The Roman Wall then c1900 and now 2011.

Photographing the Roman Wall: Then and Now

Northumberland Libraries are delighted to announce we have been awarded a National Lottery Project Grant from Arts Council England to run a project called Photographing the Roman Wall: Then and Now

The project will be part of a year-long festival celebrating the 1900th anniversary of the building of Hadrian’s Wall, https://1900.hadrianswallcountry.co.uk/. Partnering with Northumberland Archives we will be hosting an exhibition of photographs of the Roman Wall by the Hexham photographer, John Pattison Gibson (1838-1912). The Gibson collection is housed in Northumberland Archives.  Alongside the exhibition we are planning a photography competition (encouraging people to take “then and now” photographs); photography workshops; a programme of talks by authors who are Hadrian’s Wall experts; a talk on the poet Wilfrid Wilson Gibson (JP Gibson’s son) and poetry workshops. Working with Schools Library Service we will create artefact boxes for schools, an online educational resource and accompanying children’s workshops.

Gibson photographed the wall in the latter part of the 19th century giving us a unique insight into the Northumberland landscape and the wall at this time. Gibson’s passion for photographing local antiquities instilled in him a curiosity about archaeology, and this in turn led him to become an authority on all subjects connected to the Roman Wall. Read more about his life and work here: https://www.northumberlandarchives.com/2016/07/13/john-pattison-gibson/ 


A scanned in old photograph of JP Gibson

“An enlarged snapshot portrait of [Gibson] standing on an angle turret of Cilurnum (The Chesters) expounding the camp - ardent, elate, with uplifted hands, the sunshine (occasionally seen even in Tynedale) just touching the eager face, as if to bring an outward glow to match that which came from within, through eyes alight with the enthusiasm of Roman archaeology. It is so that we of this generation of antiquaries shall delight to remember him.” – Obituary Notice of J.P. Gibson, F.S.A., A Vice-President of the Society of Antiquaries by George Neilson; Archaeologia Aeliana 3rd Series, Vol. 8, 1912
 
Keep an eye on our website www.mylibrary.co.uk and our social media channels for details of the upcoming events over the summer and the autumn. 


The National Lottery logo and the Arts Council England logo with the text "supported using public funding by Arts Council England". Image is black and white.