Beaumont motte castle and section of Hadri and Brown Moor Roman temporary camp

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Beaumont motte castle and section of Hadri

   Beaumont is one of those small places where history is stacked in layers, like books on a shelf. The little church of St Mary stands on a grassy mound that was once a Norman motte, a castle earthwork, and that mound in turn sits right on the line of Hadrian's Wall as it heads west from Carlisle towards the Solway. The builders of the motte used the Roman wall as a convenient quarry and foundation, and the church builders after them did the same. You will find no tall Roman masonry here, only the line itself, traced in field boundaries and the slight rise of the ground, and an awareness that you are standing on the edge of an empire.

   Read the complete Beaumont motte castle and section of Hadri write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Beaumont motte castle and section of Hadri is where the day begins. Next is Burrow Walls Roman fort.

2. 2. Burrow Walls Roman fort

   On the northern edge of Workington, near the mouth of the river Derwent, a fragment of stone wall stands alone in a field, a jagged piece of masonry rising above the grass. It is part of Burrow Walls, a Roman fort that guarded the Cumbrian coast, one of the chain of defences that extended from the western end of Hadrian's Wall down the shore to watch for raiders crossing from Scotland and Ireland. Much of the fort's stone was reused in a medieval building on the site, and what survives today is modest, but it is part of the Hadrian's Wall World Heritage site and has a lonely charm, with views over the sea and the river.

   Read the complete Burrow Walls Roman fort write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Burrow Walls Roman fort comes up about 59 km into the recorded legs. Next is Brown Moor Roman temporary camp.

3. 3. Brown Moor Roman temporary camp

   A couple of kilometres west of Chollerford, the Military Road climbs onto open moorland, and at a place called Limestone Corner, the most northerly point of Hadrian's Wall, the Romans gave up. Their ditch in front of the Wall was supposed to be cut through solid rock here, and you can still see where they started: huge blocks of whinstone split by wedges and left lying in the ditch, with holes for the levers still visible, as if the workers had just walked away for lunch. Brown Moor, close by, is the site of one of several Roman temporary camps in this stretch, where soldiers camped while building the Wall or moving through the frontier zone, their outlines barely visible in the rough grass.

   Read the complete Brown Moor Roman temporary camp write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 168 km into the recorded legs you reach Brown Moor Roman temporary camp. Next is back through Burrow Walls Roman fort.

4. 4. back through Burrow Walls Roman fort

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Burrow Walls Roman fort write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Burrow Walls Roman fort, late in the day. Next is Beaumont motte castle and section of Hadri.

5. 5. Beaumont motte castle and section of Hadri

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Beaumont motte castle and section of Hadri write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Beaumont motte castle and section of Hadri. That is the ride.