Surprising Find

It is very tempting to not do this post and keep BB in suspense as to where the 360 degree pictures were taken from, but I am resisting such temptation.

Hubby on his way to work passes a forest of brown signs, some of them are to places we have previously visited; some of them are those strange ones that I, for one, don’t think should have brown signs (often second-rate hotels); some are to things that we aren’t really that interested in; but one at least needed further exploration.

Bar Hill Roman Fort was a fort on the Antonine wall and is tucked behind Twechar.  There isn’t a lot that remains, a few wall foundations, and a bit of underfloor heating in the bath house, this really was a bathroom with a view!  Round at Castle Hill where much of its ground works where reused by the Romans to build the ditch for the wall, the course of the wall can still be seen cutting its way through the landscape.

The views are well worth making the walk and climb for, and if like us you decided to climb a bit further up Castle Hill to the site of a small Iron Age hill fort dating from about 400 prior to the Roman fort, you will be rewarded with stunning views of central Scotland that span from coast to coast that where in my previous post.  It is no wonder that this site was used for defensive fort, with clear views all around and the ability to see warning beacons the whole length of the wall maybe the biggest surprise is that this site was overlooked by following generations.

The Robe

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Films

Was the film we watched at the afternoon Film Group today.

I have two observations.

Part of Richard Burton’s opening lines - ”… on the foggy coasts of the northern seas … the finest fighting machines in history …”  I was waiting for the ‘Ula’ from Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds to ring out.

The Roman Empire certainly deserved to end if for no other reason that the line Emperor Tiberius says to Diana (and before anyone says it I know it isn’t factual but it certainly reflects the views of the time); “As a child you were wise, now you reason like a woman, foolishly.”

Those things having been said, it remains a great film telling a tale which has much to talk and think on.

Vindolanda

For anyone who has an interest in the Roman occupation of Britain a trip to Vindolanda is a must. The site is extensive but still is far from fully explored; they reckon it will take another 200 years to complete the archaeology of it. The official web site is here and has far more details and pictures than I am posting.

Like Corbridge – see earlier posting – Vindolanda is on the Stanegate not far from Hardians Wall and not only do you get a view of the past, but if our visit was anything to go by you will also get a view of Tornados and Euro fighters zooming just overhead – a true mix of the old and the new.

With regard to the old there is a fine example of a Roman bath house;

and a Mausoleum;

along with the countless other features.

There is also an opportunity to speak to those who are currently working on site searching for yet more archaeology. The writing tablets, which were found at this site and are now in the British Museum, and are one of the countries greatest ancient treasures telling the life of the people of the time in their own words. The conditions, damp soil with no oxygen to cause decay has meant that the finds are large in number and incredibly well preserved with some items looking as if they might have only been made yesterday, a trip down the hill to the museum is a must!

Roman Corebridge

The Roman site at Corbridge in Northumbria – not far from Hardians Wall – was built around AD85 as a supply base for a Roman advance into Scotland, and until the end of the second century it grew and developed, suffering at times from raids over the border but continuing as both a fort and a service town with grain stores, a bath house and a variety of shops and housing for both Roman soldiers and civilian personnel.

Stanegate one of the main Roman roads ran through the site and it was a large and thriving community until well into the 5th century.

The site has many fascinating features including some fine examples of the use of hypercausts to keep grain dry,

the only surviving Roman window mullion still in place in Britain

and some fine examples Roman drainage. On visiting Corbridge you are in no doubt that the Romans brought plumbing along with them!