On Friday 23^rd November, 6HT and 6NG made the long voyage by metro to Segedunum. If you are wondering what or where Segedunum is, it is a place in Wallsend that has a Roman museum.

After the train trek, we finally arrived at the museum, where we were ushered to a room where we dropped off our bags and coats. It was there when we had to be split into two halves. 6HT had the good fortune to stay inside and be warm and poor 6NG had to go outside on a freezing day.

While sheltered inside, we did a couple of activities. Firstly, we did the ol’ classic game of imagining. (We had to imagine that we were Celts and had to sell stuff to the Romans) that dream became a reality when we drew on copper foil, moulded clay and scribbled with charcoal.

After that, we learned how to make Roman roads, how to weave willow twigs, how to make a Roman roof and we became doctors too! After a jam-packed morning of activities we had lunch.

But our warm bodies weren’t going to stay much warmer for much longer, we had to trek outside! Outside we learned some commands (in Latin!) and some shield and sword training (don’t worry parents, they were artificial) and two unlucky people had to try on Roman clothes.

In conclusion we had an enjoyable trip at Segedunum and would like to go again.

By Tasha 6HT and Tarika 6HT

The History of Segedunum

On our trip, we learnt a lot about the Romans and the Britons but what about Segedunum?

Long ago in 122AD the mighty Emperor Hadrian ordered a frontier to be built across Britain to defend the Roman Empire ensuring the safety of who lived there. As a result of this Hadrian’s Wall was built. Hadrian’s Wall was and is a 73 mile barrier starting from the River Tyne in the east and ending in the Solway Firth in the west. Segedunum, Latin for ‘strong fort’, was first built to guard the eastern end of wall and housed 600 Roman soldier and was left standing for almost 300 years as a symbol of Roman rule and the fight against barbarian attack. The fort measured 453 feet (138m) from north to south! It was 393 feet (120m) from east to west! Altogether 4.1 acres (17,000m2)

The great Segedunum is an amazing learning experience and a very popular sight for all ages. There is a large museum and fantastically high viewing tower, which provides an inspirational view across the sight! We enjoyed our trip tremendously and hope to go again. I hope you learnt something about Segedunum. Why don’t you visit yourself? It is just on our doorstep.

By Emily, 6NG