We must not kill the thing we love

Sep 5 2008 by Nicholas Craig, The Journal

HADRIAN’S proving a huge hit at the British Museum. Television documentaries and a film being shot by John Boorman reinforce the mass media’s current fascination with the emperor’s extraordinary life.

The new coverage has opened my eyes to the magnificent buildings he erected across the world. His understanding that power has limits was astute.

It led to him breaking down barriers between cultures, and erecting others – notably the 73-mile wall in our region to separate the barbarians and the “wretched little Britons”.

However successful the Hadrian: Empire and Conflict exhibition is, nothing compares to seeing the 2,000-year-old remains of the loping 15ft wall and its forts for yourself.

Hundreds of thousands of people each year agree. Their heavy boots along the Hadrian’s Wall Trail have managed to damage its structure after it has withstood thousands of years of turbulent history.

It illustrates how delicately we have to balance tourism objectives with custodianship of our heritage. The trail was created because national countryside and heritage bodies felt the wall was undersold. Now archaeologists quake for its future.

It took almost 20 years to complete the route of the country’s most expensive 84-mile footpath. From Irish Sea to North Sea 200 signs, 14 steel bridges, 30 miles of new rights of way and scores of stiles, fences, gates and visitor centres were erected to mark Hadrian’s Wall Trail.

Its success marks a triumph over sceptics who claimed the exercise was doomed. Despite problems of upkeep, the trail’s huge popularity has brought millions to the region’s economy and many visitors.

There are problems in maintaining visitor numbers without over- crowding or eroding the attractions that bring them here. The Alnwick Garden’s wonderful gardens, tree- house and pavilion have worked hard to cope with extraordinary crowds.

Hadrian’s frontier and Alnwick’s garden deserve praise and support. They add a distinctive dimension to the county’s character for visitors, residents and businesses alike.

Nicholas Craig is a partner at Watson Burton law firm