What would the Romans say? A brilliant new ‘art fort’ brightens up Hadrian’s Wall

A temporary structure at Housesteads Fort celebrates 1,900 years of the wall, adding a welcome flamboyance to our writer’s childhood memories

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen it so busy!” declares my dad as we pull into the car park of Housesteads, which sits along Hadrian’s Wall, one of the best-preserved Roman forts in Britain. He’s right: the car park is rammed and the entrance to the site is unusually crowded: tourists with backpacks sit on picnic benches eating cake from the cafe, while a dad reads aloud the noticeboards to his small children.

This buzz is, in part, probably due to it being an exceptionally sunny day during the school holidays. But there’s another factor: Housesteads has a new, temporary art installation, part of a year-long series of events celebrating 1,900 years since building on Hadrian’s Wall began in AD122, under the instruction of the emperor Hadrian.