It is an area (bigger than Hong Kong) that is effectively the border between England and Scotland. The Scots and the Brits had been fighting for ages and in the bad old days the Scots would conduct raids of these border towns and villages and the Brits would return the favour. When the Roman Empire ruled England, they could not contain the Scots (barbarians) and King Hadrain (8 AD? my history is crap) ordered this wall to be built. It spans over the entire northen England from Newcastle upon Tyne westward to Carisle some 68 miles (approx 110 km). The northhumberland is now a beautiful country park with lots of good scenary and very nice areas for walking - one can walk for 10 - 20 miles on days with good weather.
There is an official web site:
http://www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/
Or check
www.flickr.com there are lots of good photographs of this park posted there.
