Welcome to the 2021 Hadrian’s Wall ‘Virtual’ Networking Days. Due to Covid, we have moved the event online and turned it into a week-long festival! The festival launched on Saturday 27 February, followed by a week of themed workshops and talks. We also have moved our Community Group exhibition online – please browse through and see what local groups have been up to over the past year!
Thank you to everyone who attended ‘Virtual’ Networking Days, it would not have been such a success without all of you and the engaged, insightful questions and discussions we had!
The recorded sessions can now be found on our YouTube channel, please click here to go to the playlist to catch up on sessions that you may have missed. The videos for individual talks can be found with their descriptions if you scroll through the event schedule below.
Schedule
Please find information about the events taking place on each day of the ‘Virtual’ Networking Days below. You can register for individual sessions by clicking on the register button below the description for each talk. Or, if you are interested in attending all of the sessions on a day, you can click on the ‘All Day Registration’ button below each day on the schedule. Clicking any of the register buttons will take you to the associated EventBrite page to complete your registration for that session or day.
The full programme can be downloaded here: Hadrian’s Wall ‘Virtual’ Networking Days Programme
Saturday 27 February: Launch Event
Launch Event
Time: 1-3pm (will include a 10 minute comfort break)
Speakers:
- Lady Jane Gibson, Hadrian’s Wall Partnership Board – Welcome
- Duncan Wise, Northumberland National Park – Fighting Covid on the Northern Frontier An assessment of the impact of Covid 19 on the Hadrian’s Wall tourism sector in 2020, the lessons we have learnt and looking forward to the future.
- Dr Rob Collins, WallCAP – Hadrian’s Wall Community Archaeology Project (WallCAP): A Year On
- Bill Griffiths, Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums – Hadrian’s Wall 1900th Anniversary Festival 2022 This presentation will announce the Hadrian’s Wall 1900th anniversary festival, taking place across 2022, and invite people to consider how they may wish to celebrate 1900 years of the World Heritage Site.
Monday 1 March: WallCAP Updated (Hadrian’s Wall Community Archaeology Project)
Session 1: No Fieldwork, No Problem! Volunteering During a Pandemic
Time: 10-11am
Speaker: Kerry Shaw, Volunteer Coordinator & Community Liaison Officer
Faced with the unfolding reality of no face-to face-activity for almost a year, join us for this session to look at how WallCAP responded and how volunteers were able to continue to feed their passion for the Wall whilst driving the project forward, from the comfort of their own homes! Maybe you are part of a group or know someone who’d benefit from our new digital offer. Come along and find out!
Session 3: Walltown Crags Case Study
Time: 3-4pm
Speakers: Dr Jane Harrison, Dr Ian Kille & Kathryn Murphy
How do archaeology and geology work together when we investigate sites? The WallCAP team are trying to generate the maximum information about sites along Hadrian’s Wall by exploring the links between archaeology and geology. Using a stretch of Wall at Walltown Crags as an example the team discuss this question and finish by demonstrating how 3D laser scanning and photogrammetry are also being used to contribute to investigations.
Session 2: Recent Excavation and Repair work on Hadrian’s Wall
Time: 1-2pm
Speaker: Dr Jane Harrison, Community Archaeologist
Last autumn, WallCAP work went ahead with repairs and excavation at a handful of locations on Hadrian’s Wall, centred on Walltown Crags, and on Peel Gap in the famous central section. This talk explains how you go about repairing such a significant monument and what you find when you do. It also describes new excavation across the curtain Wall which produced fascinating details about its construction.
Session 4: Who Stole the Wall?
Time: 7-8pm
Speaker: Dr Ian Kille
We’re used to thinking of the cycle of life, death, decay and new life in human timescales. To understand the lifecycle of the Wall means we must contemplate a much larger time-frame. In this presentation, I will explore the lifecycle of a grain of sand from its crystallisation to its incorporation into a sandstone used in the Wall and beyond. This will give a view of the processes, both man-made and natural, which have helped shape the Wall in all of its manifestations.
Tuesday 2 March: Community Projects & Research
Session 1: Romans ?…. Reivers?…. whatever next?
Time: 10:30am-12 noon
Speaker: Elaine Edgar, Epiacum Heritage
The roman fort of Epiacum commands a strategic position in a landscape that has been farmed for centuries. Who were the people who lived here before and after the Romans? Find out about how Epiacum Heritage is working to engage visitors in a landscape that is littered with evidence but largely untouched by excavators and why we think we can do that without using trowels!
Session 2: Trimontium Trust Update
Time: 1-2:15pm
Speaker: Rob Longworth & Dr John Reid, Trimontium Museum Trust
Tune in for an update from the Trimontium Trust, located in the Scottish Borders. They will be discussing what’s new within the Trust, as well as looking over interesting developments in the Scottish archaeological world.
This will be a recorded presentation, followed by a live Q&A session.
Session 3: The Roman Wall through Ouseburn
Time: 7-8:30pm
Speakers: Lesley Turner & George Davies, Heritage Volunteers, Ouseburn Trust
Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage Site passes through the Ouseburn Valley, completely unknown by many visitors – and there have been many attempts to locate the site. This talk will look at what we know about the route, what we don’t know, and the current efforts to find the Wall and its stones.
Wednesday 3 March: World Heritage Management
Session 1: World Heritage Site Management in the UK
Time: 10-11am
Speaker: Mike Collins, Historic England
Mike’s talk focusses on World Heritage in the UK
- what its purpose is
- what it means to have World Heritage status and what it doesn’t
- the criteria that need to be met to achieve this status, and
- their management
As a bonus, Mike will also talk about his experience of St Kilda, the UK’s only dual (nature and culture) designated World Heritage Site.
Session 2: Updating the Management Plan
Time: 1-2pm
Speaker: John Scott, Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site (Hadrian’s Wall)
The 2015 restructuring of the Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage Site Management Plan was something totally new and has been one of the most successfully delivered plans on record, all thanks to the combined energy and enthusiasm us all, but what are the next steps? how should we all come together to update the plan, especially in the very different normal world we find ourselves in today?
This session is a chance to catch up on plans and ideas and discuss the best way forward so that we can build on our combined success and continue to share and care for our World Heritage Site together.
Session 3: Wall to Wall: The Collaboration Initiative between Hadrian’s Wall and the Great Wall of China
Time: 3-4:30pm
Speaker: David Brough, Wall to Wall Project
David will explain the origins and purposes of the Wall to Wall initiative, the collaborative activities conducted to date, and summarise the principal areas of mutual interest for future collaboration. He will then outline some of the specific projects which it is now intended should be taken forward.
No recording of this presentation is available, however, please click here to download the presentation slides.
Thursday 4 March: Frontiers of the Roman Empire
Session 1: Making the Invisible Visible and Understandable: Examples from the German Limes World Heritage Site
Time: 9:00-10:00am
Speaker: Christof Fluegel, Chief Consultant for Archaeological Museums in Bavaria
The Roman Frontier (Limes) in Germany, due to its supposed non-visibility, is one of the most difficult parts of the FRE WHS to communicate to the public. It lacks iconic sites and landscapes like Housesteads and the Central sector, which are necessary for the creation of an attractive on-site-museum. The Limes presents itself as some greenish stones in the wood or as a linear hedge in the open landscape, which makes its explanation a very challenging task.
Session 2: Rediscovering the Antonine Wall
Time: 10:30-12 noon
Speaker: Emma McMullen, Antonine Wall Project Manager
The Rediscovering the Antonine Wall project is half way through a four year programme of capital and community based projects aiming to raise awareness of Rome’s most northerly frontier, the Antonine Wall. The project is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, LEADER and partner organisations. Much has been achieved by the project during the first two years, although the Covid pandemic has impacted on delivery, particularly in relation to our community and educational projects. However, our capital projects, including Roman themed playparks and the installation of replica Roman distance slabs, are well progressed. Join us to hear more about the project’s progress so far and our plans for the final two years.
Session 3: The EU “Living Danube Limes” Project
Time: 2-2:30pm
Speaker: Dr Anna Kaiser, Centre for Cultural Property Protection
Living Danube Limes is a project that spans the whole Danube Region, from Germany to the Black Sea and puts the Roman heritage and history centre stage. In Roman times, the Danube was not only a wet border, but also a highly connecting waterway from East to West and vice versa, and the same holds true in the 21st century, where modern countries can be proud of their shared Roman heritage, which is already on the UNESCO World Heritage tentative list as part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire. A central aim of Living Danube Limes is to raise awareness of the Roman heritage and to contribute to its conservation and protection.
The presentation will inform about the aims of the project, the state of progress and the possibilities to participate in the connecting cruise with a reconstructed Roman Danube patrol vessel from Germany to the Black Sea 2022.
Friday 5 March: 1900th Festival (2022)
Session: Hadrian’s Wall 1900 Workshop
Time: 2-4pm
Speakers: Bill Griffiths, Ellie Turner & Maddie Maughan
Find out more about Hadrian’s Wall 1900 and how you can make this year-long Festival as successful as possible!
Throughout 2022, Hadrian’s Wall 1900 Festival will present a programme of activity which celebrates 1900 years of history of the World Heritage Site. The Festival will connect people and places through time, bringing to life the culture and experiences of local people living and working along the Wall, from pre-Roman times to the present day.
This is the first in a series of information events being delivered by the Hadrian’s Wall 1900 team and it’s your chance to hear how plans are developing so far, find out how you can get involved, ask questions and make suggestions. The session will be run by Hadrian’s Wall 1900 Coordinating Producers, Ellie Turner and Maddie Maughan alongside Bill Griffiths, Director of Public Programmes for Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums and Chair of the Hadrian’s Wall 1900 Steering Group.
BONUS: Friday 5 March – Wrap Up Session
Session: Bonus Wrap Up Session
Time: 4-4:45pm
We hope you’ve been enjoying the different sessions and opportunities to come together and chat so far this week. We’ve been enjoying it so much that we’ve decided to add a bonus Wrap Up Session at the end of the Festival, on Friday afternoon at 4pm! This will be a chance to recap on what has been a fantastic week of sessions exploring our internationally famous and proudly local World Heritage Site and to share your experiences, thoughts and highlights of the week.
‘Chance to Chat’ Sessions
Throughout the week we will be making time for discussion and chat.
We all enjoy getting together, so, we have planned into the schedule a number of 30-minute slots for anyone to come along and bring up a topic or ask questions. We all know that our networks and connections make us stronger and often lead to great ideas, and while we can’t compete with a proper catch up over a coffee and cake, it will be great to see you there.
Times:
- Tuesday 2 March: 2:15-2:45pm
- Wednesday 3 March: 2-2:30pm
- Thursday 4 March: 12-12:30pm