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Hadrian’s Wall hires ‘watchers’ to answer questions from Game of Thrones fans

Specially appointed “Watchers in the Wall” are now patrolling Hadrian’s Wall ready to answers questions from Game of Thrones fans.

According to the Newcastle Chronicle, English Heritage has hired several guides after noticing the Roman Wall has attracted increasing numbers of fans of the books and HBO series, after author George RR Martin confirmed the landmark inspired The Wall.

Stretching for 100 leagues (300 miles) along the northern border of the Seven Kingdoms, The Wall’s towering structure of solid ice separates the realm from the domain of the wildlings.

English Heritage has appointed the “Watchers” – named after the Night’s Watch guards – at the main four Roman sites along the wall, in both Northumberland and Cumbria, until the final series ends later this year.

The sites are: Birdoswald Roman Fort in Cumbria and Corbridge Roman Town, Housesteads Roman Fort and Chesters Roman Fort in Northumberland.

The charity said the “Watchers” will wear black cloaks and shields and “will be on hand to answer visitors’s questions about the series and sort the bloody fact from the even bloodier fiction.”

Frances McIntosh, English Heritage’s curator of Hadrian’s Wall, said: “Today it may not be supersized like George RR Martin’s colossal ice wall, but when it was built nearly 2,000 years ago, Hadrian’s Wall would have been a huge, hulking sign of Roman imperial strength, and standing on the precipice looking north, you can tell why Martin was inspired by this ancient monument.