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Heddon-on-the-Wall

Heddon-on-the-Wall is a small village in Northumberland in northern England, about nine miles from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, located on Hadrian’s Wall near Throckley. The location has always held religious significance, as it is believed the site was used for pagan ceremonies before the church of St.Andrew was built in Saxon times around 680AD. The original stone structure was built using recycled stone from Hadrian’s Wall and some of those parts are still visible today. The village grew up along the Hexham Road, which was the main Newcastle to Hexham road until the A69 from Newcastle to Carlisle was opened in 1971 bypassing the village, making it an attractive location for commuters although there is no railway station in the village, the closes being at the nearby village of Wylam, Its primary industry is agriculture, which was devasted in 2001 when a farm in the village was found to be the origin of the outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease although industries include salmon-fishing, limestone and sandstone quarrying and brick making. Heddon-on-the-Wall is a popular destination for tourists passing through, due to it containing the longest section of the original, unbroken Hadrian’s Wall, at its widest point. The wall was built by the Romans to provide protection from the troublesome Scots and to mark the frontier of their Empire.

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