Hi folks. I am off to visit Hadrian's wall and the Antonine wall in August. I visited Offa's Dyke last summer so am looking forward to another treat! Any suggestions from anyone who has already been? I plan to visit Housesteads and Rough castle. Cheers.

Vindolanda should be on your list of places to visit.

Chesters Fort is also a good one to visit and, if you are over at the Carlisle end, Lanercost priory will give you a slightly different historical perspective - although there some bits of reused Wall to be spotted if you look carefully

Ooops! Should also have mentioned Birdoswald, which is the one where Time Team went looking for the cemetery.

Double oops! I also meant to tell you about Segedunum. It is a fort at the Newcastle end which also has a very good museum, a reconstructed bath house and an elevated viewing tower which allows you to get a bird's-eye view of the layout.


Hope you've got plenty of time for exploring

There's a special bus, the AD122, which takes you along the entire length of the wall, stopping at various places of interest. I don't know how much it costs or how long you get at each stop but it might be worth investigating further.

Rough Castle can be rather windswept but is well worth a visit. The Antonine Wall and ditch are in good nick, as are the earthworks of the fort itself; and there are some lilia (Roman pit traps) preserved.

Thanks for all the tips. I will give you an overview of my long trip north when I get back. I am really looking forward to seeing both walls.

The Roman Army museum is worth a visit. It is at the old fort of Carvoran. I think it must be owned by the same lot who own Vindolanda as details are on the Vindoland web site, but it is in a different place. Vindolands also has a museum, down in the valley with a footpath from the main site.

For the Roman Army museum at Carvoran, see:

http://www.vindolanda.com/getting_to_vindolanda.html

They have a video of a 3D reconstruction of the entire wall as viewed by an eagle flying from west to east.

If you find yourself in the east, try to visit Bede's World too.

best

harry A

Can't help but notice Arbeia didn't get mentioned. I have not been there so I can't recommend first hand. We are hoping to visit the Wall in a year and that was one of the sites on the short list. (Particularly since we have a 9 and 5 year olds with us.)

If you saw the repeat of the Timewatch prog on Hadrians Wall last night you should have got the list of the "must see" places.

Agree go to Arbeia where you can see three rebuilt structures on the actual Roman remains and it will give you a good understanding of how the other places may have looked

The problem is that there are so many great sites to choose from. Housesteads is probably the best, especially if you take in a walk along the wall from there, then there are whole host of other places to choose from. Corbridge is good too, as is the museum of aniquities in Newcastle. Where ever you go along the wall I don't think you'd be disappointed.

quote:

Originally posted by cornishman:
If you saw the repeat of the Timewatch prog on Hadrians Wall last night you should have got the list of the "must see" places.

Ahh, I thought it was a repeat but wasn't sure. Good programme all the same.
Julian Richards is good on this type of thing.

Thanks for all the advice. I am going in two weeks as part of a family holiday to Scotland. As I am managing to 'fit in' my visit to Hadrian's Wall as an extra I am a bit tight for time so I am planning on visiting Housesteads, Vindolanda and time permitting, the army museum. As you have said - there are so many places I could go. Review on my return!
thanks again.

Hi folks. Back from my trip north to visit Hadrian's wall and the Antonine wall. Despite the weather being pretty poor I had a great time. First visit was to Vindolanda - superb museum, good reconstructions and decent fort to look around. I would recommend a visit to this site if you are ever in the area although the sign posts are poor. Next was a visit to Housesteads - excellent site to look around although there is nothing else to see there. A few days later I visited the Antonine Wall at Rough Castle. I was very impressed with this site despite the weather and being the only person there! I found it very interesting and I am sure it would make a lovely place for a picnic on a sunny day (it was so cold I could see my breath!) Anyway, a few more sites crossed from my list and a great week in Scotland - I visited several castles as well.