UNITED KINGDOM #6: HISTORICAL HADRIAN’S WALL & VINDOLANDA FORT

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You can’t tell by these pictures, but this was the day our luck with weather ran out.  It was bitterly cold and windy, and at one point while we were at Hadrian’s Wall, we all gave up on our local guide and asked if we could go back to the bus to listen to the rest of his talk.  I didn’t wait that long; I was already on the bus by the time the rest of the group followed my lead.

(For all photos, click on the image for a full screen view.)

Thankfully, the blustery cold was a one-and-done.  The weather was (mostly) fabulous (by U.K. standards) the remainder of our trip!

Back to Hadrian, he was a Roman emperor from AD 117 to 138 and the first ruler to divide Britain.  The wall he had built (I’m sure he didn’t lift a finger) beginning in AD 122 was a 73-mile-long stone defensive fortification that runs east to west.  It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

It amazed me that so many centuries ago, this barricade was just part of a multi-cultural military zone comprised of forts, barracks, towers, and small towns.

After we thawed out, we visited Vindolanda, near Hadrian’s Wall.  It was a Roman auxiliary fort that dates back 40 years prior to Hadrian’s Wall and was occupied until around AD 370.  It is considered one of Europe’s most important ancient Roman archaeological sites. 

Ongoing excavations have unearthed many amazing artifacts which we were able to see in the adjacent museum—a welcome reprieve from the cold!

Vindolanda has the largest collection of leather items found anywhere in the Roman empire.
Some of these coins date back to 100 BC!
The Romans used a variety of different dyes and chemical treatments to color their textiles. The root of the madder plant was used to produce red dye and lichen was used for purple. A variety of tree barks, lichens and heathers were used for yellow dye. Thanks to the ground conditions at Vindolanda, these textiles survived where they would have completely decayed anywhere else after so many centuries.
This is a silver military award depicting Medusa and dates back to AD 105-120.
The Vindolanda tablets have been voted Britain’s Top Treasure by the British Museum.

Next, we continued our drive to Edinburgh, Scotland, the subject of my next post:

UNITED KINGDOM #7:  ENCHANTING EDINBURGH

2 thoughts on “UNITED KINGDOM #6: HISTORICAL HADRIAN’S WALL & VINDOLANDA FORT”

  1. Elaine, I’m sure enjoying your blog posts about our Idyllic Great Britain trip! Great photos! Mary Stilley

    Mary

    On Tue, Dec 17, 2024 at 2:51 PM Elaine-iaK’s Travels: A Traveler’s Tales of

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