Greenlee

About trip

Emperor Hadrian probably gave orders for the Wall to be built in AD122 to act as a barrier  that allowed Roman soldiers to control movements of people coming into or leaving Roman Britain. It is 73 miles (117km) long and took about 6 years to build!

Milecastles were built every Roman mile along the Wall.

The Vallum is the flat-bottomed ditch (in some places a double ditch) with a mound either side.The Vallum could only be crossed at a Roman Fort.

The Military Road (B6318) was built following the Jacobite rebellion of 1745 when the poor condition of the road between Newcastle and Carlisle prevented General George Wade moving his troops to stop Bonnie Prince Charlie’s march south from Scotland. After the uprising was suppressed a new road was built and has been known since then as the Military Road or Wade’s Road.

The crags you can see from Steel Rigg are part of the whin sill – one of Britain’s most famous and impressive natural features. It formed 295 million years ago when molten rock squeezed between layers of existing sandstones and limestones. After millions of years of weathering this rock formed the ideal escarpment for Hadrian to build his wall on.

Greenlee Lough is used as winter feeding site for several species of wildfowl including the ducks, teal, wigeon and goldeneye and whooper swans. In summer mute swans and mallards breed and if you are lucky you may see an otter and roe deer.

The boardwalk was installed to protect the fragile wet habitats on the edge of the lough. Specialist plants that thrive in wet peaty habitats are found around the boardwalk including sphagnum mosses, cranberry, bog asphodel, marsh cinquefoil, marsh marigold, devils-bit scabious and in the wettest areas common reed.

Local Facilities

The Twice Brewed Inn on Hadrian’s Wall, next door to the National Park Centre at Once Brewed offers bar meals and accommodation. The National Park Centre at Once Brewed has refreshments, gifts and tourist information.

It is also an ideal base for starting out on a number of walks. A Hadrian’s Wall Car Park Pass can be bought here.

The small town of Haltwhistle has cafes, hotels and small supermarkets as well as an open air pool. A wider range of services are available in the market town of Hexham.