HADRIAN’S FALL!
Selfie-obsessed tourists cause wall to collapse
IT kept the unconquered Picts out of the Roman Empire for centuries – but it seems that Hadrian’s Wall is no match for selfie-obsessed tourists.
Visitors climbing on the 73-mile structure to take the perfect photo are causing parts to collapse.
One 10ft-long section at Steel Rigg in Northumberland, visited by thousands of tourists each year, now lies ruined.
The wall is the largest Roman archaeological feature in the world. It was built between the River Tyne and Solway Firth under the orders of Emperor Hadrian in 122AD.
Tourists continue to clamber on the wall – as tall as 8ft in places – despite signs telling them not to.
Local photographer Pete Savin, 53, said of the damage at Steel Rigg: ‘I was truly shocked seeing the collapsed wall. It seems the selfie on Hadrian’s Wall is everything – regardless of the damage people unintentionally cause. Stones from the section have crumbled away. I have been taking photographs up here for at least four years and you do see families on the wall.
‘Sometimes when I am taking a picture you can see people in the background and the next thing you see is an arm shoot up in the air when someone takes a selfie. It is a cause of frustration.’ The National Trust, which cares for the Steel Rigg stretch, said a new £1.17million project would ‘help visitors understand how they can play their part in helping preserve Hadrian’s Wall by walking next to and in the landscape that surrounds it – rather than on it.’
The wall became a world heritage site in 1987. It inspired a 700ft-high ice wall in hit TV fantasy Game Of Thrones, which concluded last night.