Writing on the Wall

Linda France lives close to Hadrian's Wall at Stagshaw, Northumberland. She has a family connection with Wallsend, which she also explored. Her work appears regularly on radio and television. She gives regular readings in the UK and abroad, and teaches creative writing with Adult Education and community groups. She has had five collections of poetry published by Bloodaxe Books, and has been involved in several text-based Public-Art commissions in the North East.

A creative writing group was advertised which attracted people from along the wall from Haltwhistle to Heddon. They were invited to respond to various exhibits in the Corbridge Museum where they created their own contemporary version of 'The Corbridge Hoard'. The original was discovered in 1964 - a wooden chest buried during the first half of the second century, containing a remarkable collection of objects. They also traced the imagined origin of a selection of other 'found' objects.

Linda France followed two approaches in her own work: first, in response to the objects in the Museum, writing a sequence of prayers and promises, charms and curses: a contemporary version of Roman superstitions; and, taking a wider view of the Wall, she looked at the remains around her home at Portgate and tracing the route from it, Dere Street and Corstopitum, across to Wallsend, Segedunum and The Green Nursing Home - her first return since her birth.

Photo Credit: Karen Melvin

The Love Potion of Polemius

Found at Portgate