Built by the Romans around AD 122 to guard the north-western frontier of their empire, the 73 mile construction is getting a £30m cash injection to improve and maintain it, and boost visitor numbers.
The money will come from the Hadrian's Wall partnership board, who are putting £12million towards the project, while the remaining £18 million will come from the Scottish and UK governments. With an initial target of three million visitors annually, Hadrian's Wall would be catapulted into the top ten attractions in the UK and clinch the number one spot for sites outside the capital.
The Hadrian's Wall partnership board plan to exploit every possible angle of ties to the Games of Thrones franchise, owing to its popularity, and would like to include the show's creator George RR Martin in the process. Chairwoman Lady Gibson told the Sunday Times: 'We will be exploring every storytelling hook possible to let people around the world know about the wall and its historic significance, which includes using Game of Thrones.'
Martin, 72, was first inspired by the Roman monument in a visit in 1981. He told the Rolling Stone magazine: 'I stood up there and tried to imagine what it was like to be a Roman legion- ary, standing on this wall, looking at these distant hills. It was a very profound feeling. For the Romans at that time, this was the end of civilisation; it was the end of the world.'
Hadrian's Wall was the inspiration for Game of Thrones' 345 mile-long and 700ft tall 'Wall of Ice'. Martin told the publication he had imagined monsters hiding in the dark Scottish highlands and that the wall felt like a 'barrier' against dark forces.
Heritage bosses plan to use the cash injection to improve transport links to the wall and upgrade the visitor centres in an effort to attract more tourists.
The wall is one of the UK's 32 world heritage sites and stretches 73 miles from coast to coast across England from Newcastle upon Tyne in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the West.
It was built by the Romans around AD 122 to guard the north-western frontier of their empire and boasts several remaining forts, towers, and turrets, though much of it has been moved or buried.