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Not just another brick in the wall: saving Hadrian’s legacy

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Krystal Coenen
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« on: July 27, 2009, 03:25:06 am »

Not just another brick in the wall: saving Hadrian’s legacy

REBECCA McQUILLAN   July 27 2009



At first glance, it is an attractive dry stone wall, a working barrier between two fields of grazing livestock. But look east from Great Chesters Farm as the ridge sweeps dramatically upwards to a series of precipitous crags, the wall atop it like teeth bared against the forbidding north, and its true identity is suddenly unmistakable: Hadrian's Wall.

Rambling alongside the northern frontier of the Roman Empire on a sun-dappled Thursday afternoon, there is very little evidence that a modern legion of contractors was here just last month carrying out £250,000 of consolidation work. The only clue is the contrast between the clean flat sandstones at the top of the wall and weathered masonry they rest upon.

However, this is the work that has finally got Hadrian's Wall off English Heritage's At Risk register and is helping quiet fears about the conservation of this hugely important monument, the barrier between Roman Britain and the untamed Picts.

Mike Collins is the English Heritage archaeologist who oversees Hadrian's Wall. He hunkers down and points to the square stone in the lower half of the wall. "This is genuine authentic Roman masonry that hasn't been taken down and put back up again," he says.
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It is a remarkable thought, that these stones were placed in this exact spot by Roman hands, and here they are, passed every five minutes by smiling walkers and wandering sheep. An 84-mile National Trail for walkers opened in 2003 and now gets 8000 ramblers each year, with a similar number coming for weekend walks. The walkers doing the full trail alone bring around £2.5m into the economy annually, but their impact on the wall has caused anxiety.

In response, strenuous efforts have been made to minimise erosion. English Heritage has been concerned about the Great Chesters section for at least 10 years. A dry stone wall was built on top of the metre-thick Hadrian's Wall construction in the late 19th century, but the stones were falling away due to weathering and scrambling farm animals - putting the fragile original wall at risk.

As the land was owned by a farmer, English Heritage did not have a means of tackling the erosion. But as the land is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, the environmental conservation agency Natural England got involved, bringing together English Heritage, Hadrian's Wall Heritage, the Northumberland National Park and the owner of the site, levering in funding for repairs.

A couple of small sections of further work with other landowners is still required but, otherwise, the wall has been given a clean bill of archaeological health.

Even walking to and from the wall, visitors are stepping on history: digs have revealed that ancient archaeology is as little as 15 inches below the surface, although the turf protects it.

As we head up to the wall, we are walking on the still-visible military way, while down in the valley we can see the deep vallum, or ditch. A Roman cemetery is visible as uneven hummocks of grass. Archaeology is everywhere and researchers will keep delving into it, seeking answers to their many unanswered questions.

They know that the wall stood 15ft high but why it was built is unknown. Fear, of the wild men of the north is one theory. "They go up into Scotland and fight there but eventually decide that this is the line that they want to defend," says Collins.

"Before Hadrian, the empire is continuously expanding, or seen to be, and no-one is suggesting putting artificial limits to it. It's really Hadrian's reign that starts to do that. But trying to get inside his head and work out the reasons is difficult: is it defensive, about customs and control, a prestige thing? That decision to go up to the Forth/Clyde level and come back not long afterwards, we don't understand that at all."

Down at Vindolanda fort, where unique preservation conditions have meant that organic remains such as leather and wooden writing tablets have survived, there is still a vast amount to be excavated: 20 years ago, some thought the digging would be finished in five years; now, it is believed there could be another 150 years' work.

However, the wall itself is the main concern. Four years ago, Peter Fowler, a World Heritage conservation adviser to Unesco and former professor of archaeology at Newcastle University, said after evaluating the site that "serious inadequacies in the management of the trail are apparent", noting that visitors were walking on the wall and erosion could threaten the archaeological deposits. But things have changed. When the National Trail opened, there were no lengthsmen, conservation officers. Now there are two.

David McGlade, trail manager with Hadrian's Wall Heritage, which employs the lengthsmen, says their job includes mowing broad lines for people to walk on, so they do not erode paths, and putting down plastic honeycomb to help grass regenerate.

"The lengthsmen Alan and Richard can picture every stile, every boundary and every gate," adds McGlade. "They walk the entire trail 20 or 30 times a year. We survey the trail every autumn. Then in April, August and November, we do fixed-point photos of around 100 sites along the wall, building up a picture of changes over time."

Some people do still walk on the wall, causing serious damage. However, McGlade says: "Compared to the situation 15 years ago when it was common practice to walk on the wall, it's a lot better, though we do have to restate the message each year."

The wall is, says Collins, a "living, working landscape" so erosion is to be expected. "You don't want to get complacent because there are a series of hotspots where erosion through walking is a worry, but there's been a real improvement." he adds. "If people appreciate a monument, they will care more about preserving it."

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2522148.0.Not_just_another_brick_in_the_wall_saving_Hadrians_legacy.php
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Krystal Coenen
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« Reply #1 on: July 27, 2009, 03:25:42 am »



BUILDING A FUTURE: Hadrian's Wall is being consolidated to prevent it suffering further erosion in a project that is being overseen by Mike Collins from English Heritage.
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