Gilsland
| Gilsland | |
|---|---|
 Gilsland Main Street on a rainy day |
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 Gilsland
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| Gilsland shown within Northumberland | |
| OS grid reference | NY633664 |
| Civil parish | |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | CARLISLE |
| Postcode district | CA8 |
| Dialling code | 016977 |
| Police | Northumbria |
| Fire | Northumberland |
| Ambulance | North East |
| EU Parliament | North East England |
| UK Parliament | |
Gilsland is a village in northern England about 20 miles (32 km) west of Hexham, and about 18 miles (29 km) east of Carlisle, which straddles the border between Cumbria and Northumberland. The village provides an amenity centre for visitors touring Hadrian's Wall and other features of historical interest in this area of rugged Border country, popularised by the Romantic novelist Sir Walter Scott.
This unusual arrangement, incorporating two county councils and three civil parish councils, is due to the gradual amalgamation of hamlets during the 19th century. It has a population of about 400, most of whom live on the Northumberland side of the River Irthing and Poltross Burn.
As in most areas of Britain, Bronze-Age and Iron-Age settlement in Northumberland is represented by cup and ring marked stones, standing stones and hill forts, though few such monuments, with the possible exception of the Popping Stone, have been found near Gilsland. Recent field walking activities by a local archaeology group have produced flint artefacts dated to the Bronze Age and Neolithic. The evident antiquity of the civil parish boundaries may also be traceable to the Iron Age.
Gilsland is situated upon Hadrian's Wall, a noted monument constructed by the Roman army in the early part of the second century AD and lately dignified by inclusion as a World Heritage Site. Consequently, a superficial layer of Romano-British remains, remarkable chiefly for their quantity, is strewn across the surrounding landscape and dominates archaeological writings on the region, no doubt due to the classicist thrall under which early (and some later) archaeologists worked, the ease with which Roman artefacts can be found and the relative lack of original research since 1900. Prominent remains of military structures form tourist attractions, the focus being almost entirely on their stone-built phases, most having been repeatedly re-constructed in turf & timber. The Wall itself was initially of turf from a point to the west of Gilsland, but was eventually replaced in stone.
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Wikipedia