Traveller Through an Antique Land: Hadrian's Wall, Part III (Corbridge to Chesters)

Our third day on the wall went much more smoothly than our second. It wasn't nearly as hard (or rather it shouldn't have been) and we were mostly walking through towns along the road. We were quite drained from the previous day though, and our 'easy' trip became quite strenuous as we yet again arrived late to our stopping point. A key thing to remember when doing this section is that while Corbridge and Hexham may be only a couple miles south of the wall those miles are straight uphill. It isn't as easy as it looks. Had we known then what we do now we'd probably have just grabbed the AD123 bus from Hexham up to Wall or Corbridge and then continued from there.

Coria (Corbridge)

Our day began in Corbridge. It's a nice little town about a mile and a half south of the wall. Known then as Coria (or possibly Corsopitum or Corsobetum) it was a supply for for the wall. As such it's covered in my section on the forts south of the wall. It was a nice walk from there through Hexham back up through Acomb and Wall (a town) to the Hadrian's Wall Path.

Hexham
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Hexham is a nice town located behind the wall. It has a really nice Anglo-Saxon Abbey which I have to return and see someday. We got in here around 12:30 and had lunch before setting off up to Chesters. We had five hours before the site closed and only four miles to go. It sounded so easy.

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54°58'17.44"N, 2° 6'9.07"W

Acomb was a decent-sized town on the way up. There is little more to say about it. This is about halfway up the hill and we were making terrible time. Not only were we still aching from the previous day but the uphill march and indirect path made traveling slow. The route up to the wall is not the simplest since you're traveling by roads with little to no shoulder. It takes a while and we had to keep stopping to rest.

The road joined up with the trail right at this point. The cross here marks the sight of Heavenfield, where an Anglo-Saxon army under Oswald defeated the Welsh army of Cadwallon in 634. This was an important moment since Oswald was a strongly devoted Christian. The Welsh were Christians too of course, but there time in charge was quickly vanishing. His victory allowed the spread of Christianity among the Northumbrians and thus this site is marked with a cross on the side of the road.

There is little to see of the battlefield itself. There's very little known of it since our main source is Bede and he didn't care much about political or military history. It is however, a very flat field on the top of a large hill with the (then intact) wall just to the south of it.

Planetrees Wall was the first stretch of actual wall that we saw. There was a section in Heddon, but it would have required we go in the opposite direction and we didn't have the time for that on our first day. There's nothing particularly impressive about this section. It's in the middle of a sheep field with easy viewing from the road.

The next section of wall was Brunton Turret. This is the first turret you can see clearly when you're coming from Newcastle. The turrets were towers on the wall that came at regular intervals. There were three types of buildings on the wall: the forts, which held several hundred men and were placed in strategic locations; the milecastles, built every Roman mile between forts (regardless of terrain) and having room for about a dozen men; and the turrets, three of which were between each milecastle and held maybe four men.

Brunton is a turret and not very big. It's located in a sheep field which was just full of mud when we got there.

Chollerford Bridge is somewhat unsurprisingly the bridge that leads into Chollerford. Chollerford is a rather strange town. It has a giant restaurant that seems to be used for some kind of functions, but apart from that the town is rather empty. There used to be some cheap-looking hotels there but they have all closed down leaving us to march up to Green Carts Farm and their bunkhouses.

We arrived in Chollerford at around 6:30, too late to see Chesters fort. So we continued the remaining two miles to Green Carts farm. We got in slightly earlier this time, it being only just before 8. Once you get past Chollerford there is absolutely nothing: no buildings, no stores, zip. There are the occasional small villages along the way but the most you'll see from here on are isolated farmhouses. Since nobody needed to rob the stones to build there houses this is also the section of the wall that's most intact. Amidst this emptiness is Green Carts Farm, a very nice place that has some very fine bunkhouses. I say bunkhouses, but they're basically full hotel rooms. They even have a kitchen downstairs with some frozen food, which meant that we didn't have to eat the slightly shady looking Spam we brought with us. So we were able to rest up and start the next day feeling refreshed.

Cilurnum (Chesters)

While we didn't get to see it that day we did come back and see Chesters on our final day. The AD123 bus service is only seasonal, but during the summer it is the best way to get around. It is designed specifically for those visiting the wall so it stops at all the wall forts as well as the major towns nearby. So on our final day we returned in the morning to see the fort we missed before on our way to the Hexham rail station and the train home. Chester is built on a gorgeous location overlooking the North Tyne river. I wonder if the Romans appreciated what they had here.