Category: Hadrian's Wall

Where have all the Wall stones gone?

30/3/2018

Hadrian's Wall east of Heddon on the Wall. Photo A Curtis (2015).

Below is the official briefing document for the pilot study of a new proposed Hadrian's Wall Community Archaeology Project taking place in Heddon on the Wall over three days in March and April 2018.

The project is organised and supported by archaeologists at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

The Stone Sourcing and Dispersal project (SS&D, also known as Where’s Hadrian’s Wall Gone?) is part of a proposed three year project, the Hadrian’s Wall Community Archaeology Project, which in parallel with the SS&D will be working with community groups to investigate a significant number of areas along the entire length of the Wall that are currently classified as Heritage at Risk. Work will also be carried out to take action, working with the community, to ameliorate the risks to the Wall.

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Military Road

7/3/2018

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During the Jacobite uprising of 1745, the government forces based in Newcastle, under Field Marshall George Wade, were unable to cross to Carlisle in time to intercept the rebels and in fact bad weather and poor roads halted them near Hexham.

It was reported that departing Newcastle’s Town Moor on the 16th November, infantry only made it to Ovington by night. The roads were “terribly broken and full of ice” and men were sent out with lights and carts to bring them up, a process that went on till the march was continued next morning at nine. The first troops reached Hexham about four that afternoon, the rear at midnight, when, they could proceed no further because of the snow. They pitched camp on the south side of the union of the two Tynes and were provided with straw by the townsfolk who also kindled fires all over the ground as a protection against the severe cold. Wade waited three days for a thaw and, when none came, returned to Newcastle. He arrived on 22nd November, his army almost spent with fatigue and having failed dismally to halt the progress of the rebels.

One of Wade’s party, Thomas Sayer, later reported, “That he is well acquainted with the Road from Carlisle to Hexham, which is mostly through an open Country, with very few Houses, not One Part in Ten of the said Road being through inclosed Grounds: That the Country is rocky, mountainous, and boggy, and absolutely impassable, both in Summer and Winter, for heavy Carriages; and there are several Waters in the said Road, which frequently overflow and render it impassable.” The maps designated it as a ‘Summer Road’.

In 1749 a letter from the Duke of Northumberland with attached petition was referred to the Surveyor General. They asked “That Leave be given to bring in a Bill for laying out, making, and keeping in Repair, a Road proper for the Passage of Troops and Carriages between the said City of Carlisle and Town of Newcastle, in such Manner as to the House shall seem meet.”

The Military Road (B6318) east of Harlow Hill. Photo A Curtis (2016).

In July to September 1749, a survey was undertaken by two military engineers, Dugal Campbell and his assistant Hugh Debbeig. Although it is often called ‘General Wade’s Military Road’, Field Marshall Wade (to give him his correct rank) in fact died in his home in Bath in 1748 and there is no evidence he had anything to do with it. It is suggested, however, that a possible instigator of the proposal, Lancelot Allgood of Nunwick, who became Sheriff of Northumberland in 1745, may have heard, first hand, the Field Marshal’s bitter remarks about the roads over which he had just struggled to Hexham, comparing them with roads that he (Wade) had made in the Highlands some years before. Allgood became a Member of Parliament in 1749 and was actively associated not only with the Military Road but also with the Corn Road from Hexham to Alnmouth.

The outcome of the survey was a map measuring about ten feet six inches long by two feet wide covering five sheets joined together to make a roll. It covered an area roughly sixty miles long (i.e. from about three miles east of Newcastle to about two miles west of Carlisle) by about six miles broad at a scale of just over two inches to the mile. There are five insets all concerned with the Roman Wall and its attendant works and the course of the proposed road is shown as a dotted line co-incidental with the Wall from Newcastle to a point nearly thirty miles west. The surveyors estimated the cost of the road as £22,450.

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Almost like being there yourself!

23/10/2017

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I've been trying out some new software from my local archaeology group that makes 3D models from a set of digital photos.

Below is my trial of the west end of Heddon's preserved section of Hadrian's Wall.

It is for those who are not able to visit it (or sit on it, as I do from time to time). Click the big arrow to load the model, use the controls to alter rendering and the computer mouse to rotate (left-button and drag), pan (right button and drag) and zoom (wheel or ctrl-drag). For the truely immersive experience switch on full-screen mode!

It's just like being there yourself.

Hadrian's Wall, Heddon on the Wall, UK by NOWTAG on Sketchfab

Shown here is a short section of Hadrian’s Wall at the west end of a length of preserved Wall about 255m long, consolidated and in the care of English Heritage, just east of Heddon on the Wall village. This represents a part of the planned ‘broad wall’; further west the structure was reduced in thickness to save time and resources.

The broad wall at Heddon is between 2.8m and 3m wide and up to 1.7m (7 courses) high. The rubble core was originally set in puddled clay, but was reset in mortar to preserve the section when it was consolidated. The first 12m at the west end has only the outer face exposed.
At the west end (NZ 13622 66942) a circular kiln was built into the wall in medieval times, probably to dry corn. It measures 1.9 m in diameter, has a paved floor, and the surrounding wall has a maximum height of 0.7 m (3 courses). The flue is in the south-west arc and is 1.4 m wide.

For those missing a visit to St Andrew's Churchyard, please see the 3D model below.

Table-tomb, St Andrew's, Heddon on the Wall by NOWTAG on Sketchfab

A flat-topped, table- or chest-tomb from the late eighteenth century, located in the graveyard close to the west end of St Andrew’s Church, Heddon on the Wall, UK. There are inscriptions on the top and on the two end slabs and on the south-facing side of a long slab concealed beneath, but these are not well resolved in the 3D model and largely captured by the texture.

The inscriptions are transcribed on this site under number [90] where there are also some standard, 2D photos.

If you are more interested in prehistoric rock art, there is another model here.

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The Planning of Hadrian's Wall

12/6/2016

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Hadrian's Wall, Heddon on the Wall. Photo A Curtis (2011)

Hadrian's Wall shows signs that it was planned in straight lines, at least in the relatively flat sections at its west and east ends. This is very similar to Roman roads that take long straight line routes across country often regardless of the intervening topography.

The 200m conserved section of Hadrian's Wall at Heddon on the Wall shows a prominent bend in the broad wall situated just west of the Great Hill on the east side of the village. What does this tell us? According to a book published in 2010, quite a lot.

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Tales of the Frontier

24/3/2015

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The Tales of the Frontier Project now has a new website at www.talesofthefrontier.org (web-archive)

Leaflets and booklets can be found in the ‘Stories’ section at http://www.talesofthefrontier.org/wall-stories-leaflets-and-booklet.html (web-archive)

Research for the Tales of the Frontier website was carried out by the Archaeology Department at Durham University to study the many ways in which visitors, locals and scholars view Hadrian's Wall; to explore how it has influenced the landscapes and communities through which it passes; and to understand how the Wall came to be the prominent World Heritage site that it is today.

UPDATE 15th July 2020

Scanned and uploaded all the leaflets as the web-site above is no longer available.

tales_of_the_frontier.pdf
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tales_of_the_frontier_no_1.pdf
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tales_of_the_frontier_no_2.pdf
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tales_of_the_frontier_no_3.pdf
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tales_of_the_frontier_no_4.pdf
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tales_of_the_frontier_no_5.pdf
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tales_of_the_frontier_no_6.pdf
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tales_of_the_frontier_no_7.pdf
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tales_of_the_frontier_no_8.pdf
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tales_of_the_frontier_no_9.pdf
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Where have all the Wall stones gone?

Military Road

Almost like being there yourself!

The Planning of Hadrian's Wall

Tales of the Frontier

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