Housesteads s'il vous plaît

Beautiful clear day, cold and crisp but well wrapped up it was a joy to be out.

I'd taken myself off to Housesteads Fort.

As I said in an earlier blog it's one of the proposed visitor viewing areas for the 'Illuminating Hadrian's Wall' event and I wanted to see, well -  just how much you will see.

Housesteads stands proud on the hill, with trees to either side of it so the views are obstructed.

Housesteads Fort

I took it upon myself to clamber (not a pretty sight) around checking out viewpoints. Housesteads Fort is open all year, except two days at Christmas, and people were milling about the Fort. I came across one young man perched on a rock sketching.

His name is Dan, I think he was French and he's studying Architecture at Northumbria University.

Dan at Housesteads

The students were on a field trip and have a project in class to design a new museum for Housesteads. I'm not sure if this is an actual Housesteads Museum, or just something the tutor set but anyway that's what they were doing.

Looking across at Housesteads Fort, sitting there on a site that slopes away, built without the help of computer programmes or theodolites, not even sure about plans, yet is still hanging on there, all these years later.

To the west of Housesteads Fort

It makes me appreciate just what a tremendous achievement this mighty Wall and all it's milecastles, forts and turrets along the 84miles, was.

And that doesn't count the Cumbrian Sea-Wall that makes a left turn at Bowness and heads down to Maryport.

I've read that Hadrian's Wall was built over a ten year period, by 30,000 soldiers using in excess of 24 million stones and I've no idea how that number was arrived at but I'm quite willing to believe it's there or thereabouts.

Of course they didn't have Local Planning Departments or Building Regulations and certainly no Health and Safety they just got on and built it.

Let's hope the students come up with some great and inspiring designs.

The jury is out on the views from Housesteads, depends on where they let people stand, see what you think.

From Housesteads to Sewingshields

Catch you later.