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Made around 130AD, it is a small bronze bowl with the names of Hadrian’s Wall forts inscribed on it. Featuring an illustration of the wall, it would have been picked out in coloured enamels (now lost).

It is thought to have been made for a high ranking soldier or civil official who was stationed on the wall and would have been a one-off commission.

The Rudge Cup will sit alongside a replica of the Staffordshire Moorlands Pan, also an historic souvenir, as well as the Winterton Pan and the Brougham Patera, which although very similar in style do not feature the names of forts.

Curator Dr Frances McIntosh with the Rudge Cup, one of Hadrian’s Wall’s earliest souvenirs, which is on display at Chesters Roman Fort. Picture by English Heritage/Jason Friend.

They will join a host of keepsakes from the wall, spanning nearly two millenia in a new display to mark 1,900 years since the start of its construction, at Chesters Roman Fort near Chollerford in the Memento: Souvenirs from Hadrian’s Wall exhibition.

Other highlights include a large replica bust of Hadrian, a piece of the wooden fort at Carlisle and a tin – recently acquired by English Heritage – filled with scavenged fragments that, according to a handwritten note attached to its lid, were discovered on a visit to Chesters in 1891.

Frances McIntosh, English Heritage curator at Hadrian’s Wall, said: “Many of us will have returned from our holidays this summer with a memento of our trip, but the idea of collecting objects as a way of safekeeping memories is extremely old.

“In the second century, visitors went to the trouble of commissioning their own souvenirs, like the Rudge Cup.

“We wanted to show how souvenirs have changed and, perhaps more importantly, how they haven’t.

“Some souvenirs can be wacky, or even tacky, whilst some are beautiful works of art, but all of them carry memories of a visit and that is what makes them important to their owners – whether modern or Roman.”

Memento: Souvenirs from Hadrian’s Wall is now open at Chesters Roman Fort and runs until October 30.

Entry is included in the admission price. Search for English Heritage Chesters Roman Fort for more information.

English Heritage exhibits Hadrian’s Wall oldest souvenirs in Northumberland