Housesteads Fort (Vercovicium)

Lilypon, on March 30, 2007, said:

Hadrian's Wall

Housesteads Fort (Vercovicium)

Ryan Calhoun, on August 28, 2007, said:

A wonderful piece of history! I believe this was meant to divide the occupying Romans from the native Britons, and they abandoned it when the Saxons invaded. Does that sound right? My memory might not be very good.

Lilypon, on August 29, 2007, said:

Pretty good I think re your memory. It was build by the Romans to stop the early Scots from performing raids. I'm not sure when/why they abandoned it. :S

Coal Miner's Boy, on February 5, 2008, said:

My dad once told me that his grandfather told him our family were Scottish lowlanders who used to cross the wall at night to steal sheep from the Roman garrison farms.

One of these men found himself a "wee Sassenach lassie" (a young English girl) and decided to stay. They moved a little further south and have been in my hometown on the coast since the time of the Domesday Book.

Don't know if the story's true, but it makes for a fun yarn!

Paul

Lilypon, on February 5, 2008, said:

LOLOLOLOL My grandfather was from Dumfries and he tells a similar story re his family being sheep stealers (but the "wee Sassenach lassie" version is not one I heard from him, however Grandfather married a "wee Sassenach lassie" here in Canada . :D

Thank you so much for sharing the above Paul! I'm smiling from ear-to-ear reading it! :D

Pam

EVA_L, on February 6, 2008, said:

Fantastic place! Best wishes. Eva