Segedunum Roman Fort and Museum, Wallsend
Where the Eastern Limit of Hadrian’s Wall Reaches the River Tyne
Apr 2, 2009
Yet few visitors to this wild outpost of the Roman Empire find their way to the appropriately named Wallsend, where the 73-mile-long UNESCO World Heritage Site comes to its end near the mouth of the Tyne.
History of Hadrian's Wall and Segedunum
Construction of the wall was begun in 122 AD. It ran initially from Bowness on the Solway Firth to Newcastle, but after a few years, was extended to Wallsend. It remained the northern boundary of Empire for 300 years, until the inevitable decline led to its abandonment.
Over the centuries, most of the stones were removed for use in other constructions. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the ruins of Segedunum Fort, at Wallsend were buried beneath the streets of terraced dwellings built to house the coal miners and later the shipyard workers who created Britain’s industrial wealth. Demolition of these streets during the 1970s permitted detailed excavations of the site, which revealed a fort and settlement as extensive as any along Hadrian’s Wall, and all within an urban setting.
Museum and Visitor Centre
The site of Segedunum Fort is well signposted and easily reached from the centre of Wallsend. The Metro and bus services from Newcastle stop within a three-minute walk of the fort. The Museum and Visitor Centre is dominated by a 35-metre-high viewing tower, which commands an uninterrupted, panoramic view over the site and along the River Tyne toward Newcastle. The glass-walled viewing room seats up to fifty visitors and offers screens on which interactive displays can be studied.
The ground floor of the museum is laid out as a reconstruction of one of the fort buildings, and contains informative displays of the archaeology of the site, the granary, hospital and barracks, as well as the civilian life of the period. Many unearthed artefacts are also on view. A model shows what the fort may have looked like in its prime. On an upper floor, the more recent histories of coal-mining and shipbuilding are illustrated.
Foundations of the Fort
Visitors can enter the area of the fort and marvel at its size, as they wander around the foundations of the various buildings, which include the Headquarters, Commanding Officer’s house, granary, water tank and barracks for infantry and cavalry. Just inside the entrance gate is a monument decorated with the names of some of the 15 000 soldiers who built the wall, names discovered during excavations at various places along its length. Outside the boundary fence is a small section of the Branch Wall that linked the fort to the river, where Hadrian’s Wall finally came to its end.
The Bath House and Bathing Rooms
The south-west corner of the site is occupied by a reconstruction of the Bath House. The large changing room leads into cold, warm and hot bathing rooms, the last of which was effectively a sauna. Not only was bathing a social event, so was use of the toilets, as demonstrated in a small side room.
Reconstructed Section of the Wall
The north-west corner gate opens onto a road, over which a pedestrian crossing leads to another enclosed space, where the capped shaft of the Wallsend B colliery marks the place from which high quality coal was once sent across the world. Adjacent to this is an excavated length of wall, and a section reconstructed to its full height of 3.5 metres, which gives an impression of how the complete wall might have looked.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
