“Hadrian’s Wall was a wall built under the emperor Hadrian. It stretches for 73 modern miles from Solway in Cumbria all the way to Wallsend in Newcastle,” says Rachel Wilkinson who is the curator for Hadrian’s Wall and the North East for English Heritage. I visited her at Corbridge Roman Town where she told me about the history of the world heritage site.
Hadrian’s Wall and especially the museum and site at Corbridge show the way of life during the time of the Roman empire. The monument has inspired many artists and poets in their work, especially recently. “Probably one of the most recent modern parallels is that Hadrian’s Wall appeared in Game of Thrones,” tells me Rachel.
When you visit Corbridge Roman Town, you can learn more about the soldier’s life, as well as that of families and people living next to Hadrian’s Wall. As you can see in the video, the museum has several amazing exhibits. Rachel tells me that the armour is an especially exceptional piece. The museum is full of finds and has also been reorganised.
Outside, visitors can walk through the remains of Corbridge Roman Town. “We’ve got a free audio guide to the site, so you can see the ruins of Roman Corbridge and it’s really quite extensive,” says Rachel. “You can walk down a Roman high street on the original road surface and you can explore the site and get a sense of what a real Roman town would have looked like up in Northumberland.”
Hadrian’s Wall was mainly built in stone and marked the most North-Western point of the Roman empire for over 300 years. But Hadrian’s Wall wasn’t just a defence line. “People lived and worked along here, so it wasn’t just soldiers living on the wall,” explains Rachel. “We have men, women and children, sometimes families, sometimes brothers and sisters who came to join the soldiers. We have people supplying these Roman soldiers. We have people coming from all over the Roman empire to live in Northumberland and Cumbria as part of what might have started as a Roman community but becomes this sort of huge mass of people to say in an extend.”
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