{"id":39755,"date":"2024-04-26T18:02:03","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T17:02:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsblogsnew.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=39755"},"modified":"2024-04-26T18:02:03","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T17:02:03","slug":"ihbcs-context-raids-hadrians-wall-end-to-end-for-ihbcreading2024-themes-what-happened-cumbrias-vernacular-bastles-on-the-border","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=39755","title":{"rendered":"IHBC\u2019s Context raids Hadrian\u2019s Wall \u2018end to end\u2019 for #IHBCReading2024 themes: What happened\u2026 Cumbria\u2019s vernacular\u2026 Bastles on the border\u2026 features (Ian Nairn!) & more"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The new issue of the IHBC\u2019s members\u2019 journal, Context<\/a>, No. 179, offers diverse takes on Hadrian\u2019s Wall \u2013 inspired by \u2018The man who saved Hadrian\u2019s Wall\u2019 \u2013 with a special collation of personal and professional takes on #IHBCReading2024<\/a>\u2019s theme of \u2018Place and Building Care\u2019.<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

See more on #IHBCReading2024<\/a>:<\/p>\n

CPD Guidance HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

Booking options HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

Or just secure your Virtual Day School place + recording
\n(from \u00a330+VAT) HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\n

The IHBC writes:<\/p>\n

In 1792, when John Clayton was four years old, his father Nathaniel bought the Chesters Estate, west of Newcastle. This was the site of Chesters Roman fort, and Hadrian\u2019s Wall ran through it. Nathaniel set about levelling and grassing over much of the Roman ruins, but he did collect the Roman antiquities he found there. This sparked the interest of his son, who was dismayed to see the destruction of the Roman ruins.<\/p>\n

In time John succeeded his father as town clerk of Newcastle, a post he held for 45 years, proving himself a talented and effective fixer. Among other feats, John Clayton facilitated the builder Richard Grainger\u2019s comprehensive development plan for the centre of Newcastle, with Clayton Street being named after him.<\/p>\n

Clayton\u2019s talents made him enormously wealthy, enabling him to pursue his passion for conservation and archaeology. He bought the land occupied by five of the Roman forts and most of a 20-mile stretch of Hadrian\u2019s Wall. He prevented quarrying near to the wall, forbade the reuse of Roman stone in new buildings and cleared buildings constructed on the remains. He built a pavilion to display his archaeological collection, and his nephew Nathaniel later built a permanent museum.<\/p>\n

One other thing. John Clayton has been called, by the Northern Echo<\/em>, among others, \u2018the man who planted the Sycamore Gap tree\u2019. That was the tree that stood in a dramatic dip on Hadrian\u2019s Wall until it was felled by vandals in September 2023. The public reaction underlined just how important the wall\u2019s landscape is to so many people. It is true that Clayton was the owner of the land in which the tree was planted, but it seems unlikely that he would have planted a tree so very close to the wall that he was committed to conserving. Whichever way, John Clayton deserves to be celebrated as a hero of conservation.<\/p>\n

He and the others who have conserved so much of Hadrian\u2019s Wall and its associated structures over the years have left us plenty to puzzle about. What exactly was the wall\u2019s function? Why was that location chosen, rather than the much shorter route on which the Romans built the Antonine Wall only 20 years later (only to abandon it eight years after completion, withdrawing to Hadrian\u2019s Wall)? How much of today\u2019s visible structure of Hadrian\u2019s Wall is reconstruction?<\/p>\n

That history is the starting point for this issue of Context. <\/em><\/p>\n

Themed articles include:<\/p>\n