, Spain and Syria. For their efforts, an auxiliary who served 25 years was given Roman citizenship and a small parcel of land. It is probable that not many would survive 25 years fighting in the service of Rome.

A number of theories are given to account for the purpose of the Wall and the truth is undoubtedly a blend of them all. It is clearly defensive, but that alone would not support or justify the building of such a huge undertaking. Many parts of the Wall saw little or no fighting. As a gateway it was a control mechanism to monitor and check those passing through, and assisted with the collection of taxes and levies. It was also a statement to the world to give witness to the power of Rome. It was the most heavily fortified border in the Roman Empire and was a success, unlike the Antonine Wall built later between what is now Glasgow and Edinburgh but which was quickly abandoned. By AD410 the Romans had withdrawn from Britain and the Wall was left untended.

However the Wall was not ignored and it proved to be the ready supply of building stone for anyone who went to get it. Many churches and houses along its length are made from stone taken from the Wall. Lanercost Priory is a prime example. It was not until the 1830s when John Clayton, Town Clerk of Newcastle, and who had a great interest in the Wall, bought some of the properties on the Wall and the cannibalisation began to slow and an appreciation of the significance of the Wall began to develop. The National Trust bought much of the land on which the wall stands and in 1987 it was declared a World Heritage site.

Many of the visitor centres are managed by English Heritage and an Italian visitor was allegedly heard to take exception to the sign reading ‘English Heritage' and declared ‘is-a-no English Heritage – is Italian Heritage'! Similarly Chinese visitors have been underwhelmed by the Wall when making a comparison with their ‘Great Wall'!

NEXT MEETING

The next meeting of the Society will be on 3 rd June when Dr. Tom Bell will make a presentation entitled ‘Railway to Rookhope' and will cover industrial and mining rail operation in Stanhope and Weardale. The meeting will be in the Alston Masonic Hall, commencing 7.30 pm.