Hadrian's Wall, Chollerford to Carvoran via Homesteads

Hadrian's Wall, Chollerford to Carvoran

Thhe next day I was back in Chollerford having driven to Hexham and arked it near the railway station and caught a taxi to Chollerford to restart my walk.

At Walwick, the official route takes three sides of a square to avoid walking alongside the Military Road. I had looked at the map and since it was a long stretch, I was content to take the road option. However given the traffic and remembering that others have been hit by cars, I followed the official route.

Going up the hill, there were several sections of broad wall and distinct ditches.

A section of broad wall.

The ditch in front of another section of wall.

This is a special corner in the wall. Limestone Corner. The perspective is rather hard to.discern but there is a shallow corner in the centre of the picture. This is the furthest point northwards of the Roman Empire (ignoring Antoine's Wall further north started in AD142 but abandoned eight years later).

Just a little way down the hill is Brocolitia Fort. Rather like Vindobala, it is just a bumpy field with nothing to see except for a sign board. However just to the south is the Mithras Temple, a popular religious cult especially with Roman soldiers.

The Mithras Temple. The three square columns at the far end are the three altars that were owned by three local officers from the garrison.

Next was Homesteads, one of the best known Roman forts along the wall. There is a small museum and gift shop plus information boards within the fort itself.

                                      

Me outside the museum before entering the fort itself.

                                      
The old and new entrance to the fort.

The outer facing wall.

Some of the ruins.

More ruins.

The granary.

A general view of the barracks.

 A view over the north wall and the wall as it goes east which gives an idea of the height of the fort above the ground to the north. The wall along this section is built on the Whin Sill, a volcanisc intrusion which dips to the south with gentle southerly slopes but steep northern slopes.

A side view of one of the mile forts.

The archway of the former gate through the wall.

A view of the wall snaking its way up the edge of a hill.

Sometimes the path was a gentle, grassy track.

A lake abutting the bottom of the sill covered by trees with the wall on the left of the trees.

A view of the wall, here the vertical face looks north and the southern side is supported by an earth rampart.

Sycamore Gap, and the most famous and photographed tree in the country, the set for an early scene in Robin hood: Prince of Thieves starring Kevin Costner as Robin and Morgan Freeman as Azeem.

Aseica also known as Great Chesters Fort which had been recommended to me by the staff in Chesters but it was a big disappointment wth only a few courses of stonework surrounding a field.

Against one wall were the outlines of some buildings.

In the south eastern corner as an altar but other than that there was little to see except a bumpy field and curious cows staring at me as I explored the Roman remains.

 

More wall marching across the sill. 

                                        

                                        

Another view of the cliff face of the sill which made such perfect sense to build a border along its line plus a flooded quarry in front.

The ruins of one of many mile forts but the information board shows wht it ay have looked like.

Information board.

At last the end of a long day's walk, looking down from where the sill ends and the wall makes its way down the southern slope to the lake. a former quarry, now the Walltown Country Park and Carvoran.

Looking back at the sill with the wall running along the edge of the top from the country park.

There is little Roman remains to see on Carvoran but there is a Roman Army Museum which I would have visited but the entrance price was high and I didn't have a lot of time left before closing time to make the most of the exhibits so I gave it a miss.