The Final Frontier
HRH The Duke of Gloucester was at Housesteads Roman Fort on Hadrian’s Wall today (Monday July 10) to unveil a commemorative plaque renaming Hadrian’s Wall as part of the new Frontiers of the Roman Empire Trans-national World Heritage Site.
Once one of the greatest empires in human history, the Roman Empire was at its height in the 1st to the 4th centuries AD and covered most of western Europe, the Middle East and the north coast of Africa. Much of the frontier followed natural features, particularly the rivers, Rhine, Danube and Euphrates; the wild and windswept Hadrian’s Wall was one of only three man-made frontiers.
Hadrian’s Wall was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1987, but it now joins another man-made border – the 550km Limes in Upper Germany – to become a new Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site. More sections will be added as they are put forward and agreed by the World Heritage Committee.
Ann Green, Chairman of Hadrian's Wall Heritage Limited said: “The unveiling of the plaque at Housesteads comes at a time when the newly formed Hadrian’s Wall Heritage Limited is taking on the challenge of working in partnership with site owners and stakeholders to develop the potential of Hadrian’s Wall as an exciting and quality experience worthy of its World Heritage Site status.
“The company will seek to achieve even higher shared standards in the protection, conservation, promotion and educational value of the site, ensuring that it is passed on to future generations to cherish and enjoy.”
Commanding breathtaking views over the Northumberland hills and the most complete example of a Roman fort in Britain, Housesteads stands high on the Whin Sill escarpment and is today the most popular site on the Wall, owned by the National Trust and managed by English Heritage. It was one of 16 permanent forts added to the new frontier by Emperor Hadrian in about AD 128. Known as Vercovicium – “the place of effective fighters” - it was garrisoned by a cohort of around 800 infantry.
Jeremy Reed, English Heritage Visitor Operations Director said: “The lasting impact of the Roman Empire can be seen here at Housesteads with the remains of a network of military and civilian buildings, carefully conserved, allowing thousands of visitors from throughout the world to marvel at the sophistication of an Empire stretching thousands of miles with Hadrian’s Wall at its limits. It is fitting that this most popular location has been chosen to display this plaque, marking the importance of Housesteads as part of the frontier of the Roman Empire and we are delighted to welcome His Royal Highness, a former English Heritage commissioner, to the site.”
David Ronn, National Trust Regional Director said: “We would like to extend a warm welcome to His Royal Highness. He is visiting the most photographed and dramatic part of the wall, where the verticle cliffs, steep inclines, loughs and bogs tell the story for themselves about why the Romans chose this site to build their great frontier to their great empire.
“It’s staggering to think that the Roman Army was here for some 400 years, gradually becoming part of the local scenery, and since then generations of people have lived in, used and travelled across this wild part of Britain. Linking this World Heritage Site with the frontiers of the Empire in other parts of Europe will add another dimension to the story that visitors coming here will hear and read about.”
Two further cast aluminium plaques will be installed to mark the Wall, one at Segedunum in Wallsend, North Tyneside and the other at Senhouse Museum, Maryport, Cumbria. All three plaques have been made by traditional signpost restorer David Gosling of Lanercost, Cumbria.
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