Over the weekend we ventured in to Carlisle, to see how the Roman frontier building works were progressing.
The works, near to the castle and Tullie house museum have brought quite a bit of disruption to the normal life in this area, so we were keen to see if it was all worth it.
The Castle Street area of the city has had builders and tradesmen working away for many months now, however the end seems to be in sight.
Branded as a renaissance project designed to encourage tourism and as a focus for local Roman history, wooden columns and new pavements have been installed.
Historical quarter
Large red sandstone blockwork has now replaced the old concrete pavement slabs and Castle Street has been reduced to one lane.
It is good to know that they have thought about us doggies too…Tall wooden posts, topped with carved red sandstone now grow skyward from the pavements. These provide excellent sniffs and fantastic marker posts, so get the paws up from us both.
In a bid to recognise Carlisle as having Roman history, this area is trying to rebrand itself as the historical quarter of the city.
Although the Tullie House area has seen the focus of many peoples attention, work has also been going on in nearby Bitts Park.
Bitts Park
Sandstone entrance posts have been erected at two of the entrances to Bitts Park.
A new central round marker stone has also been installed near to the tennis courts.
Measuring about 3m across the circular stones give the visitor an indication of areas of the city nearby.
Visitors through the park, following the Hadrians Wall Path or the number 72 cycle way, also have new direction posts.
Standing a few feet tall these new sniffing posts feature inlaid information tiles.
Costly to maintain
Now that most of the work has been completed it is clear that the new structures and street works will need time to bed in and become accepted.
It all looks very new and spotlessly clean and as such we have concerns as to how long this will last. Will the short term spend become a long term cost?
Gallery
[slidepress gallery=’roman-streets-gallery’]