Just South of the Border...Sorta

Newcastle-Upon-Tyne is located in the northeast of England, being, as the name suggests, on the river Tyne. It is also near the site of the Roman Empire's largest structure - Hadrian's Wall. Spanning from the east to the west of the island, it travelled around 73 miles, with towers and fortresses being placed periodically along the wall. Ben and I had the privilege to see two sites connected with the wall and with Roman Britain. The first was Segedunum (pronounced seh-guh-doo-num). Sadly, not much at all is left of the fort, which was the easternmost fort of Hadrian's wall, strategically located to guard the Tyne as well. A great history developed around and on (and I mean on in the very literal sense of the word) the fort's location, including a  coal mine, by which Newcastle gained national attention, and a shipyards known as "Swan's Hunter," which was very prosperous. As such, excavations have not been very successful. 

Here, you can see the outlines of the buildings, though the markers were placed by English Heritage, the group that operates many of England's historic sites.

Day Two, which was Thursday, Ben and I went to the frontier fort near Corbridge. This location had actual ruins dating back to 140 AD, when the stone part of the fort was built. This site was cool because we were able to not only view the 1800+ year old ruins, but we could climb over them, walk on them, etc... Needless to say, Ben and I had a blast.

This is the main road. On the near left you have two granaries. Further down (in the green region), you have the headquarters and commanding officer's house. On the right are primarily barracks.

The two structures you see are the granaries, and yes, you see Ben on the left. The most amazing thing about this was actually to be there, and to realise that over 1800 years ago, this was built and lived in by Romans in Britain. Sadly, pictures can't quite convey that. 

Remainder of the headquarters building...

Ben is standing at the remains of what was a standard military house with a special function. A cellar was dug into it, and that was where, presumably, the pay of the soldiers was kept...

Stairs leading to the "cellar..."

And from the cellar...

This little room was, more than likely, a temple...

This view is from the corner of one of the granaries, looking toward the main road. 

Most of the pictures wouldn't quite make sense without having either been there or having a general overview of the fort, and even then it wouldn't quite make sense.

Again, the thing that got Ben and I the most was that these very stones were placed by some Roman soldier on fatigues over 1800 years ago...and they're still standing!

Something Ben and I also decided to do "next time" is to either bike or hike Hadrian's Wall, all 73 miles of it. Anyone interested?