MUNCASTER Castle has staged a unique celebration to mark the launch of the Hadrian’s Wall 1900 Festival.

They launched their Roman Muncaster exhibition with a person impersonating Emperor Hadrian himself - along with the story of how he got there.

The organisers explained that the Emperor wanted to celebrate the 1,900th anniversary of his wall by sailing from Rome to the Ravenglass estuary on Monday, enjoying a much-needed bubble bath.

Suitably refreshed and cleansed, he is now ready for the year of festivities along his 'Hadrianic Frontier'.

January 24, 2022 would have been his 1,942nd birthday, and 1,900 years since he decreed that a frontier be constructed to define the limits of his Empire.

The ceremonies were supervised by Sulis, the Romano-Celtic Goddess of thermal springs and healing waters.

A large throng of excited Britons enjoyed the spectacle, amazed at the sophistication and civilising influence of the Roman Empire.

Following his ablutions, the Emperor travelled by chariot to Muncaster Castle and officially opened a preview of the Roman Muncaster exhibition, which will highlight Roman activity in and around Ravenglass, the parish of Muncaster and the western Lake District throughout the castle's 2022 visitor season.

The Roman general Agricola sailed into the Esk Estuary in 79AD and established the port and fort at Ravenglass in Muncaster Parish.

The fort and surrounding vicus is thought to have been more or less continually used by the Romans throughout much of their occupation of Britain.

Muncaster Castle & Estate will be closely involved with supporting the Hadrian’s Wall 1900 celebrations throughout the year.

The World Heritage site 'Frontiers of the Roman Empire' represents the borderline of the Roman Empire at its furthest extent in the 2nd century AD.

The 150-mile Hadrian’s Wall frontier area runs from the western Roman coastal defences at Ravenglass, through Whitehaven, Workington and Maryport to Bowness-on-Solway, along Hadrian’s Wall through Carlisle and Hexham to Newcastle, Wallsend and South Shields.

Along the wall there were around 80 milecastles and 160 turrets, a ditch to the north and the great defensive vallum earthwork to the south.

The frontier then continued from the Dutch coast through northern Europe to the Black Sea and from there to the Red Sea and across North Africa to the Atlantic coast.