What is Hadrians Wall and Blarney Stone? Why are they well known?
Hadrian’s Wall is the wall the Roman emperor Hadrian had built when the Romans occupied southern Britain, to keep their borders safe from the Scottish Picts and other “barbarians”. The remnants can still be seen. The Blarney Stone is a stone sticking out of the wall of Blarney Castle in the South of Ireland. The place is always crawling with tourists who want to kiss the stone in order to get the “gift of the gab” (the ability to charm others with their speech). The story is that a lord of the castle kept negotiating with the English invaders, keeping them from attacking his stronghold, without ever keeping any of his promises to hand over the keep. When asked how he got away with it, he said that there was a magical stone built into the wall of his castle which would render those who kissed it very persuasive. I think he would be very chuffed to know that his little joke still works!
