Hadrians Wall at Heddon on The Wall

There are lots of pretty sections to look at along Hadrian's Wall, such as Sycamore Gap or Walltown Crags and there are plenty of Roman Forts to admire. However, this section of Wall, known as the broad wall, gives you a good idea of what it would have looked like. It was built to the original specification for the wall when it was constructed in AD122.

This section at Heddon would have been 3 metres (10 Roman feet) wide, which would have given fantastic protection from 'the barbarians in the North'. This surviving section is over 100 metres long, but not all of the wall was built 3 metres wide, probably to save time and resources.

You can see a full size replica of the broad wall at Segedunum in Wallsend, which gives you further insight into how the wall looked.

Another feature of the wall at Heddon is the remains of a corn-drying kiln. This would have been added to the wall much later in the 15th or 16th century.

There's loads more info online about the history of Hadrian's Wall, if you want to know more. One of these days we'll walk the whole of Hadrian's Wall Path, when we're feeling fit.