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For England's northeastern region - in particular the counties of Northumberland and Durham - the centuries between the Roman invasion and the 1603 union of the English and Scottish crowns were a period of almost incessant turbulence. To mark the empire's limit and to contain the troublesome tribes of the far north, Hadrian's Wall was built along the seventy-odd miles between the North Sea and the west coast, an extraordinary military structure that is now one of the country's most evocative ruins. When the Romans departed the northeast was plunged into chaos and divided into unstable Saxon principalities until order was restored by the kings of Northumbria, who dominated the region from 600 until the 870s. It was they who nourished the region's early Christian tradition, which achieved its finest flowering with the creation of the Lindisfarne Gospels on what is now known as Holy Island. The monks abandoned their island at the end of the ninth century, in advance of the Vikings' destruction of the Northumbrian kingdom, and only after the Norman Conquest did the northeast again become part of a greater England.

The Norman kings and their immediate successors repeatedly attempted to subdue Scotland, passing effective regional control to powerful local lords. Their authority is recalled by a sequence of formidable fortresses, most impressively those at Bamburgh, Alnwick and Warkworth , and also by Durham Cathedral , the magnificent twelfth-century church of the prince bishops of Durham, who ruled the whole of County Durham. Long after the northeast had ceased to be a critical military zone, its character and appearance were transformed by the Industrial Revolution . Coal had been mined here for hundreds of years, but exploitation only began in earnest towards the end of the eighteenth century, when two main coalfields were established - one dominating County Durham from the Pennines to the sea, the other stretching north along the Northumberland coast from the Tyne. The world's first railway , the Darlington and Stockton line, was opened in 1825 to move coal to the nearest port for export, while local coal and ore also fuelled the foundries of Middlesbrough and Consett, which in turn supplied the ship-building and heavy-engineering companies of Tyneside. The region boomed, creating a score of sizeable towns, amongst which Newcastle was pre-eminent - as it remains today.

Most visitors dodge the industrial areas, bypassing the towns along the Tees Valley - Darlington, Stockton, Middlesbrough and Hartlepool - on the way to Durham . From Durham it's a short hop to Newcastle , an earthy city distinguished by some fine Victorian buildings, the revitalized Quayside and a vibrant cultural scene and nightlife. North, past the old colliery villages, the brighter parts of the Northumberland coast boast some fine castles, as well as Holy Island , the extravagant ramparts of Berwick-upon-Tweed , a string of superb, if chilly, beaches, and the desolate archipelago of the Farne Islands . Inland there are the scenic Durham dales and the harsh landscapes of Northumberland National Park , a huge chunk of moorland and tree plantations that edges the most dramatic portion of Hadrian's Wall. The wall itself is easily visited from the appealing abbey-town of Hexham , just half an hour from Newcastle.

If there are two or more of you, it's well worth getting hold of a Northumbria Tourist Board Powerpass from any of the region's tourist offices, which gives two-for-the-price-of-one entry to many attractions, including Beamish, Bede's World and Segedunum. For all public transport enquiries in the northeast, contact Traveline (daily 7am-8pm; tel 0870/608 2608 ); or log onto Nexus, the local transport's website, which has a useful journey planner option . The Northeast Explorer Pass gives unlimited travel on local buses - buy it on board any bus. The main long-distance footpath through the northeast is the Pennine Way , which crosses Hadrian's Wall and climaxes in a climb through the Northumberland National Park and Cheviot Hills. Less demanding is the 63-mile St Cuthbert's Way , which links Holy Island with Melrose, where St Cuthbert started his ministry, just across the border in Scotland.

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