Old pictures which shed new light on one of Britain's most famous ancient structures -- Hadrian's Wall -- are going on display today Saturday after being discovered in a school library.

The works consist of one- hundred-and-sixty-five drawings and watercolours from the last quarter of the last century.

They were done by a Victorian schoolmaster, James Irwin Coates, who taught at Ackworth in Yorkshire, some way to the south of the wall.

English Heritage, which looks after the wall, said they'd make a huge difference to understanding how it once looked.

The one-hundred-and-seventeen-kilometre structure was built across what is now northern England early in the second century AD to keep out the northern tribes.