Philippus

When the Hadrian ordered the building of his wall, the workers were organised into cohorts and given a specific section to build. The chief stonemason for the section running through our farm was called Philippus, and this is his signature stone.

We were told that the previous tenants here unearthed the stone while ploughing one of the fields. Apparently, Donald, who sadly died last year, used the stone to clean his paint brushes. When English Heritage got wind of this they marched down and demanded that the stone be given up and put into a museum. Donald told them that it was his stone and that if they tried to take it, he would smash it up. In the end they compromised and built it into the end of the byre - now anyone who walks the Hadrian's Wall National Trail can stop and look at it as they pass through the farm.