Newcastle to Hexham
A tour of the easterly end of Hadrian’s Wall County could begin with Tynemouth Priory and Castle, teetering on the edge of the North Sea, and then the reconstructions at the supply base of Arbeia Roman Fort & Museum at South Shields. The beginning of the Wall itself can be seen at extensively excavated Segedunum Roman Fort Baths & Museum which, unsurprisingly, is at Wallsend. Hadrian’s Cycleway starts on the coast with the Hadrian’s Wall Path National Trail beginning in Wallsend. The two run almost parallel until Heddon-on-the-Wall, from where the Cycleway heads slightly south to Prudhoe and Wylam whilst the Trail mirrors the line of the Wall.
The city of Newcastle itself is as much an excellent base now as it was 2,000 years ago when the Romans built a fort (now under the Castle) to protect the river crossing. There is still Wall to be seen at Denton Hall Turret, and the only Vallum Crossing in existence is at long-gone Benwell Fort. Just to the west of Newcastle you can easily see earthworks at Whittledean Reservoir and the best remaining broad Wall in a village setting at Heddon-on-the-Wall.
Then there are some interesting non-Roman discoveries to be made (yes, there was post-Roman life!): Norman Prudhoe Castle, George Stephenson’s Birthplace at Wylam and Thomas Berwick’s birthplace at Stockfield. Jacobite Dilston Castle is ruined, as was its owner, the Earl of Derwentwater, who lost his head with the fall of the Stuart cause.
The pretty town of Corbridge is a good walking centre. Why not walk to the fortified manor house of Aydon Castle and the remains of the Roman lynchpin town of Corbridge. Hexham itself is a traditional market town; its medieval streets are clustered round an Abbey (which makes good use of some rather handy Roman stone) built over an Anglo-Saxon crypt. In the town’s Old Goal museum is the story of the Border Reivers.
