Tag: Roman army

British Builder to Walk Full Length of Hadrian’s Wall…as a Roman Soldier

A british amateur archaeologist is to walk the entire length of Hadrian’s Wall this summer – clad in full Roman military armour. Builder Duane Alexander, 38, will also enjoy authentic Roman rations as he hauls 90lbs of equipment across the 100-mile route along the wall, in the north of England.

Duane plans to sleep outdoors, and educate visitors on life in the Roman army as he conquers the wall to raise money for Cancer Research over the August bank holiday. He initially had the idea in 1996, but had to shelve plans after a near-fatal sailing accident in the Orkneys 14 years ago.

Now Duane is fighting fit to complete the Hadrian’s Wall trek, spending up to two hours a day in the gym, and pacing up and down his garden in the armour. He’ll be supported by four friends, but says his family still think the idea is outrageous. “It’s going to be hard work. Everyone thinks I’ve lost the plot and mum would think I was bonkers but I think she’d be glad I was doing it,” Duane tells the Lakeland Echo.

“Everyone thinks I’ve lost the plot!”

“There were quite a few amused looking drivers and my neighbour’s daughter got a shock when she saw me in the garden (in the armour),” he adds. Hadrian’s Wall is a huge stonework built in 122 AD by the Roman Emperor Hadrian to mark the limits of Roman Britian. It is lined with military forts and towns, including Vindolanda, where a series of ancient tablets were found. Today the wall remains a popular tourist attraction – and was ceremonially lit earlier this year to mark the 1,600th anniversary of the Romans’ British exit.Click here for Britain’s top ten Roman walls.

HD Video: Episode 7 – Light Up!Hadrian’s Wall Illuminations

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Goth Pirate Puzzle Solved in Gloucestershire

A longstanding mystery has been laid to rest this week, as experts finally solved the riddle of a 1,600-year-old body discovered in Gloucestershire 37 years ago. The identity of the 25-30-year-old man, unearthed in a mausoleum in Kingsholm Square in 1972, had long evaded archaeologists. Yet now thanks to chemical testing, a team has revealed him to have been an eastern European Goth warrior from around 400 AD.

The man’s lavish burial includes a silver belt buckle and inlaid knife from the Balkans and southern Russia, which show him to have been someone of high rank – experts believe he may have been a Goth mercenary hired by the Roman Army, whose capital city fell to Alaric’s Visigoths just ten years later in 410 AD.

David Rice of Gloucester City Museum thinks the warrior may have been employed to warn off potential pirates: “Archaeologists have always wondered who he was and what he was doing in Gloucester. We’ve discovered he came from way outside of the Roman Empire, from the other side of the Danube.

“Were there pirates coming up the River Severn?”

“It was possible to detect he lived in very cold regions as a child, before moving west,” adds Mr Rice. “To have such an unusual person in this city means that Gloucester was a more important place in Roman times than we’ve previously thought. Perhaps there were pirates coming up the River Severn?”

Roman Invasion – Soldiers Advance on Somerset This Weekend

Somerset is getting ready for a Roman Invasion this saturday, thanks to a free archaeological open day organised by Bath and Camerton Archaeological Society (BACAS).

Ceri Lambdin from BACAS told This is Somerset: Its not every day that Roman soldiers appear in Somerset and children and adults will be amazed by the weight of the armour and the amount of kit a soldier had to carry every day. With only the remains of Roman civilisation left in Somerset, we aim to bring to life this exciting period of history and give children and adults an opportunity to experience what life was like during these times for themselves.

children and adults will be amazed by the weight of the armour and the amount of kit a soldier had to carry every day

‘Invasion Day’ will be held at the archaeological site of Upper Row Farm, near Laverton in Somerset. Excavations at the site by BACAS, which have been ongoing for the past nine years, have so far uncovered an Iron Age and a Romano-British site. Traces of the foundations of a Roman villa are visible at the site, along with an Iron Age roundhouse. Guided tours of these sites will be available on the day. Findings from this summer’s excavation will also be on show.

The aim of the event is to give both adults and children a taste of what Britain was like during the Iron Age and later as the country came under Roman control. There will be opportunities to learn how to build a roundhouse, as well as trying on Roman armour and trying out your engineering skills by building a Roman arch.

Plan Your Move:

The invasion will take place at Upper Row Farm on Saturday 5th September, 10am till 5pm.

Upper Row Farm, Laverton BA2 7RB, in Somerset, is about 10km south of Bath (on mainline railways). The farm will be signposted on the day.

For further details, contact Ceri Lambdin on 01225 761026 or bathandcam@hotmail.com

Photos by BACAS.