Arbeia and Segedunum

Today (Wednesday) we headed across the country to Newcastle.

First stop was Arbeia Roman Fort which guarded the main sea route up the River Tyne protecting Hadrian's Wall. It was a key garrison and military supply base on the southern side of the river. The wall itself starts not too far away on the Northern side of the river at Wallsend.

Arbeia - Rebuilt West Gate

The site has a small museum and a rebuilt West Gate which gives an idea of what the walled fort looked like. They have rebuilt the Barrack Block and Commanding Officer's House buildings on their existing footprint using roman methods of construction and similar materials. The rest of the site has been excavated to show the layout of the granaries and other buildings in use at the site. All this right in the middle of a suburb of South Shields with a primary school across the road and houses all around.

Barbara & Miriam checking out the Commanding Officer's courtyard

From here we drove through the Tyne Tunnel which takes you under the river via a steep down-and-up road tunnel. It must go quite deep to get under the river.

Next stop was Segedunum at Wallsend (a mile or so up the river). This is where Hadrian's Wall actually starts. This site has a rebuilt bathhouse (which Miriam has seen a documentary about) but, much to our disappointment, it was closed! The reason was health & safety issues due to loose tiles on the roof. They did have a good museum and a similar excavated site showing the layout of the Roman Fort. The best bit was the rebuilt section of Hadrian's Wall, showing exactly how wide and high it was here. This looked down onto the actual wall remains. An excavation was in progress of this part of the wall so we actually got to see some (very muddy) archaeologists in action.

They also have a pretty ugly tower where you get a good view of the site, however, aesthetically pleasing it ain't'!