While southern England gets most of the glory—and the tourists—the country’s far northeastern corner harbors some of England’s best historical sights. Hadrian’s Wall serves as a reminder that this was once an important Roman colony, while nearby Holy Island is where Christianity gained its first toehold in Britain. And both can be reached from the town of Durham, home to England’s greatest Norman church.
For years I’ve visited Hadrian’s Wall, the remains of the fortification the Romans built nearly 2,000 years ago to mark the northern end of their empire, where Britannia stopped and the barbarian land that would someday be Scotland began. But until a more recent visit, I had never ventured beyond the National Trust properties, the museums, and the various car-park viewpoints.
