Tantallon House on Hadrian’s Wall

About 10 minutes walk from us is the East Turret 48A. its about 100 yards west of Gilsland Primary School on the west of the village.

The turrets are simple stone watchtowers and were built to a standard plan. The Turrets were built first and had a section of Wall built on each side. The Wall was build later to butt up to these sections, The Romans could use these as defensive watchtowers as the Wall was built.

Interestingly not all of Hadrian’s Wall was built to 3m wide. East of Willowford the Wall is 2m wide on a 3m wide foundation. You can see all of this along the section of Wall to Willowford.

If you want to take a great walk to see some wonderful sections of the Roman Wall, there is no better place to stay than Tantallon House B&B and take the walk to Birdoswald and along the river to Gilsland Village. Of particular note on the walk is Willow Ford Roman Bridge. This is set on the banks of the River Irthing and, with a bit of imagination and the pictures set on the notice boards adjacent to the site, you can see just how good at engineering the Romans were.

The first bridge was built in AD 122 to AD 128 when Hadrian’s Wall was first set out. It comprised of a tower, which housed a flight of steps which accessed the top of the bridge. It is thought that this bridge may have collapsed in AD 160 to AD 180.

Second Bridge. This had a superstructure in timber and the old tower was demolished. A new larger tower was built to the east side. The end of the bridge incorporated a platform of masonry to the north of the Wall which acted as a retaining wall to protect the bridge from the fast river flows. There are sluices still visible on the site which are assumed to act as some kind of flood control.

Third Bridge. The tower was removed, the bridge widened and a ramp was constructed. There was also built, a new end to the bridge and pier. It was now known as the Military Way.What can you see today? There are some good descriptions on the boards to show you what the bridge was like, and you can work out from the pictures each section of the bridge built at the different times. You can still see the sluices, the wall, piers, ramps etc and also how the Romans connected the stones together, They cut slots in the stone and joined them with iron or lead cramps. (If you go to the Chesters Bridge at Chollerford you can see the circular holes in the stones for a kind of crane!)

What I find amazing about this today is not only the Roman construction but the way the River Irthing has moved about 200 metres westward and left the bridge behind. The Romans built the bridge not perpendicular to the river flow but almost parallel to the river, so as the river cut away at the rocks and soil on the bend, it gradually moved away from the bridge.It is a wonderful setting and the bridge is only one of 3 on the Wall. Well worth a visit, but only accessible by foot, about 10 minutes walk from Birdoswald.

We just managed to catch the last opening of the Roman Army Museum before the winter closure. This is a great place to visit because it is an excellent introduction to life on the Hadrian’s Wall frontier. It overlooks a fantastic view of the Northumberland National Park with Wall Town Crags just next door. It’s sited on the intersection of the Pennine Way and Hadrian’s Wall, with Staingate Way passing just below it.Inside the Museum, which is right next to the Roman fort, there is superb film shown called Following the Eagle, which is probably the highlight of the whole visit as it guides you virtually around the site. There are also good displays about the life of Roman Auxiliaries and their families as well as about the weapons used which are also particularly interesting. There is a good children’s activity book sold together with numerous other guides and gifts in the shop. The Museum is well worth a visit and will reopen again in the spring.Information on opening times and prices can be found on the tourist board website.