08.30          Inverness to Newcastle

We depart our hotel after breakfast with a packed lunch and all our luggage and transfer to The Holiday Inn in Newcastle.

15.00          Shopping at Newcastle Metro Centre

We will spend the rest of the day shopping at the Newcastle Metro Centre.

18.00          Arrive at Newcastle Holiday Inn for Evening Meal and Activities

The Holiday Inn Newcastle, is a modern, well-equipped hotel offering guests excellent service, hospitality and the high quality standards.  There is a heated swimming pool, a cardiovascular and weights rooms, a steam room and  solarium.

08.30          Newcastle to Bangor

We depart our hotel after breakfast with a packed lunch and all our luggage and transfer to The Bangor Youth Hostel.

10.00          Housesteads - Hadrian’s Wall

We will arrive at Virovicium, the Roman Fort at Hadrains wall, now called Housesteads, to visit the museum, the old fort and walk along the wall.Hadrian’s Wall was built on the orders of the Emperor Hadrian.  At the start of his reign there had been fighting in northern Britain and to strengthen this part of the Roman Empire Hadrian took the decision to build a permanent barrier to create a frontier.  He also built fixed frontiers in other parts of the Empire.  Hadrian probably gave the order to build the Wall when he visited Britain in AD 122.  It took the Roman legionaries, who built the Wall, about 6 years to complete the job. 

In Britain there was no convenient river, like the Danube, that could be used as a boundary, so Hadrian’s Wall was built across one of the narrowest parts of the country linking two rivers.  When it was finished the Wall was 80 Roman miles long (117km) and stretched from Wallsend on the river Tyne in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the west.

Work started in the east on a stone wall about 5 metres high and 3 metres wide, perhaps with a walkway along the top.  This original plan was changed during the building of the Wall and some parts of the Wall were 1.8 metres thick.  This was probably so that the Roman legionaries could finish the job more quickly.  The stone Wall extended to the river Irthing. Beyond this point the Wall was built of turf at first. This was perhaps because there was no suitable building stone nearby and the Romans wanted to finish the work quickly.  Later on this part of the Wall was rebuilt in stone.

Every Roman mile along the Wall there was a milecastle, a fortified gateway which allowed Roman soldiers to go on patrol to the north of Hadrian’s Wall and control other people passing through the Wall.

Between the milecastles were two turrets at regular intervals from which soldiers could keep watch over the surrounding countryside. During the building it was decided to add forts to the plan of the Wall.  In fact some of the turrets and sections of wall that had already been built were demolished to make room for the new forts. There were 16 forts in total along the length of the Wall.  These meant that even more Roman soldiers were based along the wall and the frontier was more effectively controlled.

To the north of the Wall was a v-shaped deep defensive ditch.  This made it difficult to cross the wall at any point other than a milecastle or a fort.  Behind the wall was a flat- bottomed ditch with two large mounds of earth on each side.  This was called the vallum.  The vallum could only be crossed at Roman forts or main roads.  This allowed the Romans to control people passing from the civilian part of Roman Britain into the area controlled by the army.

West of Bowness there was a chain of small forts, rather like the milecastles, and towers.  There was no wall here but the Romans wanted to be able to watch out for people trying to reach Britain by boat from Ireland and Dumfries .

Hadrian’s Wall was not meant to be defended like a castle.  Instead it was a barrier that allowed Roman soldiers to control the movements of people coming into or leaving Roman Britain.  This allowed the Roman army to make sure that troublemakers could not move easily either north or south.

The Wall was also a good place to keep a watch over the frontier.  The turrets and milecastles allowed Roman soldiers to watch what was happening along the whole length of the frontier.

 

Hadrian’s Wall is the most important monument built by the Romans in Britain. It is the best known frontier in the entire Roman Empire and stands as a reminder of past glories of one of the world's greatest civilizations.  Designated a World Heritage Site in 1987, Hadrian's Wall ranks alongside Stonehenge and other treasures of the great wonders of the world.  The fort contains the only visible example of a Roman hospital in Britain and superbly preserved latrines and flush system. There is also a good museum, a large Visitor Centre with many books and souvenir items and breathtaking views.