Roman Stripes

September 13, 122 AD construction began on Hadrian’s Wall. Roughly 10 feet wide and 20 feet high, the wall stretched 80 miles from the Irish Sea to the North Sea. Fortified gates along the wall permitted trade with the north and a tax on goods passing through. We visited one of these, Housestead’s Fort, two years ago. It’s in a remote area, which probably explains why so much of it is still there. A parking lot, gift shop, café and restrooms are at the base of a hill, and the fort is half an hour away (at Heather’s pace) up a steep, winding path. Of course the moment we got to the ruins at the top of the hill, Heather needed the facilities back at the bottom. When Romans invaded England, they brought what they thought of as civilization here: running water, wide straight roads, sub-floor heating and public toilets. But when they left so much of that went with them.