The Wall and Its Saviour: John Clayton and the Discovery of Hadrian's Wall in the Nineteenth Century

John Clayton (1792–1890) was a lawyer, landowner and keen antiquarian. His wealth allowed him to purchase land on Hadrian’s Wall, so that by the time he died he owned five forts and around twenty miles of Hadrian’s Wall, including milecastles, turrets and a bridge. At almost all of these sites he instigated excavation, restoration and protection. The latter included stopping stone robbing and removing farm buildings from within forts and on the line of the Wall. The excavations produced the Clayton Collection, an important group of material, on display at Chesters Fort, with many internationally significant pieces. He was working on Hadrian’s Wall at a key time for our understanding of this complex monument. Part of an active network of antiquarians, both in the North East and further afield, Clayton was an accomplished scholar of Latin and Greek and strove, through his excavations, to discover more about Hadrian’s Wall, its construction and use. This chapter will place Clayton in the context of a wider sphere of work on Hadrian’s Wall, discussing his role within these groups and relationships with other well-known antiquarians.