The Romans were in Britain from 43 to 410. In 122 the Emperor Hadrian decided to build a wall to keep the unconquerable barbarians from the north out. These were the mysterious Picts, as Scotland as we now know it did not yet exist. Trump would have probably tried to buy it for his Mexican border.
The wall is now just inside England's northern border. We stopped off on our way north to have a look. Here is a weird accidental "out of body" photo of S and T walking on top of the almost 2,000 year old wall. We think it must have once been taller.
The Housesteads site was once covered with buildings housing 800 soldiers. Only the officers had under floor heating, painted walls and a private courtyard. The ordinary soldiers were crammed into barracks on either side of the officers' villa. This a model of what it would looked like.
Now it looks like this with the wall stretching away quite visibly in both directions.
The toilet block. No separate stalls. Everyone sat around the edges, chatting and doing what they needed to do.
It was another hot day. I bought an icecream and a softdrink, within one hour!
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