Yeh!!....here I go again pushing my beautiful county,......well!!!....you’ve gotta, haven’t you. Just up the road from where i live,...amongst all the barbarians, there is so much history, it makes your eyes water!!!! If that doesn’t then the wind howling across this northern border will!!!!! I really do not know how those poor Italians could stand living up here…...........and to stay for over 400yrs…the mind boggles!!!! Never mind get your rucksack and your hiking boots out of storage and get up here quick…..legend has it that we may get a couple of days of ‘SUN’ this year….........(i’ve got a photo of a sunny day taken up here, a couple of years ago)...I digress!!!!
This is a great place to visit because it is an excellent introduction to life on the Hadrian’s Wall frontier. It overlooks a fantastic view of the Northumberland National Park with Wall Town Crags just next door. It’s sited on the intersection of the Pennine Way and Hadrian’s Wall, with Staingate Way passing just below it.Inside the Museum, which is right next to the Roman fort, there is superb film shown called Following the Eagle, which is probably the highlight of the whole visit as it guides you virtually around the site. There are also good displays about the life of Roman Auxiliaries and their families as well as about the weapons used which are also particularly interesting. There is a good children’s activity book sold together with numerous other guides and gifts in the shop. The Museum is well worth a visit and is (Open daily from February to November. Times vary.) The fort at Carvoran predated the Wall, housing 1000 men in AD 80, but there is hardly anything left above ground. The Carrick family who farmed there through the 18th and 19th centuries found it was much more lucrative to sell all the inscribed stones they turned up with the plough to tourists than to try and grow crops. As a result there are more inscriptions extant from Carvoran than any other British site – but none of them are here!!!!!!!............ History comes alive at the Roman Army Museum on the site of the fort - learn about the life of the Roman soldier, view displays and Roman artifacts and visit the film theatre where you can soar with the eagle and ‘fly’ along Hadrians Wall and get a bird’s eye-view of the northern Roman Empire…....using a specially-designed camera mounted on a helicopter along with site archaeologists and costumed reenactors, film makers at the Vindolanda Trusts Roman Army Museum at Greenhead in Northumberland have recreated 3rd century Roman Britain. The film is displayed in a new theater financed by a Heritage Lottery Fund grant. With the sites low ruins transformed by live action costumed shots intermingled with computer-generated graphics, visitors can see what life was really like at Roman forts like Vindolanda and others along Hadrians Wall.
The views from here are marvellous, and there’s a handy nearby car park, picnic site and simple tea-and-ice-cream café. Very near the crags, at Carvoran, you can call into the Vindolanda Trust’s Roman Army Museum
Mid-Feb to Mid-Nov daily 10am–5/6pm; winter reduced hours;
Prices: £3.95 pp; or a joint ticket with Vindolanda £7.50pp;
Children and consessions apply:
Roman Army Museum,
Carvoran,
Greenhead,
Brampton.
CA8 7JB
Tel: 016977 47485