That wall is surely as Roman as Caesar Augustus. With all due respect to Norse & Germanic / Teutonic, the Roman style of decoration is well - nigh unmistakable.
Yes, maybe I wasn't clear enough in my piece. Wilfrid's guys used the stones from the Roman Villa and probably other Roman buildings to build his monastery. All that remains of that is the crypt but I suspect the Roman stones from the above ground monastery were repurposed again and some are probably in the Norman built priory. Even in the Second World War parts of Hadrians Wall were demolished and the stones used to build runways for fighter aircraft.
What a fascinating - bloodthirsty - sweep of history. Nicely written, Harry, thank you
That wall is surely as Roman as Caesar Augustus. With all due respect to Norse & Germanic / Teutonic, the Roman style of decoration is well - nigh unmistakable.
Yes, maybe I wasn't clear enough in my piece. Wilfrid's guys used the stones from the Roman Villa and probably other Roman buildings to build his monastery. All that remains of that is the crypt but I suspect the Roman stones from the above ground monastery were repurposed again and some are probably in the Norman built priory. Even in the Second World War parts of Hadrians Wall were demolished and the stones used to build runways for fighter aircraft.