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WORDSWORTH COLLECTION
FOUNDED BY
CYNTHIA MORGAN ST. JOHN

THE Gin? @F
VICTOR EMANUEL

OF THE CLASS OF I919

 
 
 
HAND-BOOK

TO THE

ROMAN WALL.

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Siti ti AND-BOOK

TO THE

ROMAN WALL-:

A GUIDE TO TOURISTS TRAVERSING THE

BARRIER OF THE LOWER ISTHMUS.

BY

(PeOELINGWOOD BRUCE, LL.D., D.C.L., F.S.A.,

’ Honorary MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND,
AND OF CAMBRIDGE,
CoRRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ARCHEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE oF RoME, ETC.

 

SECOND EDITION.

Lonpon: ALFRED RUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE.

NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE: ANDREW REID, AKENSIDE HILL.

 

1884.
 

At b3 Da) g

NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE:
ANDREW REID, PRINTING COURT BUILDINGS, AKENSIDE HILL.

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VA we fn sae
Pax EE are E

Tue former edition of this little work was called
“The Wallet Book of the Roman Wall.” This
designation not being generally understood, the
more common one of ‘“Hand-book” has now
been adopted.

The Romans were not only great Conquerors
but they were wise and politic Governors. They
brought all the nations of the then known world
into unity, and spread the blessings of order and
civilization to the very ends of the earth. The
people of England are in this respect the suc-
cessors of the Romans. Through their instrument-
ality vast continents, of the existence of which
Cesar never dreamt, have obtained the advan-
tage of a well organized government; their rude
inhabitants have been induced to engage in the
pursuits of peaceful industry; and the blessings
of Christianity have been pressed upon their
attention.

As Englishmen we cannot but feel an interest
in the history of our great predecessors and have
special pleasure in tracing those memorials of
their presence and power which they have left in
iv. PREFACE.

this and other lands. There is, besides, much
advantage in doing so. We can hardly hold
fellowship with the mighty men of the past, with-
out imbibing some of their courage and some of
their lofty aspirations.

The grandest monument of the daring, the
power, and the determination of the Romans
which is to be found in the dominions of our most
gracious Sovereign Lady, Victoria—dominions on
which the sun never sets—is to be found in
the Northern Counties of England. Educated
Englishmen cannot but wish to visit the Wall
of Hadrian, which stretches from the estuary of
the Tyne to the waters of the Solway Firth. To
assist them in doing so this Hand-book has been
prepared.

Whilst substantially the same as when first
published, care has been taken in this new edition
to bring up the information to the present period.
A new map has been prepared, and several plates
depicting various scenes met with on the Wall
have been introduced, for which the writer is
indebted to the artistic skill and kindness of his
injend, vir C.J ..Spence.

Newcastle-upon- Tyne,
12th Fuly, 1884.
CONTENTS:

CHAPTER I.

Introductory
Works upon the eae
Historical Data
Military Data..
Height of various Points of ane Wall aRaye the Se or

CHAPTER II.

A general View of the Works ...
The Stone Wall ... sae
The Earth Wall or Vallum ...
Stations, Mile-castles, Turrets, Roads...
Masonry of the Wall, Quarries

CHAPTER III.

Local Description
Wallsend to Newcastle
Newcastle-upon-Tyne :
From Newcastle to the North Te
Corchester and Hexham...
From the Tyne to the Tipalt
From the Tipalt to the Eden
From the Eden to the Solway Firth

CHAPTER IV.

Supporting Stations

CHAPTER V.

The question discussed, ‘‘ Who was the Builder of the Wall?”

CHAPTER VI.
Articles of Antiquarian Interest found upon the Wall ...
Postscript
Index

36
36
42
45

74
82

176
216

224

229

240
245
247
PLANS, ETCHINGS, AND MAE:

East Gate of Chesters ...

Altar to Neptune

Temple at CONDERCUM

Circular Chamber in Wall, Heddon
Turret at Brunton

Plan of Bridge over North Tyne ...
Plan of CILURNUM

The Wall, Limestone Bank

The Nine Nicks of Thirlwall
Turret near Carvoran ...

Bilingual Inscription

Buildings near the River, CILURNUM

Map of the Wall

TOGETHER WITH 131 WoopcutTs,

Frontispiece.
43

47

SI

67

72

83

IIo

172
Ture Hanp-Boox

TO

@ dell, ROM AWN... WALL,

 

 

CHAPTER J:

 

PND ROD Cay ORY.

He who contemplates a pilgrimage per Aineam Valli, if he be
imbued with a thorough love of antiquity, and duly appre-
ciate the importance of the great structure which invites his
attention, will not lightly enter upon the enterprise. Before
adopting the “‘scallop-shell” and adjusting his ‘“ wallet,” he
will probably wish to renew his acquaintance with the earliest
chapter of our English history, and glance at the authors who
have written upon the subject of his inquiry. Perchance,
too, he may wish to carry with him upon his journey, in the
form of memoranda, some of the results of his reading. To
direct him in his earlier inquiries, and to supply him with
some materials for subsequent reference, the following sections
of this chapter are set before him. é

I.—WoORKS UPON THE SUBJECT.

Camden, in his Britannza, besides describing the inscrip-
tions under the various localities where they were found, has
a short chapter headed Vallum, sive Murus Picticus. The

B
2 WRITERS ON

last edition printed in the author’s lifetime is that of 1607.
The Aritannia was translated by Dr. Philemon Holland
under, as is understood, the supervision of the author. The
edition of 1637, is illustrated with the wood-cuts and plates of
the last Latin edition. Bishop Gibson published in 1695 a
new translation of Camden’s Britannia, with “additions and
improvements.” New editions appeared in 1753 and in 1772.
The Bishop’s additions unhappily are not always improve-
ments. The work however contains a chapter on the Wall,
written by a person who surveyed it in 1708. This writer
is the earliest who having traversed the whole length of the
structure, has given us an account of it. The editions of
Camden most in vogue at present, are those of Richard
Gough, the one published in 3 vols., fol., 1798; the other in
4 vols., fol., 1806.

The Jtinerarium Septentrionale or a Fourney through most
of the Counties of Scotland, and those in the North of England,
was published by Alexander Gordon, 1727, He is the “Sandy
Gordon” of the Anxiézguary. Gordon traversed portions of the
Wall in company with Horsley.

Horsley’s Britannia Romana, published in 1732, is still
the great storehouse of information on the Roman Antiqui-
ties of Britain. He has treated of the Wall and its inscriptions
largely and lucidly. Unfortunately his engravings, for the
most part, do great injustice to the altars and sculptures
which they are intended to represent. The lettering of the
inscriptions is good. I fancy that he was his own artist. As
an epigraphist he knew the importance of representing the
letters with absolute fidelity, while perhaps he cared less about
the exact form of the stones on which they were inscribed.
Besides it is easier to draw letters than artistic figures.
THE WALL. 3

Warburton’s Vallum Romanum, published in 1753, con-
sists of those portions of Horsley’s work which bear directly
upon the Wall, transferred to his own book, with the smallest
possible acknowledgment. It has the advantage of being
portable.

In 1776, some years after the death of its author, Stukeley’s
“ [ter Boreale” was published. It contains the memoranda
of a journey taken in 1725, in the company of Mr. Roger
Gale, over the western and northern parts of England. His
account of the Wall is interesting—many of his remarks being
as original as they are just.

Brand, in an Appendix to the first volume of his Wzstory
of Newcastle, published in 1789, gives a brief account of the
Wall.

William Hutton, of Birmingham, in the year 1801, at the
age of 78, traversed the great Barrier on foot, and gave to
the world the result of his observations in a work entitled Zhe
£Iistory of the Roman Wall. Though the work betrays some
weak points, a fine vein of enthusiasm runs through it.

The Rev. John Hodgson, who was at the time incumbent
of Jarrow and Heworth, published, in Zhe Picture of New-
castle-upon- Tyne (1812), a comprehensive and useful account
of the Wall.

The fourth volume of the Magna Britannia of the Messrs.
Lysons (1816), contains an article on the Roman Wall, and a
good account of the Roman Inscriptions of Cumberland.

The Rev. John Hodgson, M.R.S.L., devoted nearly the
whole of the last volume which he lived to publish of his
fiistory of Northumberland to the Walls of Hadrian and
Antoninus. _ This volume was also published separately,
under the title of Zhe Roman Wall and South Tindale, in
4 HISTORICAL DATA.

the Counties of Northumberland and Cumberland, 1841.
To this work, as well as to Horsley’s Britannia Romana,
the present writer is largely indebted.

Bruce’s Roman Wall, first edition, 1851; second edition,
1853; third edition, 1867.

The Lapidarium Sebtentrionale: a Description of the
Monuments of Roman Rule in the North of fingland, 1875;
edited by the present writer.

In the Collectanea Antiqua, Vols. II. and III., Mr.
Charles Roach Smith gives a graphic account of the jour-
neys he made to different parts of the Barrier, some of them
in the company of the author.

To the munificence of His Grace the Duke of North-
umberland, antiquaries are indebted for two works of the
greatest importance—A Survey of the Watling Street from
the Tees to the Scotch Border, made in the years 1850 and
1851, and A Survey of the Roman Wall, made in the years
1852—1854. The late Mr. Henry McLauchlan, to whom the
responsible task was committed, has performed it with great
skill and the most scrupulous fidelity. Whoever possesses
the Survey of the Wall, and its accompanying Memozr, may
not only enter advantageously upon his pilgrimage, but
when it is over, can easily retrace, upon the accurately
engraved plans, every step of his journey.

IJ.—HiIstToricaLt Data.

Pytheas of Marseilles made an exploratory voyage to
Britain about B.c. 330.

Julius Czsar landed in Britain B.c. 55. The legions which
he brought on this occasion were the seventh and the tenth.
He witndrew the same year. The next summer he made a
HISTORICAL DATA. 5

second descent, bringing five legions with him. One of these
legions, the seventh, is specified by Caesar; the others are not.
This army was likewise withdrawn before the approach of
winter.

The Emperor Claudius visited the island in person a.p.
43, having previously sent over a considerable army, consisting
of the second, the ninth, the fourteenth, and the twentieth
legions, together with a proper proportion of auxiliary troops.
Most of these legions had an important part to perform in the
history of Roman Britain. The second continued in the
island until it was finally abandoned by the Romans, having
Carleon for its head quarters. The ninth was surprised and
nearly cut to pieces by Boadicea, and afterwards, when in
Scotland, under the command of Agricola, it met with a
similar misfortune. A slab found in York in 1854, com-
memorating the erection of a building in the reign of Trajan,
by the ninth legion, furnishes us with probably the last trace
ofthem. Horsley conjectures that the remains of this legion
were incorporated with the sixth legion, which Hadrian
brought over with him, and which was eventually settled in
York. The fourteenth legion was recalled by Nero; it was
sent back again to Britain by Vitellius, and finally withdrawn
in the reign of Vespasian. The twentieth must have remained
until nearly the close of the period of Roman occupation.
It had the city of Chester, the Deva of the Romans, for
its head quarters.

It was in the year A.D. 50 that Caractacus and his family
fell into the hands of Ostorius Scapula, Claudius’ Propretor
in Britain ; they were heavily ironed and sent to Rome.

In the reign of Nero, a.D. 61, when Suetonius Paulinus,
the Roman general, was upon an expedition in Anglesea, the
6 HISTORICAL DATA.

Britons, commanded by Boadicea, arose and destroyed the
Roman settlements at Colchester, St. Albans, and London.

By command of the Emperor Vespasian, Julius Agricola
repaired to Britain as commander-in-chief. On his arrival,
late in the summer, a.p. 78, he subdued the Ordovices, and
reduced the Isle of Anglesea. The next year he brought
into subjection the inhabitants of the lower peninsula of
Britain. Before advancing northwards he planted some forts
in the district already subdued so as to secure his retreat, if
necessary, and to prevent his being attacked in the rear.
The year 80 saw him ravaging the country as far north as
the Firth of Tay. The year 81 he spent in securing his
Caledonian conquests, especially by the establishment of
forts in the district of the Upper Isthmus. Having done this,
he overran the country northwards; and in a.p. 84 he gave
battle to 30,000 Caledonians under Galgacus. Shortly after-
wards, from motives of jealousy, he was recalled by Domitian,
who, on the death of Titus, had assumed the purple.

During the reigns of Nerva and Trajan we hear little
of Britain. Hadrian became Emperor in the year 117; and
in 119, in consequence of the turbulent state of the island,
visited it in person. It was on this occasion that the sixth
legion, which had previously been stationed in Germany, came
to our shores. It remained here until nearly the close of
the period of Roman occupation, having Esuracum, York,
for its head quarters.

To this period the Roman Wall of the North of England
must be referred. The Emperor did not remain in the country
long enough to see the completion of his works, but he left
behind him Aulus Platorius Nepos, his Legate and Propretor,
under whom they were carried forward.
HISTORICAL DATA. 7

Antoninus Pius succeeded Hadrian a.p. 138. During his
reign the Barrier extending between the Firth of Forth and the
Firth of Clyde was reared; the management of the work was
committed to Lollius Urbicus, Imperial Legate and Propreetor.

Whilst Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, styled the ‘‘ Philoso-
pher,” held the reins of government, Britain was ina turbulent
state; Calpurnius Agricola, of whom some memorials remain
in the inscribed stones of the Wall, with difficulty repressed
the excited passions of the people. In the reign of Com-
modus, the son of Marcus Aurelius, the warlike tribes broke
out into open insurrection. Dion Cassius gives us the following

account of the affair:—‘‘Commodus was also engaged in
several wars with the barbarians. . The Britannic war,

however, was the greatest of these. For some of the nations
within that island having passed over the wall which divided
them from the Roman stations, and besides killing a certain
commander, with his soldiers, having committed much other
devastation, Commodus became alarmed, and sent Marcellus
Ulpius against them.” (Monumenta Historica Britannica,
p- lix.) The Wall, its stations and guard chambers, bear to
this hour extensive marks of devastations which were pro-
bably committed, at this period. The name of Ulpius appears
upon the fragment of a stone at Chesters, the ancient
CILURNUM.

Other legates—Perennis, Pertinax, Albinus, and Junius
Severus, came in succession to Britain, during the reign of
Commodus ; but their efforts were not successful in establishing
permanent peace, or even in preventing occasional seditious
and insurrectionary movements in the army itself.

Commodus died a.p.192. When Lucius Septimius Severus
found himself, A.D. 197, firmly established on the throne,
he turned his attention to the state of Britain. His legates
8 . HISTORICAL DATA.

being unable either to purchase peace or compel the sub-
mission of the natives, he came over in person in the year
208, bringing with him his sons, Caracalla and Geta. He
spent some time in making preparations. He gathered his
troops from all quarters; improved the roads, restored the
ruined stations, and repaired the Wall. At length, in a.p.
209, all being ready, he advanced against the Caledonians.
He spent three years in the enterprise, and lost fifty thousand
men. Worn out with disease and vexation, he returned to
York to die. His ashes were taken with much ceremony to
Rome. His two sons, Caracalla and Geta, succeeded him
A.D. 211; but in the year following the younger fell a victim
to his brother’s ambition.

In a.p. 217, Caracalla was himself assassinated, when
Opilius Macrinus was declared Emperor, to be assassinated
in his turn, next year.

In a.p. 218, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, commonly called
Elagabalus (of whom some lapidarian memorials have been
found upon the Wall), was proclaimed Emperor.

In the year a.D. 222 Elagabalus was slain, and Severus
Alexander became Emperor. Severus Alexander’s assassin-
ation took place in the year a.D. 235.

Maximinus, who succeeded him, met with the usual fate
of emperors, A.D. 235. Gordian (III.) became Emperor in
238, and was slain a.p. 244. Marcus Julius Philippus was
next chosen Emperor; and he associated with himself in the
management of the Empire his son Philip. On their
assassination, A.D. 249, Quintus Trajanus Decius was pro-
claimed Emperor, and died two years afterwards.

Trebonianus Gallus became Emperor a.p. 251 Sand in
the year following, associated his son Volusianus with him
in the Empire.
HISTORICAL DATA. 9

Publius Licinius Valerianus and his son Gallienus became
joint Emperors A.D. 254.

In the year 260, Gallienus became sole Emperor. During
his reign a large number of usurpers arose, who are commonly
denominated the ‘Thirty Tyrants;” of these Victorinus,
Postumus, the two Tetrici, and Marius, are supposed to have
been acknowledged in Britain, as their coins are found in
greater abundance here than on the continent. M. Aurelius
Claudius became Emperor a.p. 268; L. Domitus Aurelianus
A.D. 270; M. Claudius Tacitus a.p. 275; M. Annius Florianus
A.D. 276, (he reigned only 88 days); Aurelius Probus a.p.
276; M. Aurelius Carus a.p. 282, (who associated his sons,
‘Carinus and Numerianus with him as Cesars); and Aurelius
Diocletainus a.p. 284. Diocletain associated with himself
in the Empire M. Aur. Valer. Maximianus.

In a.p. 287, Carausius, who had charge of a fleet to repress
piracy in the English Channel, revolted, and assumed the
sovereignty of Britain, which he retained until a.p. 293,
when he was treacherously slain by Allectus, who assumed
the government of the Island. In a.p. 296, Constantius
Chlorus repaired to Britain, slew Allectus, and reduced the
country to its allegiance. Constantius and Galerius, who
had for some years acted as subordinate Emperors or Cesars,
obtained the sovereign authority a.p. 305. In the following
year Constantius died at York; and his son Constantinus,
afterwards surnamed the Great, obtained the purple. In the
same year (306), Maxentius, son of Maximianus, was pro-
‘claimed Emperor at Rome.

In the year 330, Constantine transferred the seat of
empire to Byzantium, which henceforth took the name of
‘Constantinople. Constantine died A.D. 337; and his three
10 HISTORICAL DATA.

sons, Constantinus, Constantius, and Constans were pro-
claimed Emperors. Magnentius, whose father was a Briton,
claimed, a.p. 350, the imperial purple; but he died by his
own hands the following year. Julian, surnamed the Apostate,
became Emperor a.pD. 361; and was succeeded by Florus
Jovianus, A.D. 363. Flavius Valentinianus assumed the purple
A.D. 364; and took his brother Valens as a colleague; he
afterwards further associated with himself his sons, Gratianus
and Valentinianus the younger. At this period Britain was
in a deplorable state; Picts, Saxons, and Scots, made it the
object of incessant attacks. Gratian having become, A.D. 379,
by the death of his colleague, sole Emperor, he chose as his
partner in the Empire, Theodosius, afterwards styled the
Great. In the year 383, Theodosius shared the Empire
with his son Arcadius. At this time Clemens Maximus,
who had been sent to Britain to repel the incursions of the
Picts and Scots, was proclaimed Emperor by the soldiers;
in order to support his claim, he passed over with his forces
to the continent, draining the island of its youth.

Theodosius dying, A.D. 395, was succeeded by his two
sons, Honorius and Arcadius, Honorius being made Emperor
of the West, and Arcadius of the East.

In the year 396, the Britons sent ambassadors to Rome,
asking for assistance. A legion is said to have been sent to
them, by command of Stilicho, and their enemies were for a
time repressed. We are not told what legion was sent, and
no inscriptions have been found or other evidence discovered
to betoken its presence.

A.D. 407. This was a season of intestine tumult in Britain.
The soldiers successively invested Marcus, Gratian, and Con-
stantine with the purple. Constantine transferred his army
THE NOTITIA. II

to Gaul, and made a successful stand against Honorius; again
draining the island of its military strength.

A.D. 410. Honorius, harassed by the Goths and other
enemies, wrote to the Britons informing them he was no
longer able to help them, and that they must look to them-
selves for safety.

A.D. 418. The Saxon Chronicle says, ‘This year the
Romans collected all the treasures that were in Britain; and
-some they hid in the earth, so that no one has since been able
to find them; and some they carried with them into Gaul.”

A.D. 446. Britain was abandoned by the Romans.—
Florsley.

The latest coins of the Roman series found in Britain are
those of the brothers Arcadius and Honorius. Arcadius died
A.D. 408, and Honorius 4.pD. 423.

IIl.—Mivirary Dara.
T) he Noftitia.

A document has come down to our times from the Roman
age, which is of great use in elucidating the arrangements of
the Wall. It is entitled Motetia Dignitatum et Adiminis-
trationum omnium tam civilium quam militarium in partibus
orientis et occidentis,” and contains an account of the disposal
of the chief dignitaries of the Empire, civil and military,
throughout the world. The following is the portion of it
which relates to the Wall; the section is headed “ [tem per
lineam Valh”—also along the line of the Wall.

The Tribune of the fourth cohort of the Lingones at SEGEDUNUM.
The Tribune of the cohort of the Cornovii at PONs A®LII.

The Prefect of the first ala, (or wing,) of the Astures at CONDERCUM.
The Tribune of the first cohort of the Frixagi (Frisii) at VINDOBALA.
12 THE NOTITIA.

The Prefect of the Savinian ala at HUNNUM.

The Prefect of the second ala of Astures at CILURNUM.

The Tribune of the first cohort of the Batavians at PROCOLITIA.

The Tribune of the first cohort of the Tungri at BORCOVICUS.

The Tribune of the fourth cohort of the Gauls at VINDOLANA.

The Tribune of the first cohort of the Astures at AisICA.

The Tribune of the second cohort of the Dalmatians at MAGNA.

The Tribune of the first cohort of Dacians, styled “Alia,” at
y AMBOGLANNA.

The Prefect of the ala, called ‘‘ Petriana,” at PETRIANA.

The Prefect of a detachment of Moors, styled ‘“‘ Aureliani,” at ABALLABA.
The Tribune of the second cohort of the Lergi at CONGAVATA.

The Tribune of the first cohort of the Spaniards at AXELODUNUM.

The Tribune of the second cohort of the Thracians at GABROSENTUM.
The Tribune of the first marine cohort, styled “ Elia,” at TUNNOCELUM.
The Tribune of the first cohort of the Morini at GLANNIBANTA.

The Tribune of the third cohort of the Nervii at ALIONIS.

The Cuneus of men in armour at BREMETENRACUM.

The Prefect of the first ala, styled Herculean, at OLENACUM.

The Tribune of the sixth cohort of the Nervii at VIROSIDUM.

The precise period when the /Vofitza was compiled is not
known. It was probably written about the beginning of
the fifth century, and certainly before the abandonment of
Britain by the Romans. By it the names of the stations are
ascertained. ‘Thus, for example, when in a camp, now called
Housesteads, many altars are found bearing the name of the
first cohort of the Tungri, and when, on referring to the
Votitia, we find that the commander of the first cohort of the
Tungri was stationed at Borcovicus, the inference becomes
strong that Housesteads is the Borcovicus of the Romans;
and this probability becomes a moral certainty, when the sta-
tions on either side of it yield tablets inscribed with the names
of the first cohort of the Batavians, and the fourth cohort of
the Gauls, the troops which the /Votztza places in the stations
immediately to the east and west of Borcovicus.
THE ROMAN ARMY. 13

Antonine’s Itinerary.

The Ztimerary of Antonine is another work of much im-
portance in settling the Roman stations in Britain and other
countries. It gives the routes pursued by the soldiers in their
marches, the stations at which they halted, and the distance
between them in Roman miles. It is usually ascribed to the
reign of Caracalla.

The Army, and its Officers.

The legion was the main division of a Roman army. At
first none of the lower class were admitted into the army;
afterwards, the legion was composed of any one having the
rank of a Roman citizen. In early times, the legion con-
sisted of about 4,000 foot soldiers; in the time of Hadrian its
complement was 6,000.

Each legion had a troop of 300 or 400 horse soldiers
attached to it. Originally the cavalry consisted entirely of
equites, knights ; in later times foreign troops were used for
this purpose, and hence they were regarded as auxiliaries
simply, and as not belonging to the legion. As the cavalry
generally formed the wing of an army, a troop of horse was
termed an a/a, or wing. Attached to each legion, was a
number of foreign troops (besides the cavalry) called auxiliaries.
In later times the Roman army chiefly consisted of these.

Each legion was divided into ten cohorts, each cohort
into three maniples, and each maniple into two centuries.
Each century consisted, when complete, as its name implies,
of Ioo men.

The principal officers in the legion were tribunes, of
which there were six to each legion. Each century was com-
manded by a centurion. Each centurion had under him
two officers, acting as lieutenants, called oftomes, and two
14 THE ROMAN ARMY.

signifert or standard-bearers. The term vexillarius was
also applied to the bearer of the standard (vexz//um). In in-
scriptions found on the Wall, the term vexz//atio is occa-
sionally met with; it is supposed to refer to a body of soldiers
drafted from different cohorts or even legions for some special
purpose and fighting under the same vex7//um (or standard) ;
it is applied to both horse and foot soldiers.

Each a/a or troop of horse (about 300 in number), was
divided into ten squadrons called ¢urma, and each turma
into three decurie@ (consisting usually of ten men). The
decuria was commanded by a decurion. A prefect (equiva-
lent in rank to the tribune of the legion) commanded the
whole ala. The term nzmerus occurs in the /Votstia, and
in inscriptions. It seems to be a general term, similar to our
word band ortroop. It is most frequently applied to cavalry,
though not exclusively.

Mention is made in inscriptions of officers of a superior
class to any of those already named. The Proconsuls and
Proprtors were the governors of the province. The office
of Consul was in its origin essentially of a military nature,
and that of Pretor of a judicial or civil character. Whena
province was in a state of revolt, the command of it was
conferred upon a Proconsul, but when the development of
its internal resources was the object of most importance, a
Propretor was appointed ; this distinction, however, was not
always observed. The Legate was a military officer, not
attached to any particular corps, but exercising a general
superintendence of a country, under the provincial governor.
His rank corresponded to that of a lieutenant-general in a
modern army. The following terms are also met with :—

Eimeriti, soldiers who had served their full time; evocatt,
veterans again called out as volunteers—the Emperor’s body-
ELEVATION OF POINTS OF WALL. 15

guard ; ex-evocati, veterans a second time discharged; dene-
fictarit, soldiers who had received some honour or special
exemption from the drudgeries of service; duplares, soldiers
receiving double pay as a reward.

1V.—HEIGHT ABOVE THE LEVEL OF THE SEA OF THE
PRINCIPAL POINTS OF THE WALL.

These are taken from the 6-inch ordnance maps of North-
umberland and Cumberland.

 

 

 

eet: Feet.
Benwell (Camp) ... oe 416 Hotbank Crags ... cee 1074
Chapel Hill ae ae 374 Cats’ Stairs ae Nes goo
Rutchester a a 448 Winshields a a L230
Harlow Hill o. as 495 Great Chesters  ... ich 600
Down Hill... as we 666 Walltown Crags ... a 860
Halton Chesters ... te 600 Carvoran ... a ve 700
Wall 13 m. west of Halton 870 Birdoswald us es 515
St. Oswalds a age 745 Bankshead fe aa 510
Limestone Corner ee 822 Hare Hill... oes ae 426
Carrawburgh ae J55 785 Castle-steads ba aa 177
Carraw House ... af 795 Walton ..,, a Ah. 248
Sewingshields Crags ... 1068 Newtown of Irthington ... 248
Housesteads oe sts 800 Stanwix ... ee no 110

COAPLER IT,

A GENERAL VIEW OF THE WORKS.

THE Roman WALL, or as it used to be called, the Picts’ Wall,
is a great fortification intended to act not only as a fence
against a northern enemy, but to be used as the basis of
military operations against a foe on either side of it.

It cannot have been reared as a fence, marking the northern
limit of the Roman Empire; for (1) every station and every
16 THE MURUS AND VALLUM.

mile-castle along its course seems to have been provided with
a wide portal, opening towards the north; and (2) there are
some stations situated far to the north of the Wall, on the line
both of the Watling Street and of the Maiden Way, which
can be proved to have been garrisoned by Roman troops until
near the close of the period of Roman occupation in Britain.

This great fortification consists of three parts :—

1. A Stone Wall, with a ditch on its northern side. 2. An
Earth Wall, or Vallum, south of the stone wall. 3. Stations,
Castles, Watch-towers, and Roads, for the accommodation of
the soldiery who manned the Wall, and for the transmission
of military stores. These lie, for the most part, between the
stone wall and the earthen lines.

The whole of the works proceed from one side of the
island to the other in a nearly direct line, and in compar-
atively close companionship. The stone wall and earthern
rampart are generally within sixty or eighty yards of each
other. The distance between them, however, varies according
to the nature of the country. In one instance they approach
within thirty yards of each other, while in another, they are
half a mile apart. It is in the high grounds of the central
region that they are most widely separated. Midway between
the seas, the country attains a considerable elevation; here
the stone wall seeks the highest ridges, but the Vallum,
forsaking for a while its usual companion, runs along the
adjacent valley. Both works are however so arranged as to
afford each other the greatest amount of support which the
nature of the country allows. The Wall usually seizes those
positions which give it the greatest advantage on its northern
margin; the Vallum, on the other hand, has been drawn
with the view of occupying ground that is strongest towards
the south.
LENGTH OF WALL. 7)

The stone wall extends from Wallsend on the Tyne to
Bowness on the Solway, a distance of about seventy-three
English miles and a half. (McLauchlan’s Memoir, p. 5.)
The earth wall falls short of this distance by about three
miles at each end; not extending beyond Newcastle on the
east side, and Dykesfield on the ‘west

Most writers who have treated of the Roman remains in
Britain, have considered that the various parts of the fortifica-
tion are the work of different periods.

Horsley conceived that the stations and the north agger
of the Vallum were the work of Agricola; that the southern
‘mounds and fosse of the Vallum were the work of Hadrian;
and that the stone wall was reared by Severus. Other
writers maintain that the stone wall was erected by Theo-
dosius and Honorius, about the close of the fourth and the
beginning of the fifth century.

In all probability, the whole series of fortifications were
the work of one period, and were reared at the command of
Hadrian. Deferring the discussion of this question until the
works have been examined in detail, it will meanwhile be
convenient to speak of the whole series as being but different
parts of one great engineering scheme.

The most striking feature in the plan, both of the Murus
and the Vallum, is the determinate manner in which they
pursue their straightforward course. The Vallum makes
fewer deviations from a right line than the stone wall;* but
as the Wall traverses higher ground, this remarkable tendency
is more easily detected in it than in the other. Shooting

* This peculiarity of the Vallum has been strikingly brought out in
Mr. McLauchlan’s Survey. West of Harlow Hill it runs for nearly five
miles in a straight line. West of Limestone Corner it runs in the direction
of Sewingshields Crags three miles and a half without bending. Between
Banks-hill and Sandysike, a distance of three miles and a half, it pursues a
direct course.—Memoir, pp. 18, 34, 61.

Cc
18 COURSE OF THE WALL.

over the country, in its onward course, it only swerves from
a straight line to take in its route the boldest elevations. So
far from declining a hill, it usually selects one. For nineteen
miles out of Newcastle the road to Carlisle runs upon the
foundation of the Wall, and during the summer months its
dusty surface contrasts well with the surrounding verdure.
Often will the traveller, after attaining some of the steep
acclivities of his path, observe the road stretching for miles
in an undeviating course to the east and to the west of him,
resembling, as Hutton expresses it, a white ribbon on a green
ground. But if the Wall seldom deviates from a right line,
except to occupy the highest points, it never fails to seize
them, as they occur, no matter how often it is compelled,
with this view, to change its direction. This mode of pro-
ceeding involves another peculiarity. The Wall is compelled
to accommodate itself to the depressions of the mountainous
region over which it passes. Without flinching, it sinks into
the “gap,” or pass, which ever and anon occurs, and, having
crossed the narrow valley, ascends unfalteringly the acclivity
on the other side. The antiquary, in following the Wall
into these ravines, is often compelled to step with the utmost
caution, and in clambering up the opposite ascent, is as
frequently constrained to pause for breath.

I.—TuHE WALL.

In no part of its course is the Wall entirely perfect, and
therefore it is difficult to ascertain what its original height
has been. Bede, whose cherished home was the monastery
of Jarrow, anciently part of the parish of Wallsend, is the
earliest author who gives its dimensions. He Says, | lt pis
eight feet in breadth, and twelve in height, in a straight line
from east to west, as is still visible to beholders.””
DIMENSIONS OF THE WALL, 19

Subsequent writers assign to it a greater elevation. Sir
Christopher Ridley, writing about the year 1572, gives it the
following dimensions :—‘“‘ The bredth iij yardis, the hyght
remaneth in sum placis yet vij yardis.” Samson Erdeswick,
an English antiquary of some celebrity, visited the Wall, in
the year 1574. His account is:—‘‘As towching Hadrian’s
Wall, begyning abowt a town called Bonus standing vppon
the river Sulway now called Eden, and there yet standing of
the heyth of 16 fote, for almost a quarter of a myle together,
and so along the river syde estwards.” Camden, who visited
the Wall in 1599, says :—‘“ Within two furlongs of Carvoran,
on a pretty high hill, the Wall is still standing, fifteen feet in
height, and nine in breadth.” These statements leave upon
the mind an impression that the estimate of Bede is too low.
In all probability, the Wall would be surmounted by a battle-
ment of not less than four feet in height, and as this part of
the structure would be the first to fall into decay, Bede’s
calculation was probably irrespective of it. This, however,
only gives us a total elevation of sixteen feet. Unless we
reject the evidence of Ridley and Erdeswick, we must admit,
even after making due allowance for error and exaggeration,
that the Wall, when in its integrity, was, in some parts of its
course, eighteen or nineteen feet high. This elevation would
be in keeping with its breadth.

The thickness of the Wall varies considerably; in some
places it is six feet, in others nine feet and a half (in the
foundation course). Probably the prevailing width is eight
feet, the measurement given by Bede.

The frequency with which the thickness of the Wall
varies favours the idea that numerous gangs of labourers
were simultaneously employed upon the work, and that each
20 THE NORTH FOSSE.

superintending centurion was allowed to use his discretion as
to its width. The northern face of the Wall is continuous,
but the southern has numerous outsets and insets, measuring
from four to twelve inches at the points where the sections of
the different companies joined.

Throughout the whole of its length, the Wall was accom-
panied on its northern margin by a broad and deep fosse,
which, by increasing the comparative height of the Wall,
added greatly to its strength. This portion of the Barrier
may yet be traced, with trifling interruptions, from sea to sea.
Even in places where the Wall has quite disappeared, its
more lowly companion, the fosse, remains. i

When the ditch traverses a flat or exposed country, a
portion of the materials taken out of it has frequently been
thrown upon its northern margin, so as to present to the
enemy an additional rampart. In those positions, on the
other hand, where its assistance could be of no avail, as along
the edge of a cliff, the fosse is intermitted.

No small amount of labour has been expended in the
excavation of the ditch; it has been drawn indifferently
through alluvial soil, and rocks of sandstone, limestone, and
basalt. The great labour which this involved is well seen at
the top of Limestone Bank, where enormous blocks of whin-
stone lie just as they have been lifted out of the fosse. How
they were lifted is a matter of wonder to many. The fosse
never leaves the Wall to avoid a mechanical difficulty.

The size of the ditch in several places is still considerable.
To the east of Heddon-on-the-Wall, it measures thirty-four
feet across the top, and is nearly nine feet deep; as it descends
the hill from Carvoran to Thirlwall, it measures forty feet
across the top, fourteen across the bottom, and is ten feet deep.
THE VALLUM. 21

To the west of Limestone Corner is a portion which, reckoning
from the top of the supplemental mound on its northern
margin, has a depth of twenty feet. The dimensions of the
fosse were probably not uniform throughout the line; but these
examples prepare us to receive, as tolerably correct, Hutton’s
estimate of its average size. ‘‘ The ditch to the north was as
near as convenient, thirty-six feet wide and fifteen feet deep.”’

I].—TuHeE Vatu.

The Vallum or Earth Wall, is uniformly to the south of
the stone wall. It consists of three ramparts and a fosse.
One of these ramparts (a) is placed close upon the southern
edge of the ditch, the two others of larger dimensions stand,
one (4) to the north, and the other (c) to the south of it, at the
distance of about twenty-four feet. The annexed section of
the works near the 18th mile-stone west of Newcastle exhibits

Na YL di

their present condition. It is drawn to the scale of seventy-
five feet to the inch. The wall itself, though shown in the
cut, is, unhappily, entirely removed.

The aggers or ramparts, in some parts of the line, stand,
even at present, six or seven feet above the level of the
neighbouring ground. They are composed of earth, mingled,
not unfrequently, with masses of stone. Occasionally, the
stone preponderates to such an extent as to yield to the hand
of the modern spoiler ready materials for the formation of
rough stone walls. In several places they are being quarried
with this view.
22 OBJECT OF THE VALLUM.

The fosse of the Vallum is of a character similar to the
fosse of the stone Wall; but, judging from present appear-
ances, its dimensions have been rather less. It, too, has been
frequently cut through beds of stone.

Although the distance between the stone Wall and the
Vallum is, as already observed, perpetually varying, the lines
of the Vallum maintain amongst themselves nearly the same
relative position throughout their entire course.

No apparent paths of egress have been made through
these southern lines of fortification. The only mode of com-
munication with the country to the south originally contem-
plated seems to have been by the gateways of the stations.

The aggers of the Vallum were probably fenced with
stakes—chevaux de frise.

If we adopt the theory that the Wall and the Vallum
exhibit unity of design, a question of some importance arises.
—With what view was the Vallum constructed? The true:
answer to this inquiry seems to have been hit upon even
before Horsley’s time. That able antiquary, referring to the
relative position of the Wall and the Vallum, says :—‘‘Such
considerations as these have induced some to believe that
what now goes by the name of Hadrian’s work was originally
designed for a fence against any sudden insurrection of the
provincial Britons, and particularly of the Brigantes”’ (p. 125).
A careful examination of the country over which the Wall
runs, and the fact which Horsley thus states:— ‘That the
southern prospect of Hadrian’s work, and the defence on that
side, is generally better than on the north; whereas the
northern prospect and defence have been principally or only
taken care of in the Wall of Severus,” almost necessarily lead
to the conclusion that whilst the Wall undertook the harder:
duty of warding off the professedly hostile tribes of Caledonia,
THE STATIONS. 23

the Vallum was intended as a protection against sudden
surprise from the south. The natives of the country on the
south side of the Wall, though conquered, were not to be
depended upon; in the event of their kinsmen in the north
gaining an advantage, they would be ready to avail them-
selves of it. The Romans knew this, and with characteristic
prudence made themselves secure on both sides.

III.—StTaTIons AND Roaps.

The third, and perhaps the most important part of the
fortification, consisted of the structures that were formed for
the accommodation of the soldiery, and for the ready trans-
mission of troops and stores. Neither stone walls nor ditches,
nor earthen ramparts, would alone have proved material
impediments to the incursions of the Caledonians :—

An iron race, 5 : ‘ z
Foes to the gentler genius of the plain.

It is reported that Agesilaus, when asked where were the
walls of Sparta, pointed to his soldiers and said ‘ There.”
The Romans placed their chief reliance on the valour and
discipline of their armies, though they did not despise the
assistance of mural lines. Ina foreign country, to which it
was difficult to transmit relays of troops, it became a matter
of great importance to economise the lives of the soldiery.
Hence arose the Wall.

Those portions of the Wall which yet await our consi-
deration, are the Stations, Mile-castles, Turrets, and Roads.

At distances along the line, which average nearly four
miles, stationary camps (stationes or castra stativa) were
erected. These received their distinctive appellation in con-
24 THE STATIONS.

tradistinction to those temporary camps which were thrown
up when an army halted for a night or some brief period.

The stations on the line of the Wall were military cities,
suited to be the residence of the chief who commanded the
district, and providing secure lodgment for the powerful body
of soldiery he had under him.

Some of the stations of the Wall are believed to have
been Agricola’s forts, but adopted by the engineer of the
Wall as suitable to his purpose, though independent of the
great Wall. To secure a safe retreat for the soldiers em-
ployed upon the work, would necessarily be the first care of
the builder.

The stations are quadrangular in their form, though
rounded at the corners, and contain an area of from three to
five acres. The station of Birdoswald, which is the largest,
contains five acres and a half. Drumburgh contains only
three-quarters of an acre; but this is an extreme case. A
stone wall, from five to eight feet thick, incloses them, and
has probably in every instance been strengthened by a fosse ;
occasionally an earthen rampart is added. They usually stand
upon ground which slopes to the south, and is naturally
defended upon one side at least.

The Wall, when it does not fall in with the northern wall
of a station, usually comes up to the northern cheek of its
eastern and western gateways. The Vallum, in like manner,
usually approaches close to the southern wall of the station,
or comes up to the defence of the southern side of the eastern
and western portals. At least three of the stations, it must,
however, be observed, are quite detached from both lines of
fortification, being situated to the south of them. They pro-
bably belonged to Agricola’s series of forts.
THE STATIONS. 25

All the stations have, on their erection, been provided,
after the usual method of Roman castrametation, with at least
four gateways; in several instances these gateways have been
partially walled up at some period prior to the final aban-
donment of the fortification.

In some of the best preserved stations the main streets
proceeding from the four gateways, and crossing each other at
tight angles, may be discerned. The minor streets which
communicated with these were very narrow, but parallel to
the main ones. The remains of suburbs, for the accommoda-
tion, probably, of the camp followers, have been found outside
the walls of most of the great camps. The officer command-
ing the garrison has, in several instances, had a villa outside
the station to which he could resort in times of quietness, and
where he could have a greater degree of comfort than within
the contracted lines of the camp.

In selecting a spot for a station, care has been taken that
.a copious supply of water should be at hand. The springs,
rivulets, wells, and aqueducts, whence they procured the
needful fluid, are still, in many places, to be traced.

The stations, as we might expect on an enemy’s frontier,
have been constructed with a view to security, not luxury or
‘display. In this respect they show a striking contrast with
the Roman buildings in the south of England. No traces of
a tesselated pavement have been found in the mural region;
‘the nearest approach to it being some lozenge-shaped flooring
‘tiles at Birdoswald.

For the most part, the stations now present a scene of
utter desolation. The wayfarer may pass through some of
them without knowing it. The sheep, depasturing the grass-
grown ruins, look listlessly upon the passer-by, and the
260 NAMES OF STATIONS.

curlew, wheeling above his head, screams as at the presence ot
an intruder. Whether or not sites naturally fertile were
chosen for the stations does not appear; but certain it is that
they are now, for the most part, coated with a sward more
green and more luxurient than that which covers the con-
tiguous grounds. Centuries of occupation have given them a
degree of fertility which, probably, they will never lose.
One can scarcely turn up the soil without meeting, not only
with fragments of Roman pottery and other imperishable
articles, but with the bones of oxen, the tusks of boars, the
horns of deer, and other animal remains.

It is not a little remarkable that the names of the stations,
which must have been household words in the days of Roman
occupation, have for the most part been obliterated from the
local vocabulary. The truth is, that military reasons dictated
the choice of the stations,—commercial facilities give rise to:
modern cities.

The number of stations given in the WVofztza list, as being
situated per lineam Vali, is twenty-three. Horsley conceived
that eighteen of these were immediately connected with the
Wall, and that the rest were supporting stations to the north
and the south of it. This opinion is probably near the truth,
but as the stations following dmboglanna towards the west
have not been ascertained with certainty, some doubt must
attend any attempt to allocate them.

In addition to the stations, Castella or Mile-castles were
provided for the use of the troops which garrisoned the Wall.
They derive their modern name from the circumstance of
their being usually placed at a distance of a Roman mile, or
about seven furlongs, from each other. They were quad-.
rangular buildings, differing somewhat in size, but usually
MILE-CASTLES, 27

measuring about sixty feet from east to west, and fifty from
north to south. They have evidently been built at the same
time as the Wall; their walls being of the same kind of
masonry as the Wall, and of the same thickness. They are
placed immediately within the Wall, that structure forming
their north wall. Though generally placed at the distance of
a Roman mile from each other, the nature of the ground,
independently of distance, has frequently determined the site
of their location. Whenever the Wall has had occasion to
traverse a river or a mountain-pass, a mile-castle has usually
been placed on the one side or the other to guard the defile.
Judging from the most perfect specimens which remain, these
mile-castles have been provided with wide portals of massive
masonry in the centre of their northern and southern sides.
Their southern angles have been rounded off on the outside.
It is not easy to conjecture what were the internal arrange-
ments of these buildings; probably they afforded little
accommodation beyond what their four strong walls and
well-barred gates gave. It is not unlikely that temporary
erections were placed within them, with roofs leaning against
the walls of the main building. The foundations of such
structures have been found in several of them.

Between the mile-castles three, or according to Horsley,
four subsidiary buildings, generally denominated Turrets or
Watch Towers, were placed. They were little more than
stone sentry-boxes. Horsley, in his day, complained that
‘scarce three of them could be made out in succession.”
When the first edition of this book was published not one
was to be seen along the whole course of the Wall. They
fell a prey mote easily than other parts of the great structure
to the rapacity of the spoiler. Recent excavations have dis-
28 TURRETS.

played examples at East Brunton, Black Carts Farm, and
Walltown Crags. They are recessed into the great Wall,
and contain an area of about twelve feet by ten feet; their
walls are three feet thick.

But all these arrangements were not enough; without
Roads, one important element in the strength of the Great
Barrier would be wanting. Nothing economises military
force more effectually than the possession of means for quickly
concentrating all available resources upon any point which
the enemy may select for attack. The advance of Roman
armies, and the formation of roads, were uniformly contem-
poraneous. The mural fortress, therefore, had its Military
Way. Without it all the rest would have been useless. It
would not perhaps be incorrect to say that both Vallum and
Wall were subsidiary to it, and that the chief use of these
structures was to guard the road, and to protect and in some
measure conceal from view, both on the north and south, the
troops that marched along it.

The Military Way is usually about eighteen feet wide. It
is composed of rubble stone, chiefly trap. Its surface is
rounded, the centre being elevated a foot or eighteen inches
above the adjoining ground. The mode of its formation
seems to have been this:—A couple of stones were placed
edgewise in the centre; others were placed on each side of
these, slightly leaning upon them, and when the proper width
was attained, stout kerb-stones defined each margin and per-
fected the work. By this means the pressure was distributed
over the whole surface. When carried along the slope of a
hill, the hanging side of the road was made up by unusually
large kerb-stones. In most places where the way still remains,
it is completely grass-grown, but may, notwithstanding, be
ROADS. 29

easily distinguished from the neighbouring ground by the
nature of its herbage ; the dryness of its substratum allowing
the growth of a finer description of plant. For the same
reason a sheep-track generally runs along it. For the accom-
modation of the soldiery, the road went from castle to castle,
and so from station to station. In doing this it did not always
keep close to the Wall, but took the easiest path between
the required points. In traversing the precipitous grounds
between Sewingshields and Thirlwall, the ingenuity of the
engineer has been severely tried ; but most successfully has he
performed his task. Whilst, as previously observed, the Wall
shoots over the highest and steepest summits, the road pur-
sues its tortuous course from one platform of the rock to
another, so as to bring the traveller from mile-castle to mile-
castle by the easiest possible gradients.

Besides the road now described, which, throughout its.
entire length, keeps within the two great lines of fortification,
another, situated to the south of both Murus and Vallum, has
afforded a direct line of communication between the eastern
and western stations. From CiLurNuM to Maana the Wall
forms a curved line in order to gain the highest hills of the
district. For the accommodation of those whose business did
not require them to call at any intermediate point, a road
went, like the string of a bow, direct from one of these stations.
to the other. This road—named the Stanegate—passes near
the modern village of Newburgh, and skirts the north gate of
the station at Chesterholm, near to which place a Roman mile-
stone stands.

In estimating the resources of this great fortification, we
must also bear in mind that two great lines of communication
—the Watling Street and the Maiden Way—intersected the
30 SPEAKING TUBES,

country from north to south, and that many subsidiary roads
bore down uponthem. The sixth legion, whose head-quarters
was York, would have no difficulty at any season of the year
in coming to the aid of the auxiliaries to whom the defence of
the Wall was more immediately intrusted, at whatever point
their assistance might be required.

If tradition is to be credited, the Romans were not satisfied
with roads as a means of rapidly communicating information ;
speaking-trumpets or pipes, we are told, ran along the whole
length of the Wall. It may perhaps be sufficient to say that
no one is known to have seen these speaking-tubes; though
earthen and lead pipes, for the conveyance of water, are not
unfrequently met with in the stations. Besides, such means
of transmitting information would not be needed. Horsley,
speaking of the turrets, says :—‘ By placing sentinels in each
of these, who must have been within call of one another, the
communication quite along the Wall might be kept up, with-
out having recourse to the fiction of a sounding trumpet, or
pipes laid underground from one end of the Wall to the other ;
though this seems to have been credited by Mr. Echard and
others.”’

The Masonry of the Wall next demands attention. The
stones employed in building the Wall and stations were very
-carefully selected. When good stones were to be had near at
hand, they were taken; but those of inferior quality were
never used to avoid the labour of bringing better from a
-distance. In some parts of the line, in Cumberland especially,
the stone must have been brought from quarries seven or eight
miles off. A quartzose grit was generally selected, not only
on account of its hardness, but because its rough surface gave
the mortar firmer adhesion to it.
QUARRIES. 31

The quarries from which the stone has been procured can,
in many instances, be precisely ascertained. On Fallow-field
Fell, not far from Chollerford, are a series of ancient quarries,
on the face of one of which are to be seen the words—

[P]ETRA FLAVI[I] CARANTINI,

The rock of Flavius Carantinus.

 

On opening out, in the year 1837, some old quarries on
the high brown hill of Barcombe, near Thorngrafton, a small
copper vessel was found, containing a large number of coins,
all of the Upper Empire. North of Busy Gap the wedge-
holes yet remain in some slabs of rock that rise to the surface.
A Roman quarry existed on Haltwhistle Fell, on which was
formerly the inscription, LEG.v1.v. In Cumberland there are
several Roman inscriptions on the face of the ancient quarries.
About two miles west of Birdoswald, and little more than a
quarter of a mile south of the road, is Coome Crag, on which
32 THE WRITTEN ROCK.

are several Roman inscriptions, made apparently by the
quarrymen. The most remarkable of this class of antiquities
is the “Written Rock of the Gelt,”’ near Brampton, which is
here shown." The general purport of the inscription is :—

   
   

      
 
      
 
 
 
 
    
 

BN Ke ROEM ARING
We CON SMIBYS Cail

No FicinANMERCATH

GS

 
 

—— SF

VL PECVeAp, WY
Ai | Wu tema gk
Mi :
Mi Inia “J me

- Yee
pee

  
   

eli
SSS I ==
NS ee

—

. SS
WIS

‘A vexillation of the second legion, under an optio called
Agricola, were, in the consulship of Flavius Aper and Albinus
Maximus [a.D. 207 employed here to hew stone].”

East of the Glebe Farm at Irthington, are extensive
remains of ancient quarries.

The exterior masonry of the Wall consists, on both sides,
of carefully squared freestone blocks; the interior, of rubble
of any description firmly imbedded in mortar. The character
of the facing-stones is peculiar, yet tolerably uniform. They
are eight or nine inches thick, and ten or eleven broad; their

* A stranger will experience some difficulty in finding his way to this

inscribed rock, and when he does he will expose himself to some hazard in
attempting to get a good view of it. He had better seek a guide.
FACING STONES OF THE WALL. 33

length, which is perhaps their characteristic feature, some-
times amounts to twenty inches or more. The part of the
stone exposed to the weather is cut across ‘the bait,’ so as to
avoid its scaling off by the lines of stratification; the stone
tapers towards the end which is set into the Wall, and has a
form nearly resembling that ofa wedge. Owing to the extent
to which the stones are set into the Wall, the necessity of
bonding tiles—so characteristic of Roman masonry in the
south of England—is altogether superseded. Stones of the
shape and size which have now been described were just those
which could be most easily wrought in the quarry, most con-
veniently carried on the backs of the impressed Britons to the

 

Wall, and most easily fitted into their bed. The uniformity
in their appearance is such as to enable us, after a little
practice, at once to recognise them in the churches, castles,
farm-buildings, and fences of the district through which the
Wall runs. The accompanying illustrations, taken from
Trajan’s column, show the mode by which, probably, the
stones were carried.

The stones of some of the stations (CILURNUM for example)
are smaller than those of the Wall. The internal buildings
of the stations have also been composed of small stones.

D
34 MORTAR OF THE WALL,

The front of the stones, both of the Wall and stations, is
roughly ‘‘scabbled” with the pick. In some parts of the line,
this tooling takes a definite form; when this is the case, the
marking called the ‘diamond broaching’’ is most common.
Sometimes the stone is scored with waved lines, called ‘‘ feather
broaching,” or with small squares, or with nearly upright
lines.

The tenacity of the mortar which was used forms an
important element in the strength of the whole fabric. It
has evidently been of a nature similar to the grout and con-
crete of the present day. The lime on being taken from the
kiln was ground (not slaked with water), and was then mixed
with sand and gravel. When about to be used, but not
before, water was freely added to the mass. Mortar thus
prepared speedily hardens.

Occasionally, but by no means frequently, small pieces of
charcoal are mixed with the mortar. These have evidently
been derived from the wood used in burning the lime.
Excepting in the buildings of the stations, pounded tile, so
characteristic of the Roman mortar in the south of England,
is not a common ingredient in the mortar of the Wall.
Limestone is abundant in most parts of the district through
which the Wall passes. The Romans probably burnt it in
‘sow kilns.” The limestone and fuel being arranged in
alternate layers, the whole was carefully covered with turf
and ignited. This simple method was formerly much resorted
to when lime was wanted for farm purposes, before the intro-
duction of railways.

Supposing the stones to be now quarried and squared, the
lime burnt and mixed with sand and gravel, the next point
to be attended to is the method of using them. The founda-
MODE OF BUILDING. 35

tion was prepared by the removal of the natural soil to the
width of about nine feet In the hill district, a very scanty
portion of earth covers the rocks; in the richer regions an
excavation of from fifteen to eighteen inches has been made
before the subsoil was reached. On the outer and inner
margins of the ground thus bared, two rows of flags, of from
two to four inches in thickness, and from eighteen to twenty
in breadth, were generally laid; no mortar was placed under
them; but not unfrequently a quantity of well-puddled clay.
On these was laid the first course of facing-stones, which were
usually the largest stones used in the structure. In the
higher courses the facing-stones are uniformly of freestone,
but in the ground course a ‘‘whinstone”’ is occasionally intro-
duced. The flagstones of the foundation usually project from
one to five inches beyond the first course of facing-stones, and
these again usually stand out an inch or two beyond the
second course, after which the wall is taken straight up.

One or two courses of facing-stones having been placed in
their beds and carefully pointed, a mass of mortar in a very
fluid state was poured into the interior of the wall, and stones
of any-kind or shape that were of a convenient size were
“puddled”’ in amongst it. Whinstones, as being most abun-
dant in the district, are generally used for the filling. Course
after course was added, and one mass of concrete imposed
upon another, until the wall reached the required height.
When the whole was finished it formed a solid, compact mass,
without any holes or crevices in the interior, and in a short
time became as firm as unhewn rock.

In some parts of the line the mortar has been “ hand-laid.”’
The rubble of the interior having been first disposed in its
place, the mortar has been laid upon it with a trowel. In
36 COST OF WALL.

this case the mortar never penetrates the interstices of the
mass, and does not make such solid masonry as the method
generally pursued. When, however, this plan is adopted, the
rubble stones are often laid upon their edges in a slanting
position, somewhat in the fashion of herring-bone masonry.

On gently waving ground the courses of the Wall follow
the undulations of the surface, but on steep inclines the stones
are laid parallel to the horizon.

[t is sometimes asked, ‘‘How long would the Wall be in
building?”’ From calculations that have been made, founded
upon the experience gained by the construction of the vast
works connected with modern railways, and supposing ten
thousand men were employed upon it, it is considered that, in
the existing circumstances of the country at the time, the
Vallum and the Murus could not be reared, even supposing
the labour to have been uninterrupted, in a shorter period than
two years. The cost of it, in our present currency, would be
upwards of a million of pounds. About fifteen thousand men
would be required to garrison its stations.

CHAP DER Dis

 

LOCAL DESCRIPTION.

 

I.—WaALLSEND TO NEWCASTLE.

THE village of Wallsend, once so famous for its coal, takes
its name from the Roman Wall. Here was the eastern
extremity of the great structure. At this point the river
became sufficiently wide to prove of itself a strong barrier.
Here was planted the station of SegepuNuM, the first of those
POSITION OF WALLSEND. 37

given in the /Votitza as being per lineam Valli. The site of
the station is good. Without being so much elevated as to
give it a painful exposure to the blast of the north and the
east, it commands an extensive view in every direction. The
ground in front of it has a full exposure to the mid-day sun.
The station stands upon an angle of the river, formed by two
of the longest ‘reaches’ which the stream makes in the
whole of its course. The ‘‘ Long Reach”’ extends downwards
as far as the high end of South Shields, and the “‘ Bill Reach”
stretches nearly two miles up the water. In both directions;
therefore, any operations conducted on the river could be
easily discerned by the Roman garrison.

Although it was not thought requisite to extend the Wall
farther along the northern bank of the Tyne than Wallsend,
special precautions were taken to guard the mouth of the
estuary. Proofs of Roman occupation have been found on
the promontory where the ruins of Tynemouth Priory now
stand, and at the western extremity of North Shields, where
a camp known as Blake Chesters once stood; whilst on the
southern side of the river, camps have been planted at Tyne
Law (opposite Tynemouth Priory) and at Jarrow.

In a neighbourhood where mining operations have, in
modern times, been conducted on an extensive scale, any
very marked indications of Roman occupation cannot be
expected. It is satisfactory, however, to find (1884) some
traces. The grass-grown mound of the eastern rampart may
be still noticed, defended by its ditch. The southern rampart
may also be partially detected. The rounded angle formed
by the junction of these walls is tolerably distinct. The
defile which formed the strength of the station on its west
side has been filled up; the commencement of its dip may,
38 WALLSEND.

however, be seen. The house, long occupied by Mr. Reay
and more recently by Mr. Wilson, is just within the eastern
rampart of the station, and that which was so long known as
Mr. Buddle’s house, and more recently occupied by Mr. Leslie,
is just within the line of what was its western rampart. The
shaft of the famous Wallsend colliery is a few yards to the
west of the western rampart.

In order to prevent an enemy passing between the station
and the river, a wall came down from the south-east angle of
the station into the river. Some traces of this wall might be
noticed before the width of the river was contracted and its
new-made banks covered by buildings. Mr. Buddle, the
famous coal engineer, told the writer that when bathing in
the river, as a boy, he had often noticed the foundations of
this wall extending far into the stream. Mr. Leslie has seen
it go as far into the water as the lowest tides enabled him to
observe. The station is supposed to have contained an area
of three acres and a half.

Numerous proofs of Roman occupation have, at various
times, been found in the station. Roman pottery and coins
have frequently been found. Human bones and those of the
inferior animals have been dug up in considerable quantities.
In excavating a cellar under the dining-room of Wallsend
House, a well was found. The inscribed stones which have
been found at this station are not of much importance. One
was found not long ago bearing the words LEG. i. avG.—The
second legion, styled the August.” The northern portion of
the station is quite obliterated. There can be no doubt that
its north rampart lay to the north of the present road.
Recent excavations show that it has been correctly laid down
in the map of the Ordnance Survey.
?
COUSINS HOUSE. 39

_ Feeble as the traces now are of the ancient station of
SEGEDUNUM it is to be feared that these will soon be entirely
obliterated. The whole of the ground occupied by the camp
and its vicinity is being laid out as building ground, and
modern streets and houses will probably soon utterly efface
the last trace of the ramparts which for upwards of three
centuries were defended by Roman valour.

The Wall in its course westwards has probably proceeded
from the north jamb of the western gateway, allowing the
northern part of the station to project beyond it. At the
back of Denham Terrace the slack of the north fosse of the
Wall may be discerned.

The private footpath leading to Carville Hall is no doubt
on the site of the Wall itself. The ditch here shows itself
encouragingly to an enthusiastic antiquary. It often happens
that when the Wall has been entirely removed, for the sake
of its stones, the foundations are left, and used as a footpath or »
bridle way. Carville Hall* is the Cousins’ House of Horsley.
As Wallsend colliery was not in existence in Horsley’s day,
this house was the nearest to the station of SEGEDUNUM.
Hence in books we often still read that the Roman Wall
begins at Cousins’ House—a designation not known in the
district. The fosse on the north of Carville is filled with
water, and serves as a duck-pond. The stone dike which
forms the fence of the next field contains many Roman stones.
We come almost. immediately to Stote’s Houses, the Bee
Houses of Horsley. On the north of them the fosse of the
Wall is filled with water, and forms two ponds. Here some
traces of the foundation of the Wall may be seen. About
sixty yards to the south of these houses are traces (becoming

* Carville Hall is now let out in tenements.
40 OLD WALKER.

increasingly faint) of two tumuli, one on each side of the little -
valley descending to the Tyne. These may cover the ashes
of some ancient British chiefs who fought and died before the
Romans reached these northern parts. The cart track is now
on the Wall; the fosse is less distinct—a wire fence runs
along it. Sixty years ago the Wall in this vicinity was
standing between three and four feet high, covered with
brushwood. About half way between Stote’s Houses and
Old Walker is a small stream; at the point where the Wall
crosses it several walling stones lie in its bed. West of the
brook the core of the Wall is seen in the footpath. On the
top of the rise, about eighty yards from the brook, is the site
of the first mile-castle. The ground is under tillage, but its
slightly elevated surface may possibly enable the traveller to
hit upon its site.

The Farm-house of Old Walker is now reached. Many
Roman stones appear in its walls; the fosse is used as a duck-
pond. The road that is seen stretching in a straight line up
the hill to Byker indicates the direction of the Wall. It is
the first, but by no means the most remarkable, instance that
we shall meet with of the unflinching and straightforward
tendencies of this remarkable structure. The road now runs
on the north of the ditch some distance. The site of the
fosse all the way to Byker Hill is enclosed between hedges,
and used as potato gardens. It was left waste long after
the neighbouring ground was brought into tillage.

In the second field from Byker Hill, Mr. MacLauchlan,
aided by his measuring chain, lays down the position of the
second mile-castle. It is seven furlongs from the last. The
attentive observer may possibly detect it by its gently swelling
surface. On Byker Hill is a large quarry, which entirely
BYKER. 41

obliterates the remains. We now lose all traces of the object of
our inquiry and we shall not again meet with them until we
reach the western limits of Newcastle. The wall in this vicinity
must, however, in the year 1725 have been standing in stately
grandeur, as appears from the “ Prospect of it from Byker
Hill,” which Stukeley gives in his [ter Boreale. He made
this drawing because “the country being entirely undermined,
it might, sometime or other, sink, and so disorder the track
of this stately work.” It must have remained in an encour-
aging state of preservation until 1800, for in the Monthly
Magazine of that year we read, ‘‘ At this period a portion of
the foundation of the Roman Wall was taken up at Byker
Hill, for the purpose of repairing the highways.”’

At Byker Bar the turnpike road deviates to the south;
but the Wall marches right on, descending the steep bank
which leads down into the Ouseburn, and then climbing the
equally steep cliff on the opposite side. A mile-castle stood
at the point where the Wall began its descent to the Ouseburn.
No traces of the Wall are to be seen down the bank. The
Wall is said to have crossed the burn a little to the south of
the bridge which is a little below the railway viaduct, and in
close contiguity with the new Byker Bridge. Leaving the
valley, the Wall made straight for the Red Barns, now the
Dominican Monastery. Hence it is supposed to have passed
on to the Sallyport Gate and over the rising ground called
the Wall Knoll. It then passed on to Pilgrim Street, a little to
the north of Silver Street, which perhaps then formed its
military way, and so over Lork Burn (now Dean Street) to
the west door of St. Nicholas’ Church where remains of it
were found in 1763. Leland tells us, on the authority of
Dr. Davel, then Master of St. Mary’s Hospital, Newcastle,
that “the church of St. Nicholas stands upon the Picts’
42 NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE.

Wall.” In its passage from the town westwards it went by
St. John’s Church, and in front of the palisades of the
Assembly Rooms, up Westgate Hill. The range of houses
called Cumberland Row very nearly represents the line of the
Wall, and the present road is probably indentical with the
ancient military way.

 

IJ.—NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE.

Newcastle was the second station on the line. It bore
the name of Pons fiir; deriving this designation from the
bridge which Hadrian, who was of the Elian family, built
over the Tyne. The present Swing Bridge occupies the
same position as did the bridge of Hadrian. MHadrian’s bridge
“seems to have served (with various renovations) the traffic of
the district till about a.p., 1248, when a new bridge was built.
The medizval bridge was destroyed by a floodin A.D., 1771.
It was found that in its construction the piers of the ancient
Roman bridge had, to a considerable extent, been made use
of. When the bridge of 1775 was removed to make way for
the present structure, the wooden piles and framework of the
foundation of one at least of the Roman piers were met with
and removed.

The position of the station has not been ascertained with
certainty. On the north side of Collingwood Street, close to
the Groat Market, strong remains of the Roman Wall were
exhumed in 1810. Near the western extremity of the same
street, but on its south side, another piece of Roman Wall
was met with in 1853. These fragments were no doubt
portions of the north wall of the station. In laying down
some water-pipes in Collingwood Street, in 1852, two walls.
of Roman masonry were exposed, which were, as near as the
eye could judge, at right angles with this north wall; these
 
 
NEWCASTLE-UPON-TY NE. 43

must have been parts of the station. We shall probably not
greatly err if we suppose Pons AELII to have lain between St.
Nicholas’ Church on the one side and the Literary and
Philosophical Society on the other ; and, having Collingwood
Street for the site of its north rampart, to have extended as
far south as Bailiffgate, where the ground begins to dip
rapidly down towards the river. When the Town Hall
buildings were reared no traces of Roman building were found.
This might have been expected, for the site is to the north of
our supposed station. In other directions, no doubt, suburban
buildings clustered round the camp. When the present
Assize Courts (beside the Old Castle) were built, numerous
Roman remains were found, and a Roman well still exists
under the centre of the building.

One of the most interesting of the remains of the Romans
found in Newcastle is the altar shown on the opposite page.
It was dredged up from the bottom of the river in three
pieces when the works of the Swing Bridge were in progress.
It is dedicated to Neptune by the Sixth Legion, surnamed
the victorious, pious, and faithful. This Jegion, or some
important detachment of it, having safely traversed the stormy
waters of the North Sea, reared this altar in token of their
gratitude to the god of the seas. The altar is now in the
offices of the Tyne Commissioners. _

According to the /Vo#ztia, a cohort of the Cornovii, under
the command of a tribune, garrisoned Pons Aitu. Who the
Cornovil were we have no means of knowing; neither does
any inscription exist, either to confirm or to correct the
statement of the (Vozztza.

There are some buildings in Newcastle which will interest
the Roman antiquary. The mother church of the town
(now a Cathedral) is dedicated to St. Nicholas. Masses of
44 NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE.

Roman ruins on the site of this church probably led in Saxon
times to the building of some homely temple, which long ago
disappeared. Tradition speaks of a Norman church, founded
in the reign of William Rufus. It, too, is gone, having been
destroyed, it is believed, in 1216. The present church, which
is chiefly in the “decorated” style, was finished in 1350. The
steeple is a subsequent addition.

 

The Old Castle is one of the most interesting Norman
fortifications remaining in England. Robert Curthose built a
castle here, which must soon have perished, as we find William
NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYWNE. 45

Rufus engaged in the work of reconstruction. The present
Keep was erected in the reign of Henry II. It was com-
menced in 1172, and finished in 1177. In 1813 the battle-
ments and flag-tower were placed upon it by the Corporation.
The woodcut represents its appearance, as seen from the west,
before these additions were made, together with the gateway,.
now removed, which led into the inner bailey. In the Keep
a mass of Roman and other antiquarian remains of great
interest, most of them derived from the Wall of Hadrian, are
preserved, and will well repay the examination of the visitor.
The Black Gate, the principal entrance into the Castle pre-
cincts, was built by Henry III. in the year 1248. The upper
portions of it having long been in a ruinous condition, are
now in the course of restoration by the Society of Antiquaries
of Newcastle. When the apartments are put in order, some
of the altars and other antiquities now in the Keep will be
removed to them.

II].—From NEWCASTLE To THE NORTH TYNE.

We now pursue the Wall on its course westward. In
addition to the Murus or stone wall, we will now have the
companionship of the Vallum or earth wall. As already
observed, the Vallum is not met with at either extremity of
the line. With respect to the eastern end, Horsley’s testi-
mony is very emphatic. ‘There is not, in all the space
between Cousins’s House and Newcastle, the least vestige or
appearance of Hadrian’s Vallum, or any thing belonging to
it.” The Vallum is supposed to have proceeded from the
southern rampart of the station of Pons A‘Lu, and to have
run up Westgate Hill parallel with the Wall.
46 BENWELL HILL.

At the top ot Westgate Hill, at a place called the Quarry
House, Horsley found traces of a mile-castle. Neither Quarry
House nor traces of a mile-castle now exist.

The first indications of the Barrier which the traveller
will see are those of the Vallum. Its mounds and ditch
-appear the moment the last row of houses in the town is
passed. As he pursues his way to the Firth of Solway, it will
seldom be out of his sight. It runs at the back of the windmill,
and of the row of houses called Graingerville. It is well seen
opposite the Union Workhouse. On the right hand side of
the traveller the fosse of the stone Wall soon comes into
sight. The additional rampart formed on its northern edge
by the throwing out of the excavated materials, will here,
and in many other places, be noticed.

Benwell Ail.

The third station on the line, Benwell Hill, the ConpEr-
cv of the Romans, is about two miles from Newcastle. Its
form is nearly obliterated. It lies partly to the north of
the road, and partly to the south. The northern portion is
now occupied by the high-service reservoir of the Newcastle
Water Company. South of the road some interesting traces
of it remain. The eastern rampart and the south-east angle
of the station show boldly in the grounds of G. W. Rendel,
Esq.; its southern and western ramparts may be traced,
though more obscurely, in the neighbouring grounds of J. P.
Mulcaster, Esq. On the sunny slope leading down to the
river are manifest traces of foundations. The Vallum has
come up to the southern rampart of the station; the Wall
has probably joined it at the point where the road now
crosses it. The suburban buildings of this station have been
 
 

 

 

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BENWELL HILL. 47

extensive. One of these, on the east side, was excavated a
few years ago by Mr. Rendel. A small temple, terminating
at its southern extremity in a circular abacus, is seen. The
engraving shows it. Two altars found in the temple now
stand in the place which they originally occupied. One of
these is most tastefully adorned; it is dedicated to a god,
unknown to classical mythology, Antenociticus, and to the
deities of the emperors, by A#lius Vibius, a centurion of the
twentieth legion, surnamed the Valerian and Victorious.
The other altar is of a ruder kind, but it has a longer inscrip-
tion, which may be thus translated :—‘‘To the god Anociticus
by the decrees of our best and greatest Emperors, given under
Ulpius Marcellus, a man of consular rank; Tineius Longus,
of the prefecture of knights, adorned with the broad clasp,
and a questor dedicated [this altar].’’ Probably the Ano-
citicus which we have here is only a contracted form of the
Antenociticus which we have on the other altar. Ulpius
Marcellus was a jurist who flourished in the reigns of Anto-
ninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. The emperors intended
are no doubt Aurelius and his colleague Lucius Verus. The
altar will thus belong to a period between 4.D. 161 and 169.
In Mr. Mulcaster’s grounds may be seen some fragments of
millstones and other Roman remains, and in particular the
capital of a column, having a species of moulding, which
was afterwards adopted by Norman architects. This station
was garrisoned by a troop of horse—the first wing of the
Asturians, a people of Spain. The Romans are supposed to
have wrought the coal in the vicinity of Benwell. When
the lower water-reservoir was formed here, several years ago,
some ancient coal workings were exposed, but nothing was
found to indicate decisively the period to which they belonged.
They were probably Roman.
48 EAST DENTON.

Leaving ConDERCUM, we again pursue our journey west-
ward. We now pass the second milestone from Newcastle.
The road runs for several miles upon the foundation of the
Wall. Formerly the facing stones were in many places seen
protruding through the ‘‘metal;” but since the diversion of
the greater part of the traffic from the road to the railway,
the remnants of this great relic of antiquity have, in several
instances, been removed to supply material for mending the
turnpike. The north fosse, as we pursue our journey, becomes
more distinct on the right hand. Descending Benwell Hill,.
the village of East Denton is reached. Here, on the left hand

 

side, we meet, for the first time, with a remnant of the Wall
rising above the ground. The cut shews it. It is 91 feet wide.
The trunk of the apple tree which long grew upon it fell
several winters ago. Denton Hall, on the right, an antique
building, redolent of the memories of Mrs. Montague and Dr.
Samuel Johnson, and the scene of sundry ghost stories,” is
soon reached. Here a few sculptured stones from the Wall
*See Richardson's Table Book, Legendary, Vol. III. p. 310.
WALBOTTLE. 49

are preserved. Opposite to Denton Hall the core of the
Wall is in good preservation, and at the bottom of the field
on the south all the features of the Vallum may be noticed.
The next village is West Denton. Here, before coming to
the brook, the traces of a mile-castle may be observed amongst
a mass of ruins.

The geologist will be interested in knowing that, a little
to the south of this spot, very near where the ditch of the
Vallum crosses the brook, the course of the Ninety-fathom
Dykeis stillto beseen. This ‘fault will be detected by the per-
pendicularity of the strata.” (M/acLauchlan, p. 15). At West
Denton the Murus and Vallum are about 200 yards apart ;
after this they slowly converge until they reach Walbottle
Dean, where they are but sixty yards distant from each other.
After that they keep nearly parallel and in close contiguity
until reaching Rutchester. Ascending the hill from West
Denton, the fosse of the Wall is boldly developed. The
Vallum is feeble. Passing the fourth mile-stone, we arrive
at Chapel House. The view here is extensive. On the south
of the road Horsley observed ‘‘some foundations of stone
ramparts.” They are now completely eradicated. A little
beyond this—half way down the field—we meet with the site
of another castellum, it is barely discernible. Onthe slope
of this hill and the rise of the next, several traces of the Wall
are to be seen in the road. Passing Walbottle (do¢/e is the
Saxon for an abode), we come to the fifth mile-stone; the
Vallum here is good, and it is well seen ascending the hill before
us. Opposite the farm-house called Walbottle Dean House,
another caste/lum has stood. It can only be detected by the
elevation of its site. There is a beautiful prospect from it.
No traces of the bridge by which the Wall crossed the dean

E
50 THROCKLEY.

remain. Proceeding onwards, a lane crosses the road. Turn-
ing up the lane for a few yards, we get sight of a tumulus,
called Deafley or Dewley Hill—about half a mile distant—
the burial place, probably, of some ancient British chief. The
turning to the left hand takes us to Newburn. At Newburn
the river, for the first time, becomes fordable. In ancient
times it was consequently a place of importance. Its knolls
bear marks of early fortifications, and several stones in the
present church are undoubtedly Roman. There is reason to
believe that the Romans laid a framework of stone across the
bed of the river to improve the ford. In 1346 David, King of
Scotland, crossed the ford on his way to Neville’s Cross. In
1640 the Scotch forces under General Lesley defeated the
troops of Charles I. at Newburn.

In this vicinity we find a Wesleyan chapel and the Schools
of the Throckley Coal Company. Just before reaching the
sixth mile-stone we come to the filter beds of the Newcastle
and Gateshead Water Company, by which the water intended
for private consumption in these towns is purified. After
passing the sixth mile-stone, Throckley Bank Top is reached.
Both the fosse of the Wall and the Vallum show boldly.
Another mile-castle is reached; besides the gentle elevation,
the difference in the colour of its soil or the tint of its
vegetation will often be noticed. The traveller will observe
that very often the gate into the field is placed on the spot
where a mile-castle stood. The reason is obvious; the ruins
of the building formed a hard surface, which was useless for
agricultural purposes, but most excellent for sustaining traffic.
A little further on, a range of houses attracts the eye on the
right of the road. It is the Frenchmen’s Row, originally
built for the workmen employed in Heddon Colliery, but
    

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HEDDON-ON-THE-WALL, SI

afterwards used as the residence of a number of refugees, who
fled to England on the occasion of the first French Revolution.
The dial was constructed by them.

At Heddon Banks the facing .stones of both sides of the
Wall are seen in the road, giving it the width of eight feet
six inches. Before coming to the little eminence at which
we arrive before reaching Heddon-on-the-Wall, stones will,
under favourable circumstances, be found in the road and
on the other side of the hedge, indicating the probability of a
turret having stood here.

On the top of the eminence, the north fosse will be seen
to be deeper than we have yet noticed it. The works of the
Vallum, about fifty yards to the south, are also finely
developed. In both cases the ditch is cut through the free-
stone rock. In the sides of the south ditch the tool-marks of
the excavators are visible. Before entering the village, let
the traveller clamber over the tree-crowned wall which skirts
the road on his left. He will here see an interesting though
small fragment of the Wall. Its north face is destroyed,
but five courses of its southern face remain. Somewhat
nearer the farm-house the remains of a circular chamber
_ appear in the substance of the Wall, which is shown in
the opposite engraving, having a diameter of seven feet,
with a small aperture leading out of it in a slanting direction.
This kind of structure is quite peculiar; has it been intended
foraturret? At Heddon-on-the-Wall, the Wall is only about
thirty-five yards from the ditch of the Vallum. The fosse of
the Vallum is seen cutting boldly through the village; in the
low ground it is used as a pond. A castellum must have
stood hereabouts; it has probably been destroyed by the
erection of this village. The seventh mile-stone is passed
52 THE MILITARY ROAD.

just as we leave the place. The road that turns off to the left
leads to Horsley and Corbridge. The road that we have been
travelling upon, and which we are to keep for several miles
further, goes nearly straight forward. It is General Wade's
Military Road. When the Pretender’s forces appeared before
Carlisle in 1745, the royal troops were lying at Newcastle,
where the enemy had been expected. At that time, no road
that would bear the transit of artillery existed between
Newcastle and Carlisle, so that General Wade was obliged to
leave Carlisle to the mercy of the enemy, and proceed in
search of him bya southerly route. He met him at Preston;
with what effect is well known. After this the road between
Newcastle and Carlisle, now known throughout the district
as ‘The Military Road,’ was made. For miles together the
Wall was pulled down to form it.

This statement prepares us for a brief extract from the
journal of that eminent man, John Wesley. He writes :—
‘Wednesday, 21 May, 1755. I preached at Nafferton, near
Horsley, about thirteen miles from Newcastle. We rode
chiefly on the new western road, which lies on the old Roman
Wall. Some part of this is still to be seen, as are the remains
of most of the towers, which were built a mile distant from
each other, quite from sea to sea. But where are the men
of renown who built them, and who once made all the land
tremble? Crumbled into dust! Gone hence, to be no more
seen, till the earth shall give up her dead!”

Not much that calls for observation occurs before reaching
the next station—Rutchester. About midway between
Heddon-on-the-Wall and Rutchester is the site of a mile-
castle ; it is very indistinct.
RUTCHESTER. 53

Rutchester.

Rutchester, the ancient VINDOBALA, is the fourth station on
the line of the Wall. It was garrisoned by the first cohort
of Frixagi, or, as it should probably be written, Frisii. The
Frisians were a tribe occupying a portion of what 1s now the
kingdom of the Netherlands. Unless the traveller be on his
guard, he may pass through the Middle of VinpoBaLa without
knowing it. A lane crosses the road just as you come up to it.

The great Wall seems to have joined the station at its
gateways, leaving a considerable portion of the camp pro-
jecting to the north, and a still larger to the south of it. The
station, the general form of which may be discerned, has had
an area of about three acres and a half. The turnpike road
probably represents its via principals. To the north of the
road the station is under the plough, but the general elevation
of its surface, and the slight though yearly diminishing traces
of its ditch, serve sufficiently well to mark its position.
South of the road, the western and southern ramparts remain
in a fair state of preservation. The farm-buildings are all to
the south of the camp.

The Vallum here, as is usually the case in the immediate
vicinity of stations, is indistinct ; but it seems to have joined
the fort in a line with its southern rampart. The suburbs
have been to the south of the station. The present farm-
house is formed on the nucleus of a medieval stronghold;
some of its ancient features being retained. To the west of
the farm-house, on the brow of the hill, an ancient trough-
like excavation has been made in the solid rock. Its use is
not known. It was once popularly called the “‘ Giant’s Grave.”
Another account of its use is recorded in Sir David Smith’s
MSS., now preserved in Alnwick Castle: “ The old peasants
here have a tradition that the Romans made a beverage
54 RUTCHESTER.

somewhat like beer of the bells of heather (heath), and that
this trough was used in the process of making such drink.’’*
The cistern is twelve feet long, four feet six inches broad, and
two feet deep, and has a hole close to the bottom at one end.
When discovered, in 1766, it had a partition of masonry
across it, and contained many decayed bones, and an iron
implement described as being like a three-footed candlestick.
About the middle of last century a figure of Hercules was
found here and is now preserved in the Castle of Newcastle.

In 1844 four altars were dis-
covered a few yards to the west of
the “Giant’s Grave.” One of
them is shown in the woodcut.
The sculpture on its base (a bull,
which was sacred to Mithras), as
well as other circumstances, leaves
no doubt that the god intended is
not the one true and living God,
but Mithras, the Eastern Apollo.
The altar is neatly designed; a
wreath encircles the word DEO, and
two palm branches wave over it.
The inscription may thus be read
in English—“ Lucius Sentius Cas-
tus [a centurion ], of the sixth
legion, piously dedicated this altar
to the god [Mithras].” It is now
at Otterburn. Most of the stones of the farm-buildings and
adjacent fences are Roman. A few fragments of inscriptions
are built up in the walls; one, in a coach-house, bears the

 

* The opinion long prevailed in Northumberland, that the Picts had the
art of preparing an intoxicating liquor from heather-bells, and that the secret.
died with them.
ROUND HILL. 55

letters, AVR. RIN. XIT. NIS. It is no doubt part of a monumental
tablet ; when complete it would probably be—Dz’s Manzibus
Aurelius Victortnus vixiT annis . . . In the wall of the
stackyard is a stone inserted upside down, which seems to
read—

[co]H I

JPEDIOVI

The century of Pediovus of the third cohort.

We now continue our journey. About one-third of a mile
forward, on a knoll, the site of another mile-castle occurs.
Presently we pass, on the left of the road, a disused public-
house formerly known as “The Iron Sign.” Some of the
buildings are entirely composed of Roman stones. In the
wall of a stable abutting upon the road, are some centurial
and sculptured stones. They are read with difficulty, but in
a favourable light one of them seems to be CoH. vill.; another,
»HOS. LVPI. A side light is the best for reading weathered
inscriptions. Passing the ninth mile-stone, we stand upon
the top of an eminence, called Round Hill, or sometimes
Eppie’s Hill. We have here a good view of Harlow Hill and
the adjacent country. The north fosse is very distinct,
forming a deep groove on the right of the road all the way to
Harlow Hill. The Wall and the Vallum are at this point
within thirty yards of each other. They soon separate; for
whilst the Wall inclines to the north in order to secure, in
conformity with its usual practice, the high ground, the
Vallum continues to move onward in a nearly straight line.
In doing so it runs along the flanks of Harlow Hill. Had the
Vallum been an independent barrier, it would probably have
kept to the high ground. From a point opposite to the next
mile-castle, to Carr Hill, a distance of five miles, the Vallum
goes in a perfectly straight line.
56 WELTON.

A little more than half a mile beyond Round Hill, we
pass the site of a mile-castle; the Vallum is here 400 yards
from the wall. In passing over the summit of Harlow Hill,
the foundations of the Wall may be seen in the fold yards on
the south side of the village. A mile-castle has stood here,
but no traces of it now exist. On the high ground north of
the village are the remains of a tumulus and entrenchments.
The Romans would not leave so important a position unde-
fended. From the quarries under this summit the builders
of the Wall seem to have obtained both freestone and lime.
Some barrows to the north of this place, and graves filled
with human bones, confirm the traditionary account of bloody
battles having been fought here in “‘the troublesome times.”’

Descending the hill, we come to the Whittle Dean reser-
voirs of the Newcastle and Gateshead Water Company.

The village of Welton is about half a mile to the south of
the road. Its most prominent feature is the ancient fortlet
called Welton Hall. It is built entirely of Roman stones.
Over the door are the initials and date—’W W. 1614.”
Strange stories are still told of the enormous strength of
Old Will of Welton.

Ascending the hill, just after passing the reservoirs, the
site of another mile-castle is seen on the left hand. At this
point the Vallum, after crossing one of the reservoirs, again
comes into close companionship with the Wall. At the usual
distance (seven furlongs and a half) westward of the castle,
the site of another may be discerned. It is about a furlong
west of the Robin Hood Inn, where a road turns down to a
farm-house. Wall Houses is next reached. Between this
point and the fourteenth mile-stone all the lines of the Barrier
are developed to a degree that is quite inspiriting. The north
fosse is, for some distance, planted with trees, which will, for
CARR HILL. 57

a considerable time, save it from the plough. Another little
village, called High Wall Houses is next approached. After
passing what was a turnpike-gate, a road on the left leads to
Corbridge, distant about four miles, and Hexham about seven
miles. About a mile to the south of us is Shildon Hill, which
forms a conspicuous feature in the landscape. It has an oval-
shaped entrenchment on its summit, belonging, probably, to
the ancient British era. At Matfen-Piers Lodge there is
another mile-castle. The Wall, as seen in the road, is a little
less than eight feet thick. The road on the right leads to
Matfen. At Matfen Hall, the seat of Sir Edward Blackett,

-Bart., are several important inscribed and sculptured stones
and other antiquities derived from the Wall, especially from
the station of Hunnum.

At Halton Shields was another castellum, though all
decided traces of it are now obliterated. ‘‘Like the man at
Halton Shields,” was a saying that was common a while ago.
This celebrated personage set off on a journey, and, after
travelling laboriously all night, found himself at his own back
door next morning.

On the top of the next summit, Carr Hill, the facing stones
of the Wall are seen in the road, and the angle which it here
makes, bending away to the south, may be observed. It
measures nine feet six inchesin width. The Walland Vallum
are fifty-five yards apart. They goon in tolerable parallelism
for some distance, when the Vallum suddenly bends to the
south, evidently to avoid a small barrow-like elevation called
Down Hill. Having done this, it returns as suddenly to
something like its former direction. The Wall pursues a
straightforward course, and cuts across the hill where its
north fosse is well marked.

These appearances strongly corroborate the opinion that
58 HALTON CHESTERS.

the various lines of the fortification are but parts of one great
scheme. Ifthe Vallum had been constructed as an indepen-
dent defence against a northern foe, and nearly a century
before the Wall, an elevation which so entirely commands
the Vallum would surely not have been left open to the
enemy, especially as it would be just as easy to take the
Vallum along the north flank of the hill as the south.

Down Hill has a number of depressions upon it, caused
no doubt by the Romans quarrying lime here. There is a
modern lime quarry on the western edge of the hill.

Passing Halton Red House, we reach the station of
HUNNUM.

Hfalton Chesters.

The Wall came up to the lateral gateways of this camp;
consequently, the turnpike-road, its present representative,
goes through the midst of it. Unless the traveller be on the
alert, he will pass through the station without knowing it, as
did Sandy Gordon the Scottish Antiquary, and as did William
Hutton the first time he visited it. The Vallum came up to
the southern rampart. Horsley gave this camp the name of
Halton Chesters, from the village of Halton, which lies about
half a mile to the south of it. This station has the usual
rectangular form, but it possesses this peculiarity, that an
angular portion has, as it were, been cut out of its north-west
corner. The nature of the ground has probably dictated this
arrangement. ‘The station has contained an area of four acres.
and a quarter. The distance between the last station (Rut-
chester) and this is greater than usual, being seven miles and
two furlongs in a direct line. The station of Hunnum was
garrisoned by a troop of horse, called in the Votitia, “Ala
Saviniana” or “Sabiniana.” This troop probably took its.
HALTON CHESTERS. 59

name from Sabina, the wife of Hadrian. There is reason to
believe that the Empress accompanied Hadrian to Britain,
and that the imperial court was established here for the winter
of 119-120 (erivale, Vol. VIIL., p. 438.) The only inscription
confirming the /Voftza in its statement of the occupation of
Hunnum, is one which was first noticed by Camden, and is
“now preserved at Cambridge. It is part of a monumental
slab, dedicated to the shades of Noricus, who died at the age
of 30, by Messorius Magnus, a brother of the deceased, and a
duplaris of the Ala Sabiniana.

The portion of the station north of the road was brought
into cultivation in the year 1827. It is called the “ Brunt-
ha’penny Field,” from the number of corroded copper coins
which have been picked up in it. Numerous buildings, most
carefully constructed, were found in it. One of them was an
elaborate structure, containing at least eleven apartments.
These were heated by the transmission of hot air under their
floors and up their sides. The idea has been extensively
adopted that all the buildings provided with hypocausts were
public baths. The Romans were great bathers, but we must
not overlook the difference between the climate of Italy and
Britain. Warmth would be the first requisite here. Nearly
ail the remains found in Northumberland prove that the
necessities of war were chiefly attended to, not the require-
ments of luxury. The remains of ‘‘The Baths” at Hunnum
were most carefully examined and described by the Rev.
John Hodgson and Mr. Dobson (A/s¢. Wor., Pt. II., Vol. IIL,
p. 317) ; but though we are told which was the apodyterium,
which the ¢epidarium, the caldarium, and the frigidarium,
nothing is said about those essential requisites in a public
bathing establishment—the pipes for the introduction of the
water, the boilers for heating, and the basins for holding it.
60 HALTON CHESTERS.

A portion of one of the smallest of the chambers here was
indeed walled off and carefully lined with cement, so as to
form a reservoir, ten feet long by seven feet three inches
broad, but this was the only real indication of a bath. Similar
cisterns have been found at CiLtuRNUM, Borcovicus, and else-
where; these were probably the only arrangements made
for bathing, even in the dwellings of the tribunes and the
prefects, and these were probably supplied by hand, with hot
or cold water, at the command of the master of the house.
The whole of this building was removed as soon as it was
discovered. The part of the station which is to the south of
the road has a gentle slope and a fair exposure to the sun. It
is known by the name of the Chesters; in Horsley’s day it
had the additional designation of Silverhill, no doubt from the
discovery, on some occasion, of a number of denarii in it.

 

An elaborately carved slab, shown in the engraving, com-
memorating some work done by the second legion, styled the
August, was found here in 1769, and is preserved at Alnwick
Castle. As the ground has not been recently ploughed, it
exhibits, with considerable distinctness, the lines of the outer
entrenchments, as well as the contour of the ruined buildings
HALTON CASTLE. 61

and streets of the interior. The road to Halton runs through
the middle of the station, probably on the very site of the old
Roman vza leading from the Pretorian to the Decuman
gate. The suburbs have covered a fine tract of pasture
ground to the south.

Halton Castle and Church are chiefly composed of Roman
stones. In the church-yard is a Roman altar placed upside
down, but its inscription is obliterated. In a wall of the
garden is (or was lately) a portion of an altar showing the
patera on one side and a preefericulum on the other, and a
much weathered stone, on which is carved the figure of a man
reclining on a couch—probably part of a funereal stone. It

ih \

é <i hy hy |

i
\ ! '

is shown in the woodcut. In the wall of one of the back
buildings is the much-defaced figure of a man, which is also
probably a part of a funereal stone.

,

Ms

 

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ih

On leaving the station, it will be noticed how much the
defile on its west side strengthens the military position of the
62 THE WATLING STREET.

camp. About a furlong before reaching Portgate the faint
traces of a mile-castle may be seen.

Passing the sixteenth mile-stone, we come to another
castellum, and, continuing to ascend the hill, we soon reach
the ancient Watling Street, which crosses the Wall at right
angles. This road, which was probably formed by Agricola,
in his first advance into Scotland, is in many places, as here,
still used as a highway; in others it is grass-grown and
deserted, but even in these instances it retains, often for
miles together, all the features of its original construction.
The Watling Street, on its way from the South, passes the
stations at Binchester, Lanchester, Ebchester, Corchester,
and, crossing the Wall, proceeds to thestations at Risingham
and High Rochester. It reaches the Scottish border at Chew
Green, where there is a group of camps of remarkable con-
struction.

There can be little doubt that the station of HUNNUM was
intended to guard the passage of the Wall by the Street.

The Wall and Vallum are parallel in this place, and are
about eighty yards apart. The earthworks now become
exceedingly interesting, and continue to be so for the next
two or three miles. The north fosse is in many places very
bold; the materials that have been turned out of it are
lying on the outer margin, rough and untrimmed, as if the
labourers had left the work but to obtain some refreshment,
and were about to return to it. Ascending the hill, on
the top of which is a fir plantation, the Wall may in one
place be measured six feet wide; a little further forward it
has increased to nine feet six inches in width. Before
reaching the plantation, a mile-castle will be observed. At
this point it will be well for the antiquary to forsake the
TEMPORARY CAMP. 63

turnpike-road, and examine the Vallum. He will not find it
in a more perfect state in any other part of the line. Old
Mr. Hutton was charmed with it. ‘I climbed over a stone
wall,’ he says, ‘‘to examine the wonder ; measured the whole
in every direction; surveyed it with surprise, with delight ;
was fascinated, and unable to proceed; forgot I was upon a
wild common, a stranger, and the evening approaching ; lost
in astonishment, I was not able to move.”

On passing the crown of the hill, and beginning the de-
scent, the Wall may be measured (in the road) ten feet five
inches in width.

Before reaching the eighteenth mile-stone, the site of
another mile-castle may be distinctly noticed. On Errington
Hill Head, about half a mile to the north of this point, are
some ancient encampments ; they command a magnificent
view of the Erring Burn and of the valley of North Tyne.
The Hallington reservoir of the Newcastle Water Company
is seen to the north. About a furlong before reaching the
nineteenth mile-stone, the feeble traces of a mile-castle may
perhaps be recognised. Directly opposite to this, on the
north of the Wall, and about a furlong from it, ‘‘is a small
quadrangular enclosure, on the top of the crag, which is
presumed to be the remains of a small Roman camp, made
to protect the workmen while they were quarrying and
building the Wall.” (MacLauchlan, p. 24.) This camp has
been a good deal disturbed.

In several other instances, which we shall notice as they
occur, Mr. MacLauchlan found a similar arrangement to
exist—a small earthen camp opposite a mile-castle. There
can be no doubt that the reason he assigns for them is the
true one. This camp is to the north of the Wall; in nearly
64 THE WRITTEN ROCK.

every other instance the camp is to the south of the Wall.
Advancing a little further along the road, we observe north
of the Wall a round hill, which to all appearance is a tumulus.
Into the front of one of the houses at St. Oswald’s Hill Head,
+ a centurial stone is built,
Wall a Way bearing the inscription,
EO \ WN CHO) Vl» -3,CAE CHE
ee ol x (a a
ea NM i | CLIIME. — 1 he CenkESy or
company of Cecilius Cle-
mens of the eighth cohort.
Immediately south of this
‘place, distant about a
quarter of a mile, is Fallowfield Fell, where the Roman quarry-
man, Carantinus, has left his name upon the rock, as already
stated (p.31). The “written rock,” is not easily found, in
consequence of its being but slightly elevated above the
general level.* The view from the Fell is very extensive
and fine.

Onwards, we come to St. Oswald’s Church. Opposite to
it is a field called Mould’s Close, where, according to local
tradition, the hottest of the fight between King Oswald and
Cadwalla raged. Bede’s account of the battle is as follows :—
“This last king (Oswald), after the death of his brother
Eanfrid, advanced with an army, small indeed in number,
but strengthened with the faith of Christ ; and the impious
commander of the Britons was slain, though he had most
numerous forces, which he boasted nothing could withstand,

ui HY
il : i | Li i a C i iI
ieee

it 4
aii

Hil

 

* If the reader chooses to see it let him attend to the following direc-
tions :—On the rise, to the south of St. Oswald’s Hill Head, is a fir
plantation. The “written rock” is to the south of this plantation, anda
little to the east of it. A cairn of stones erected by some good Samaritan
at present (1884) stands upon it; long may it be spared !
BATTLE OF HEFENFIELD. 65

at a place in the English tongue called Denisesburn, that is,
Denis’s-brook. This place is shown to this day, and held
in much veneration, where Oswald being about to engage,
erected the sign of the holy cross, and on his knees prayed
to God that he would assist his worshippers in their great
distress. It is further reported that the cross being made in
haste, and the hole dug in which it was to be fixed, the
King himself, full of faith, laid hold of it, and held it with
both his hands till it was set fast by throwing in the earth ;
and this done, raising his voice, he cried to his army, ‘ Let
us all kneel, and jointly beseech the true and living God
Almighty, in his mercy, to defend us from the haughty and
fierce enemy ; for He knows that we have undertaken a just
war for the safety of our nation.’ All did as he had com-
manded, and accordingly advancing towards the enemy with
the first dawn of the day, they obtained the victory, as their
faith deserved. In that place of prayer very many miracu-
lous cures are known to have been performed, as a token and
memorial of the King’s faith ; for even to this day, many are
wont to cut off small chips of the wood of the holy cross,
which being put into water, men or cattle drinking of, or
sprinkled with that water, are immediately restored to health.
The place in the English tongue is called Hefenfeld, or the
Heavenly Field. . . . The same place is near the Wall
with which the Romans formerly enclosed the island from
sea to sea, to restrain the fury of the barbarous nations, as has
been said before. Hither, also, the brothers of the church
of Hagulstad, which is not far from thence, repair yearly on
the day before that on which King Oswald was afterwards
slain, to watch there for the health of his soul, and having
sung many psalms, to offer for him in the morning the sacri-
F
66 PLANE-TREES FIELD.

fice of the holy oblation. And since that good custom has
spread, they have lately built and consecrated a church there,
which has attached additional sanctity and honour to that
place.” Bede's Ecclesiastical History, Book III., ch. vii.

The Rev. Dr. Greenwell has adduced strong evidence to
show that Denisesburn was in the vicinity of Dilston. The
existence of the church fixes the spot where the cross was
raised, and where probably, also, the battle was begun, but
the fight may have extended towards Dilston, and the slaughter
of Cadwalla taken place there.

Some faint traces of the next mile-castle may be seen at
the field-gate on the right of the road, opposite Plane-trees
Farm House. The house is in the ditch of the Vallum. A
little further on, also on the right of the road, is the Black-
Pasture Quarry, which yields stone of the same nature as that
used in the Wall in this vicinity. The stone is a close-grained
sandstone, and may be obtained in blocks of any size. The
storms of centuries have little or no effect upon it.

Before reaching the twentieth mile-stone, we come to
Plane-trees Field, where, on the left of the road, a conspicuous
piece of the Wall remains. It has, in some places, five courses
of facing-stones entire; the grout of the interior, which rises
still higher, gives root to some fine old thorns. The stones
in the Wall here are of a larger size than usual, probably
owing to the near vicinity of the quarry. In the grounds of
Brunton*—the residence of Major Waddilove—a little below
this, a piece of the Wall is to be seen, in a state of very great
perfection. It is seven feet high, and presents nine courses

* The genuine antiquary does not need to be reminded that before

entering the private grounds of a gentleman leave must be asked and
obtained.
 
|

}2E"¥WasS* FD oo

 

 
BRUNTON. 67

of facing-stones entire. The mortar of the five lower courses
is good. The north fosse along which we walk in coming
to this relic, is very boldly developed ; and being, during the
spring and summer months, thickly covered with ferns and
wild flowers, is an object of great interest.

We now get over the Wall to examine its south face. A
couple of years ago it was covered up in its own ruins. It has
recently been excavated by Mr. Clayton, the proprietor of the
estate, and not only is a fine stretch of the Wall displayed,
but a turret, the first that we have met with in our journey
hitherto, has been brought to light. The turret is a small
Quadrangular building, inclosing a space of twelve feet nine
inches by eleven feet six inches. It has a doorway nearly
four feet wide. The turret is recessed into the Great Wall
about four feet. The Wall, which forms the north wall of
the turret, is standing eleven courses high, giving an eleva-
tion of eight feet and a half. The side walls of the turret are
two feet nine inches thick. The south wall of the turret is
nearly four feet high. Altogether this is the finest specimen
of the turret that we shall meet with in our peregrinations.
It is well shown in the etching on the opposite page.

The road, which for nearly the whole distance from
Newcastle has run upon the line of the Wall, now deviates.
considerably to the north of it. This was done by the Go-
vernment Surveyor, in order to take advantage of a bridge
which crossed the river at Chollerford. This was no doubt
the bridge, for the repairs of which thirteen days’ relaxation
of enjoined penance were granted to contributors by Bishop
Skirlaw, in the time of Richard IJ. Unfortunately it was
carried away by the great flood of 1771, shortly after which
time the present bridge was built. ‘The Romans went straight
68 CHOLLERFORD.

down the hill, notwithstanding its steepness, and crossed the
Tiver where it was comparatively narrow.

On the east bank of the river towards the north is a con-
spicuous building, called Cocklaw Tower. It is roofless, but
forms a fine and characteristic specimen of the border peel.
On the walls of one of its apartments are traces of fresco-
painting. On the opposite side of the river, is Haughton
Castle, the seat of George Crawshay, Esq. The situation of
this castle is most lovely, and the building itself, consisting
as it does of an ecclesiastical fabric, adapted to the purposes
of border warfare, furnishes a study of considerable intricacy,
but great interest.

The inn at Chollerford, as is well known to many an-
glers and some antiquaries, has long had the reputation of
being a comfortable one.

Leaving Brunton, the Wall continues its onward course
to the North Tynein a straight line. A little before reaching
the railway a gently elevated mound indicates the site of a
mile-castle. Next we meet with the most remarkable
feature on the whole line of the Wall—the bridge over the
North Tyne. This is nearly half a mile down the river from
the railway station. As foot passengers are necessarily de-
barred from walking on the line, a traveller approaching it
from this quarter should take the stile at the east end of
Chollerford Bridge, and find his way through fields and along
the river’s brink to the object of his search.

The lines both of Wall and Vallum may be distinguished
as they approach the river. The Wall, as it enters the little
plantation on the river’s brink, has been laid bare. It is six
feet four inches thick, and in one place stands eight feet eight
inches high. It terminates temporarily in a square building
ABUTMENT OF BRIDGE. 69

or castellum, formed of stones of the same character as those
used in the Wall. Several layers of wood ashes were found
when this building was excavated. In front of it we have the
land abutment of the bridge. It consists of a solid mass of
masonry, of a form well calculated to resist the thrust of the
descending stream, and the regurgitation of the waters when
passed. The abutment presents to the river a face of twenty-
two feet, and from it the platform of the bridge would spring.
From each side of this projecting face the walls retire in an
oblique direction. The southern portion of the abutment
has originally been formed upon the same plan as the
northern, but an addition has afterwards been made to it,
probably to give increased space for defensive works. In the
northern part of the abutment, five courses of facing-stones
remain, giving a height above the foundation course of six
feet. Some of the stones are very large; one is four feet ten
inches long, and eighteen inches in height. The stone is
from the Black Pasture Quarry, already referred to (p. 66).
All the facing-stones have been placed in their position by the
/wis, and they have been bound together by rods of iron
imbedded in lead. The grooves for the rods remain, and, in
some places, when first excavated, portions of the lead were
seen. The peculiar feathered tooling of the facing-stones
will be noticed. It is the opinion of some antiquaries that,
whilst the great mass of the bridge is the work of Hadrian,
these facing-stones are the work of Severus. It is probable
that, by his time, the bridge would require repairs, and these
he would effect, both here and in other parts of the mural
fortress, before entering upon his Caledonian expedition. At
Housesteads and many other places stones that have evidently
been used in repairs have this peculiar kind of broaching.
One other circumstance requires attention. Imbedded in the
7O ABUTMENT OF BRIDGE.

centre of the abutment is a piece of masonry which is in-
dependent of all the rest, and has the form of a water pier.
The river in this part of its course has a tendency to recede
from its eastern bank and encroach upon its western. The
present abutment is some distance from the river, while that
upon the other side is entirely submerged. There can be
little doubt that this tendency has always existed, and that
the pier which we now see in the middle of the land-abutment
of Hadrian’s Bridge was formerly one of the water piers of a
bridge of earlier date, probably one erected by Agricola.
The stones of this pier are bound together, individually, by
wedge-shaped cramps, not grouped by long rods, as the facing-
stones of the abutment and the piers in the river are.

The platform of this bridge was undoubtedly of timber.
Several of the stones which lie on the ground have grooves
in them for admitting the spars. No arch stones have been
found among the ruins.

From coins, from the sculptures on Trajan’s column, and
other authentic sources of information, we learn that the
approaches to a bridge on an enemy’s frontier were always
defended by appropriate fortifications. Here, particularly on
the south side, as already observed, there was ample space for
these defensive bulwarks. When the whole structure was
complete it must have had a very formidable appearance.

A covered way, evidently posterior to any of the other
works, will be observed crossing the abutment and cutting
through the square castle in which the Wall terminates. It
goes beyond the extent of the excavations in both directions.
It is formed in a great measure of stones that have been
used in the bridge. As it is founded upon a bed of silt at
least a yard thick, its construction cannot have taken place
until the works of the bridge had been overwhelmed by
ABUTMENT OF BRIDGE. 71

some terrible devastation. No probable conjecture has yet
been formed of its use. The idea of a water-course naturally
rises in the mind; but the joints of the passage are by no
means close, and, though covered on the top, the bottom of
it consists simply of the sandy alluvium of the river. Most of
the slabs which form the covering have been snapped across,
apparently by the weight of the deposit upon them, though
some of them are two feet thick; they were found precisely
as they now lie.

Several stones among the debris will attract attention.
Amongst them is one about four feet in length, resembling
anaxletree. It has orifices as if for receiving handspikes. Its
use is not known, but it has been suggested that it may have
been part of the machinery of a balista or other mechanical
appliance. There is also a circular shaft, about nine feet long
and two feet in diameter, which has several peculiarities. It
has, apparently, been used as an upright post at one extremity
of the bridge for the purpose of attaching the balustrade to it.
It bears marks of having had an iron rod inserted into it.
Unhappily no inscribed stone has been found to detail the
history of the bridge. One large stone was found; but the
ereater portion of it having been exposed to the roll of the
river for centuries, its inscription is entirely obliterated, except
the last three lines, which happened to be covered by the
eravel of the stream; but they only give us the name of the
prefect who had charge of the works, lius Longinus—not
the name of the emperor by whose command they were
executed. They are

CuRANTE AELIO Under the care of AZlius
LONGINO Longinus,
PRAEF EQQ. a prefect of cavalry.
72 ABUTMENT OF BRIDGE.

As we have not previously met with a prefect of this name,
we are in ignorance of the date of the inscription.

Shortly before the first edition of this work was published,
the whole of this piece of masonry was buried under the
accumulated deposits of the river; and, as if more effectually
to conceal the architectural treasure beneath, a thriving
plantation occupied the surface. The late Mr. William
Coulson, of Corbridge, who had acquired considerable expe-
rience as an explorator of Roman remains at BREMENIUM,
suspected the truth. It was at his suggestion, and partly
under his superintendence, that the excavations were under-
taken by Mr. Clayton, the proprietor of the stations of
CiLuRNUM, PRocotiTiA, Borcovicus, and VINDOLANA, and of
extensive tracts of Wall between and beyond them—a gentle-
man to whom, more than any other, the antiquary is indebted
for the preservation and skilful display of the best remnants
of Imperial Power in Britain.

The plan of the bridge which is here inserted will give
the reader a correct idea of it. Ina paper by Mr. Clayton, in
the Archeologia Athana, N.S., Vol. VI., p. 80, he will find a
fuller account than the limits of this little volume allow, of
this important structure.

We now turn to the other works of the bridge. There
have been three water piers. It has been ascertained, by
partial excavation, that one of them lies immediately under
the eastern bank of the river. Two others are, when the
water is low and placid, to be seen in the bed of the stream.
Blocks of masonry, which have resisted the roll of this im-
petuous river for more than seventeen centuries, are a sight
worth seeing, even at the expense of being immersed in cold
water to the full extent of the lower extremities. That end
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
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ABUTMENT OF BRIDGE. 73

of the piers which is directed towards the stream is pointed.
The /ucs holes remain in the stones. The grooves formed
for the iron rods and cramps can be discerned. The western
abutment has been of the same form and construction as the
other, but it is in a great measure submerged by the encroach-
ments of the river. In favourable circumstances it can be
seen from the bank. There are indications which render it
probable that the western abutment, as well as the eastern,
was furnished with a tower of defence. In leaving this subject,
a short extract from Mr. Clayton’s interesting paper may be
introduced. ‘‘Those who have seen the magnificent remains of
the Pont du Gard (justly the pride of Gallia Narbonensis),
lighted by the glorious sun of Languedoc, may think lightly
of these meagre relics of the bridge of C1LuRNuM, under the
darker skies of Northumberland ; but it may be safely affirmed,
that the bridge over the Gardon does not span a lovelier stream
than the North Tyne, and that so much as remains of the
masonry of the bridge of CiturNuM, leads to the conclusion
that this bridge, as originally constructed, was not inferior in
solidity of material, and excellency of workmanship, to the
mighty structure reared by Roman hands in Gaul.”

Some remarkable buildings have recently been discovered
on the western bank of the river, in close contiguity to the
road-way leading to the bridge. As yet (April, 1884) the
excavations have not proceeded far enough to enable us to
form a probable conjecture as to their original purpose.
74. CORCHESTER.

1V.—Opsects oF RoMAN INTEREST WITHIN THE LINES OF
THE GREAT BARRIER.

Before proceeding to the examination of the station of
CILURNUM, to which the Roman bridge over the North Tyne
introduces us, it is fitting that we should notice two places
lying to the south of the Wall which have been occupied by
the Romans—Corchester and Hexham.

Corchester.

To the west of the little town of Corbridge, and distant
about six hundred yards from its church, are traces of an
extensive Roman settlement. The situation is one which
would recommend itself toa Roman engineer. It rises gently
above the general surface, and is defended on its southern
margin by the river Tyne and its somewhat precipitous
bank, and on its western by the more humble stream the
Cor-burn.

It was, probably, a Roman town rather than a purely
military settlement. Its shape and size favour this idea.
Mr. MacLauchlan, after diligently tracing out the course of
its ramparts, came to the conclusion that its form was an
irregular ellipse, and that it contained an area of about
twenty-two acres. All the camps we have hitherto had
occasion to notice assume the form of parallelograms, and
have a much smaller area than this. Owing to the peculiar
fertility of the soil, the site has long been subject to the
plough, and all the erections of the Roman era have been
overthrown or obscured.

Numerous important inscriptions have been found here.

Amongst them are two altars bearing Greek inscriptions. It

nit (gf
CORCHESTER. 75

is curious to think that the Greek language must at one time
have been more or less spoken by the inhabitants of the place.
An engraving of one of these altars is here introduced. This

AST[AP]THS
BOMON M
EZOPAS
HIOYAXEP M’
ANEOHKEN

Of Astarte
the altar me
you see.
Pulcher me
dedicated

 

altar is now at Netherby. The Astarte of this altar is
the Ashtoreth of the Scriptures, the “abomination of the
Zidonians.”” The other Greek altar found here was dedicated
tothe Tyrian Hercules by Diodora, the archpriestess. During
the period of the Roman occupation of Britain the super-
stitions and the impure worship of the East were largely
followed in this land.

The church of Corbridge, especially the tower, is largely
76 HEXHAM.

composed of Roman stones. Built into the front of a house
on the east of the town is a fractured inscription to the
Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. Which of the emperors
of that name is intended is uncertain; from the excellence
of the lettering the earliest of them is probably the person. —
Some small sculptured stones are to be met with in some of
the houses. Numerous important coins have here been found,
amongst them an aureus of Domitian, now in the cabinet of
the Duke of Northumberland. Several inscribed stones from
Corchester are preserved in the Museum of the Society of
Antiquaries of Newcastle.

Hexham.

The appearance of Hexham from the railway is very pic-
turesque. This is no doubt the site of a Roman station, but
its Roman designation has not been satisfactorily ascertained.
Stukeley says, ‘‘This town was undoubtedly Roman; we
judged the castrum was where the castellated building now
stands, east of the market place, which is the brow of the hill,
and has a good prospect.” About the year 674 Bishop Wilfred
built a church here. The only portion of Wilfred’s building
that remains is the crypt; the church itself seems to have been
laid in ruins by the Danes in 867, in which state it long con-
tinued. The present church is an exceedingly beautiful
specimen of the early English style. It was probably erected
at the close of the twelfth or beginning of the thirteenth
century. The nave is said to have been destroyed during an
incursion of the Scots in 1296, and it has never been rebuilt.
This church had the privilege of sanctuary. The Saxon frid-
stool, or seat of safety, is preserved in the church. In the
aisle of the south transept are two Roman altars, which
HEXHAM. Te

were discovered in the immediate vicinity of the spot in
1871. One of them is uninscribed. The other contains
the following inscription :—

APOLLINI "
‘Dedicated to Apollo Ma-
MAPONO ;
ponus by -- Terentius Firmus,
. » TERENTIVS :
the son of ---, of the tribe of
-++F OVF

Oufentina, a native of Siena,
and prefect of the camps of the
Sixth Legion, the victorious,
pious, and faithful.”

FIRMVS - SAEN
PRAEF + CASTR
LEG: VI-V-+P-F
DD
The term Maponus is supposed to have reference to the
name of some place in England where Apollo was specially
worshipped.

In the south transept of the church is preserved a finely-
carved tomb-stone, which was discovered in 1881 by Mr.
Robt. Robson, the parish clerk, beneath the floor of the porch
adjoining the south transept. The woodcut on the following
page shows it. It represents the deceased soldier, with the
standard in his right hand, riding rough-shod over a prostrate
enemy. The inscription is—

DIS MANIBVS FLAVINVS
EQ - ALAE PETR - SIGNIFER
TVR + CANDIDI AN - XXV
STIP - VIL H-S

“To the gods the Shades. Flavinus, a soldier of the
cavalry regiment of Petriana, standard-bearer of the troop of
Candidus, being twenty-five years of age and having served
seven years in the army, is here laid.”

The crypt has special attractions for the Roman antiquary.
It was accidently discovered in the early part of the last
HEXHAM.

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HEXHAM CRYPT. 79

century. After being almost forgotten, attention was again
called to it by the late Mr. Fairless, in the second volume of
the Fournal of the Archeological Institute. A similar crypt
exists at Ripon, where Wilfred also built a church. It is
entirely built of Roman stones. The use of its various parts

CT
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Is quitea mystery. Mr. Fairless says :—‘‘ There have been
three approaches to this solemn and drear retreat, one of
them at present reaching nearly into the body of the church ;
another, to the south, leading to the cloisters ; the third rising
into the nave.” The woodcut represents one of its chambers.
80 HEXHAM CRYPT.

For a long time the only entrance to it was by a ladder, from
the church-yard ; now it is entered more conveniently by a
staircase from the transept, which has more recently been
discovered. Besides some exceedingly graceful mouldings
and devices, which were afterwards adopted by the Saxon
and Norman builders, two Roman inscriptions have been
built up into the crypt. The more important of ?these is
shown in the woodcut. The inscription reads—

     

en
le Hee “in

ie i
a Me
va ie il i

 
  

   

 

‘vi if ly

ee oy

4 i Ich gt
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The Emperor Czsar Lucius
Septimius [Severus] Pertinax, and
the Emperor Cesar [Marcus]
Aurelius Antoninus [and Publius
Septimius Geta Czsar] by the
cohort - - - - and the vexillation

- erected under the superin-
tendence of -- -

The inscription is imperfect. The name of Geta after his

IMP : CAES > L°S EP>:°>
PERTINAX ET IMP-C-:-
AVR - ANTONINV + ° >

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VEXILEATION =) 25s
FECERVNT SVB © ==
HEXHAM. 81

murder by his elder brother was, as in this instance, struck
out of all the inscriptions in the empire.

Severus, before commencing his Caledonian campaign,
seems to have repaired Hadrian’s Wall and put in order all
the stations on the Watling Street. He may have made
Hexham his headquarters while attending to these operations.

The other inscription forms the head-way of one of the
arches of the crypt. It is probably part of another altar to
Apollo Maponus.

One of the stones at the top of the staircase at the north-
west corner of the tower of the Priory Church is a Roman
altar, on which are represented an ox’s head, with a garland
and some sacrificial instruments. The number of inscribed
and sculptured stones found in Hexham give strong con-
firmation to the opinion that it was a post held by the
Romans.

In the year 1832 the sexton, when digging a grave deeper
than usual, on the west side of the north transept of the
church, struck upon a vessel of Saxon workmanship, con-
taining, it is calculated, about eight thousand Saxon coins.
These proved to be s¢ycas, a small coin peculiar to North-
umberland. The vessel, in a fragmentary condition, together
with about 300 of the coins, was transmitted to the British
Museum. The coins are about a quarter of an inch in
diameter, composed of a mixture of metals nearly resembling
the Corinthian brass of the ancients. They are most beauti-
fully executed, the letters being sharper and better formed
than those of the Norman and Plantagenet series. The coins
belong to a period extending from a.D. 790 to A.D. 844.
82 CHESTERS.

V. From THE TYNE To THE TIPALT.

We resume our mural investigations at the point where
we discontinued them—the North Tyne in the vicinity of
Chollerford. A pleasant walk of a little more than half a
mile along the turnpike road brings us from Chollerford to
Chesters, the seat of John Clayton, Esq., F.S.A. Leave to
enter the grounds will not be denied to a brother antiquary
who courteously requests it. Within the grounds are the
station of CiLuRNUM, some fragments of the Wall, and a
collection of antiquities of peculiar interest.

Chesters.

In passing from the house to the station, the position of
the Wall may be noticed; the path-way lies in the north
fosse. Although the station has doubtless contributed its
proportion of stones to the construction of the neighbouring
mansion, and although its position in the park must have led
to the levelling of its surface, its form is still quite distinct.
The station of CiLuRNUM is the largest on the line of the
Wall, excepting the station of AMBOGLANNa, Birdoswald ; it
contains an area of five acres and a quarter. It has, as usual,
the form of a parallelogram, and as its surface is slightly
raised above the general level of the ground, in consequence
of the mass of debris which covers it, its outlines may be
easily discerned. Its ramparts have in several places been
cleared of the earth which for centuries has enveloped them,
particularly at the south-east corner where eight courses of
building stones are to be seen zz szfu. The practice of the
Romans in rounding the angles of their stations is here seen
to advantage. The ramparts are five feet thick, and on the
outer side of them the fosse, which gave them additional
 
 

 

 

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CHESTERS. 83

strength, may in many places be observed. The great Wall
comes up to the southern jamb of its principal eastern gate-
way, and takes its departure from its western, so that about
one-third of the station projects beyond the Wall.

The accompanying Plan, reduced by the kind permission
of Mr. Clayton from one in his possession, will enable the
traveller more readily to understand the arrangements of
this interesting station. All the gateways of the station have
been excavated, and all of them, except the smaller one on
the western side, have been left bare for the examination of
the student; and they form a most interesting subject of
investigation. All the stations on the Wall, with the exception
of this and AMBOGLANNA, have four gateways—one in each
rampart. In these stations there are two gateways in the
eastern and western ramparts; the most northerly in each case
is a gateway of the usual size, having two portals; the other,
to the south ofit, is a smaller gateway, having only one portal.

We may now examine the principal gateway in the eastern
rampart, of which the frontispiece presents us with a drawing
taken from its inner side near its southern angle. It has
been a double gateway in more senses than one. A wall
(with a narrow passage through it) has separated the
two portals. Each portal has been closed by a two-leaved
gate, the pivot holes of the gates being still discernible.
In the case of the south gateway the iron with which
the wooden pivot of one of the gates has been shod re-
mains in the socket. The gates, when closed, have struck
against a rim of stonework which crosses the threshold.
Each portal, both at front and back, has been crowned by
an arch. The springer of the arch remains on the southern
pier at the back of this gateway, and the large slabs of stone
84. CHESTERS.

which formed the foundations of the arch in the front part of
the gateway still remain. The width of each portal is eleven
feet. On either side of the gateway are the guard-chambers,
in which the sentries having charge of the entrance kept
watch and ward. The walls of some of the gateways are
standing at from ten to twelve courses of stones high. A
drain is seen in the flooring of this gateway, which was in-
tended to carry off the waste water from the eastern division
of the station. A drain is also to be seen at the north}gate-
way. The student will notice with surprise that the great
Wall comes up to the southern jamb of this gateway, instead
of the northern; giving, apparently, a great advantage toa
northern foe. The probable reason of this will be explained
when we have examined the corresponding gateway on the
western rampart.

The south gateway is in an encouraging state of preserva-
tion. It presents one important feature which demands
notice. Abundant proofs remain to show that on more than
one occasion the garrisons of most, if not of all, the camps in
the line of the Wall have at one time or another, probably
more than once, been driven from their stronghold by the
Caledonians, who, in the hour of their triumph, have burnt
everything that was combustible, and committed other acts
of devastation. The garrison, on procuring reinforcements,
and driving out the enemy, have not had time to clear away
all the rubbish which encumbered the place, but, making
things as smooth as possible, repaired their walls, and again
settled themselves in the camp. Hence, whenever excava-
tions are made, two or three layers of ashes are found, and
the later floors of the gateways and barracks are higher than
the original ones. It appears, moreover, that towards the
CHESTERS, 85

close of the period of Roman occupation, the troops, not
obtaining their usual supplies of men and money from Rome,
became demoralised, and resorted to expedients which their
predecessors never thought of. They walled up some of their
gates, and contracted the size of others. In all probability, in
the case of the gateway before us, the western portal had
been walled up, and only the eastern made use of. This
certainly was the case with the northern gateway. The
western portal of the gate we are now examining has
been excavated down to its original level. It will be noticed
that the floor of the eastern portal is much higher than that
of the western. That this was its condition when the gar-
rison took its final departure is proved by the fact that the
pivot holes of the gates, and the central stone against which
the doors struck, are still to be seen at the higher level. The
workmanship of the late period is much inferior to that of
the early. Some’ gutter stones are to be seen in front of this
gate, which have received the drippings from the roof of the
gateway. In the upper course of masonry, in the eastern
wall of the eastern guard chamber, will be noticed a stone,
on which is faintly inscribed the letters LEG. vi. v1.—Legzo
sexta victrix, the Sixth Legion the Victorious. In this
chamber also was found the larger portion of a bronze tablet
of the time of Antoninus Pius, conferring the important
privilege of Roman citizenship and the right to marry upon
the men belonging to certain troops then in Britain who had
served in the Roman army for twenty-five years or more.
It is believed that each recipient of the privilege had a docu-
ment of this kind, duly certified by competent witnesses,
presented to him, in order that he might at any time the
more readily establish his rights. This diploma, or tabula
86 CHESTERS.

honeste missionis, as it was anciently called, being of national
importance, has been generously presented by Mr. Clayton
to the British Museum. It is fully described in the Archeo-
logia Atliana, N.S., Vol. VIIL., p. 217.

The principal gateway in the western rampart is in good
condition, but it presents no special features of interest. The
great Wall will be noticed coming up to its southern jamb.
Like the corresponding gateway in the eastern rampart it
has been walled up in Roman times. A small tank has been
formed in its northern guard chamber, into which gutter
stones, which are still in their place, had introduced water
from the outside.

The north gateway exhibits all the usual features of such
structures, but it is in a less perfect state than the others.

Besides the four great gateways that have now been
described, two others, as has been already mentioned, existed
in the eastern and western rampart. They are each of them
forty-eight yards to the south of the great gateways. They
have only a single portal, instead of two, as Roman gateways
usually have, but this portal is twelve feet wide, instead of
eleven as the others are. By means of this small eastern
gateway the most of the traffic to the bridge and onwards
must have been carried. The road down to the bridge is
clearly marked. It must be mentioned, however, that the
remains of a Roman bridge, of similar structure to the one
we have already examined, have been found about midway
between the bridge already described and the modern bridge
at Chollerford. The north gateway of the station would be
the one by which the traffic proceeding over this bridge
would have egress from the station. Traces of a road leading
in that direction have been found. This gateway and the
CHESTERS. 87

bridge we have now referred to would, when the country was
in a state of quietude, relieve the traffic proceeding from the
small eastern gateway, especially that portion of it which was
intended for the Watling Street.

The existence of two large gateways on the north of the
Wall, must, as has already been stated, strike the observer
as being anomalous. The circumstance may perhaps be
accounted for in the following manner :—The station, as we
have already said, was probably one of Agricola’s, and had
been constructed to guard the passage of the river, and
command the valley of the North Tyne. When Hadrian
resolved upon the construction of the Wall his engineer saw
the necessity of including this station in its range. For some
reason, however, which we cannot discover, he thought fit to
bring up the Wall to the southern instead of the northern
margin of these great gateways, thus rendering them useless
in time of war to the garrison. They were accordingly
walled up in front and rear, the interior space being filled
with rubble. This mass of building would form an excellent
platform on which to plant catapults and baliste.

Before leaving the ramparts of the station, it may be well
to observe that a number of chambers have been reared
against their inner margin. Some of these have recently
been excavated. One at the south-east angle (A) shows
twelve courses of stones; its walls are two feet six inches
thick, and its interior measurement is thirteen feet by ten
feet. Another (g) is standing a little further to the west of
this, of nearly the same dimensions. In it, near the bottom,
were found the skeletons of two infants. A third (c) is to the
west of the south gateway; and at the south-west angle are
traces of others. From indications which have presented them-
88 CHESTERS.

selves to the excavator it is believed that a street paved with
gravel went round the whole station in front of these chambers.

Near the south-east angle of the station (D) five columns
are standing, about four feet high; the tops of them have
evidently been broken; they stand as they were found. On
the south side of the pillars was found a road with a hard
bottom, formed of riverside gravel. Immediately to the
north of the pillars were a series of apartments (shown in
the Plan), the walls of which for the most part were of poor
masonry. The foundations of these buildings were at dif-
ferent depths, and had no doubt been built at different times,
and all of them subsequently to the structure of which the
pillars had originally formed a part. Have the buildings
with which the pillars were connected been stables ?

Near the north-east angle of the station there has been
a similar arrangement of pillars, only two of which are now
standing. A road ran along the north of them. Here also
were a number of buildings of loose construction and probably
of late date.

We now examine the interior of the station. Perhaps the
most remarkable feature in it is the forum, which occupies
a central position within it, and which was excavated in 1870.
It forms a parallelogram of about 125 feet in length by about
85 in breadth. It lies between the two streets which proceed
from the two lateral gateways of the station; while the street
proceeding from the northern to the southern gateway strikes
the centre of its northern and southern walls. Besides these
streets the spade of the excavator has shown that it had been
provided with streets on its two sides. The means of approach
to this important centre of public business was thus amply
provided for.
CHESTERS. 89

The forum has a gateway in the centre of its north
wall (F); and nearly in the centre of its eastern (G) and
western (H) walls. Some gutter stones are seen on the outer
side of its western gateway, showing that the gateway has
been roofed. In the sill of the eastern gateway (G) grooves
formed by the wheels of the vehicles bringing goods to market
will be observed.

The northern part of the forum consists of an open
square (1) which has been surrounded by a colonnade. The
columns on which the front of the roof has rested are to be
seen in their places together with the gutter stones by which
the water falling from the roof has been carried off. The back
and higher part of the roof has been tied into the outer wall
of the forum. Under the colonnade perishable goods would
be exposed for sale.

At the southern end of the forum are three halls (3 kK 1),
each having a wide portal—eighteen feet in extent. The
wedge-shaped stones which lie about the place show that
these entrances have been spanned by an arch. The central
chamber (J) is believed to have been the wrarium of the
station, the place where the treasure chest of the regiment
was kept and where all pecuniary business connected with it
was transacted; the chambers on each side of it (K L) are
believed to be the curie in which courts-martial were held
and the justice of the district dispensed. Connected with
each curia is a smaller chamber in which prisoners or persons
connected with the court might remain in readiness.

When towards the close of the Roman occupation of
Britain the garrison declined in physical and moral strength
certain changes in these buildings have been effected. The
vault which now occupies a part of the erarium (3) and of
go CHESTERS.

the eastern curia (L) was built for the more effectual preser-
vation of the treasure chest, and the entrance into the courts
was walled up leaving only a narrow doorway.

The vault was discovered in the early part of the present
century. A tradition existed in the country that the station
had been occupied by a cavalry regiment and that the stables,

NN

, et
a Tu iil
Wan

f

meat sg Ce
fe ae ae

 

which were capable of accommodating 500 horses, were
underground. The rustics when they came upon this vault
naturally enough thought that the latter part of the legend
was about to be verified and that they would soon enter the
stables ; it was not to be so, however.

An oaken door, bound and studded with iron, closed the
entrance into the chamber, but it fell to pieces shortly after
CHESTERS. gt

being exposed. On the floor were found a number of base
denarii, chiefly of the reign of Severus. The roof of the
apartment is peculiar. It consists of three separate arches,
the intervals between them being filled up by the process
called ‘‘stepping over.’’ The woodcut on the previous page
represents the structure as seen from the inside.

Between the important public buildings which we have
now described and the market place is an open walk (mM) which
would, during the hours of business, be occupied by traders
and litigants attending the markets or the courts.

On tne south side of the street connecting the smaller
eastern and western gateways and somewhat nearer the west-
ern than the eastern rampart, were discovered about three
years ago two (N) contiguous buildings in the form of paral-
lelograms and presenting features which led to the supposition
that they had been granaries. The walls were however so.
defective that it was thought best to remove them. Other
chambers were found to the east of these at (0).

Another series of buildings (Pp) near the eastern rampart
of the station next demand our attention. They have pro-
bably been the pretorium or general’s quarters, and were
excavated by Mr. Clayton in 1843. The woodcut on the
following page gives asketch of them. An account of the ex-
cavation from the pen of Mr. Clayton will be found in the
Archeologia Atliana, Old Series, Vol. III., p. 142. Although
the frosts and rains of forty winters have had some effect upon
the ruins they will well repay the minute attention of the
antiquary. The narrowness of the streets will be noticed. It
was of course desirable that the camp should present as small a
front as possible to the attack ofan enemy. It will be observed
that the floors of the chambers are supported upon pillars of
‘Q2 CHESTERS.

brick or stone. The object of this was to allow heated air to cir-
‘culate under the floors, and thus communicate warmth to the
apartments. The hot air was likewise carried up the walls by
means of flue tiles. As the floors were thick, an equable heat
would be communicated at a small expenditure of fuel. The
site of the furnace (Q) is near the south-east portion of the
buildings. The tiles composing it, as well as the stone pillars
in its vicinity, having been strongly acted on by fire, have

 

for the most part crumbled into a shapeless mass. In one of
the chambers on the northern side of the group are two
receptacles that look like baths, or tanks for holding water.
When first exposed they were found to be lined with red
cement, which has peeled off through the action of the weather.

It will be noticed that some of the £z/@ supporting the floors are
portions of columns that have ornamented some previous
CHESTERS. 93

building. The excellency of the masonry of some parts of
these structures will strike the observer. The woodcut repre-
sents a buttress (R) at the north-east angle of the group.
These ruined walls are the favourite habitat of some wild
plants of great beauty and some rarity, especially the corydalis
lutea, the erinus FHlisbanicus, and the geranium lucidum. It

Ce at
A i:

Ni = z af ee
Na as — squat ae ee
Mg i <M i ZB i

IN Nt
WA Fe ie s ie a oa

a

 

is interesting to see life, fragrance, and grace springing from
the grave of empire.

In the course of his peregrinations the traveller will have
noticed in the vicinity of the more recent explorations some
of the objects that have been thrown up by the spade of the
excavator. Fragments of vessels of Samian ware are frequent,
sO are portions of wine amphore, mortars, and glass vessels.
-O4 CHESTERS,

The shells of oysters, mussels, cockles, and limpets will be
noticed; the Romans were fond of this species of food, and
though CiLuRNwM is thirty miles from the sea, the garrison
found means to procure it. The bones of animals—the red-
deer, the roe-buck, the ox, the wild boar, and the sheep—are
frequent. The conclusicn seems inevitable that the occupants
of the camp, when at their meals, threw the bones of their food,
after they had picked them, amongst the rushes that covered
their floors and allowed them to remain there. The bones do
not occur at the lowest level of the excavations. It would thus
appear that this disreputable practice was not in use when
the regiment was in its prime.

Suburban buildings have left their traces between the
station and the river, and ruins more extensive than usual
are spread over the ground to the south and west. No
habitations have been erected to the north of the station or
the Wall.

The burying ground of the station was to the south of it,
at a point where the river bends rapidly to the east, and
where the sunk fence defining the park of Chesters joins the
river’s bank. This fact has been inferred from the number of
monumental slabs that have been found here.

CILURNUM was garrisoned by the second ala of Astures—
a people from the modern Asturia, in Spain. The Rev.
John Hodgson says :—‘ The Astures in exchanging the sunny
valleys of Spain for the banks of tawny Tyne, might find the
climate in their new situation worse; but a lovelier spot than
CILuRNUM all the Asturias could not give them.”

Several important inscriptions, sculptures, and other relics
of the Roman era, found in the station and its vicinity, are
preserved at Chesters. To a few of these the attention of the
student is directed.
CHESTERS, 95

In the portico fronting the house are some important
altars. In the doorway are two large altars dedicated to Mars
Thingsus, and two female deities, hailing from Alesia, which
have recently been found at Chapel Hill, tothe south of the
station of Borcovicus. Along with them was found a por-
tion of a large circular slab (here preserved), on which we
have probably a representation of the god and the two
nymphs. Here, too, is an altar to Cocidius, a native British
god, found not far from the station of VinpoLaNaA, and
another to the same god (in association with the Roman
deity Silvanus) which was found at Borcovicus. To the
right of the doorway are two cylindrical stones; these are
milestones from the vicinity of the Caw Gap, one of them
bears the name of Hadrian (much erased), the other of Severus
Alexander. One very fine altar, figured on the next page,
will attract the visitor’s attention. It bears the following
inscription :—

oes “To Jupiter, the best and
Se greatest, and the other im-
eT mortal gods, and the genius
ee EO of the camp, Quintus Pet-
ee EeNIvs ronius Urbicus, the son of
ge VSBICVS Quintus, ofthe Fabian tribe,
ieee CGH Tit the prefect of the fourth co-
eo hort of the Gauls, . . . from
a Italy, a native of Brixia (the
modern Brescia), [erected
this altar] in discharge of

EX ITALIA
DOMO BRIXIA
VOTVM SOLVIT
PRO SE
AC SVIS

a vow for himself and his
family.”
g6 CHESTERS.

This altar was found at ViINDoLANA, Chesterholm, where
the JVoritia places the prefect of the fourth cohort of the
Gauls. The altar thus confirms the statement of the Vota.
One line of the inscription has been erased. This had pro-

  

      

 

 

4 Werrmarn ~
CEOS e VANESSA ET ae

 

(CENTS |
LLL =—

TAQ
A i RT cmt on
call AW 5 al i igs
SiC fi
Ul li a
a i

 

 
   
  

Witty

an

bably contained an epithet of the legion derived from the
name of some emperor who had fallen into disgrace (perhaps
Antoniniana) when the epithet was renounced. The sides of
CHESTERS. 97

the altar are ornamented with figures of the stork. This bird
is remarkable for its attachment to its young. Urbicus seems
to have been fond of his family, as he associates them with
himself in the benefits which he expects to result from his
devotion to the gods. Hence probably the introduction of
the stork.

In the shed to the right of the portico are a number of
sculptured stones and inscriptions brought from the station of
ProcoLitia, Carrawburgh. Two of the largest are grave-
stones, one of them being to a standard bearer, who is revre-
sented at full length with his standard in his hand. Here,
too, are a number of small uninscribed altars which were got
out of the well at Procotiria, and which will be referred to
afterwards.

Of the antiquities on the left of the doorway, our space
will only allow us to notice two. One of these is the small
inscribed stone which is here engraved. The inscription,
when complete, has probably stood thus :—

IMP - T[ITO AEL]

2 } 10 + HAD - [ANTONT]

tit

NO - AVG - [PIO PP. ]
COS + LEG - [II AVG -]

‘The second legion, styled
the august, dedicates this
building to the Emperor
Titus lius Hadrianus
Antoninus Augustus, pious,
the father of his country,

aine| Gomeull, 5 . a < y

 
98 CHESTERS.

Antoninus Pius was consul for the first time A.D. 138. This
is the earliest inscription found at CiturNuUM. It was procured
in excavating the large gateway in the eastern rampart.

The other object respecting which the visitor may require
some information, is a large fir cone ornament of rel sand-
stone. It is from the Roman station at Papcastle. This
emblem, the cone of the Italian pine, was used by the Etrus-
cans and Romans to signify the resuscitating powers of nature.
It was placed among their tombs, perhaps to indicate their
hope of a life beyond the grave. There is a smaller figure of
the same kind in this portico; it was brought from VINDo-
LANA, Chesterholm.

 

i STORET DEL.

SP UTTING TC

If we now turn our steps tothe Antiquity House, a ‘asteful
rustic structure in the vicinity of the garden, we shall find
there many other objects of antiquarian interest. An im-
portant slab, shown in the engraving, and found in this
station, fronts the entrance. The inscription, a considerable
part of which is effaced, is as follows :—
CHESTERS. 99

IMP - CAES M AVREL .
AVG

JP. MEcRIB ¢P 20T COSILE): Ply DIVA
DIVI SEVER . NEP . ET M
CAESAR IMPER . th ge ee om a
ALAE II ASTVR . .. VETVSTATE . conlaps. restitu-
ERVNT . PER . MARIVM . VALERIAN .
INSTANTE . SEPTIMIO . NILO . PRAE .
DEDICATVM III KAL NOVEM GRATO ET SELE

“To the Emperor Czesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus

high priest, possessed of the tribunician power for
the fourth time, consul for the third time, father of his country,
of the deified [Antoninus Magnus son] of the deified Severus
grandson, and Marcus [Aurelius Alexander . . .] Cesar,
heir to the empire. The [soldiers] of the second cavalry
regiment of Asturians restored [this temple], [which had
fallen down] through age, by command of Marius Valerianus
[imperial legate and propretor] under the superintendence
of Septimius Nilus the prefect. It was dedicated on the third
of the Kalends of November (Oct. 30th), Gratus and Seleu-
cus being consuls.”

Gratus and Seleucus were consuls a.D. 221. Elagabalus,
who took to himself the name of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus,
was then upon the throne, and Severus Alexander was his
adopted son and heir. On his being murdered a few months
afterwards, his name was as usual struck out of all the docu-
ments of the empire. Hence the erasures in the tablet.
Severus Alexander was himself murdered a few years after-
wards. This inscription confirms the statement of the
Votitia, that the second ala of Asturians was in garrison
100 CHESTERS.

here. As the (ofitia was not compiled until the beginning
of the fifth century, we have thus direct proof that the same
tegiment was quartered here for at least two hundred years.
It was probably brought
here before the time of Ela-
gabalus, most likely in the
time of Hadrian.
Two figures opposite the
visitor will strike his eye.
The more important of these
is the headless figure of Cy-
bele, the mother of the gods,
standing upon what was pro-
bably intended for a bull.
It was found in the south-
west corner of the station,
and when first exhumed was
used in building a stone wall
which protected some young
trees. The sculpture, as will
be seen from the engraving,
is of a masterly character.
The dress of the goddess is
precisely that which was in
vogue in the sa/ozs of Paris
and London a year or two
ago. The figure on the left
of Cybele is that of Victory. It too has been much mutilated,
probably by the Caledonians immediately after the departure
of the Romans. It was found inside the eastern gateway of
the station of Borcovicus by Mr. Clayton's excavators in 1852.

    
 

I}

HY) Wy

Wy

Ly
Ta
CHESTERS. Io!

She holds a palm branch in her left hand, in her right would
be a coronal wreath wherewith to deck the victor’s brow.
Not far from Victory
. ; apie ON Rr
is a stone lintel found in ZR SAAN UGS
Zz gs!
CILURNUM on which are

      

     

carved in bold relief two
sea monsters. A sea goat
and a Pegasus formed the
usual badge of the second
legion; this carving is
probably a variety of the
accustomed symbol. A
boar was the badge of the
twentieth legion. One or
two examples of this will
be seen in the stones here
exhibited. The group
of stones shown in the
woodcut on the following
page is of some interest.
The composite capital
found in the station of
CILURNUM enables us to form an idea of the ornate character
of some of the buildings that were contained within its walls.

WS Sik
So AM
1 | \\

 

The other stones of the group are specimens of a numerous
class found upon the Wall, of which there are many in this
102 CHESTERS.

repository, and which are called centurial stones. They are
supposed to have been built into the Wall with the view of
indicating that the portion in which they occur was built by
the troops under the command of a particular centurion.
The inscription is usually preceded by a reversed 9, or an
angular stroke thus >, which is supposed to be equivalent to

            
  

Att ‘
Racy

   

  
 
     

   
   
  
      
 

    

SD Sa
AY i
CR

k es d

Me,
Ail al Me

 
  
  

 
  

the word cenfuria. Thus one of the stones before us reads
(in English) the Century of Valerius Maximus, and the other
the Century of Rufus Sabinus—these troops having built, as
1s supposed, the portions of the Wall in which they were
found.

The figure of a soldier lies on the ground. It was found
CHESTERS, 103

in the station of Borcovicus. It is sadly damaged, but
enough remains to show the ability of the soldier-artist from
whose chisel it proceeded. The spear is in the warrior’s
right hand, his shield is in his lefc ; his helmet is more orna-
mented than usual.

In this apartment are two fregments of an inscription,
which was probably attached to every mile-castle. The in-
scription, when entire, has stood thus :—

ih wy ;

ae DING a A ) vil La Hy
i EU Y Tat

RC fA BG i

yi i

ll !
a i " i I
if Hist

 

IMP CAES TRAIAN
HADRIANI AVG
LEG II AVG
A PLATORIOQ NEPOTE LEG PR PR

“(In honour of ] the Emperor Czsar Trajanus Hadrianus
Augustus. The second legion [styled] the august [erected
this, by command of] Aulus Platorius Nepos, legate and
propretor.”

One of the fragments referred to was got from the mile-
castle to the west of Housesteads, the other from the one
at Cawfields. Reference will afterwards be made to these
stones when we discuss the question, “ Who built the Wall?”
104 CHESTERS.

Three small altars have on them the peculiar inscription,
DIBVS VETERIBVS—to the ancient gods. One is shown in the
woodcut. These precious stone
fragments afford negative evi-
dence of a change of faith in
|| the occupants of the mural
] region. While many yielded
to the truth, as heralded by the
servants of Christ, others stuck
up for the old gods (as they
supposed them to be)—Jupiter,
Mars, Apollo, and others.
Before leaving the stones in the Antiquity House, we

 

may notice the juvenile
efforts of some aspiring
artist. On one stone is
carved a soldier, bearing
in his left hand a small
circular shield, and in his
right a spear, with other
figures. The next repre-
sents a sporting scene.
A man is thrusting ata
stag whose head is turned
towards him; in the back
ground is a wild boar.
Human nature is the
same in every age. Boys
will be boys, whether
their native tongue be
that of Cicero, or Cer-

 

vantes, or Milton.
CHESTERS, JOS

In the mansion at Chesters are preserved a great variety
of antiquities, derived from the stations and portions of the
Wall, which are the property of Mr. Clayton. As only those
persons who are specially introduced can expect to have access

 

to them, a slight notice of them here will suffice. Here may
be seen a graceful figure of the Genius of the North Tyne,
which was found between the two gates in the east rampart
of the station here.
Many vases of Samian ware and
earthen vessels of British manufacture,
‘together with intaglios, gems, and rings
of the precious metals derived from

 
   

various parts of
the Wall, are’ pre-
served in their
various cases.
Pere Loo) sare
pieserved the
altars and sculptured stones and coins, which were taken out
of the well of ProcoLit1a in 1875, of which notice will be
taken afterwards. Coventina, a name not otherwise known
106 CHESTERS.

in Roman mythology, seems to have been the deity who
presided over this renowned fountain. The woodcut repre-
_ sents a slab dedicated to her honour. She floats upon the
leaf of a water lily,
holding a water-plant
her right hand and a
flowing goblet in her
left. The inscription
is :—

DEAE
COVVENTINAE
T - D + COSCONIA
NVS)* PR -.COH
Ts BAT. =sleueaNi

I) Tothe goddess Coven-
2 tina Titus Domitius
Cosconianus, prefect
of the first cohort of
Ni Batavians [dedicates
this] willingly to a
most deserving object.

fl

y
us i

 

Besides this, a carving representing three water nymphs (the
attendants of the deity), ten altars inscribed to her honour,
and two elaborately-constructed vases are here preserved.
These were probably kept in a little chapel built over the:
mouth of the well.

Leaving the garden at Chesters, and proceeding along the
plantation which lies to the west of the house, we meet with
CHESTERS, 107

a piece of the Wall, frequently covered with honeysuckle and
other plants, and presenting four courses of facing-stones in
position. The fosse behind it is used as a duck-pond. Beyond
this, the foundation of the Wall forms the slightly elevated
crown of a path leading through the plantation. The fosse
is to the north of it.

Emerging from the grounds of Chesters, we are once more
upon the turnpike road, and climb the hill which leads to
Walwick. The lines of the Vallum are seen in the field on

 

the left. A fine ash-tree is growing on the north agger.
The foundations of the Wall are often seen in the road. The
woodcut here introduced was prepared under unusually
favourable circumstances; no new ‘ metal” had for long been
placed on the road, and recent thunder-showers had removed
all dust. The large house on the top of the hill was formerly
an inn. In front of the cottage, just beyond, is a slight
elevation, probably caused by the remains of a mile-castle.
108 WALWICK.

The view from Walwick is exceedingly fine, commanding as
it does the vales of Tyne, Warden Hill, the hill behind Wall
(both of which have been fortified by the Ancient Britons),
and Hexham, with its Priory Church, beautiful even in the
distance. After passing Walwick, the turnpike road leaves
the Wall, and runs by the side of the Vallum; the fosse of
the Wall is on our right and is in excellent condition.
Ascending the next hill, called Tower Taye, we come to

a small tower, built a century and a half ago out of the stones

 

of the Wall. Reaching the summit of the hill, all the lines
of the Barrier come grandly into view. Proceeding onwards,
we find, on our right, the remains of a mile-castle very dis-
tinctly marked. On the hill to the left of us are some
ancient quarries which have doubtless been used by the
Romans. To the south of the quarries is an earthen
BLACK CARTS FARM. T0g

entrenchment, the gateways of which are furnished with
traverses. It was no doubt occupied by the Romans when
the Wall was in course of construction. The road now runs
upon the north agger of the Vallum, which has been spread
out to form it. A very fine piece of Wall, six feet high,
is seen on our right, running along the Black-carts farm.

In the course of clearing the southern face of the Wall, a
turret was laid bare in 1873 by Mr. Clayton, the proprietor
of the farm. Its area is eleven feet ten inches by eleven feet
four inches, inside measurement, Like the turret at Brunton,
it is let into the Wall; but the Wall for a short distance on
each side of it is made thicker than usual. The front wall
of the turret is nearly gone, only its base course remaining,
but the Wall at its back is fourteen courses high. In the
south front is a doorway three feet wide. The woodcut on the
opposite page represents this interesting building.

Proceeding onwards, we come to a break in the Wall
through which a road runs to the North: this is called the
Hen Gap. The Wall beyond this has been recently cleared.
It will well repay examination. The etching over leaf repre-
sents it. The facing stones are rather larger than usual.

The fosse of the Vallum is here exceedingly good. Before
reaching the summit of the Limestone Bank, the traveller
may with advantage enter the plantation on the left hand of
the road. He will here see the ditch of the Vallum in a
condition approaching perfection; and if the season of the
year be favourable, he will be delighted with the profusion
of wild flowers which diversify the rugged surface of the
plantation.

On the summit of this hill, Limestone Bank, several
things demand our attention. The view to the north is fine,
1IO LIMESTONE BANK.

embracing the valley of the North Tyne, with Chipchase
Castle on its north bank, and the Simonside and Cheviot
Hills in the distance. A castellum, with which the stone
dikes of the fields unfortunately interfere, is on the summit.
Here we, for the first time, meet with a piece of the military
way which accompanied the Wall throughout its entire
length. It is seen coming up to the south gateway of the
castellum ; and then, bending away from it, proceeds on its
course westwards. The road has unfortunately been largely
robbed by General Wade or some of his subordinates in order
to supply material for forming the military road.

The fosse both of Wall and Vallum may next be examined ;
a grander sight Britain can hardly afford us. In each case
it has been cut through the basalt which forms the summit of
the hill, and the excavated masses lie upon the brink. How
the Romans managed to dislodge such large blocks of this
tough material without the aid of gunpowder is a marvel.
Dr. Lingard, in his MS. Zourification of the Wall, says:—“It
is a most astonishing sight.” The fosse of the Wall is specially
curious. On its northern margin lies a stone, now split into
three pieces by the frosts of winter, which when laid upon its
present bed must have been one block, weighing not less than
thirteen tons. In the fosse itself will be seen a mass of stone
which has not been dislodged from its bed; on its upper
surface may be noticed a number of holes intended for the
insertion of wedges. For some reason the wedges were not
inserted or not driven home and the mass of rock remains
unmoved to this day. It will be observed that the wedge
holes are all inserted in the thin veins of quartz which inter-
sect the basalt and which when the wedges were driven in
would aid the cleavage. Perhaps wooden wedges were used,
 

NYG 3NoLSaWr] a TT, aK =z Wee SS ae]

 

 

 

 
 
CARRAWBURGH. Til

in which case they would be expanded by having water poured
upon them.

South of the plantation, on the summit of the hill, and
nearly opposite the caste//uwm, is another temporary camp.
Its entrenchments, its gateways, and traverses are all visible.

Proceeding onwards, we come to the farm-house of Car-
rawburgh. The farm-house on our right hand is called Tep-
permoor. Just after passing a small quarry on our left, we
come to the remains of another mile-castle, and shortly after-
wards encounter the station of Procoritia. Immediately
before coming to the camp, however, we notice a pump. The
history of it is this. A few summers ago a severe drought
prevailed, and the farmer had to drive his cattle twice a day
a considerable distance to water. He felt sure that this ought
not to be the case. He knew that the Romans never planted
a station where a good supply of water could not always be
obtained. He carefully examined the surface in the vicinity
of the station, and fancying that in this spot the grass seemed
fresher than in other places he broke the surface. His anti-
quarian knowledge was rewarded by finding here a well cased
with Roman masonry and containing plenty of water. He
afterwards put a pump into it to be used when occasion
required.

Carrawburgh.

The site of this station is all desolation, but the aspect of
its herbage indicates the usual richness of a Roman camp.
It is about three miles and a half from CILURNUM, and it
contains an area of about three acres and a half. It was
garrisoned by the first cohort of Batavians. This fact is
I12 CARRAWBURGH.

brought out in the mutilated stone, shown in the woodcut,
which was found here. The date of this inscription is a.p.
237, when Maximinus was emperor, and Perpetuus and Cor-
nelianus were consuls. The Batavians and their neighbours
in the next station, the Tungrians, seem to have come to
Britain in the time of Vespasian, for Tacitus tells us that
Agricola commenced the battle of the Grampians by ordering
three Batavian and two Tungrian cohorts
to charge the enemy sword in hand. The
ramparts of this station are distinct, and,
if freed from rubbish, would be found to
stand several feet high. The position of
the east, south, and west gateways are
clearly discernible. The southern guard
chamber of the west gateway has
recently been laid bare. A bar-
rack-room attached to the western
rampart of the station may be seen
a little to the south of this gate-
way. When the room was exca-
vated a centurial stone was found
built into the uppercourse of its
front wall. It bore the inscription—o THRVPO || NIANA || P XXIII.
‘The Thruponian century [built] twenty four feet.”

However desirable it might be to leave the stone in the spot
where Roman artificers had placed it seventeen centuries ago,
the cupidity of curiosity-mongers (not antiquaries) was feared
and the inscription has been removed to Chesters. The great
Wall has coalesced with the north rampart of the station.
Outside the western wall are distinct marks of suburban
buildings.

   
 
 
 
  
WELL OF PROCOLITIA. 113

A natural valley, permeated by a stream of water, gives
strength to the fortification on this side. In Horsley’s day a
well was noticed here, cased with masonry. ‘The people,”
he says, ‘‘called it a cold bath, and rightly judged it to be
Roman.”

Since the preceding lines appeared in the first edition of this
book a change has come over the scene. In consequence of
the workings of a lead mine in the valley below the station
the waters which supplied the well, the overflowings of which
constituted the stream that bounded the station on its western
side, were cut off. The surface of the well became grass-
grown, and it was lost to sight, and almost to memory, when
some lead miners thinking to strike upon a vein of ore began
their operations here. Coming in contact with the upper
courses of the stone framework of the well, they rightly
thought that further search in that spot was vain, and went
elsewhere. Mr. Clayton hearing that the well described by
Horsley and others had been hit upon, thought it desirable
that it should at once be properly explored, and gave directions
accordingly. Covering the mouth of the well were some:
large stones, which had probably been taken from the upper
courses of its containing walls and thrown, for the purpose of
concealment, upon the mass of treasure of which the well had
been made the recipient. On the removal of these stones,
and some of them were so large as to require to be broken
before this could be done, a mass of coins, chiefly of the lower
empire, met the gaze of the excavators. Then carved stones,
altars, coins, vases, Roman pearls, old shoes, fibulz, and other
Roman remains were met with in an indiscriminate mass.
There can be little doubt that in a moment of panic the
treasure chest of the station and the contents of the chapel

I
Il4 WELL OF PROCOLITIA.

which had been built over the well, some slight remains of
the foundations of which may yet be noticed, had been thrown

 

into the gulf for security. The writer happened to accompany
Mr. Clayton to the spot the day after the work of excavation ©
WELL OF PROCOLITIA. 115

had commenced. Before they reached the place they were
informed that ‘‘three beautiful ladies’ had been discovered.
On coming to the well they found lying upon its edge the
sculptured stone figured on the opposite page, which represents
three water nymphs—the
ladies in waiting probably
of the supreme lady of the fgg aly
waters presiding over the | A hy
well. The fountain, which a in i i i i ih mia
was probably a health resort, ca i
was presided over by a deity
hitherto unknown in either
Greek, Roman, or Celtic
mythology —the goddess
Coventina, to whom the

‘ vy

traveller has been already
introduced. As he may like
to know the character of
the altars dedicated to her é
worship, a woodcut of one iy
Githem is ere given. A

carving representing the goddess has already appeared, p. 106.

 

DIE COVE
NTINE A “To the goddess
VRELIVS Coventina; Aurelius
GROTVS Grotus a German.”
GERMAN

As already stated the number of coins found in the well
amounted to about sixteen thousand, four of them being gold,
the rest silver and bronze, ranging from the time of Marc
Antony to that of Gratian. One singular circumstance may
116 WELL OF PROCOLITIA.

here be noticed. Amongst the coins were a very large number
of the second-brass coin of Antoninus Pius, the reverse of
which is shown in the woodcut. The writer counted 318 of
them; there were doubtless many more. This coin was struck
in the fourth consulship of the Emperor, a.D. 145, to com-
memorate the exploits of Lollius Urbicus in Britain (see
page 7), a period in which the country was
reduced to its lowest state of depression.
Britain, personified as a disconsolate fe-
male, sits uponarock. She has no helmet
upon her head, no sword or spear in her
hand. Mer head droops, her banner is
lowered, her shield is idly cast away.
The legend is BRITANNIA. To circulate this coin in Britain

 

was to add insult to injury.

The well may be seen just inside the field dyke on the west
of the station. It is usually half full or more of water, owing
to the surface drainage.

Before bidding a final farewell to this well the reader may
be interested in Wallis’ account of it. (Morthumberland, Vol.
I., p. 23.) ‘‘ Many springs and rivers were consecrated by the
Romans for their religious rites, for their lustrations at
funerals and sacrifices, and before they entered their Sacraria
or temples. Of this kind was their Fons Blandusie, and
their AVumen Cltumni. And of this kind, probably, is their
well here at their station of Carrawbrough, called the Roman
well. It is between two sloping fields, on the west side of the
station, just under it, to the south of their famous Wall,
about 400 or 500 yards from the twenty-fifth mile-stone on
the military road; square and faced with freestone, hewn-
work; and has either had a dome over it, or been walled
CARRAW. — I17

round; the stones now lying about it, nearly covered with

water from the conduit’s being stopt, and demolished by the

carelessness or ignorance of a plowman, as I am informed; it

is full up to the brim and overflowing in the hottest summer ;

and by that man’s indiscretion, he that would satisfy his

curiosity to see it must risque the wetting his feet, especially
in winter or in a rainy season.”

Passing onwards, we soon reach the farm house of Carraw,
formerly a rural retreat of the Priors of Hexham. We soon
pass the site of another caste/lum. ‘To the south of the Wall
in this vicinity is an earthen camp, which commands an
extensive prospect ; it is called Brown Dikes. On the top of
the next hill the works approach very close to each other;
the Vallum proceeds onwards in a straight line, but the Wall
swerves towards it for the double purpose (apparently) of avoid-
ing a bog on the north, and securing the crown of the hill.

Another mile-castle is passed on our right hand, and
shortly afterwards we have the cottage of Shield-on-the-Wall
on our left. The sheet of water below is an artificial accumu-
lation, for the purpose of supplying the Settlingstones lead-
mines. The bold basaltic ridge along which the Wall runs
in the central part of its course now comes strongly into view.
Four great mountain waves are before us—the escarpments
_of the strata—which seem to chase each other to the north.
We now, to adopt the language of Hutton, “ quit the beautiful
scenes of cultivation, and enter upon the rude of nature and
the wreck of antiquity.”

After passing the twenty-seventh mile-stone, the modern
military road takes to the south of both Vallum and Wall.
The Wall and Vallum also part company, the Wall taking to
the heights, and adhering most tenaciously to every projecting
118 SEWINGSHIELDS.

headland ; the Vallum, on the other hand, running along the
“tail” of the hill. Their respective distance is continually
varying. Taking the Wall as our companion, we will soon
reach Sewingshields.

On the ascent to Sewingshields farm house the Wall has
been rooted up within a recent period to furnish building
stones for the enlargement of the house, and the construction
of fences. When Dr. Lingard passed this way, in 1807, he
found the Wall five feet high. The fosse as it begins to
ascend the hill, is good, but on reaching a mile-castle which
we soon do it altogether dies away, the height of the cliff
rendering it unnecessary. The mile-castle is fenced by a
modern wall and the interior planted with trees. On the
moor, opposite to it (south of the modern road), may be seen
another of those temporary camps, of which we have had so
many examples. North of the Wall two works of interest
were until recently to be traced. One of them (opposite the
mile-castle) had all the appearance of an ancient British
camp; within its area were some of those rounded enclosures
which are indicative of the dwellings of our rude ancestors.
To the west of this encampment, and in a direction nearly
north-east from the farm house, is the site of Sewingshields
Castle, referred to by Sir Walter Scott in the sixth canto of
Harold the Dauntless, under the denomination of the Castle
of the Seven Shields. Too truly he says:—

. . . . ‘No towers are seen
On the wild heath, but those that Fancy builds,
And, save a fosse that tracks the moor with green,
Is nought remains to tell of what may there have been.”

When Dr. Lingard was here, its walls were five feet high.
A former farm tenant, Mr. Errington, removed the vaults of
the castle, and its whole area is now subjected to the plough.
TRADITIONS OF KING ARTHUR. 11g

But though the walls of the castle have been uprooted,
the following tradition relating to it will not readily perish :—

“Immemorial tradition has asserted, that King Arthur, his queen
Guenever, his court of lords and ladies, and his hounds, were enchanted in
some cave of the crags, or in a hall below the castle of Sewingshields, and
would continue entranced there till some one should first blow a bugle-horn
that lay on a table near the entrance of the hall, and then with ‘the sword of
the stone’ cut a garter also placed there beside it. But none had ever heard
where the entrance to this enchanted hall was, till the farmer at Sewing-
shields, about fifty years since, was sitting knitting on the ruins of the castle,
and his clew fell, and ran downwards through a rush of briars and nettles, as
he supposed, into a deep subterranean passage. Full in the faith that the
entrance into King Arthur’s hall was now discovered, he cleared the briary
portal of its weeds and rubbish, and entering a vaulted passage, followed, in
his darkling way, the thread of his clew. The floor was infested with toads
and lizards; and the dark wings of bats, disturbed by his unhallowed intru-
sion, flitted fearfully around him. At length his sinking courage was
strengthened by a dim, distant light, which, as he advanced grew gradually
brighter, till, all at once, he entered a vast and vaulted hall, in the centre of
which, a fire without fuel, from a broad crevice in the floor, blazed with a
high and lambent flame, that shewed all the carved walls and fretted roof,
and the monarch and his queen and court, reposing around in a theatre of
thrones and costly couches. On the floor, beyond the fire, lay the faithful
and deep-toned pack of thirty couple of hounds; and on a table before it, the
spell-dissolving horn, sword, and garter. The shepherd reverently, but
firmly, grasped the sword, and as he drew it leisurely from its rusty scabbard,
the eyes of the monarch and his courtiers began to open, and they rose till
they sat upright. He cut the garter; and as the sword was being slowly
sheathed, the spell assumed its ancient power, and they all gradually sunk
to rest; but not before the monarch had lifted up his eyes and hands, and

exclaimed :
O woe betide that evil day

' On which this witless wight was born,
Who drew the sword—the garter cut,
But never blew the bugle-horn.

Terror brought on loss of memory, and the shepherd was unable to give any
correct account of his adventure, or to find again the entrance to the en-
chanted hall.’ —Hodgson's Northumberland, II., iii., 287.
120 KING’S AND QUEEN’S CRAGS.

One other local tradition of this renowned king the traveller
may be pleased to hear, as he may personally verify it. To
the north of Sewingshields, two strata of sandstone crop out
to the day; the highest points of each ledge are called the
King’s and Queen’s Crag, from the following legend :—King
Arthur, seated on the farthest rock, was talking with his
queen, who, meanwhile, was engaged in arranging her “ back
hair.”’ Some expression of the queen’s having offended his
majesty, he seized a rock which lay near him, and, with an
exertion of strength for which the Picts were proverbial,
threw it at her, a distance of about a quarter of a mile! The
queen with great dexterity, caught it upon her comb, and thus
warded off the blow; the stone fell about midway between
them, where it lies to this very day, with the marks of the
comb upon it, to attest the truth of the story. The stone
probably weighs about twenty tons!

The farm house of Sewingshields is entirely built out of
the stones of the Wall. Its occupant, Mr. Thompson, will
doubtless kindly satisfy the inquiries of the peripatetic anti-
quary, and may possibly gratify him with a tune on the
Northumberland bagpipes, on which instrument he is a skilful
Te performer. A centurial
at tnd i stone, shown in the wood-

     

 
 

a aan. ;
E cut, is built up in one of

         

  

i
Kt f ay

A

 

the farm buildings here.
al, at It may probably be read
- aS —The century of Gellius
Philippus erected this part of the Wall.

‘From Sewingshields to Carvoran the Roman military
way, which accompanied the Wall throughout its entire

          

 

    

 

length, is, with but few intermissions, to be seen. It is
THE BLACK DIKE. I2I

always to the south of the Wall, but does not keep parallel
with it; it selects the easiest gradients. When we view the
mural ridge from the tail of the hill we can generally detect
the course of the road by the peculiar tint of its herbage.

We now pursue our course westwards. For a little dis-
tance we go through a young plantation. The basaltic
columns soon attract attention. There used to be one that
was dignified with the name of King Arthur’s Chair, but it
was purposely dislodged by a mischief-loving countryman.
Every thunder-storm throws down some. We soon come to
Cat’s Gate, a narrow chasm in the rocks, by which, according
to tradition, the Scots crept under the Wall; it has an arti-
ficial appearance. A mile-castle is next reached. It has
been much robbed lately for the repairs of the farm house.
Broomlee Lake, to the north of the Wall, now comes boldly
into view. According to tradition, a box of treasure lies sunk
in it.—/ Richardson's Table Book, Legendary Division, Vol.
III., p. 100.) The small sheet of water to the south of the
turnpike road is Grindon Lough. It has recently been to
a considerable extent drained, damaging the landscape, but
the ground gained is valueless, in consequence of its consisting
merely of gravel.

Busy Gap, one of the widest of the gaps or breaks in the
basaltic chain over which the Wall runs, is the next point to
be reached. Before descending into it, it will be well, from
the elevated position where we now are, to pay some atten-
tion to the Black Dike, an ancient cutting belonging to
these parts. It consists simply of a ditch with the earth
taken out of it thrown on the east side. In the old maps
of Northumberland it is represented as extending from the
north-west extremity of Northumberland to the Tyne at
I22 THE BLACK DIKE.

Water House, near Bardon Mill; it reappears at Morley, and
is said to go by Allenheads, into the county of Durham. We
see from the height on which we stand a plantation on the
other side of the valley, to the south of us, called the ‘Black
Dike Planting.” The fosse, even at this distance, may be
discerned on the west side of it. The point where the Dike
crossed the Wall has long been a matter of speculation. It
probably crossed at the opening, west of Busy Gap, and then,
as the Wall here is running in a northerly direction, it took
the course which the Wall now does as far as the foot of the
Sewingshields Crags ; it then made off to the northern wastes,
passing the Queen’s and King’s Crag. The Wall has de-
stroyed all trace of it where the course of the two structures
coincided, but there are some remains of it north of Sewing-
shields Crag. The stone dike which forms the western
boundary of the Sewingshields property probably represents
its course. (MacLauchlan’s Memotr, pp. 37%, 42.)

We now descend into Busy Gap. It is supposed to have
got its name from the fact of its being the pass most fre-
quented by the freebooters of the Middle Ages. In consequence
of its width, the Roman engineers have defended it with
peculiar care. In addition to the fosse on the north of the
Wall, which here reappears, a triangular rampart beyond it
embraces the valley, and still further strengthens the fortifi-
cation. On the western acclivity of the gap is a wicket gate
through which a “drove road’’ passes to the north.

This part of the country long retained the disorganization
produced by the incessant wars between England and Scot-
land. A ‘Busy Gap rogue,’ was a well-known name of
reproach. When Camden and Cotton visited the Wall in
1599, they durst not venture into these parts. ‘' From thence,”
BUSY GAP. 123

{Carvoran] Camden says, “the Wall goeth forward more
aslope by Iverton, Forsten, and Chester-in-the-Wall, [ House-
steads], near to Busy Gap,—a place infamous for thieving and
tobbing; where stood some castles (chesters they called them),
as I heard, but I could not with safety take the full survey
of it, for the rank robbers thereabouts.”’

 

Matters are vastly different now; a more orderly, upright,
and intelligent community than that of North Tyne and
Redewater does not exist.

Resuming our march, the site of a mile-castle is soon
reached; it stands on ground which slopes at the rate of
one in five. We next encounter two narrow, but rather
steep gaps, in rapid succession, which do not seem to have
obtained names. Advancing a little further, we come to the
valley permeated by the Knag Burn, which forms the eastern
‘defence of the famous station of BoRcovIcus.
124 MOSS KENNEL.

The Vallum in some parts of the course we have just
traversed is in excellent preservation. The accompanying
sketch was taken in this vicinity by the late Mr. Fairholt.

Thus far we have kept company with the Wall. In order
to notice some objects that lie near the road, we will for the
moment return to the point where it and the Wall parted
company. Proceeding on our way we have on our right the
School House in which the intellect of the neighbourhood

 

is cultivated. A little further forward on our left hand, at
the bottom of a rising knoll, may be observed traces of some
“drifts,” from which the Romans have probably taken the
coal which they undoubtedly used in the neighbouring
station of Borcovicus. As we proceed, we will next notice
an outcrop of limestone rock, which has been largely quarried
by the Romans.

The farm house of Moss Kennel on the south of the
military road is now reached, and after it, also on our left
KNAG BURN. 125

hand, a house called Beggar Bog; opposite to it is a small
chapel in which divine service is occasionally held. In
advance of us, to the south of the road, and immediately
opposite Borcovicus, may be noticed a barrow, the grave,
doubtless, of some chieftain of the ancient British period.
There is another in the valley to the south of it.

We now resume our position on the heights to the east
of the Knag Burn. It will be well for the traveller to notice,
before descending into the valley, the platform on which the
station stands. It is strong on its northern, southern, and
eastern sides, and yet is not unduly exposed. The Wall
which crosses the valley runs up to the station and joins it
at its north-east angle. It has been brought into its present
state by placing the fallen stones on the courses which re-
mained in position.

A Roman villa of considerable size and pretensions once
stood on a shelf of the rock, on the east side of the Knag
Burn, opposite the middle of the station. It was warmed
by hypocausts; and soot was found in the flues. Though
removed many years ago, to supply stones for the neigh-
bouring fences, an occasional fragment of tile or tufa marks
the spot where it stood. The burn seems to have been
dammed back here, so as to furnish a cold bath.

In the bottom of the valley is a passage through the
Wall, which was discovered in 1856; it is thus described by
Mr. Clayton:* ‘In the valley of Knag Burn, 371 feet east of
the station of Borcovicus, has recently been discovered and
explored an unexpected passage through the Roman Wall.
It has been closed by double gates, similar to those of the
stations; and there is a guard-room on each side. The

* Archeologia Ahana.
126 THE AMPHITHEATRE.

middle of the gateway guarding the south of the passage is
eleven feet three inches. The width of the gateway guarding
the north of the passage is ten feet six inches. In the middle
there is an upright stone, such as we find in the gateways of
the stations, and in the streets of Pompeii. The pathways
are on each side of this stone, and the thresholds have been
much worn by the feet of the passenger. The two guard-
chambers are of nearly equal dimensions . . . . During these

 

excavations have been found coins of Claudius Gothicus and
Constantius, a broken altar, and the usual relics of Roman
occupation, fragments of Samian ware and Andernach mill-

stones.” * The object ofthis gateway has been to give access

to a place of entertainment—an amphitheatre on a small
scale—which is on the north side of the Wall. The woodcut

* Mill-stones from the quarries of Andernach on the Rhine are frequently
met with in all the stations. The stone is a hard volcanic tufa, and being
porous, acts vigorously on the grain.
HOUSESTEADS. 127

represents it. It is 100 feet across and about ten feet deep.
It has no doubt been furnished with wooden seats. The path
leading from the gateway to the entrance into the amphi-
theatre may be traced. Nettles may usually be seen growing
in the bottom of it—a sure proof of human presence. Has the
arena been soaked with human blood? Amphitheatres, similar
in construction to this, though larger, have been found at
Silchester, Dorchester, Banbury, Cirencester, and other places.
Even when on a campaign in an enemy’s country, amphi-
theatres were erected for the amusement of the soldiery.
Two appear in the delineations given on Trajan’s column at
Rome of the Dacian campaigns. Time must often have hung
heavily upon the hands of the Tungrian cohort at Borcovicus;
what more natural than that they should catch a couple of
natives, and set them to slaughter each other for their
pleasure! As the pilgrim sits here, and ruminates upon the
past and the present of the history of Rome and Britain, he
may find food for thought in the following statement of Dion
Cassius :—“ Plautius, for having ably managed and concluded
the Britannic War, was highly commended by Claudius, and
obtained a triumph. And in the gladiatorial combat many
freed men, as well as the British captives, fought, numbers of
whom he destroyed in this kind of spectacle, and gloried in it.”

Housesteads.

The Knag Burn passes under the Wall in the way that,
probably, it used to do in Roman times.* Between the burn
and the station are traces of suburban dwellings ; and the old
Roman road may be seen winding up to the eastern gateway.
The manner in which the Wall unites with the north-east

* An arch would have admitted of the passage of an enemy.
128 HOUSESTEADS.

\

angle of the station should be observed. Both its eastern’
and western angles are rounded in the same manner as the
angles of the south rampart. It is evident that the station
was rendered complete in itself before the contiguous portions
of Wall were commenced. When the builders were safe
within strong stone walls they then reared the great Barrier
to the right and left of them. The Wall, at its junction, has
eight courses of stones in position.

The eastern wall of the station has been cleared of the
rubbish which long encumbered it, and is in a good state of
preservation. Its masonry differs but little, if at all, from
that of the great Wall. It is five feet thick.

We now enter this city of the dead. All is silent; but
dead indeed to all human sympathies must the soul of that
man be who, in each broken column, each turf-covered
mound, each deserted hall, does not recognise a voice telling
him, trumpet-tongued, of the rise and fall of empires—of the
doom and ultimate destiny of man!

Housesteads is nearly five miles from the last station,
Carrawburgh, and it contains an area of nearly five acres. Its
form is the usual one of a parallelogram, rounded at the
corners, but its greatest length is from east to west. It is
planted on a shelf of basalt, the rock in many places pro-
truding through the superincumbent soil. It slopes gently
to the south.

If the traveller be not familiar with the usual arrange-
ments of a Roman camp, he had better, before beginning a
particular survey, advance to the centre of the station, and
make himself acquainted with its plan. One main street,
called the vza principalis, crosses the station from the eastern
gate to the western; and another of similar width runs at
HOUSESTEADS. . 129

right angles to it from the northern to the southern gate.
The gate nearest the enemy (in this instance the north) was
called the pretorian gate, the one in the opposite rampart
the decuman. The street leading from the pretorian gate

bore its name. In the case before us, this street is to the east
of the central line. Not far from the point where these two
main streets intersect each other, the visitor will find the
solid base of a column, which, if the city had been a medieval
one, would be pronounced to be the pedestal of the market-
cross. All the other streets of the station are exceedingly
narrow, and lie parallel with the main ones. In this way the
whole interior of the camp is divided into parallelograms of
greater or less size.

Having taken this general survey, we will now return to
the east gate. Like all the other gates of the stations, it has
been a double one, each portal having folding doors. One of
its portals has, at some period before the abandonment of the
station by the Romans, been built up. All the other gates
have been contracted ina similar manner. This was probably
done towards the close of the period of the Roman occupation
of Britain. There are guard-chambers on each side of the
gate. On the closing up of the southern section of the gate-
way, the guard-chamber belonging to it was converted into a
dwelling room. When this chamber was excavated in 1833,
nearly a cart-load of coals was found in it. The holes in
which the pivots of the doors moved will be noticed. The
stone against which the gates struck when they were closed
remains. We might suppose that this stone would be an
obstruction to carriages entering the city. No doubt, how-
ever, the kind of chariot used was the dzga—requiring two
horses ; in that case, the horses would pass on each side of the

J
130 HOUSESTEADS,

stone. The horses, too, would probably be small. In the
middle of some of the narrow streets of Pompeii, boldly
projecting stepping stones occur, which have been placed
there for the convenience of foot passengers. These do not
seem to have interfered with the transit of wheeled vehicles,
as the ruts in the streets show. Here, too, as well as at
Pompeii, the Roman chariots have left their marks behind
them. A rut about eight inches deep appears in the stone
threshold of the gateway, on each side of the central stone,
evidently caused by the action of wheels. The grooves,

 

which are shown in the accompanying cut, are a little more
than four feet six inches and a half apart.* The wheel
marks in Pompeii are at exactly this distance from one
another, and this is the gauge of our English railways.

On entering the station, we will keep close to the east
wall, and proceed northwards. On the inside of the walls of
the station, barracks for the soldiers have no doubt been
built, having roofs leaning against the station walls. As,

* The groove on the right hand is less perfect now than when this wood-
cut was prepared, part of the stone having been broken off.
HOUSESTEADS, 131

however, these were less carefully constructed than the out-
side walls, and as they were not “tied” into the main
structure, they have, in many instances, disappeared. In
this and other stations we have abundant traces of them.
Going forward, we see a solid platform of masonry about
twenty feet square. Has a catapult been planted here for
throwing large stones against the enemy? Lying on the
spot was found a conical-shaped stone, such as may have been
used for such a purpose. Lying near the north wall of the
station, which has been increased to nearly twice its original
thickness, as if to form a solid bed for a catapult or balista,
several of these conical-shaped stones were found. Stones of
similar form have been found in other stations. Their occur-
rence cannot have been accidental. The rudely-formed
chamber on the top of this platform is no doubt of late
construction. In passing the north-east corner, its nicely-
rounded form will be noticed. Going forward a little, by the
side of the north wall, a mass of ruins is seen, which when
first excavated bore marks of fire. We now pass through
the field-gate to examine the outside of the north rampart
wall and the north gateway. It presents one of the finest
pieces of masonry on the line of the Wall. The large
square blocks forming its base have been skilfully and
securely laid. Their joints are as close as ever. An in-
clined roadway led up to this gate, but it was removed at
the time of the discovery of the gateway, in order to display
its masonry. ‘This gateway, like all the rest at Housesteads,
is double. The pillars which, on its outer and inner margin
divided it, are both standing. They are of very massive
masonry. ‘The east portal of this gateway has been walled up
at a comparatively early period. This may be inferred from
132 HOUSESTEADS.

the fact that, whereas the angles of the stones forming the
basement of the western portal have been much worn by the
tread of feet, those of the eastern portal are not injured. The
western portal, too, bears marks of change. Its present
threshold is about three feet higher than its original one.
The station having been devastated by a temporarily trium-
phant foe (p. 7), has been re-occupied by the Roman troops,
without giving themselves time to remove the ruins of their
former habitations. Clambering into the portal, its interior
arrangements may be viewed. One of the pivot-holes of the
gate still retains traces of the oxide of iron—the pivot having
been shod with iron. The guard-chambers on both sides are
in good condition. In the formation of that on the west side
a portion of an altar that had been dedicated to Jupiter has
been used; the letters 1. 0. M—Jovi optimo maximo—may
still be seen upon it.* It will be observed that these cham-
bers have had two floors—an earlier and a later. Before
leaving this gate, let the antiquary once more look at its
wide portals and massive masonry, and ask himself if appear-
ances warrant the supposition that the Wall was built when
the Roman Empire was in the throes of dissolution, and
when the natives of the island were, as Gildas describes
them, ‘‘a useless and panic-struck company, equally slow to
fight, and ill adapted to run away.” Putting out of con-

* So the author wrote in his last edition. Not long afterwards the stone
was found to be missing, having been stolen by some modern heathen. In
the place where Roman hands had placed it it yielded negative evidence of
the prevalence of a new faith at the time that the existing guard-chamber
was built. The chief idol of the Roman pantheon had been found out to be
nothing. In due time the conscience of the thief seems to have smitten him,
for the stone was eventually by unknown hands conveyed to Chesters,
though in an injured condition. The person who took it had evidently

broken it down to render it of portable size, and in doing so had cracked it
across its face.
HOUSESTEADS. 133

sideration the strength of the masonry, do these bold apertures
indicate any dread of a northern foe? A few yards to the
west of us, as we have seen, is the opening at the Knag Burn,
and at the next mile-castle, not a quarter of a mile to the
west of us, we shall meet with another. Surely the Wall
must have been built long before the days of Arcadius, and
it can never have been intended as a mere fence to ward
off the aggression of the Picts and Scots.
On the inner side of the gateway to the right, a large stone
trough is seen. The stones comprising it are not in their
_ Original position, as will at once be seen by a little examina-
tion. Some of them are grooved, in order to make a tight
joint. They are much worn, as if by the sharpening of knives.
This trough evidently belongs to a late period of the occupa-
tion of the station. It is difficult to conjecture its purpose.
Has it been used in the preparation of the winter’s store of
provisions for the garrison? One of the labourers* employed
in the excavations displayed the unhappy prejudices of a
Northumbrian borderer, by giving it as his opinion ‘that
the Romans used it for washing their Scotch prisoners in.”
Near to this was a circular hearth, formed of three courses of
Roman tiles. When discovered it was covered with coal ashes
and the scoriz of iron. It was probablyasmithy. The action
of the weather and the tread of oxen have nearly destroyed it.
The north wall, to the west of this, may next be examined.
A second wall, of inferior masonry, has been built inside the
first, and the space between them filled up with clay. This
gives the wall a considerably increased thickness. It was in
this vicinity that some of the stones which may have been
intended for the service of the balista were lying. Proceeding

* Anthony Place who did much good service in displaying the Wall. At
a good old age he bade farewell to all sublunary things.
134 HOUSESTEADS.

along the wall to the north-west corner of the station, we meet
with another chamber, the door of which has been built up.
Let the student now return to the vicinity of the north
gate, and examine the buildings to the south of it. Nearest
the gate, and on the west side of the street, extending from
the preetorian to the decuman gate, is a large apartment,
seventy-eight feet long and eighteen feet wide. On the south
side of this is another not quite so long. Its floor is probably
supported upon pillars. At the west end of it is a kiln for
drying corn, which probably belongs to the moss-trooping
times. The steps by which the apartment is reached at the
other end are evidently of a late date, and may also be referred
to the ‘‘troublesome times.’ This building is strengthened
by buttresses. Crossing the przetorian street, we find a very
large building, extending nearly to the east wall, and bounded
at its lower margin by the vza principalis. It is 147 feet long
and thirty feet wide. It is strengthened by numerous but-
tresses. The masonry of it is different from that of the other
buildings that we have seen. Its stones are larger, and they
have the feathered tooling that we noticed in the facing-stones
of the abutment of the bridge over the North Tyne. We can
scarcely resist the opinion that it belongs to a different period
from the other buildings. It may have been one of Severus’s:
restorations. At its eastern extremity are several small rooms:
one of them has been heated by underground flues; in another
is a cistern or bath, four feet long and three broad, which,
when discovered, was coated with cement. Some of these
large buildings were no doubt the halls in which the public
business of the district was transacted, and others were used
as the residences of the prefect and his chief officers.
Proceeding once more to the intersection of the main
streets, we make our way to the southern gate. We soon
HOUSESTEADS. 135

come to a considerable mass of building on our right hand.
Part of it was excavated in 1858, an enormous mass of debris
having been removed. It is not easy to assign a use to each
apartment. One of them, when first opened, strongly resem-
bled (though on a small scale) an Italian kitchen; there were
marks of fire on its raised hearth. In this part of the camp
the ordinary soldiers would dwell. No remains sufficiently
perfect exist to give us a complete idea of a Roman house in
these military cities. Judging from the remains which do
exist, they seem to have been of a dark and gloomy character.
No windows have been found; but in most of the stations
window glass is met with in the debris. Probably a frame-
work of timber usually intervened between the upper part of
the walls of a house and the roof, and here windows were
inserted, as well as apertures for the admission of air. Rome,
prior to the great fire in Nero’s reign, seems to have been
built in this manner. The upper stories of the houses of
Pompeii were of wood ; these for the most part have perished,
but the stairs leading up to them in many cases remain, thus
proving their original existence.

We now reach the south gateway, which was partially ex-
cavated by the Rev. John Hodgson. It forms an interesting
study. Here all the main features characterizing the other
gateways will be recognized. It is of the same massive
character; it has a guard-chamber on each side, and the
pivot-holes on which the gates rotated are seen. When
excavated, the eastern portion of the gate-way was found
to have been walled up. This must have been done before
the houses in front of it were built, the foundations of
which are now to be seen. ‘The entrance into the guard-
chamber has been closed, and amongst the materials used in
doing this the fragment of a circular shaft will be noticed.
130 HOUSESTEADS.

But this is not the only instance which we have here of the
adaptation of former materials to present purposes. Centuries
after the abandonment of the station by the Romans, some
mosstrooper seems to have chosen this spot for his habitation.
He had little difficulty in converting the guard-chamber and
contiguous buildings into chambers suited to his own purposes.
The “byre” in which he folded his cattle at night, the kiln in
which he dried his unripened grain, and the lower part of the
flight of steps by which he ascended to
the little fortress that was his own habi-
tation, may all be distinguished.

Stone slabs with a circular headway
are often seen lying beside the gates of
this and other stations. They have
probably formed the top of the door-
way leading into the guard-chambers.
In the spandril of a fragment of one, at
the south gateway here, is an ornament

 

resembling a Maltese cross, and in its
centre there has been a small St. Andrew’s cross, though it 1s
now much obliterated. The cross is not necessarily a Christian
symbol. It is met with in all its forms in heathen lands in
every age. In ancient Egyptian pictures it assumes the form
of the Greek letter saz. In several altars, addressed to false
gods, found on the line of the Wall, it occurs in the form called
Gammadion. Weshall meet with one of these at Birdoswald.
Even in the form called the Constantinian monogram it is
associated in some mosaics with heathen deities. It is supposed
to have been an emblem of vitality. The early Christians
regarded it with dislike. Eventually, though not until after
the lapse of a century or two, it became symbolic of the
Christian faith.
HOUSESTEADS. 137

The south wall of the station is in a good state of preser-
vation; it stands ten or twelve courses high. The woodcut
represents the south-west angle of the station; it will be noticed

 

that it has been repaired in Roman times with stones of a
different character from those used in its original construction.

Proceeding along the west wall of the station, we have
the opportunity of contemplating a noble piece of Roman

 

masonry, eleven courses high. The west gate—the sorta
principals dextra—is in a state of greater perfection than any
138 HOUSESTEADS.

of the rest. The woodcut exhibits the plan of it. As usual
it has been contracted to half its width; but, to expose an
intruding foe to greater difficulty, the passage was rendered
diagonal by closing up the northern portion of the outside
gate and the southern portion of the inside gate. The inner
of these interpolated walls is nearly all removed ; the other is
nodding to its fall.* The woodcut here introduced shows
the gate as it appeared from the outside. As is uniformly the
case in all the gateways, the masonry is strong and massive,,

 

the stones being larger and better dressed than those of the
other parts of the Wall. The threshold, even of the closed
portal, has been worn by the tread of feet. In several places
there are indications that the soldiers, whilst loitering about
the gate, have employed themselves in sharpening their
knives or weapons upon the projecting stones, When the

* Since the publication of the first edition of this book it has fallen—its-
masonry being inferior to that of the original walls of the station.
HOUSESTEADS. 139

gateway was excavated, the central stone against which the
gates struck, was found in the position shown in the drawing.
The guard-chambers are in an encouraging state of preserva-
tion, as the woodcut, which represents the gate as seen from
the inside of the camp, shows. When these chambers were
excavated, they were covered up to the top of the walls with
earth, in which was a large quantity of bones and other
animal matter. They have been warmed by flues going
round the walls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

South of the gateway are some buildings intimately con-
nected with the Wall, which were excavated in 1858. At
the south-west angle of the station is an ordinary chamber,
which, when discovered, was paved with tiles. A walk by the
side of the south wall brings us once more to the south gateway.

In wandering over the station many remnants of Roman
occupation will catch the eye.* Broken columns may be seen

* This statement was more correct when the station had keen freshly
excavated than at present.
140 HOUSESTEADS.

here and there, indicating the love of architecture which
existed among the Roman soldiery. Fragments of pottery are
very common. The red kind called Samian has never been
reproduced since the Roman days. Portions of mortaria in
which they prepared their food are not uncommon, and
occasionally a part of a wine amphora may be picked up.
Rough stone troughs are common. Fragments of mill-stones
lie about. Inall the Roman stations in the North of England,
as has already been observed, mill-stones, formed of a volcanic
stone which has been brought from Andernach on the Rhine,
are found. It is hard, porous, and when struck rings like cast
metal. Boars’ tusks, the horns of deer, and bones of various
animals, are tolerably abundant. Coins are scarce.

In front of the station are several objects of interest. The
farm house which stood near the south gateway has been
removed, and a new one built in a more convenient situation.
The well which supplied the house was supposed to be Roman.
It is about fifteen feet deep, and is cased with Roman stones,
excepting the last yard, which is sunk into the whin rock.
The late Mrs. Routledge told the writer that she used to bea
frequent visitor at Housesteads when her grandfather, Mr.
William Magnay, resided there, and that 4e sunk the well in
front of the house for his own convenience. Others have
since confirmed this statement. The traveller, if he be from
the south country, will by this time have found out that
the pronunciation of the inhabitants of Northumberland is
different from that of those born within the sound of Bow
bell, and will be able to appreciate the following incident :—
Two antiquaries arrived at Housesteads. The weather was
unfavourable, and by the time they had completed their survey
of the station they were drenched to the skin. Cold and
HOUSESTEADS. I41

weary, they called at the herd’s house for information as to their
sleeping quarters. Before leaving, they were asked if they
would like a glass of Roman water. One of the shivering
antiquaries, thinking that a little Aum and water in present
circumstance might be highly beneficial, gratefully accepted
the offer. What was his horror to see the hind take a bucket,
and repair to the supposed Roman well! To the credit of
the strangers, they both quaffed the cooling fluid with a good
grace, and pronounced it excellent. (Zour along the Roman
Wall, by James Wardell.)

The Tungrian cohort had, however, no lack of water.
There is a spring to the north of the crags which they seem
to have enclosed with masonry; the remains of a well have
been found near the spot where the Knag Burn passes under
the Wall, and there is a very abundant spring of excellent
water at the bottom of the slope in front of the station.

The whole of the bank in front of the station is covered
with the foundations of streets and houses. To the west of
these are long terraced lines, which have no doubt been
devoted to cultivation, after a mode still practised in Italy
and other continental countries. The plain below, which has
recently been drained, seems to have been the burial-ground
of the station. In cutting the drains, numerous human
remains were found. Two stones that have formed portions
of circular columns of great magnitude are lying in this valley.
They have probably rolled down from the station above. A
tidge, caused by the protuberance of the sandstone rock, rises
gently out of the plain at our feet. It is called Chapel Hill.
Some considerable temple is supposed to have stood upon it.
Many altars have been found here. One of them is repre-
sented in the woodcut. It may be translated :—“ To Jupiter,
142 HOUSESTEADS.

the best and greatest, and the deities of Augustus, the first
cohort of Tungrians (a milliary one), commanded by Quintus
Verius Superstis Prefect [erected this].” This altar is now
in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle.
Towards the close of the year 1883, two large altars to Mars,
and an arch-shaped sculptured stone were found at the bottom
of Chapel Hill. The altars
are larger than usual, and
the inscriptions on them
have excited the interest
of the best antiquaries of
Europe. They have been
removed to Chesters.
A little to the north of
ri Nae I the spot where these altars
A HY a I i 70 i were found an oblong cavity,
4 formed of flag stones, has
been noticed (£884). It is
inclosed in a building of
which two courses of stones
remain, measuring twelve
feet by ten. Its north wall
is circular. Further explo-
rations, which will imme-
diately be undertaken, may
throw light upon its uses.
To the west of Chapel Hill is the site of the semi-sub-
terranean cave, dedicated to the worship of Mithras, which
was discovered in 1822. It is described with considerable
minuteness by Mr. Hodgson, in the Arch. 47, O.S., Vol. 1,
p. 263, &c. The worship of Mithras—the Sun or the

 
HOUSESTEADS, 143

Persian Apollo—was introduced from the East into Europe,
about the time of Julius Cesar. The mysteries connected
with it were supposed to have involved the sacrifice of human
victims and various other abominations. Edicts were issued
for its suppression by Hadrian and others, but in vain.
Amongst the altars found in the cave here, was one bearing
the names of Gallus
and Volusianus, who
were consuls in the
year 252. There was
also found the tablet
here engraved, which
represents Mithras
himself, coming out of
an egg and surrounded
by an oval belt, con-
taining the signs of
the Zodiac. The site
of the temple is now
nearly obliterated.
There can be little
doubt that when the
mythology of Greece
and Rome had lost
hold of the sympathies
of the community, the worship of Mithras was pressed upon

iH
|

SSDS

 

the attention of mankind, in opposition to the verities of
Christianity.

It may be well also to mention that the worship of the
Dez Matres—the good mothers—whose name it was not
lucky to mention, was much in vogue with the Romans of a
144 HOUSESTEADS.

later age, especially with the Gothic portion of the Roman
community. Several statues of them have been found here;
two of these, shown in the woodcuts are now preserved in
the Museum of the Newcastle Society of Antiquaries. These
figures usually occur in triplets. As already remarked, nothing
on the line of the Wall that was capable of destruction has

 

escaped the effects of Caledonian vengeance, and these sculp-
tures show it.

Naturally enough, Victory was a favourite goddess with
the Romans. The statue shown on the next page was found
in this station, and is now at Newcastle. With outstretched
wings she careers over the round globe; her garments fly
behind her. See a similar figure, p. Ior.
HOUSESTEADS. 145

Only one more allusion to the antiquities of this station
can be indulged in. Ina paper read by Mr. Clayton before
the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, in 1853 (Archeologia
hana, Vol. IV., p. 274, O.S.), the following facts appeared.

In clearing the
ground in front of
the south gateway
of the station, a
gold signet ring, a
gold pendant for
the ear, and a coin
of Commodus, ap-
parently fresh from
the mint, were
found lying  to-
gether, a little be-
neath the surface.
They are all figured
here, of the actual
size, from the skilful
drawings of the late
Mr. Fairholt. The
ear-drop is of the
purest gold, and is
of the same pattern
as similar gold
ornaments in the
Museum at Lyons.
The stone of the ring is an artificial one, and has the figure
of Mercury engraved upon it ; the circular part is somewhat
flattened by the pressure to which it has been exposed. The

K

Xi

id f ‘ Y) i
Vv i iy
ve q

 
146 HOUSESTEADS.

coin has on the reverse a figure of Providence, and is dated
the third consulship of
the Emperor, which
corresponds with the
year A.D. 181.

It was about this
period that the terrible
disasters, recorded by
Dion Cassius, and which are referred to in the
introductory chapter of this work (p. 7.) took
place. The inference is not improbable, that
these ornaments were worn by the Roman

 

tribune and his lady, who were slain when
making their escape from the south gate of the
\ city at the time of the general devastation.

| Mr. MacLauchlan has laid down a Roman
road, extending from Housesteads, in a south-
easterly direction, to the ‘‘Stanegate’’ or
“Causeway” at Grindon Hill (Aemozr, p. 40).

 

 

 

The writer had no difficulty in tracing it as Mr. MacLauchlan
has described it, from the vicinity of the Moss Kennel farm
house to Grindon Shield. Horsley was of opinion that
HOUSESTEADS, 147

another branch road went in a south-westerly direction to
join the ‘‘Stanegate” near Chesterholm. The writer has
sometimes thought that he saw traces of this road, particu-
larly at a place south of the present turnpike road, opposite
the thirtieth mile-stone. After considerable examination,
however, Mr. MacLauchlan could not satisfy himself as to its
existence, and therefore does not insert it.

On leaving the station, the visitor will notice the junc-
tion of the Wall with the north-west angle of the station,

 

 

 

  
 
     

  

im o
voit.
a
Ne eT

 
 
 

l ~
ae i

R As ’ f Sif jf
fet =f
ce

Wir
Im

S
y hi

    
  
 

Pe
NOS en

yi

Here, as we saw was the case on the eastern side, the station }
is independent of the Wall. Some repairs have been made
in this corner, and longitudinal stones with the feathered
‘broaching” introduced. The woodcut here given represents
it. The remains of suburban buildings will be observed out-
side the west gate of the station.

We now proceed on our journey westward. Those to
whom it is an object to avoid fatigue will best consult their
148 MILITARY WAY.

ease by proceeding along the Roman military way, which
will be easily found. All the field-gates are placed upon it.
The gentle pilgrim does not need to be reminded how need-
ful it is in a pastoral country to close the gates after him.
This military way was in use asa public road not very long
ago. The family of Wright were hereditary carriers between
Newcastle and Carlisle for more than 100 years, and so con-
tinued till driven off the road by the railway. The repre-
sentative of the family at the time the first edition of this
book was prepared, was tenant of the Housesteads farm. He
stated that the tradition in the family was, that the traffic
from east to west was originally conducted on pack-horses,
and that the carriers, in the central part of their journey
between Newcastle and Carlisle, were accustomed to resort
to the Roman way. In certain parts of their journey they
had to camp out all night, and one of their camping places
was opposite “Twice-brewed Ale,” a carriers’ inn contem-
poraneous with the turnpike road, which is now abandoned
as a place of public entertainment.

The walk along the cliffs is exceedingly beautiful, and the
Wall for the most part is in excellent condition, all the way
to Hot Bank. The traveller will notice, too, that it differs in
width in different places, as is shown by the offsets and insets
which occasionally occur. No doubt different gangs of work-
men wrought simultaneously on different parts of the line,
and the superintendent of each was allowed to exercise, within
certain limits, his own judgment as to the width of the Wall.
On the north face of the Wall the line is continuous.

At the distance of two furlongs from Housesteads, and seven
from the last that we noticed, above Moss Kennel, is another
mile-castle. It is plain from this and other examples, that the
HOUSESTEADS MILE-CASTLE. 149

position of the mile-castles was not influenced by the con-
tiguity of a station. At the time of the publication of the
second edition of Zhe Roman Wall, this mile-castle was
covered with turf. It was thus spoken of:—Its ruins are
sufficiently conspicuous to invite the use of the pickaxe and
spade.” This attention it shortly afterwards received, by
Mr. Clayton’s direction, and it forms an interesting object
of study. The castle has adapted itself to the rocky site on
which it has been placed, which is very uneven—dipping
chiefly to the north. The great Wall forms the north wall
of the castle, and stands fourteen courses, or nine feet six
inches high. This is the finest specimen remaining on the
whole line. The castle itself measures, on the inside, fifty-
seven feet seven inches from west to east, and forty-nine feet
seven inches from north to south. The thickness of the east
and west walls of the castle is nine feet. The thickness of the
Wall at the north gateway—and it always assumes additional
width at the gateways—-is not less than ten feet. The
southern angles of the castle are rounded exteriorly, but are
square in the inside. It will be noticed, that in building the
walls of the castle, occasional courses of sandstone slate have
been used for bonding, very much in the way that tiles are,
in the Roman structures of southern Britain. An inspection
of the south-east corner will show that this angle has been
built before the contiguous parts, and that it formed a sort of
buttress for the adjacent walls to lean upon. The same
arrangement will be noticed on both sides of the jambs of
the north gateway. The north gateway may now attract
our attention. It is obviously of two periods. The original
portal is of most substantial masonry, and has an opening ten
feet wide. It has been spanned by anarch. ‘The springers
I50 HOUSESTEADS MILE-CASTLE.

of the arch are in position, and several of the arch-stones lie
upon the ground. Each stone has a /wzs hole in it, which is
so placed as to facilitate the bringing of the inner edge of the
stone into its proper place inthearch. The height of the gate,
from the floor to the impost of the arch, is a little under six
feet. At some period subsequent to its original construction,
the width of this gateway has been reduced to three feet nine
inches. The floor of this new gateway is three feet six inches
above the sill of the original. In order to understand these
arrangements, we must now revert to the facts which were
revealed at the time of the excavation. On digging down to
the foundations of the castel/um, on the inside of the north
wall, a number of masons’ chippings were met with, and a
mason’s chisel. Upon the chippings, in the neighbourhood
of the walls, had been laid a flooring of rough flags. These
flags, however, were much broken, and some of the fragments
were forced into an almost vertical position, all indicating
that the walls of the building had been forcibly thrown down.
Immediately above the flags was found a quantity of finely
comminuted charcoal, as if the sheds or barrack-rooms, which
probably were placed against the main walls of the building,
had been destroyed by fire. The ashes were not found in the
centre of the area. At this level were discovered an axe and
a knife, resembling those carved on altars. Above the mass
of stones, mortar, and rubbish, a second floor and a second
series of buildings connected with the main walls were found.
It is thus evident that the building had more than once
suffered from the devastations of the enemy (see p. 84). The
north door had probably been diminished in size late in the
era of Roman occupation. In order to show the height of
the second floor, the part immediately in front of the north
gateway has been left unexcavated.
HOUSESTEADS MILE-CASTLE, 15t

The south gateway is in a ruinous state, but it has
evidently been diminished in width as well as the other.
The masonry of the repairs is quite Roman in its character.
In conducting the excavations, numerous fragments of Samian
ware were found. A fragment of a vase had the word DEDICO
scratched upon it. Some roofing-tiles and slates were found,
as well as some coins of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius. The
most valuable relic, however, was a portion of a slab con-

 

taining a record of the second legion, and of Hadrian’s legate,
Aulus Platorius Nepos (see p. 103). When complete, it was
no doubt the same as those found in the next two castella to
which reference will immediately be made. This stone, which
had formed part of the flooring of the renovated structure,
ismuch worn. On the inside of the east wall of the castel/um,
near the south-east angle, is a small recess, which, when first
opened, was black with soot and charcoal-dust. It has no
doubt been a fire-place, but it has no chimney.
152 NORTHUMBERLAND LAKES.

The hill rising from the opening, which we meet with on
the west side of this mile-castle, is called Cuddy’s Crag. The
next opening is called the Rapishaw Gap. The view given
in the preceding page is from the western side of this gap,
looking eastward.

Our course now lies over a considerable eminence, which
leads us down to Hot Bank. The woodcut shows us the
general aspect of the Wall in this part of its course. The

 

view from the summit is very extensive and fine. All the
four loughs—Broomlee, Greenlee, Crag Lough, and Grindon,
are in sight. Not far from the western margin of Greenlee, is
Bonnyrig, a shooting-box belonging to Sir Edward Blackett,
Bart. The course of the crags in this vicinity will be viewed
with interest. Beyond the waste to the north-east are the
Simonside Hills, and beyond them is the Cheviot range.
The heather-clad hill immediately to the south of us is
Borcum, now called Barcombe, from which the Romans
BRADLEY HALL. 153

procured much of their stone, and from which the name of
the station of Borcovicus is no doubt derived. The defile
leading by its western flank to the Tyne will be noticed, and
the propriety of guarding it by a stationary camp perceived.
The platform of the station of VINDOoLANA may be distin-
guished by its peculiarly verdant surface. On the south side
of the Tyne, Langley Castle may be noticed—near the angle
of a large plantation; beyond it are the chimneys of the
smelt-mills. The valley of the river Allen is seen joining
that of the Tyne; and near the confluence of the two rivers,
may be discerned the ruins of Staward Peel. In the distance,
to the south-west of us, are the lofty summits of Cross-fell,
Skiddaw, and Saddleback.

The farm house of Bradley stands on the tail of the crag
on which we now are. Built up in the doorway of the old
kitchen, was one-half of the Hadrian slab, which will pre-
sently be noticed; it had, no doubt, been brought at an early
period from the neighbouring mile-castle of Milking Gap.
On the other side of the modern military road stands a farm
house, dignified by the name of Bradley Hall. It was once
a place of importance, and even now the foundations of
considerable buildings may be traced. It appears that
Edward I. rested here for a few days in September, 1306,
on his last journey to Scotland. The king’s health was
evidently breaking up at this time. He did his journey from
Newcastle to Lanercost, where he spent the winter, in short
stages. The route which he pursued—Newburgh, Bradley,
Henshaw, Haltwhistle, Melkridge, Blenkinsop, and Thirl-
wall—would almost induce us to suppose that he had availed
himself on his journey of the roads constructed by the
Romans in connection with the Wall. (Arch. Inst. Fournal,
Vol. XIV., p. 268.)
154. HOT BANK.

Passing onward, Crag Lake comes fully into view. We
now descend into the valley of the Milking Gap. There are

 

distinct traces of a mile-castle in the defile. In its ruins was
found the inscribed stone shown here ;* the left hand portion
of which is now at Durham, the right at Matfen Hall (p. 57).

i in mu Ki TARR
fire i

Full I Ie |(y! ira
shi

Pie DR NC

ee tl a i

  

     

   
    
  

    

   
  

:
ie. x

a at

SS ZA
=a
“SSS
Ss
SAS

 
 

~My 1

Lili

r sa is

 

The farm house of Hot Bank is a sunny spot in the memory
of many pilgrims—not a few having here received much

* A stone similar to this, but unbroken, is shown on p. 103. It was
procured from the Castle Nick mile- castle, (see p. 162).

_ il
CHESTERHOLM. 155

kind attention ‘at the hands of Mr. Clayton, to whom the
farm belongs, and his tenant. The visitor is requested to
insert his name in the book which is preserved here in which
many travellers along the line of the Wall have left this proof
of their interest in the great historical structure.

Chesterholm.

We may now forsake the Wall for a little, in order to pay
a visit to the station of VINDOLANA, the modern Chesterholm.
It is about a mile due south from Hot Bank. A bridle road
by the side of the burn running out of Crag Lake takes us
down to the military road. Before crossing the Vallum,
some circles and other enclosures, formed of whinstones, are
seen on the right hand. They are probably relics of ancient
British camps. The Vallum makes two rapid curves in this
neighbourhood, assuming something like the form of the
letter S, apparently to avoid the contiguous marsh; this is
best seen from the heights. Crossing the turnpike road, we
pass two cottages, called High Shields, and then descend into
the valley. Itis not improbable that the road we tread upon
is the remains of a Roman one. Before coming to the
station, a large barrow—possibly the burial-place of some
British chief—may be noticed. On the south side of it is a
Roman mile-stone, standing in its original position. This
mile-stone stands upon a line of road called the Stanegate,
(see p. 29), which extended from CiLurNuM to Maana, and
which probably went further in both directions. The position
of both of these stations, and that also of VINDOLANA, warrant
the supposition that they were planted by Agricola. The road
which connected them would not be altogether disused after
the Wall was built. Another mile-stone stood, some years
156 CHESTERHOLM.

ago, to the west of this, but it was broken up for gate-posts.
This, Horsley tells us, had on it the remarkable inscription, in
large coarse letters, BONO REIPVBLICAE NATO, which was
intended as a compliment to the emperor then reigning.
The farm house near the mile-stone is called Coadley-gate.

The station stands advantageously. Though it occupies
an elevated platform, it is sheltered by an amphitheatre of
hills, and is naturally protected on every side but the west.
The walls, ditches, and gateways, though in a dilapidated con-
dition, may be easily made out. It has an area of three acres
and a quarter. To the west of the station are the ruins, now
nearly obliterated, of an extensive building, which has been
furnished with hypocausts. The pillars long retained the
marks of fire and soot, which gave rise to the popular belief
that a colony of fairies had here established themselves, and
that this was their kitchen. To the west of this ruin is a
series of gutter-stones (some of which have been laid bare),
by means of which water has been brought from a neigh-
bouring spring.

The ornamental cottage in the valley was built by the late
Rev. Anthony Hedley, an earnest and able antiquary, as a
residence for himself. He got a death-chill whilst watching
the digging up of some urns in the station. With the
exception of the quoins and lintels, it is constructed of stones.
chiselled by Roman hands. Some valuable antiquities were
discovered here by Mr. Hedley, most of which have been
removed to Chesters. One of them, an altar to Jupiter, has.
been already described (see pp. 95, 96). Another, which
also is at Chesters, is figured in the accompanying woodcut.
The Notitia places the prefect of the fourth cohort of Gauls
at VINDOLANA. As this and the altar already given were
CHESTERHOLM. 157

erected by prefects of this cohort we may fairly conclude
that Chesterholm was the VinpoLana of the Romans. On
each side of the focus * on the top of the altar is a volute which
probably represents the fagot for burning the offering. On
the sides of the altar are representations of the implements

fe N
rr : yi Te me
alk ae
\ | d i |
A ‘

SS eee All
A Lui ine ) inn
y LF rrr ele rt TARR pee LL
\\

NS Sure

 

used in sacrifice. On the one side are an axe, a knife, and
the victim itself{—an ox; on the other the jug for holding the
wine and the patera or ladle for laying the offering on the
focus.

* Focus, the hearth or place where the offering was burat.
158 CHESTERHOLM.

The inscription is here given, and may be translated as
follows :— [

GENIO To the Genius
PRAETOR][T | of the Przetorium
SACRVM PI sacred. Pi-
TVANIVS SE tuanius Se-
CVNDVS PRAE cundus the Pre-
FECTVS COH[ORTIS] IV fect of the fourth cohort

GALLOR[VM | of Gauls [erected this]

 

EI Gaane ee

In the walls of the covered passage leading from the
kitchen of the cottage to the burn-side, several Roman stones
ee

Gee
0 y Th wi \ i

i er aN ma
aR ANOU EN ihe Oy .

 
 
 

   

ie ms
(

 

ul as Ki a
ai as th) ees
Fic. 2. Fie. 3,

have been built up. Amongst them is one in which the
pivot of one of the gates has been inserted ; several coping-

 

—
CHESTERHOLM. 159

stones (Fig. 1); a fragment of an inscription to Hadrian (Fig.
2) ; astone recording the name of the 2oth legion, which was
styled the Valerian and the Victorious, and whose badge was
a boar (Fig. 3); with several others. In the front wall of the
house is a triangular stone (Fig. 4), on which are carved a
cockatrice, a globe, a crescent, a cross, and, at the top, a small
circular knob, which Hodgson terms
“The umbilicated moon.” The sculp- =qqgpaagiing y
ture is supposed to have reference to ia cia 4
the mysteries of Mithraic worship. It dil a8 é |
was found in the farm house of Low oy ( i, i
Foggerish. Here also is a figure of {fii} sty ha
Mercury, which is shown in the wood- { ( mi

! iW i
h | iH

i

The stream which flows out of Crag Lake is joined near
the mile-stone by another from Winshields, when the united
rivulet takes the name of the Chineley Burn.

Should it be a clear
day and the traveller has
time, he will do well to
ascend the hill of Bar-
combe. From the top, an

  
  
   

   

 

 

 

{
cut; and one or two other fragmentary
inscriptions.

excellent view is obtained
of the line of mural 'for-
tification. Some of the
Roman quarries will be
noticed. In one of them,
near ‘‘the Long-stone,”’

 

a small copper vessel was
found in 1835, carefully deposited beneath the stone-chippings.
160 CHESTERHOLM.

The woodcut shows the form of this bronze purse; which
was no doubt worn upon the arm. It contained sixty-three
coins, which seem to have been wrapped up in a piece of
leather; part of which remained. Three of the coins are of
gold; the rest are silver denarii. The gold coins belong to
the reigns of Claudius, Nero, and Vespasian. Of the silver
coins, nine are consular; the others are imperial, extending
from the time of Nero to that of Hadrian. No less than
seventeen of them are coins of Trajan; four belong to the time
of Hadrian. As the coins of Trajan are more numerous than
those of any other, and as his coins and those of Hadrian are
in excellent preservation, the conclusion is natural that this
deposit of coins was made early in Hadrian’s reign. This in-
ference strongly favours the
idea that Hadrian did not con-
tent himself with casting up
an earthen mound, but that
he wrought quarries and built
the Wall. In order to show
the excellent preservation of the coins of Hadrian, a drawing
of one of them is here introduced.

This collection of coins, together with the curious bronze
purse figured on the previous page, is now in the possession of
Mr. Clayton, of Chesters.

This hill-top has another object of interest for the anti-
quary. A little to the east of the Long-stone, and on a
platform which, though it is a little below the summit,
commands a view of the mural ridge from Sewingshields to
the Nine Nicks of Thirlwall, is an ancient camp, of the kind
usually ascribed to the aboriginal Britons. Its ramparts,
which are tolerably complete, will be descried with interest.

 
TWICE BREWED. 161

On its northern edge area series of circular cavities, probably
the lower portions of concealed huts. From these hiding-
places the occupants have no doubt often watched their
enemy.

Bardon Mill, one of the stations of the Newcastle and
Carlisle Railway, is to the south of Chesterholm.

- On the other side of the river in this vicinity is the
medizval stronghold of Willimontswyke, which is believed
to have been the birth-place of Nicholas Ridley, the martyr.

Returning to Milking Gap, we resume our companionship
with the Wall. The cliffs along which we walk, and the
lake below, are interesting objects of contemplation. A
number of goats, in a half-wild state, used to frequent these
crags, adding to their romantic aspect ; but they have recently
been destroyed. By the road-side in this vicinity is a house
once well known as the ‘‘Twice-brewed”’ inn. As many as
twenty men and fifty horses used to be put up here on a
carriers’ night. It is now a lonely farm-house. Hutton
lodged here for a night, and he gives us an amusing account
of the proceedings of his fellow travellers, the carriers. He
says he had great difficulty in getting a separate bed—
having no wish to share a couch with one or more carters ;
and when he saw them at supper, he came to the conclusion
that there were no barricades in their throats, and that eating
was the chief end of man.

Pursuing our course westward, we soon arrive at a con-
spicuous gap on the Steel Rig grounds. The Wall on its
eastern declivity may be studied to great advantage. Owing
to the rapid dip of the hill, the stones are laid parallel to the
horizon. The mode of forming the interior of the Wall will be
noticed. After placing a course of rubble-stones, ina slanting

0
‘

162 CASTLE NICK.

position, a layer of mortar has been laid upon the top of them,
and then another course of stones. The Wall soon ascends a
hill to the west of the Steel Rig, and after turning sharply to
the north, almost immediately descends again into the gap
called the Castle Nick. This name is no doubt derived from
the castellum here, and which was, in 1854, freed from its
encumbering rubbish by Mr. Clayton. The woodcut shews
its present appearance, as viewed from the west. Crag Lough
and Hot Bank are seen in the distance. The walls of this

 

mile-castle, which are seven feet thick, are in excellent pre-
servation, having six or seven courses of stone standing. The
castle measures fifty feet from east to west, and sixty-two feet
from north to south, inside measurement. The gateways do
not present the usual massive masonry; they have doubtless
been altered since their original construction. The rubbish
which encumbered the site impressed the excavators with the
idea that the walls of the building had been purposely thrown
down. The chief peculiarity about this castle is, that the
CATS’ STAIRS. 1623

foundations of the interior apartments of the building still
remain, on its western side. These erections have been quite
independent of the main walls of the castle, and have been
more rudely constructed. In front of this mile-castle are
traces of some works which may belong to the ancient
British period. Here, too, the structure of the Roman
military way may be studied to advantage. The important
slab given in page 103, bearing an inscription to Hadrian
was, there is reason to believe, derived from this castle. It

 

was long in the possession of Mr. Lowes, of Ridley Hall,
who was at the time of its discovery the owner of the Castle
Nick.* It is now in the museum of the Society of Antiquaries
of Newcastle.

A little further on, another depression in the mural ridge,
called the Cats’ Stairs, is reached. The view here given is
taken from the north side of it. Should the pilgrim wish to
have a view of the crags along which the Wall runs, he would

* Archeologia “Eliana, Vol. IV., p. 273, O.S.
164 WINSHIELDS.

do well to go down the Cats’ Stairs, and walk along the plain
to the north of the Wall as far as the next gap, which is the
great defile at Peel Crag, where the basaltic columns rise in
pillared majesty.

As the gap at Peel Crag is wider than usual, special pre-
cautions have been taken to defend it. On both sides of the
pass the Wall bends sharply to the south: this has the double
effect of narrowing the gorge, and exposing an enemy to a
flanking fire within half a bowshot on both sides. It is not
unlikely that the low ground north of the Wall was a swamp
in the days of the Romans. The road which passes through
the defile leads to Kielder, and so into Scotland ; in its progress
northwards it soon degenerates into a mere track.

On the western side of Peel Crag, sheltered by a few trees,
is the farm house of Steel Rig. Here the Wall loses the
basaltic ridge, and runs along a stratum of sandstone. The
Wall at first isin bad condition, but the fosse, with a rampart
on its outer margin, is boldly developed. The crags shortly
reappear, and the ditch again ceases. Before reaching the
top of Winshields—just where the fosse ceases—a mile-castle
is met with; it is about eight furlongs from that at Castle
Nick. Winshields is 1230 feet above the level of the sea.
This is the highest point of the Wall. The prospect from
this elevation is very extensive in every direction. On a clear
day the vessels navigating the Solway can easily be descried.
Burnswark and Criffell, well-known heights in Dumfries-shire,
come into view.

Proceeding onwards from this point, we find the Wall in
an encouraging state of preservation. A little friendly help
has been used to make the facing stones on each side equal
the height of the core of the interior. ‘ At about a furlong
CAW GAP. 165

west of the top of Winshields, and about eighty yards south
of the Wall, is a sheltered spot, called Green Slack, in which
are some foundations, apparently sites of ancient [British]
residences; thence crossing a deep valley, called Lodham
Slack, where the Wall requires its ditch again, we gain a
summit, where are traces of [ancient British] encampments,
close to the Wall.” (MacLauchlan’s Memoir, p. 44.) A
gentle descent now brings us to the site of Shield-on-the-
Wall—a thatched cottage, which is now removed. It repre-
sented the site of a mile-castle, and was composed of its
materials. Haltwhistle is, as the crow flies, two miles-and-a-
half distant from this point.

Nearly due south from Shield-on-the-Wall, is a large
stone lying on the edge of the south agger of the Vallum,
which Mr. MacLauchlan thinks “has the appearance of hav-
ing been a cromlech, one of the supporters being still under
it in a broken state.” (Memoir, p. 44.)

We next come to a gap of bold proportions, having the
ominous name of Bogle Hole. The next gap is Caw Gap.
A cattle shed, formed out of a ruined cottage, stands in it.
The extreme jealousy with which the Romans defended an
exposed situation is well shown here; the fosse which guards the
pass through the low ground is discontinued on the western
side as soon as the crag attains a sufficient elevation, but
when again the ground droops, though only for the space of a
few yards, it reappears for that short distance. A road passes
through this gap, north and south. Northwards is a solitary
house, called Burn Deviot, to which a common is attached,
long the resort of smugglers and sheep stealers. Lights,
as the shepherds believe, are still to be seen at night
flickering about the windows—the spirits of those who have
166 CAWFIELDS.

been murdered in it. After passing Caw Gap, the Wall
is for some distance nearly uprooted. To the south of us
two large stones are seen standing. They are called “The
Mare and Foal.” In Armstrong's Map of Northumberland
three are marked. They are probably remains of a Druidical
circle. Proceeding onwards, we come to a part of the Wall
where it diminishes in thickness one foot at a single step.
The cliffs once more begin to assume a high elevation and to
present the columnar form; the Vallum is well developed.
Passing Bloody Gap, and another gap called Thorny Doors,
we find the Wall once more in an excellent state of preserva-
tion, and it continues so for a considerable distance. The
farm house to the north is called Cawfields. In the next
gap, named by the peripatetic party of 1849 the Pilgrims’
Gap, is a mile-castle of great interest. It was excavated by
Mr. Clayton in 1848, and was the first of these structures to
be exposed by this gentleman for the benefit of the modern
antiquary.* It measures sixty-three feet from east to west,
and forty-nine from north to south, inside measurement.
Its walls have seven or eight courses of stone standing, and
they are eight feet thick. The massive masonry of both
northern and southern gates may be studied with advantage.
They have an opening ten feet wide. The pivot-holes of the
gates remain. At each side of the entrance there is a recess
in the wall for receiving the gate when thrown back. Two
inscribed stones were found in this castle. One of them is an
old monumental stone, which has evidently been converted
into a hearth-stone. What remains of the inscription has
been thus expanded :—p[Is] M[ANIBUS]. DAGVALD[Vs] MIL[Es]
PAN[NONLE] VIXIT AN[NOS] . . PVSINNA [SVA CONIV]X

* Archeologia Alina, Vol. IV., p. $4, O.S.
MILE-CASTLE. 167

TIt[vLvM] [posvir.] ‘To the divine shades—Pusinna
erected this tablet to the memory of her husband, Dagvaldus,
a soldier of Pannonia, he lived . . years.” The other is a
fragment of an inscription to Hadrian in
all respects similar to the important one
already referred to in p. 103. It is here
shown. This castellum is seven furlongs
and three-quarters from the last at Shield-
on-the-Wall. ‘Hence it would seem,”
says Mr. MacLauchlan, “that the dis-
tances between the four last castles are

 

the greatest on the line.” »

A road leads from the vicinity of the mile- eee to the
town of Haltwhistle, in the sheltered valley of the South Tyne,
whither, should the shades of evening be approaching, the
way-worn antiquary may be glad to bend his steps. Just
before reaching the military road, however, a Roman camp
will be observed. On the sides which are most exposed,
double and triple lines of earth-works have been raised. It
is on the line of the Roman road leading from C1LURNUM to
Macna. It has no doubt been occupied during the con-
struction of the Wall. A quarry by the burn-side was used
by the Romans. Mr. Clayton, in 1847, discovered on the
face of it the letters LEG. vi. v.—Legio Sexta Victrix; but
the inscription was soon afterwards wilfully obliterated. .
Haltwhistle is about a mile and a quarter from this point.

Rejoining the Wall at Cawfields mile-castle and proceeding
on our course we soon reach Haltwhistle Burn. It is derived
from the overflowings of Greenlee Lough. Between its
source and the Wall it is called Caw-burn.

Westward of the Burn-head farm house the fosse is boldly
developed, but the Wall is traceable only in the ruins of its
168 GREAT CHESTERS.

foundation. ‘About mid-way between the water and the
station of AHsica are traces of a building about the size of
the mile-castles, but, unlike them, being partly within and
partly without the Wall. Its distance from the last is only
about four furlongs.” (MacLauchlan's Memotr, p. 44.)
Hence it remains a question whether it be a mile-castle or
not. Underany circumstances, it is in bad condition.

Great Chesters.

/Esica, or Great Chesters, is the tenth stationary camp on
the line of the Wall. It incloses an area of about three acres.

 

The second cohort of the Astures was stationed here. The
stamp on this fragment of a roofing-tile, as well as some
lapidary inscriptions, confirm the /Vofitza in this respect. In
Gordon's day some of the walls of the station were standing
twelve or thirteen feet high; at present all that can be said
is, that the ramparts and fosse are clearly defined. Two or
more ramparts of earth seem to have given additional
security to the western side, which is naturally the weakest.
The southern gateway may be traced ; it is nearer the eastern
GREAT CHESTERS. 169

than the western side. The western gateway seems to have
been walled up before the abandonment of the station. In
the centre of the camp is a vaulted chamber, which reminds
us of a somewhat similar structure in Ci1LuRNUM. At present
it is in a ruinous and neglected state. To the south and east
of the station are traces of suburban buildings. At some
distance down the hill are the remains of a hypocaust; time
and the tread of cattle have damaged it much of late years.
An ancient road leads from the southern gateway of the
station to the ‘‘Stanegate.’”’ In the flat ground south of the
station, and in the near neighbourhood of the Vallum, are
traces of some barrows and some circular and quadrilateral
enclosures. In this vicinity stood Walltown Mill, where the
burying-ground of the station seems to have been. Brand
observed several remarkable barrows, now scarcely observable,
and was shown some of the graves which had been opened.
The peculiar feature of this station is the water-course,
which is to be found to the north of it. Dr. Lingard knew
of it; in his MS. notes he says:—‘ The water for the station
was brought by a winding aqueduct, still visible, from the
head of Haltwhistle Burn; it winds five miles.” But from
Dr. Lingard’s time to the publication of Zhe Roman Wall, it
seems to have been lost sight of. ‘The water-course consists
of a channel three or four feet deep, and proportionately wide,
cut in the sides of the numerous little hills which stud the
plain north of the Wall. In order to preserve the water-level,
a most circuitous course is taken, but so effectually is this
done, that only once has it been necessary to resort to a
bridge or embankment. This bridge is now gone, but the
place has the name of Benks Bridge. The whole length of
the aqueduct is six miles; the distance in a straight line is
170 COCKMOUNT HILL.

little more than two miles and a quarter. By this means the
water of the Caw Burn was brought within a short distance
of the station. Within about 350 yards of the station the
aqueduct is lost sight of. Owing to the nature of the level,
the water could only be brought over this part of its course
by means of an artificial embankment ; this, if ever it existed,
is now entirely removed. It may surprise the reader to find
the means of supplying so important an element as water
placed on the north of the Wall. The truth is, that the
Romans by no means gave up the district beyond the Wall
to the enemy. An aqueduct within sight of A¢sica was
perfectly safe when the forces of Rome were vigorously
handled. An accurate plan of this remarkable aqueduct,
from a survey specially made, is given in the first edition of
the author’s book on Zhe Roman Wall.

Shortly after leaving ARsica, the crags again appear, and
the Wall ascends the heights. For some distance little more
than the foundation courses remain in position. The fosse,
which at first is distinct, is soon discontinued. Soon after
passing Cockmount Hill farm house, we meet with a long and
very encouraging tract of the Wall. Its north face exhibits six
and seven courses of facing-stones, and in some places as many
as nine; the south face is broken. Before coming to Allalee
farm house, the ruins of a mile-castle, very distinctly marked,
are met with, at the distance of seven furlongs and a quarter
from A¥sica. Opposite the farm house the Wall is reduced
to a pitiable condition, and it continues so until after passing
Walltown. Two centurial stones have been built into the
front wall of the farm house; they are both much weathered.
One seems to read ) VALERI[I] VERI; the other, ) MARIDI.
About three furlongs beyond the mile-castle we reach Muckle-
WALLTOWN. 17}

bank Crag, the highest of the Nine Nicks of Thirlwall. It is.
860 feet above the sea. The view is very extensive. In
addition to the objects already named, the viaduct of the
Alston railway forms a pleasing feature in the landscape.
The defile of Walltown Crags is a wide one. The fosse of the
Wall is, as is usual in similar situations, strong.

At Walltown several objects attract our attention. Nearest
to the Wall is a spring, surrounded by masonry, now much
disordered, called the King’s Well; the present inhabitants.
call it King Arthur’s Well. Other accounts are given of it.
Hutchinson says:—' Travellers are shown a well among the
cliffs, where it is said Paulinus baptized King Egbert; but it
is more probable it was Edwin, King of Northumberland.”
The well has no doubt been a place of historical interest and
importance, but unhappily modern drainage is robbing it of
its treasures. Another interesting circumstance is connected
with this locality. In the crevices of the whin rock near the
house chives grow abundantly. The general opinion is, that
we are indebted for these plants to the Romans, who were
much addicted to the use of these and kindred savoury vege-
tables. Most of the early writers refer to this subject; let
the reader take a passage from Camden:—‘ The fabulous
tales of the common people concerning this Wall, I doe
wittingly and willingly overpasse. Yet this one thing which
I was enformed of by men of good credit, I will not conceale
from the reader. There continueth a seitled perswasion
among a great part of the people thereabout, and the same
received by tradition, that the Roman soldiers of the marches
did plant here every where in old time for their use certaine
medicinable hearbs, for to cure wounds: whence is it that
some emperick practitioners of chirurgery in Scotland, flock
172 NINE NICKS OF THIRLWALL.

hither every year in the beginning of summer, to gather such _
simples and wound-herbes; the vertue whereof they highly
commend as found by long experience, and to be of singular
efficacy.” (Phil. Holland's Transl., p.795.) Another point of
interest here is the site of the Tower of Walltown, the
inheritance of John Ridley, the brother of the martyr. The
present farm house is a modern erection. Only a fragment
of the old castellated building remained in Wallis’s time;
even this is now gone. Mr. MacLauchlan discerned “ Faint
traces of Tower” to the north-west of the present house.
The old village of Walltown, which hung on the sunny slope
near the Tower, has also passed away. (See Hodgson’s
North., II., iii., p. 324.) To the east of Walltown House, on
a small hill covered with fir trees, is an ancient camp, which
reminds us of that on Castle Hill, Haltwhistle.

Leaving the valley, we climb a steep ascent, which soon
brings us to the site of another mile-castle. This is a most
interesting and peculiar part of the line. The mural ridge,
divided by frequent breaks into as many isolated peaks, gives
rise to the denomination of the Nine Nicks of Thirlwall.
The Wall climbs and descends the little hills unflinchingly,
and adapts itself with strange pertinacity to the ragged edges
of the basaltic line. Its northern face occasionally shows a
well-preserved specimen of the structure. The general aspect
of the country is well shown in the etching on the opposite
page; in the foreground may be noticed a considerable frag-
ment of the Wall, while in the distance may be discerned
all the prominent heights traversed by it in its tortuous course
from Sewingshields to this point. The highest crag near the
centre of the picture is Muckle Bank, and the highest on the
right hand side is Winshields.

 
 

 

 

 
ne
} mt i

 
WALLTOWN TURRET. £73

Sir Walter Scott, who was familiar with this part of the
Wall, probably here penned the lines :—

“TO A LADY WITH FLOWERS FROM THE ROMAN
WALL.

“Take these flowers, which purple waving,
On the ruined rampart grew,
Where, the sons of freedom braving
Rome’s imperial standards flew.

“ Warriors from the breach of danger
Pluck no longer laurels there:
They but yield the passing stranger
Wild-flower wreaths for beauty’s hair.”
The lady to whom these lines were addressed was doubtless
the personage who in due time became Lady Scott.

At length the cliffs, which extend in a nearly unbroken
series from Sewingshields to Carvoran, sink into a plain, and
the fertility and beauty of a well-cultivated country re-appear.

Within the last few months the Nine Nicks of Thirlwall
have become specially interesting to the students of the
Roman Wall. In the autumn of 1883 a turret was discov-
ered and laid bare on the westernmost height of these crags.
It was, like the others we have seen, let into the Wall to the
extent of between two and three feet. Its interior area was
thirteen feet by about twelve. The Wall which formed the
north wall of the turret was nine courses of stones high. Its
north-west corner was damaged when the writer’s attention
was first called to it; the quarrymen having removed the
foundation of this part of it, some stones had fallen. The
etching -over leaf shows the character of the structure as
it was when the attention of antiquaries was first drawn to
it. As the quarry is an extensive one it was understood
that the turret would be spared, and that other portions of
174 CARVORAN.

the cliff would be submitted to the operations of the miner.
Not so, however; this priceless memorial of our country’s
early history has been utterly destroyed. The discovery of
this turret led to the inquiry as to whether there might not
be some others to the east of it. Mr. Clayton sent his chief
explorator Tailford to examine the cliff. He found two others.
Seeing, however, the fate of this one, it will be well to let them
enjoy the protection of the soil which now covers them, until
England becomes an educated nation.

Carvoran.

Carvoran is the Macna of the /Vofitia, where the second
cohort of the Dalmatians was stationed. An inscription
found near Thirlwall Castle corroborates this statement.* The
station is a little more than two miles and a half from Great
Chesters, and it contains an area of three acres anda half. Its
position is particularly strong. It istothe south both of Vallum
and Wall, having probably been erected before them, by
Agricola, in order to command the valley of the Tipalt. The
numerous sharp turns whichthe Vallum makes to avoid the bog
on the north of the station, are inimical to Horsley’s idea that the
north agger of the Vallum was Agricola’s military way. The
interior of the station has, in recent times, been subjected to
the plough; before this its ruins were stately. Stukeley says,
“There were vestiges of houses and buildings all over, within
and without.” The outline of the station, which is to the
west of the farm house, may, though with difficulty, be made
out; some portions of the north rampart remain, and the
north fosse is distinct. Numerous memorials of Roman days
are to be seenin the farm house, on the garden wall, and

*It is No. 316 in the Lapidarium Septentrionale.
 

 

 

 
 
CARVORAN. 175

other parts of the premises. In the house are two small altars
inscribed to the local god BELATVCADER; one of which is
here shown. The Stanegate or direct Roman way came in
front of the station, and the Maiden Way,
after traversing the wastes of Stanemoor
and Alston, came up to its south-east |

re A
angle. With Mr. MacLauchlan’s Survey i Hn ill

in hand, the course of these roads may yet
be traced.

The north fosse between Carvoran and
Thirlwall Castle, is particularly well de-
veloped ; the lines of the Vallum, running {{\
parallel with the Wall, may also be traced | iX nN
in their course to the little river Tipalt, !
In an outhouse at Holmhead a Roman

 

inscribed stone is inserted. It may puzzle the uninitiated, in
- consequence of its being placed upside down. It reads cIviTas
DVMNONI. The woodcut shows it. The Dumnonii were a
British tribe occupying Devon-
shire, Cornwall, and part of Somer- Ajai
setshire. The castle of Thirlwall Wahl |
has some interesting features. |
The woodcut on the following

 

page represents its general aspect
as it was a few years ago. It is entirely built of Wall stones.

It is generally stated that Thirlwall derives its name from
the fact that here the Caledonians first thzr/ed or threw down
the Wall. Thirl-tan is an Anglo-Saxon word, signifying to
penetrate. Whatever truth there may be in this etymology,
it is certain that this is the weakest part of the Wall.

Not far from Thirlwall Castle is the village of Glen-
whelt. This name has a thoroughly Celtic sound. Mr.
176 THIRLWALL CASTLE.

MacLauchlan says:—"It is possibly British, from Glynn, a
valley; and whel#, darkness; an appropriate name, from the
precipitous nature of the ground.” (Memozr, p. 49.) In a
stone fence near the inn is a much weathered bust that no
doubt once adorned the Roman camp.

The railway station of Greenhead is close to Glenwhelt.

 

VI. From THE TIPALT TO THE EDEN.

No traces of the Wall and Vallum remain in the flat
between Thirlwall Castle and the railway, but both appear
on the bank to the left of the railway. Before pursuing his
journey further, the traveller had better examine a camp and
the military way (Stanegate), which he will find to the south
of the lines, and very near the railway station. ‘ The form
of the camp is a rectangular parallelogram, having its east
and west sides about 165 yards, and its north and south 88,
giving an area of about three acres. It appears to have been
an earthwork only, now nearly destroyed, except the east
TEMPORARY CAMPS, 177

part of the north front; its entrances, and the whole outline,
however, are visible. Each of the gates has had a straight
traverse in front, together with that peculiar semicircular
flexure of the rampart opposite the gateway, so frequently
noticed in camps on the line of the Watling Street, and
supposed by some persons to have been used by Agricola.”
(MacLauchlan’s Memoir, p. 49.)" The Stanegate is on the

 

north side of this camp. There is another smaller camp, of
similar construction, about five furlongs to the west of this.
These are the only two camps noticed by Mr. MacLauchlan
on the line of the Wall, having the peculiar defence of
gateway referred to. Besides these two, there are other three

* This peculiar traverse is believed to be characteristic of the camps
of the Ninth Legion.
M
178 CHAPEL HOUSE.

camps, of the ordinary construction, lying to the south of the
Wall, between the Tipalt and the Irthing. ‘“ We have thus,”
says Mr. MacLauchlan, “five camps between Carvoran and
Birdoswald, at a mean distance from each other of about
half a mile; occupying every prominent height on the south
of the Wall, at a mean distance from it of about two furlongs
and a half. We may fairly consider them as a third line of
defence, along that part of the barrier where the natural
defences of the ground were the weakest.” (M/emozr, p. 52.)

We now hurry on. Wallend is soon reached. The
earthworks are for a short distance in excellent preservation.
Between Wallend and Chapel House, the fosse of the Wall is
of unusually large dimensions. A view of it is given on the
preceding page.

Before coming to Chapel House, traces of a mile-castle
may be seen—as usual, beside a field gateway. Foultown is
a farm house contiguous to Chapel House. Built up in a

 

Fig. 1.
stable at Chapel House, the stone here represented (Fig. 1)
was found. It is a dedication, on the part of the twentieth
legion, to the Emperor Hadrian. At the village of Gap, the
Vallum, which is very distinct, stands considerably above
the Wall. In the gable end of an outhouse here, a centurial
stone is to be seen (upside down). The woodcut (Fig. 2)
shows it. It may be read, ‘‘The century of Claudius Avid-
ius of the second (?) cohort.”
ROSE HILL. 179

Gap is the watershed of this part of the island; on the
east of it the waters run into the Tyne, on the west into
the Irthing. The summit of Rose Hill has been removed to
afford a site for the railway station. Dr. Lingard, in his MS.
notes (1807), has the following notice of it:—“ A sugarloaf
hill, 200 yards from the Wall, called Rose Hill. It has a
platform on the top twelve yards in diameter, with a ditch
round it. Here was a figure of flying Victory.” This sculp-
tured stone is now at Rockliffe; a woodcut of it is here
introduced, from the pencil of Mr. Fairholt.

 

Gilsland Spa, a sulphur spring, is about a mile and a half
distant from Rose Hill. Here is a hostel at which excellent
entertainment may, if needful, be obtained. We, however,
pass on.

Taking the Wall in the vicinity of Gilsland station we
find the earthworks in an encouraging state. Following
them we come to the Poltross Burn, the boundary line
between Northumberland and Cumberland. The gorge in
which the stream flows is deep and well wooded. No remains
of a bridge appear. On the top of the western bank we meet
180 THE KING’S STABLES.

with the marked vestiges of a mile-castle, known in the
neighbourhood under the denomination of the King’s Stables.
It is seven furlongs and a quarter from the last near
Chapel House. The Wall now crosses the railway, and it is
seen two or three courses high, stretching westwards towards
Willowford. The north fosse is strongly developed.

In the Vicarage grounds, the residence of the Rev. A.
Wright, the Vicar of Over Denton, a gentleman well
acquainted with the antiquities of this neighbourhood, and

  

who is exceedingly willing to impart his knowledge to any
earnest inquirer, we meet with an interesting portion of Wall.
He has carefully excavated it in the vicinity of his parsonage,
and in doing so discovered the centurial stone inscribed—
COH I [>] opstri—Of the first cohort, the century of Opsilius.
Here also are to be seen two Roman altars which from
time immemorial formed part of the altar steps in the old
Norman Church at Over Denton. One of them is unin-
scribed ; the other, which is represented in the woodcut, has
evidently been dedicated 1. 0. m—To Jupiter, the best and
greatest. It will be observed, however, that the greater part
of the inscription is obliterated, and the altar worn down by
the stone having been made use of for the sharpening of

 
DEFACED ALTAR. 181

knives or weapons. If this was done, as there can be little
doubt was the case in Roman times, it is further negative
proof of the influence of Christianity at this early era.

Before reaching the
river Irthing, at a farm
house called Willow-
ford, thesite of another
castellum may be dis-
cerned. In the gar-
den wall is a centurial
stone, the inscription
on which seems to be
) COCCEI REGVLI—the
century of Cocceius
Regulus.

On the flat ground
bordering upon the
river the Wall cannot
be distinctly traced ;
the hedge, amongst

   

3 Hr Yd

the roots of which are _ iil \\@a@a LATE “<A
LA EARN ae RQ
a number of Wall _ |iiiii!'y, AN\ : \ N\ iN vn"

ss probably indi- | Wy Wyn
cates its course. How Wiad as

the Wall crossed the |
river, and ascended
the cliff which bounds
its western bank, no
remains are left to

7 me

uN ea NS )
\ Ni | zi ra
Neo i He ne,

show. Some old residents remember seeing some large stones,
which were supposed to have formed part of the bridge, about
fifty yards south of the present course of the river. On the
182 BIRDOSWALD.

very edge of the cliff, on the western side of the Irthing, the
Wall is seen standing of the height of seven courses on its
south side. Here also we meet with a mile-castle.

Birdoswald.

We now approach Birdoswald, the AMBoGLANNa of the
Romans and the twelfth station on the line. Its position is
remarkably strong. In addition to the bold cliffs which guard
it on the south, and at the foot of which the Irthing flows, a
bold chasm on its northern boundary admits of the flow of
the superfluous waters of the Midgeholm Bog into the
Irthing. Its western side is its weakest. On the edge of
this northern chasm, approaching the station, are some
artificial lines of defence. It has been suggested that these
are the remains of a Saxon or Danish fortress. Two small
hills in this vicinity have the appearance of barrows; they
are probably, however, the result of diluvial action.

Birdoswald is nearly three miles and a quarter from Car-
voran. It is the largest station on the line, having an area of
five acres and a half, which is about a quarter of an acre more
than Chesters, and half an acre more than Housesteads. It
possesses like Chesters the peculiarity of having two gates
in both its eastern and western ramparts. Most of the camps
of the Wall have a southern exposure; in this, the southern
margin is slightly elevated above the rest of the ground ; the
northern half of the station is nearly level. A very great
number of inscriptions have been found in the station, most
of which confirm the /Vof:tza statement that the first cohort
of Dacians, styled the A®lian, was quartered here. One of
them, which is here drawn, was found by Mr. Glasford
Potter in excavating the upper gateway in the eastern
rampart. The inscription may be translated:—‘ The first
BIRDOSWALD. 183

cohort of the Dacians (styled the A#lian), commanded by
Marcus Claudius Menander the Tribune, [erected this] by

Be = =e i

rer ey
( 5 qh S /
. 2 A sd) | \
V » M f Py v Ht 1

INOLEGAVC PRAY Th

ni
ACOH I AE LOEW)
\,
i
i!

FR
If
' li

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Mf
(4 m ON
cyl
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direction of Modius Julius, Imperial Legate, and Propreetor.”
On one side of the slab is a palm branch, the emblem
of victory; on the
other is a sword of
peculiar form. A
reference to the
Trajan column at
Rome shows us that
the Dacians used a
curved sword. An
example is here
given. Hence it
would almost ap-
pear that the Ro-
mans, in adopting
the services of the

 
184 BIRDOSWALD.

various nations whom they subdued, encouraged them to use
the accoutrements and arms with which they were most
familiar. They avoided the imprudence of putting into their
hands the superior weapons which they themselves used.
During the Indian mutiny the British suffered from the
consequences of an opposite policy.

The walls of the station are in a good state of preserva-
tion, the southern rampart especially, which shows eight

    

wi
a GTC
- nen
WSs sce
ce

 

“A =
SINAN Ieee a
5G NLD, B®? vine.

courses of facing-stones. The walls are five feet thick. The
moat which surrounded the walls may also be satisfactorily
traced. On the east side of the station are extensive and
strong marks of suburban dwellings.

Although the Wall adapts itself to the north rampart of
the fort, the station is entirely independent of the Wall
(as is shown in the woodcut),* and must have been built

* Since this cut was prepared, that portion of the Wall which adjoined
the station has been removed, to allow of a new entrance to the house.
BIRDOSWALD. 185

before it. Probably, as has been already observed, the first
step taken in the construction of the Barrier in every case
was the erection of the stationary camps.

The north gateway has been destroyed, but the founda-
tion of one of its jambs may sometimes be seen in the road
in front of the station. A heap of ruins in the shrubbery
marks the site of the most northerly of the west gates. The
other gateway on this side is shown in the woodcut. It is a

 

single gateway. Marks of ruts appear in its threshold; the
pivot-holes remain.

The south gateway is a double one, and is a very noble
specimen of Roman masonry. The plan of it is similar to
that of the gateways at Housesteads, though its masonry is
not so massive. Each portal is eleven feet wide, and has
been spanned by an arch. The pivot-holes are to be seen.
The west portal of this gate has, at some period before the
186 BIRDOSWALD.

abandonment of the station, been closed, and converted into
a dwelling-house; the stones with which it was floored
remain. As usual, this gateway has two guard-chambers;
the eastern one has not been excavated; the other, though
excavated, has again become encumbered with its own ruins.
Adjoining the west guard-chamber is another apartment;
in one angle is a circular depression, bearing marks of fire.
The south-west angle of the station contains several buildings,
which, if excavated, would no doubt display points of con-
siderable interest.

A Te
eno
pe uy a ni i=
mm ul TA RO T
CCA
Eee if Hl
Z thy af

 

Both of the gateways on the eastern side have been
excavated.* The lower one is much twisted and broken by
the yielding of its foundations. The other gateway is in an
excellent state of preservation. The accompanying sketch,
which has necessarily been drawn to a minute scale, shows it.

* The gateways and other portions of this station were excavated in 1852

y Mr. H. Norman, the proprietor of the camp, Mr. W. S. Potter and Mr.
H. Glasford Potter. The latter gentleman described the more important of
the excavations in the last quarto volume of the Transactions of the Society
of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
BIRDOSWALD. a

This gateway is a double one, and is provided with guard-
chambers on each side. The plan of it nearly resembles that
of the gateways at Housesteads. As usual, one of the portals
(the north) had been closed with large stones. Some traces
of a second floor will be noticed, raised about a foot above
the original one. This is in consistency with the signs of
hasty reparation which we meet with throughout the line.
The pivot-holes remain, and in the threshold of the northern
portal is a large stone,
against which the leaves
ofthe gateclosed. Several
circular door-heads were
found in the vicinity of
this and the other gate-
ways. The accompany- 4 :
ing woodcut, shewing the a y al |
entrance into the nor- él i a
thern guard-chamber, in- jf aa [lee _
Hic ich J ls

ates the use to which a | a
they were applied. These i i A yet
door-heads are always | i ue
found thrown down and Ml sala
often broken.

The whole interior >
of the camp is marked with the lines of streets and the ruins
of buildings. Near the lower gateway in the east wall three
chambers, of nine or ten feet square each, have been laid bare.
One of them is furnished with a hypocaust. Being exposed
to the tread of cattle they are now a mass of confusion. Here
was found the figure represented on the following page, the
body of which is now in the farm house; the head, which

  
  

    
  
 
 
 
 

il iS
an As Le

 

YI
UWL » |

aL

 

      

 

  
 

 
188 BIRDOSWALD.

had been discovered thirty years previously, is in the Museum
at Newcastle. This figure is one of those usually represented

 

in triplets and called dew matres. Her hair is neatly dressed.
BIRDOSWALD. 189

In 1859 Mr. Norman, in levelling the broken ground in
front of the farm house to form a new garden, came upon a
very perfect specimen of a Roman building of large dimen-
sions. A wall, three feet six inches thick, was found,.
extending ninety two feet from east to west. This wall
has not been excavated to the bottom ; but it has been proved
to be upwards of eight feet in height. It is supported by
eight buttresses. In the middle of the space between each
buttress is a long slit or loop-hole. These perforations are
supposed to be connected with the flues used in warming the
building. Immediately in front of this wall is another of
similar thickness. Three other walls were found to the north
of the main one. Until the entire building be laid bare (of
which there is no immediate prospect), it will be difficult to
form a correct idea of its arrangements and uses. Many
roofing-slates were found amongst the rubbish, some of them
perforated with nail-holes. A few coins were discovered,
belonging to the reigns of Vespasian, Domitian, Hadrian,
Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, and Diocletian.

Some excavations were made here, at the expense of the
Archeological Institute, when it met in Carlislein 1859. A
spot near the centre of the station, which always had a damp
appearance, was cut down upon. The remains of a tank or
reservoir for supplying the station with water were found.
Some arrangements for filtering the water, by making it pass
through a mass of charcoal, were noticed. These arrange-
ments are now much obscured. Shortly after this the late
Mr. Parker, of Brampton, discovered that this cistern was fed
by a spring on the west side of the station. The water-course
conducting the water to the tank was formed of flat stones set
up on end, covered over by a third on the top; the whole
 

190 BIRDOSWALD.

was sunk in the ground. The writer was shown it at a
distance of about 300 yards from the station; the water was
then flowing in it.
Several inscribed stones remain here. A broken and
defaced altar lies in the station. It has been described both
2 by Gordon and Horsley. It
vel: a seems to be a dedication to
; the standards (SIGNIs) of the co-
(RS ! hort. Analtar to Fortune was
weg’ «found on rebuilding the farm
house; it has been ruthlessly
treated in order to fit it for use
as a building-stone. Another
rudely-carved altar, once built
{||| into the farm house, is dedicated
|) to Jupiter, the best and greatest,
by the first cohort of Dacians,
which at this time, besides the
a! epithet of Elian, derived from
So Hadrian, seems to have had
that of Tetrician derived from
the Emperor Tetricus. (Horsley, Cumbd., VII.) There is here
also another altar (as shown in the accompanying woodcut),
dedicated to Jupiter, having on the capital above the dedi-
catory letters (I. 0. M.) a
series of crosses, one of them
being of that peculiar form
called “gammadion.” A
liom © stone broken across. the
elgg middle has on it the inscrip-
tion—LEG. VI. VIC. FIDELIS,

  
     
 

t ig i
RUMI a
Mi . ;

I il Gu

ie is

\

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
BIRDOSWALD.- Ig!

intimating that the sixth legion, styled the victorious and
faithful, took part in the erection of the building in which it
was inserted. Here also are several stones, on which are in-
scribed the names of the centuries engaged in erection of the
Wall in this vicinity. One of them imports that the troop (of
a hundred men) had been commanded by Concaonus Can-
pipus(?); another bears the inscription CEnTrurIA HorTEN-
sIANA; and a third commemorates the century of PRoBIANUS,
belonging to the fourth cohort. At the foot of the cliff on
which the station stands, is the farm house of Underheugh.
Here is a stone trough formed out of an altar dedicated to
Jupiter.

Before taking leave of the station, we must notice the
prospect both to the south and the north of us. The Earl
of Carlisle, in his Diary 7m Turkish and Greek Waters, p.
87, says:—“ Strikingly, and to any one who has coasted the
uniform shore of the Hellespont, and crossed the tame low
plain of the Troad, unexpectedly lovely is this site of Troy,
if Troy it was. I could give any Cumberland borderer the
best notion of it, by telling him that it wonderfully resembles
the view from the point just outside the Roman camp at
Birdoswald: both have that series of steep conical hills, with
rock enough for wildness and verdure enough for softness ;
both have that bright trail of a river creeping in and out with
the most continuous indentations: the Simois has, in summer
at least, more silvery shades of sand.” The view to which his
lordship refers (as he informed the writer) is that which is
obtained by a spectator who stands upon the edge of the cliff
fronting the south rampart of the station.

We now take our stand on the road skirting the north
wall of the station. Looking towards the north-west, we see
192 VIEW FROM BIRDOSWALD.

(as shown in the woodcut here given) a tower-like object ;
it is a fragment of the walls of Triermain Castle, a building
celebrated by Scott, in his ‘Bridal of Triermain,”: and
by Coleridge, in ‘“Christabel.” But more to our present
purpose ;—the Maiden Way, which came up to the south
rampart of Carvoran, seems to have proceeded northwards
from this station right over the hills before us, past Bewcastle,
and so into Scotland. On the top of a distant hill, called
Gillalees Beacon, nearly due north, a small cairn-like object
may be discerned, in favourable states of the atmosphere.

 

This is the ruin of a Roman watch-tower by the side of the
Maiden Way. Between Birdoswald and the river King-water,
the traces of the road are somewhat dubious ; but after crossing
this river and coming to Ash Fell, a strip of the Way is met
with in a nearly perfect state. Having once fallen in with
the road, the antiquary may, without much difficulty, trace
it nearly to Bewcastle. Beyond this its course is dubious.
 

TRACES OF A TURRET. 193

We now follow the Wall westward from Birdoswald. The
Wall in this part is in an unusually good state of preservation.
It is seven feet six inches thick. Its south front is the best.
Some portions of it, however, are beginning to exhibit signs
of decrepitude and decay. On the south side of the Wall, in
the second field from the station, are the remains of what
seems to be the side walls of a turret; the fragments of its
walls are three feet thick. The building measures thirteen
feet from side to side, inside measurement. These remains
are feeble, but they are interesting, and when the first edition
of this book was published they were the only traces of a turret
visible on the whole line of the Wall. At the distance of little
more than half a mile from the station we come to the site of
another mile-castle. The fosse of the Wall and the earthworks
of the Vallum here form interesting objects of study; they
are very bold. In this part of its course the Vallum is
strengthened on its northern side by a second ditch. This
additional defence begins to appear shortly after we leave
Birdoswald, and it terminates abruptly at the next mile-castle,
that of Wallbours. Nether Denton is a little to the south of
that spot. Canon Shipman in rebuilding the rectory, a few .
years ago, discovered a large quantity of Roman remains,
pottery coins, &c. There must have been a camp or Roman
settlement of some kind here.

After passing a cottage called Apple Trees, now in ruins,
the Wall and Vallum draw towards each other, until, on the
top of the next summit, where the Wallbours mile-castle
stands, they are in tolerably close proximity. After this they
run parallel to each other for some distance.

Arriving at a lodge on the traveller's left hand, a path
leads to Coome Crag, a red freestone quarry, which has been

N
194 _ COOME CRAG,

extensively wrought by the Romans.*. The workmen have
left some inscriptions on the face of the rock, amongst which
may perhaps be discerned the names SECVRVS, IVSTVS, MATH-
RIANVS. One of these is shown in the woodcut. At the foot

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of the cliff is an inscription which reads FAVST. ET RVF.

cos. Faustinus and Rufus were consuls a.p. 210. Curiously

enough, whilst the rock in the immediate vicinity of this

inscription is covered with a smoke-coloured lichen, the

 

 

 

 

 

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ie

 

 

 

 

letters themselves are covered with a white lichen; this
renders them distinct.

Nothing will occur to arrest attention until we arrive at
Banks Head. Here were formerly the remains of a mile-castle:
but the traveller will have some difficulty in detecting them
now. A limestone quarry has greatly interfered with it. In
1808 two altars to the local deity Cocidius, which are now
at Lanercost, were discovered at Banks Head.

The Wall next goes over a small hill called Pike. Here
was discovered in 1862, a broken slab, bearing the name of
Antoninus Pius. When the road was lowered some years

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ago a turret was found on the summit of Pike Hill. The next |

* The wayfarer will do well to inspect it. Independent of the antiquarian
interest of the spot, its picturesqueness will well repay a visit. It may be
prudent to obtain the assistance of some one in the lodge to enable him the
more readily to find the inscriptions. ~ Unfortunately many of the markings
in the rocks were some time ago covered with white paint with the view of
preserving them (!); this destroyed their antique appearance ; the paint is
happily now disappearing.
HARE HILL, 195

group of houses is called Banks, or Banks Hill. The view from
this point of the fertile plains below is exceedingly striking.
Some of the stones of the Wall are to be seen in the road near
here.

Before coming to the brook called Banks Burn, a piece of
the core of the Wall is seen. Ascending the hill on the
western side of the brook, in a garden, is ‘a fragment of the
Wall, which stands nine feet ten inches high. It is, however,
divested of its facing-stones. Hutton, speaking of the Wall
here (Hare Hill) says :—‘I viewed this relic with admiration.
I saw no part higher.” Just beyond this piece of Wall is the
still distinguishable site of a mile-castle.

Lanercost and Naworth.

At this point of our progress the antiquary may be
disposed to forsake the Wall for a while, to view two
relics of the medizval period of great interest—Lanercost

 

Priory and Naworth Castle. Before reaching Lanercost,
a rock inscription, shown in the woodcut, may be seen on

the face of a limestone quarry, overhanging Banks Burn.
Divested of its ligatures, it reads:—I. BRVTVS DEC. AL. PET.
196 LANERCOST. {
:
;

—Junius Brutus, a decurion of the ala Petriana. Lanercost
Priory was founded by Robert de Vallibus, Lord of Gilsland,
and intended for the comfort of the canons regular of the ©
order of St. Austin. The church was consecrated in the —
year 1169. In 1296 the monastery suffered from an invasion
of the Scottish forces. During the winter of 1306 and
1307 King Edward I. resided with his queen in the mon-
astery. On the suppression of the monasteries, the priory
and adjacent lands were granted to a branch of the Dacre
family. In conseqgence of the failure of male issue, in 1716
the lands reverted to the crown. They were long held on
lease by the Earls of Carlisle, but they now belong to the
family by purchase. Of the priory church the only portion
which is in repair is the nave, and this is used as a parish
church. It has recently been renovated. The choir and
transepts, are roofless. Here are several large tombs. One
is the resting place of Humfrey Dacre and Mabell his wife;
the latter dying in 1509. Another is attributed to Sir |
Humfrey’s son Thomas, the second Lord Dacre, who married
Elizabeth, the heiress of Greystock, and who died in 1525.
Another records the death, in 1716, of the last male heir of
the Dacres of Lanercost.

Several of the monastic buildings remain. The site of the
cloisters is an open space used as a garden. The refectory
was on the south side of the cloisters, parallel with the church.
Its walls are thrown down, but the vaulted cellars, upon
which the refectory was usually placed, remain. At the west —
end of the vault is a door-way, which led up to the refectory.
The dormitory was on the west side of the cloister; it is often
taken for the refectory, in consequence of a large fire-place
having been inserted in it by Christopher Dacre of Lanercost,
—e ee

 

LANERCOST. 197

son of Thomas Dacre, the grantee. It is marked “‘C. D.
1586.” At the angle formed by the union of the dormitory
and refectory was the prior’s own mansion. It is now deserted.

The priory, church, and monastic buildings are almost
entirely composed of Roman stones. These may have been
procured from the Wall; but the mind can scarcely divest
itself of the idea that there must have been a station here.

There are some indications of ramparts and of a north gate-

way in the priory-green.
There are some Roman inscribed and sculptured stones
here. In the west wall of the cloister-garth is one, which
may be translated—The century of Cassius Priscus. In the
headway of the clerestory, in the south-east angle of the
choir, is an altar, which was first described in the Gentleman's
Magazine, for 1744. The inscription on it may be translated
—‘“ To Jupiter, the best and greatest, the first cohort of the
Dacians, styled the A¢lian, com-
manded by Julius Saturninus the
tribune [dedicates this.]’’ In the .
vault are several interesting anti-

    

¥
NEA

quities. One of them, an altar
(here shown) dedicated by the
hunters of Banna to the holy god
Silvanus, is curious, as indica-
ting the mode in which the
oficers of the Roman army
sought to relieve the tedium of
their leisure hours. It is as
yet an unsolved question where

_ Banna was; it must have been in this neighbourhood. Has it

been Gilsland? The Romans greatly prized medicinal waters
198 LANERCOST. |

and would not overlook the healing fountains of this locality.
The next altar is one of those found in the Banks Head mile-
castle (p. 194); it reads—‘‘ To the god Cocidius, the soldiers of
the legion styled the Valerian and the Victorious dedicated
this altar, in discharge of a vow to an object most worthy of
it in the consulship of Aper and Rufinus.”
It is shown in the woodcut. This gives us
the date of about a.p. 153. The boar at
the foot is the emblem of the twentieth
legion. On another stone is a somewhat
spirited representation of Jupiter and Her-
cules. A metal thunderbolt (probably gilt)
was no doubt inserted in the hole in the
right hand of Jupiter. Besides these there
are in the crypt several large altars which
are uninscribed and which seem to have
been used in medizval times as building

 

stones. One of them has been dedicated
to Jupiter, the letters 1. 0. M. being plain, but the rest of the
inscription is obliterated.

A little below the present bridge, and immediately opposite
the priory, are the remains of a Roman bridge. In the river
the wooden frame-work on which one of the piers has been
founded is visible when the water is low. Another pier,
which has been deserted by the river, and is deprived of its
facing-stones, is ten feet high. About forty feet beyond this
are the remains of what appears to have been the land
abutment, on the north side of the river. There are some
traces of a road on the south side of the Irthing.

Ascending the rising ground south of the river, we soon
come to Naworth Castle. Some magnificent oak trees stand
eee

NAWORTH CASTLE. 199

near the entrance gateway, on which, tradition says, Belted
Will used to hang the luckless moss-troopers who fell into
his hands. In this instance there can be little doubt that
tradition errs. The castle is strongly posted on the edge of
a platform, nearly insulated by a deep gully.

The great hall of the fortress is redolent of heraldic pomp
—the Greystock dolphin, the Howard calf, and the Dacre bull
and griffin being made use of to support the banners of the
house. The private apartments of Lord William, and the
careful manner in which he guarded the approach to them,
are worthy of observation.

South of Naworth Castle, and near the railway, is an
ancient earthwork, probably British. ‘‘It has two encircling
ramparts.” (MacLauchlan, Memozr, p. 60.)

The Naworth station of the Newcastle and Carlisle Rail-
way is close at hand.

We now rejoin the Wall at Hare Hill. About two hundred
yards west of this point a break in the Wall occurs, in which a
turret or small quadrangular building has been situated. This
building projects beyond the Wall, northwards, rather less
than three feet. It is constructed of smaller stones than the
Wall; the workmanship of it is excellent. It measures
fourteen feet six inches (inside measurement) from east to
west. When first noticed, it was full of black ashes; the
discoverers took it to bea smithy. Altogether it is a peculiar
building ; though it has some of the features of a turret, it
seems to have been built independently of the Wall.* At
Money Holes attempts have been made to discover treasure ;
no doubt in vain. Through the priory-woods, to the south

* This excavation has since the publication of the first edition of this
work been filled in to prevent the sheep falling into it, and the surface is
now grass-grown. A thorn three is close to the spot where it is.
200 RANDELANDS,

of us, the works of the Vallum proceed undauntedly on their
onward course, and are in good condition. The fact that the
Vallum goes along the southern slope of the hill, leaving the
summit to the Wall, bears upon the question of the contem-
poraneous or successive construction of the works.

At Craggle Hill the north fosse is very bold. At Hayton
Gate a drove road, closed half a century ago, crossed the Wall.
A very little west of Randelands we meet with the feeble
traces of a mile-castle. After crossing the rivulet, called
Burtholme Beck, a piece of the Wall is seen, which stands
nearly seven feet high; its facing-stones are gone, but the
rough pebbly mortar possesses its original tenacity. As is
often the case, the ruin is tufted with hazel bushes, oak trees,
and alders. Beyond this point a second ditch and rampart,
outside the Wall, seem, for a short distance, to have been
added to the usual lines of fortification. As the traveller
proceeds onwards let him occasionally look back upon the
ground which he has traversed in order to observe the bold-
ness with which the fosse of the Wall climbs the hills he has
just passed. The Wall passes on the north of Howsgill, Low

 

MOSSUAN Bik

Wall, and Dovecote on its way to the King-water. In the
wall of an outhouse at Howgill is a rude inscription, (shown in
the woodcut) mentioned by Horsley and all subsequent anti-
~~

~

WALTON. 201

quaries, which seems to record the achievements of a British
tribe, the Catuvellauni. Tacitus tells us that Agricola took
southern Britons with him to the battle of the Grampians ;
Hadrian and Severus may have been similarly accompanied
in their expeditions.

Nearly due north of Low Wall are slight indications of a
mile-castle. The prickly enclosures of the fields may prevent
all but very zealous antiquaries keeping very close companion-
ship with the Wall for a little distance; those who take the
road by Dovecote will be brought back to their old friend
before crossing the King-water.

It may be well to remind the reader before proceeding
further that the river Gelt, on whose rocky banks the
Roman quarrymen have left lettered memorials of their toil,
is about four miles to the south of this place. The most
famous of these inscriptions has been given at page 32. The
woodcut on the next page represents Pigeon Crag, which is
about half a mile higher up the river, and on the opposite
side of it from the “ Written Rock of Gelt.” The inscription
on the Pigeon Crag is of too fragmentary a nature to yield
us definite information. The woodcut, however, gives us a
general notion of the scenery of the place.

Westward of the King-water, the village of Walton is
reached; many of the stones of the Wall may be detected in
its cottages. The Vallum is here indistinct, and some distance
from the Wall. At the entrance of the village faint traces of
a mile-castle are to be observed. On the green to the west
of the church, Horsley saw traces of an earthen camp, which
was probably occupied by the troops, when building the Wall.
At Sandysike farm house, besides the foundations of the Wall,
two sculptured Roman stones are to be seen, which doubtless
202 PIGEON CRAG.

are parts of altars—one bears a thunderbolt, the other a wheel.
We now descend into the valley of the Cambeck, having the
north fosse for our guide. The next mile-castle must have

   
    

 
   
   
 

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UT TING. S*

stood either on the west side of the Cambeck-water or at
Cambeck Hill; most likely the latter; all traces of it are
obliterated.

a
PETRIANA. 203

Castlesteads.

To reach the Castlesteads station, it is best to turn off at
Sandysike. The station stands to the south both of Wall
and Vallum. Its situation is strong. On the north the
ground falls precipitously towards the river Cambeck; on the
south and west it slopes gently towards the Irthing. The
station contains an area of two acres and three quarters.. It is
distant from the station of Birdoswald about seven miles—an
unusually long distance.

If this be the station which, according to the Woztitia,
immediately follows AMBOGLANNA, and of this there is some
doubt (see p. 197), it is the PETRIANa of the Vofiiza, the head-
quarters of the ala Petriana. The area of this camp seems
to be too small for the accommodation of a cavalry regiment,
which, at one time at least, wasa thousand strong. No inscrip-
tions have been found in any of the stations of the Wall

-westward of AMBOGLANNA enabling us to identify them with
the stations of the Vozztza. This circumstance is the more to
be lamented, inasmuch asantiquaries are not agreed as to which
of the camps they meet with in their course westwards are
stations per lineam Valli, But for this we might have given
each succeeding station, the name which follows next in
the Wozttia. We will not attempt therefore to give the
stations west of AMBOGLANNA their Roman designation. An
inscribed stone may one day turn up which will relieve us
from our difficulties.

As the site of the station has long been used as a garden,
its exact outline is considerably obscured. The traces of the
ditch are visible, particularly on the west front. Professor
Carlisle gives us an account of the digging up of this station
(in i791), in the Archeologia, Vol. XI., and of the overthrow
204 CASTLESTEADS.

of the Wall in its vicinity. His account of the Wall will
remind the reader of what he saw at Steel Rig. “As the
remains of the Vallum itself [Murus] for near half a mile
were entirely dug up, Mr. Johnson, to whom the estate
belongs, had an opportunity of examining the construction

   
      
   

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of this curious remnant of Roman industry with the greatest
accuracy. Of this he gave me the following account :—‘‘ The
breadth of the foundation was eight feet; the Wall, where
entire, was faced with large stones on both sides, and the
CASTLESTEADS. 205

space between them filled with rubbish-stone to the depth of
a foot; then a strong cement of lime and sand, about four
inches thick; over that a foot of rubbish, and then a cover of
cement as before; these layers were succeeded by others of
rubbish and cement alternately, till the interstice between the
facing-stones was filled up to the top, and thus the whole
became one solid cemented mass.” Several valuable altars
and other antiquities have been found in the station, most of
which are carefully preserved on the spot by the present pro-
prietor, George John Johnson, Esq. The most remarkable of
these is the altar to Jupiter, a representation of which is given
on the opposite page. It has been translated :—‘‘To Jupiter,
the best and greatest; the second cohort of Tungrians, a
miliary regiment, having a proportionate supply of horse, and
consisting of Roman citizens, commanded by Albus Severus,
prefect of the Tungrians, erected this, the work being

 

superintended by Victor Severus, the princeps.’’ Here is a
figure of Fortune; and here is a priest vested in his cope, and
holding an incense-box in his hand. The altar inscribed
206 CASTLESTEADS.

DISCIPVLINAE AVGVSTI is peculiar. The piety, the chastity,
the courage, and other moral

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  

qualities of the emperors, were
often deified; but it was not
usual to rear altars to their
administrative properties. But
on the reverse of several of the
coins of Hadrian we have the
legend DISCIPLINA AVG., as in
the two examples here intro-
duced, with a suitable device.
= There can be little doubt that
the Augustus referred to on
this « altar «isi cdadrian:)) ile
maintained a strict discipline.

We now rejoin the Wall on the west bank of the Cam-
beck, and will follow it without interruption to Stanwix.
Having done this, we will return and view the camps that
have been noticed south of both lines of the Barrier. It will
be observed how deeply the fosse of the Wall has been cut
into the red sandstone rock forming the western bank of the
stream. The fosse of the Vallum is also discernible a little
HEADSWOOD. 207

lower down. Cambeck Hill farm house is passed. The farm
buildings at Beck are partially constructed of Roman stones,
and on the east side of the rivulet a few stones of the Wall
are in their original position. Looking westward from Beck
the fosse of the Wall and Vallum are grandly seen.
Headswood, as its name implies, occupies a commanding
situation. ‘The ditch, both of Wall and Vallum, are seen as
you approach it. There are some works here on the north
side of the fosse. Mr. MacLauchlan thinks that they may
perhaps be the remains of one of those camps with a round
elevated part, which are thought to have a Saxon or Danish
origin. (Memozr, p. 70.) About two hundred yards west of
the Newtown of Irthington, we meet with evident traces of a
mile-castle. We next come to White Flat, where the rubble
of the foundation of the Wall is very discernible, and the
ditch very deep. The visitor who wishes to keep by the Wall
will avoid the cart-road which takes to Irthington, and follow
the footpath which runs through the fields. Westward of
White Flat the works are feeble, but we soon meet with a
long strip of the Wall, in an encouraging state; it is planted
with oak trees; the north fosse shows nobly. We now pass
Hurtleton, leaving it a little to the south. Here the Wall
and Vallum are but thirty-five yards apart ; the fosse of each
is distinct. Both works now bend northwards. About mid-
way between this point and Old Walla mile-castle once stood;
the traces are very faint, buttheruins
of the building raise it somewhat

 
    

above the general level. In the
buildings at Old Wall many Roman

stones will be noticed; ina stableisa i RIVEN At

2 ee el etl IW Dy SWE ii
centurial stone, here shown, bearing ‘ssessm.zis aa “Tis

3
208 BLEATARN.

an inscription that may be thus translated :—‘‘ The century of
Julius Tertullianus, belonging to the second legion, styled the
August.” The Wall is here entirely uprooted, many hundred
cartloads of stone having been removed within living memory;
but the fosse of the Wall is visible between the road-way and
the houses. From this point westward the works may be
traced for some distance with satisfaction, an ancient drove-
road running upon the site of the Wall. At the end of this
lane, tall hedges and cultivated fields interfere materially with
the pilgrim’s progress. At a spot called High Strand there
ought to be a mile-castle; tradition says that there once
was one here.

Bleatarn is a place of considerable interest. The Wall
runs a little to the north of the farm house; the Vallum is
immediately south of it. Between the Wall and the Vallum,
and westward of the farm house, is a large tumulus, which has
been diminished in height within the last few years.

Before coming to Wallhead there ought, judging by the
distance, to be a mile-castle. About six hundred yards before
we reach Walby there are faint signs of a mile-castle, being
seven furlongs and a half from the last; they are where the
road turns sharply to the north. At Walby there are some
pools in the north fosse. Here the Wall bends strongly to
the south. At Wall Foot there has probably been a mile-
castle. “The place for the next mile-castle would fall opposite
to Drawdikes Castle.” (Memozr, p. 73.) Immediately in front
of Drawdikes Castle the lines of the Vallum are clearly dis-
cernible, though the mounds have been lowered of late, to
make the place more sightly. The three busts on the top of
Drawdikes Castle are said to have come from the Wall; and
yet, with strange perversity, they are believed to represent
STANWIX. 209

the devil and two local celebrities, one of them a modern
lawyer. On close inspection they will be found to have
nothing Roman about them. Built into the wall at the back
of the house is a monumental stone, which, according to
Horsley, was brought from Stanwix. The inscription may be
read :—‘To the Divine Manes of Marcius Trojanus son of (?)
Augustinus; his most loving wife, A®lia Ammillusima (?)
caused this tomb to be erected.” (See page 215.)

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The Wall now makes straight for Stanwix. As we ap-
proach this place, the advantageous nature of its position as a
Roman station is seen. A fine elevated platform is observed,
having the church at its eastern boundary. The ground falls
from it on every side except the west, and here the river,
with its wide and precipitous valley, is close at hand. For
some distance before coming to Stanwix, a rural road runs
along the site of the Wall; the ditch to the north of it appears,
but it has been much filled up within living memory.

Oo
210 STANWIX.

Stanwix.
The church and church-yard of Stanwix occupy the site
of the station which guarded the northern bank of the Eden.
The station is up-
wards of eight miles
from that at Castle-
) steads. The out-
Ne a ili) lines of it are not
My | well defined, but
1 Mr. MacLauchlan,
; J from the informa-

ti
a y 1

i) tion which he was
able to obtain, came
to the conclusion
that it contained an
area of two acres
and a half. No in-
scriptions have
been found here
to inform us what
troops were in gar-
rison in Roman
times. The sculp-
tured stone shown
in the woodcut was
found in the wall of
the parish church
about the year 1790.
It is evidently a

 

funereal stone, the greater part of the inscription having been
broken off. It is now at Nether Hall. In pulling down the
STANWIX. 211

old church, to make way for the present structure, a figure
of Victory was found, which is now at Newcastle. The
Romans were ad-
dicted to the use of
the bagpipes. Nero
was an excellent
performer. In the
yard of a house near
to where the old |
mail road to Scot-
land turned out of ©
the High Street, |
Stanwix, is a stone
on which is a car- |
ving of a bagpiper. |
The stone has in
more recent times
been formed into a
horsing block. The
face of it is here
shown. Between
- the station and the
north bank of the
river Eden the fosse
of the Wall is dis-
tinctly marked, and
a hollow line, form-
ed by the excava-
tion of the founda-
tion of the Wall
itself, shows its track to the water’s edge, near Hyssop Holme
Well. Here for the present we must leave it.

 
212 BRAMPTON.

Brampton, Irthington, and Watch Cross.

The distance between Castlesteads and Stanwix renders
the probability great that there was some Roman strong-
hold between them. Two places have been thought likely—
Brampton Park and Watch Cross, both of them to the
south of both Wall and Vallum. As they can be visited
better from the line of the road between Brampton and
Carlisle than from that of the Wall, we have reserved a
notice of them to this place. We will now commence our
subsidiary exploration at Brampton. This little manufac-
turing town was once upon the main line of road between
Newcastle and Carlisle. The natural route for the railway
was along the valley in which it lies. So violent, however,
was the opposition of the inhabitants (yielding to ill-advice),
that the railway company were constrained, at a greatly
increased cost, to take their line up the southern ridge of the
valley. Brampton suffers accordingly. The only ancient
feature belonging to Brampton is the Mote, at the east end of
the town. It consists of a natural elevation, which has no
doubt been, at different periods, applied to defensive purposes.
The small platform at the top was formerly “defended by a
breastwork ;’’ lower down a rampart and fosse still appear.
This hill-post may have given origin to the town. About a
mile and a half west of Brampton is the old church of Bramp-
ton, of which only the chancel remains. It is composed of
Roman stones. In some excavations made about twenty years
ago, traces of a Roman road were found, and some coins and
pottery. Ona gentle eminence, to the south of the old church,
are the fast-fading remnants of a Roman station. A century
ago the site was covered with brushwood, and by this means
escaped the attention of Horsley. The late Mr. Robert Bell,
IRTHINGTON. 213

of the Nook, Irthington—a warm-hearted and intelligent
antiquary—had, in early life, assisted in carting away the
stones of its ramparts. His subsequent observations, com-
municated to Mr. Hodgson, Mr. MacLauchlan, Mr. Roach
Smith, and the writer, render it clear that the Romans had a
camp here. Mr. MacLauchlan estimates its area at an acre
and a half. It is about a mile and a half from the station ©
at Castlesteads. A large jar full of Roman coins was found
near this place in 1826. The coins were of a late date,
extending from the time of Decius to that of Florianus. In
the meadow below this camp are several remarkable barrows.
They probably belong to the Romano-British period; but
the spade and pickaxe alone can decide the point.

Irthington, a village that lies to the west of the Irthing,
and is situated about midway between the river and the Wall,
has two objects of interest for the antiquary. A castle stood
here in Norman, and perhaps, also, in Saxon times. Nothing
is left but the mound, on which probably a stronghold, most
likely of timber, was reared. The church, a Transition-
Norman building, is worth attention. It was restored a few
years ago. The old structure consisted entirely of Roman
stones. This church has doubtless often been the scene of
fierce Border encounters before the union of the. kingdoms.
The columns were marked by fire, and numerous skeletons,
lying in disorder, were found within the area.

East of the Glebe farm at Irthington are extensive remains
of ancient quarries.

Nearly due south from Bleatarn, and close to the turn-
pike-road leading from Brampton to Carlisle, is the site of
Watch Cross, another Roman camp. The boundaries of the
station are now scarcely discernible, and all traces of building
214 | CARLISLE.

are entirely removed. It has contained an area of an acre
and a half. (MacLauchlan, p. 72.) Horsley considered it to
be ABALLABA, the station following PETRIANA in the WVotitia.
Little can be gleaned by a visit to it. We now return to the
Eden at Stanwix.

Carlisle.

After crossing the river at Stanwix, the Wall, instead of
proceeding straight to Carlisle castle, kept a course more to
the north, and, passing over the flat ground between the castle
and the river, made for a spot near the engine-house at New-
town, which was used in supplying the canal between Carlisle
and Port Carlisle (now converted into a railway) with water.
(MacLauchlan, Memoir, p. 75.) The Vallum, however, is
supposed to have passed on the south side of the castle.
(Memorr, p. 77.)

 

All antiquaries agree that Carlisle is the LuGuvALLium of
the Romans; but it does not occur in the list given in the
NVotitia. Up to a comparatively recent period, the Roman
features of this city were very marked. Stukeley, writing in
1725, says:—‘‘ Fragments of squared stones appear in every
quarter of the city, and several square wells of Roman work-
manship. At the present day, whenever an excavation is
made, articles of Roman make are turned up.” During the
CARLISLE. BS

formation of the city sewers in 1854, Samian ware, coins, and
various bronze articles were found in great quantities. The
cut represents a ‘‘Judza Capta’’ of Vespasian, which was
found on this occasion. It is striking to turn up in British
soil, deposited in Roman times, such testimonies of the ful-
filment of prophecy. (Deut. xxviii., 49.) In the City
Museum in Finkle Street, Carlisle, may be seen an in-
teresting collection of antiquities, chiefly derived from the
neighbourhood. One of the latest acquisitions is a tomb-
stone which was found in the western suburbs of the city.
The deceased lady, sitting in her chair, holds in her hand a
fan of a form still in use in the island of Malta and elsewhere.
Her left hand is lovingly placed upon the shoulder of her
child who strokes the back of a dove upon her lap. At the
top of the slab are two lions with a human head in their claws
and a sphynx also holding a human head. These figures
allude to the destruction of human life and the riddle (as it
appeared to the heathen) of death. (See page 209.) The
lower part of the inscription, which we doubt not gave the
name of the lady, is lost.

The castle and the cathedral will repay the attention of
the medizval antiquary. Carlisle being situated somear the
borders of Scotland, its castle was a building of great import-
ance. William Rufus visited Carlisle in 1092, and took
measures for rearing a fortress here. The general figure of
this keep, and of the encircling walls, are probably identical
with those planned by Rufus. The foundations are, for the
most part, composed of Roman stones.

The Cathedral of Carlisle isan interesting building. The
naye, the south transept, portions of the north transept, and
the lower part of the tower are the earliest parts; they belong
to a church commenced by Walter, a Norman follower of the
216 KIRKANDREWS.

Conqueror, in 1092, and completed in 1101 by Henry I.
These parts are of the simplest and most massive type of
Norman architecture. No portions of the Norman choir
remain. The present choir was probably commenced by
Bishop Silvester de Everdon, who came to the diocese
in 1245, when the Early-English style had developed itself.
Bishop Welton (1352-1362), and his successor, Thomas de
Appleby, seem to have carried on the work vigorously,
and to have completed the choir, including the wooden roof,
before the death of Edward III. By this time the decorated
style of architecture had become established in England, and
was of course followed by these builders. The great east
window, if it be not the very finest ‘‘decorated’’ window in
existence, is rivalled only by the west window at York.

 

VII.—FrRom THE RIveR EDEN To THE SoLWay FIRTH.

Westward of Carlisle the Wall is not easily traced.
Having attained the high ground just beyond the North
British Railway sheds, it runs along the southern bank of
the river as far as Grinsdale. Slight traces of it may be seen
at the distance of about fifty yards from the river, which has
served as its northern fosse. Hence, to Kirkandrews, it still
adheres to the cliffs, though the river runs deviously in the
flats to the north. The Vallum, instead of following closely
the variations of the high ground, runs in a straight line past
Mill-beck to Kirkandrews. The churchyard at Kirkandrews
is a mass of stones; it has probably been the site of a
mile-castle. Ina garden attached to the house of Mrs. Nor-
man, in the village of Kirkandrews, is preserved an altar
which was found at Kirksteads, about a mile south of the
BEAUMONT. ZY 7,

Wall. It has been cut down and shaped for use as a building
stone. What remains of the inscription may be translated
—‘Lucius Junius Victorinus Flavius Czlianus Imperial
Legate, (belonging) to the sixth legion, (styled) the victorious,
the dutiful, and the faithful, (erected this altar) on account of
achievements prosperously performed beyond the Wall.” It
is shown in the woodcut. It is interesting to notice the fact
as recorded by the Romans themselves that the land to the
north of the Wall was
not given up to the
enemy. In crossing
the beck, before ap-
proaching Beaumont,
the fosse of the Wall
is well developed.

In a wall at Beau-

Sift i) M
xa i i
oy,

i,
41
|
hi

il
mont is the larger dan
part of a somewhat or- ie zi
namental inscription — iii] Ml Aa s
commemorating the ‘i el
doings of the fifth co-
hort of the twentieth
legion, which was sur-
named the Valerian
and Victorious.

The Wall, which
had pursued a north-
west direction to reach Beaumont, now resumes its westerly
course, and may be traced all the way to Burgh-upon-Sands,
and thence to Dykesfield, selecting with care every eminence

it meets. The Vallum pursues a nearly direct course from

EI |
RAS |

 
218 BURGH.

Kirkandrews to Burgh-upon-Sands. A little to the west of
Monk Hill it crosses the turnpike road, and keeps on the
north side of it nearly all the way to Burgh-upon-Sands.

Bur gh-upon-Sands.

Here we have another station of about three acres in
extent. It is about five miles and a half from Stanwix. The
outlines of the station are not well defined. It has, no doubt,
extended a little to the north of the present road, and has
had the Wall for its northern rampart. The church is
within its eastern boundary ; a road running north and south
probably indicates its western rampart. The Vallum has, as
usual, come up to its southern rampart. In the churchyard
frequent indications of Roman occupation are turned up.

 

The church at Burgh-upon-Sands, of the construction of
which the woodcut gives a general idea, is a good specimen
of the fortified border churches. The tower at the west end
DYKESFIELD. 219

has evidently been a place of refuge. Its walls are seven feet
thick. The church has recently been restored.

To the north of the village is Burgh Marsh, on which
Edward I. and his army were encamped, waiting for a
favourable opportunity to cross the Solway, when death
seized the monarch, on the 7th July, 1307. The monument
here represented marks the spot where his tent was pitched
at the time.

 

On the northern bank of the Solway is a beacon called
the Tower of Repentance. It was erected by a conscience-
stricken marauder, who, on a stormy passage from the Eng-
lish to the other side of the Firth, threw his prisoners over-
board in preference to the cattle which he had stolen.

From Burgh the Wall passes by West-end farm house to
Watch Hill; an accumulation of small stones renders it pro-
bable that a mile-castle stood here. It then makes straight
for the edge of the marsh at Dykesfield. The Vallum is
traceable at intervals throughout this distance. It is seen
for the last time about fifty yards north of the public read,
226 DRUMBURGH.

south of Watch Hill. It will be remembered that at the
eastern extremity of the Wall there is no Vallum; it begins
at Newcastle, and here at the west end it seems to terminate
at Dykesfield. At Dykesfield there used to be a broken altar
to the mother goddesses, found on the spot,* and at Long-
burgh is a small altar to Belatucader, also found in the
neighbourhood.

   

    
    

Ds OmM*
N

= all)
4 x
lit BX : I

Although the Wall, when last seen both at Dykesfield
and Drumburgh, seems to be making straight for the opposite
side of the marsh, there can be little doubt that it skirted its
southern margin, going round by Boustead Hill and Easton.

    

No traces of it remain.

At Drumburgh is a station, the smallest on the line,
containing an area of only three-quarters of an acre. It is
four miles and a quarter from Burgh. South of the station
is a well, said to be Roman, from which the water is now
drawn by a pump. The castle here, of which there are
considerable remains, is a fine specimen of the fortified
manor-house of the olden time. Leland, writing of it in

* The writer did not see it on his last visit.
DRUMBURGH. 221

1539, says:—‘ At Drumburygh, the Lord Dacre’s father
builded upon old ruines a prety pyle for defence of the
country. The stones of the Pict Wall were pulled down
to build it.”

In cutting the canal (now the railway), in the vicinity of
Glasson, a prostrate forest of considerable extent was met
with. ‘Although the precise period when this forest fell is
not ascertainable, there is positive proof that it must have

 

been prior to the building of the Wall, because the founda-
tions of the Wall passed obliquely over it, and lay three or
four feet above the level of the trees.” Much of the timber
was sound; some of it was used in forming the jetty at
Port Carlisle. The President’s chair of the Society of Anti-
quaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne is made of it.

The Wall, after leaving Drumburgh, bends to the north
of Glasson, keeping to the south of the road, and having
Dae PORT CARLISLE.

reached the shore, runs along it past Westfield and Kirkland to
Port Carlisle. Occasionally traces of it are faintly discernible.
The mound called Fisher’s Cross would be an admirable site for
a mile-castle, and may have been one. Over the door of the
Ti Packet Hotel at Port Carlisle is the fragment
MT of an altar, having on it the letters MATRIBVS
ul | SVIS, a dedication, doubtless, to the dew matres.
The site of the Wall may be traced from this
point nearly all the way to Bowness. Besides
its foundation, the north fosse occasionally
appears. The Wall here, when first seen by
the writer, was several feet high; gunpowder was used in
bringing it down. On the right hand, close by the shore, is
another barrow-like object, called Knock’s Cross. ‘As old as
Knock’s Cross’ is a local proverb. “The water-course to a
mull [now disused], leading straight to the entrance to Bow-
ness, probably occupies the site of the fosse of the Wall.”
(Memoir, p. 87.)
The station of Bowness is well situated. It stands upon
a bow-shaped promontory, round which the waters of the
Solway bend, and are then lost in the Irish Channel. Its
platform is slightly elevated above the general level of the
surrounding country. The station is not made out without
difficulty. Its northern wall has stood upon the ridge over-
looking the estuary. An ancient mound, still known to a
few as the Rampire, or Rampart Head, is just outside its
eastern rampart. Its western rampart is easily detected, its
fosse being well marked, and its south-west angle may, though
with difficulty, be traced. Although the form of the ground
might lead to a different conclusion, the church is to the
south of the station, and is not included in its area. The

yyy i

 
BOWNESS, 222

greatest length of the station is from east to west. It contains
an area of five acres anda half. Its distance from Drumburgh
is nearly three miles and three-quarters. Over a stable door,
about the middle of the town, is the small altar here engraved.
It is a dedication to Jupiter for the welfare
of the Emperors Gallus and Volusianus,
and was erected by Sulpicius Secundianus,
tribune of the — cohort. At Wallsend we
found that the eastern wall of the station
was continued down the hill to a point
below low water mark in the river Tyne;
a similar arrangement prevailed here. Mr.
MacLauchlan says, ‘‘Beyond Bowness we
find no satisfactory account of the con-
tinuance of the Wall, though the old in-
habitants point out at about 250 yards from the north-west
angle of the station, a spot where a quantity of stone was dug
out of the beach many years since, for building purposes, and

 

the line of it was followed for some distance under the sand,
without arriving at the end of it. The direction of these
remains, as pointed out by the old people, would fall in with
a continuation of the north front for about 100 yards, thence
down a natural ridge, well suited to a line of defence, and on
the south of the school house, into the water.”

At first sight Camden thought that the Solway was a
sufficient defence, and that the Wall need not have been
taken thus far; his words are (as rendered by Holland) :—“I
marvailed at first, why they built here so great fortifications,
considering that for eight miles or thereabout, there lieth
opposite a very great frith and arme of the sea; but now I
understand that every ebbe the water is so low, that the
Borderers and beast-stealers may easily wade over.”’
224 BOWNESS.

Although a little to the east of the station, the Solway is
easily fordable at low water, no one in the memory of the
inhabitants of the place has forded the estuary westward
of the town. This circumstance would render Bowness a fit
place at which to terminate the Wall of Hadrian.

The present repose of Bowness seems to contrast strangely
with the bustle which must have reigned in it, when so
large a station was fully occupied by Roman troops. The
little town is, however, the resort, during the summer season,
of families from neighbouring places, for the purpose of sea
bathing.

If the pilgrim who has followed the Wall from its eastern
to its western extremity has enjoyed favourable weather,
he will doubtless regret the termination of his labours.

One consolation remains to him. The Wall was supported,
both on its northern and southern margins, by stations of
considerable importance, and to these he may now direct

his attention.

 

 

CHARTER hy.

 

SUPPORTING STATIONS.

In order rightly to estimate the strength of the Roman Wall,
we must take into account the stationary camps which existed
both to the north and the south of it. Against these the
wave of hostile aggression, in either direction, would, in the
first instance, strike.

The estuary of the Tyne was strongly fortified. There is
no doubt that there was a camp at Tynemouth, and another
at the west end of North Shields, though no traces of them
 
i Oy

 

i i ‘i a ; i ‘ i i casa
il i i TAT nN Na
if x ih ee
BREMENIUM. 225

are now to be found. There were also two on the opposite
side of the estuary—one on the Lawe, at the east end of South
Shields, and another at Jarrow. The camp at South Shields
has recently been to a considerable extent excavated, and
some important Roman remains have been discovered. The
most remarkable is a tombstone now preserved in the Museum
of the Free Library, on which is given the figure of a lady
and a bilingual inscription. The first part of the inscription,
which is in Latin, is to this effect:—‘‘To the divine shades.
To Regina, a freedwoman and [his] wife, Barates a Palmyrene
[erected this monument. She was] by nation a Catuallaunian,
[and lived] thirty years.” Then follows a line inthe Palmyrene
_ language and character, which has been thus translated :—

‘Regina, freedwoman of Barate, alas!”

The lady seems to be
engaged in doing worsted work. See the woodcut opposite.

The remains of Bede’s church and monastery render a
visit to Jarrow very interesting.

Chester-le-Street is about seven miles to the south of
Newcastle. Its name indicates its Roman origin. The
church, churchyard, and deanery gardens stand within the
station. Numerous Roman remains have been found here.

An important series of stations stand upon the Roman
road called Watling Street. BreMENiuM, the modern High
Rochester, is the most northerly. It is about twenty-two
miles north of the Wall. The ramparts, ditches, and gates of
the station are easily discernible. Some fine pieces of masonry
remain. Extensive excavations were made here in 1852 by
his Grace the Duke of Northumberland, and, more recently,
by the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle. Important
discoveries were made, which are detailed in the Arch. 41,
N.S., Vol. I., p. 69, and in the Lapidarium Septentrionale.
P
226 RISINGHAM.

Although the excavations are now filled in, there is much in
the station and its vicinity to gratify the antiquary. The
earthen camps at Chew Green, on the Scottish side of the
boundary-line, are very curious, and the Watling Street
between Chew Green and BREMENIUM is in a better state of
preservation than in any other part. There is excellent
accommodation at the inn at Horsley, which is within a mile
of the station of BREMENIUM.

 

Otterburn and Elsdon are not far off. The Rectory at
Elsdon, a fortified building of the fourteenth century, and the
Moat Hill, an immense earth-work, probably of the early
British period, but afterwards occupied by the Romans, are
worthy of examination.

Following the Watling Street about seven miles south-
ward, we come to HaBiTaNcum, the modern Risingham. The
station is well defined. To the south of it is the rock on
BEWCASTLE. 399)

which the figure of the famous Rob of Risingham was sculp-
tured. The upper half of him has been blasted off; the lower
portion of his figure remains, as shown in the woodcut on the
opposite page. Risingham is not far from the Woodburn
station of the Wansbeck Valley Railway.

CorsTOPITUM, near Corbridge, is the next station on the
Watling Street. It has already been noticed. (See p. 74.)

Ebchester is the next. All its ramparts may be traced.
The parish church, built of Roman stones, stands within it.
The turnpike road crosses the station, probably on the line
of the via principals.

Lanchester is next in order. Its remains are very encour-
aging, though they were more so a few years ago.

Binchester is still further south, on the same line of road.
It is near Bishop Auckland. Within the station is the most
perfect hypocaust in the North of England. Unhappily it is
now closed.

Pierse Bridge is on the north bank of the river Tees. The
station is well defined. To most of these places there is
access by railway.

We now turn to the stations on the Maiden Way.

Bewcastle is difficult of access. A pedestrian can best
reach it by taking his course across the moors, from Carvoran
or from Gilsland, or it may be approached from Brampton.
The turnpike road is somewhat circuitous. The camp occupies
a platform slightly elevated above the rivulet Kirkbeck. It
departs from the usual form of Roman camps, being six-sided.
A ruined castle (Bueth’s Castle) and the famous obelisk give
additional interest to the place.

Whitley Castle is the modern name of another outpost,
which is situated as far south of the Wall as Bewcastle is
228 MARYPORT.

north of it. Itis near Alston, to which there is a branch line
from Haltwhistle, on the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway.
The form of the station is peculiar, being that of a trapezoid.
In addition to the ordinary walls, it is defended, on the
western side, which is the most exposed, by seven earthen
ramparts, and on the north by four. The Maiden Way
passes by the east side of the station. In the farm house here,
called the Castle Nook, is preserved an altar, which is carved
on all four sides. The inscription has been nearly obliterated,
but it has no doubt been dedicated to Apollo.

We now approach the western extremity of the line.
Nearly due north from Carlisle, and not far from the Scottish
frontier, is the station of Netherby. It is about a mile anda
half from Longtown. The outline of the station is nearly
obliterated. A number of very important inscribed and
sculptured stones, derived from this station, are preserved in
the Hall, the ancestral seat of the Grahams of Netherby.

Nearly due north from Bowness, and near Ecclefechan in
Dumfriesshire, is the station of Middleby. Its ramparts and
gateways are distinct. Some altars and other antiquities
found in it are preserved at Hoddam Castle.

There are some important stations south of the Wall.
About two miles south of Wigton, in Cumberland, is a large
and well-defined station, called Old Carlisle.

On the cliffs overhanging the modern town of Maryport,
are the manifest remains of a large Roman station. Its
position gives it a commanding view of the Solway Firth and
Irish Channel. The camp is a large one, and the lines of its
ramparts are very boldly developed. The sill of the eastern
gateway is deeply worn by the action of chariot-wheels. In
the neighbouring mansion of Nether Hall, the seat of Mrs.
THE BUILDER OF THE WALL. 229

Senhouse, is preserved a large and very important collection
of inscriptions and other antiquities found in the station here.

At Moresby, within a short distance of Whitehaven, are
the well-defined outlines of another Roman camp. It was
partially excavated by Lord Lonsdale in 1860, but little of
importance was found. The ramparts, and the walls of some
buildings in the interior, were found standing about a yard
high. A military way ran along the coast from this station,
by Maryport, to the extremity of the Wall at Bowness.

One object of the camps on the Cumbrian coast, no doubt,
was to exclude the “ Scots,’’ who at that time ‘‘ poured out
of Ireland.”

At a very short notice the garrisons of an extensive
frontier could be concentrated on any one point.

 

 

GHAP TER WV.

 

THE BUILDER OF THE WALL.

WE may now discuss the question, “When was the Wall
built and who was its builder?” or, to put it differently,
‘Are the several parts of the Wall one work, or were they
distinct structures, reared at different times, by different
persons ?”’

Gildas, the earliest British historian, gives us the follow-
ing account of its structure. After the departure of the
Romans, ‘“ The Britons, impatient at the assaults of the Scots
and Picts, their hostilities and dreadful oppressions, send
ambassadors to Rome with letters, entreating in piteous
terms the assistance of an armed band to protect them, and
offering loyal and ready submission to the authority of Rome,
230 THE BUILDER OF THE WALL.

if only they would expel their invading foes. A legion is
immediately sent, forgetting their past rebellion, and provided
sufficiently with arms.” We are further told that all of the
Picts and Scots were driven beyond the Borders, and the
humiliated natives rescued from the bloody slavery which
awaited them. But this was not enough:—“ By the advice of
their protectors, they now built a wall across the island from
one sea to the other, which, being manned by a proper force,
might be a terror to the foes whom it was intended to repel
and a protection to their friends whom it covered. But this
wall being of turf instead of stone, was of no use to that
foolish people, who had no head to guide them.” On the
departure of the Roman legion their former enemies descended
upon them, spread slaughter on every side, and overran the
whole country. ‘And now again they send suppliant ambas-
sadors, with their garments rent and their heads covered with
ashes, imploring assistance from the Romans.” The Romans
came once more to their help, and once more delivered them
from their foes “and, because they thought this also of
advantage to the people they were about to leave, they, with
the help of the miserable natives, built a wall different from
the former, by public and private contributions, and of the
same structure as walls generally, extending in a straight line
from sea to sea, between some cities, which, from fear of their
enemies, had there by chance been built. They then give
energetic counsel to the timorous natives, and .. . . then left
the island never to return.’

The Picts and Scots of course descended upon the country
with greater boldness than before. ‘To oppose them there
was placed on the heights a garrison equally slow to fight and
ill-adapted to run away .... Meanwhile the hooked weapons
THE BUILDER OF THE WALL. 231

of their enemies were not idle, and our wretched countrymen
were dragged from the wall and dashed against the ground.
Such premature death, however, painful as it was, saved them
from seeing the miserable sufferings of their brothers and
children.”

Gildas is a weak and wordy writer. Living as a monk at
Bangor in the sixth century, he would have little opportunity
of becoming acquainted with events which had occurred in
the North of England in the second and third centuries, or
even in the fifth.

Some writers have conceived that the Latin poet Claudian
gives countenance to the view that the Wall was built after
the departure of the Romans from Britain, and that it was
erected by order of Stilicho, the prime minister of the emperor
Honorius. The passage of Claudian which bears most strongly
upon this subject is the following :—

“Me quoque vicinis pereuntem gentibus, inquit,

Munivit Stilicho, totam cum Scotus Iernen

Movit, et infesto spumavit remige Tethys

Illius effectum curis, ne tela timerem

Scotica, ne Pictos tremerem, neu litore tuto

Prospicerem dubiis venturum Saxona ventis.”
Which literally translated will read thus :—“ [Britannia] said,
Stilicho defended me, also perishing from attack of the neigh-
bouring nations, when the Scot put in motion the whole of
Ierne, and the sea foamed with the hostile rower. It has
been effected by the care of that general that I should not fear
the weapons of the Scot, that I should not dread the Pict,
nor look out from the secure shore for the Saxon ready to
come with the veering winds.”

Claudian is not a writer of authority. The great object
of his verse was to flatter his patrons. ‘‘ Hence it is impossible
232 THE BUILDER OF THE WALL.

to feel any confidence in the fidelity of the narrator in regard
to those incidents not elsewhere recorded.’’*

Bede follows Gildas in his account of the works.

Let us now look at the probabilities of the case.

Is it likely that at the time when Rome was weakened by
being divided into an eastern and western empire, at a time,
too, when barbaric foes were making head against the rulers of
both, Rome should be. able once and again to despatch a
legion to this distant part of the empire, in order to relieve
the Britons from their distress?

Again, is it likely that a work of such extent as the Roman
Wall, and involving such a vast amount of labour, could be
so speedily executed as the words of Gildas would imply?

If a legion came to Britain in the fifth century, what
legion was it? The second and the twentieth legions came
into Britain in the time of Claudius, and the sixth in the time
of Hadrian. The twentieth had been withdrawn from Britain
before the compilation of the (Votztza, near the beginning of
the fifth century, and the other two retired not long afterwards
on the final abandonment of the island. All of these troops
have left inscriptions on the Wall, several of them dating
from the time of Hadrian. How is it that we have no trace
of any other legion than these, and none of a date subsequent
to the departure of these forces? None of the inscribed stones
left us by these legions or any others give indications of a
date so late as the time of Honorius. The latest inscription
found in Britain, of which the date can be ascertained, belongs
to the time of Crispus the son of Constantine the Great.
Crispus was put to death a.D. 326.

* Professor Ramsay, in Syith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography,
article Claudianus.
THE BUILDER OF THE WALL. 233

We proceed to consider another theory. Horsley and
some other writers think that the stations of the Wall were
erected by Agricola, and that the north agger of the Vallum
was also his work, it being the road by which intercourse was
kept up from station to station. The ditch of the Vallum,
and the aggers to the south of it, he ascribed to Hadrian; the
stone Wall, with its fosse and military way, he considered to
be the work of Severus.

Let us look at the probabilities of this theory. It is
certain that when Agricola advanced into Caledonia, with a
view to the conquest of that country, he left several forts in
his rear to prevent surprise, and to secure his retreat if
necessary; but is it likely that he would build a chain of
forts, four miles apart, all the way from the Tyne to the
Solway? Not only would it be quite unnecessary, but he
would not have time to do it in, for he seems only to have
rested a single winter in the north of England.

Again, can any one who has seen the north agger of the
Vallum, conceive that it has been intended for a military way?
It is a mere mound of earth and stone, and is destitute of
pavement. It is usually a little larger than the two southern
mounds, but in no important particular does it differ from
them. Further, it is a fact admitted on all hands, that all
the lines of the Vallum—the north agger, the fosse, the two
southern aggers run right across the country in lines perfectly
parallel with each other. Now, is it likely that if these lines
were constructed at different times by different engineers and
- for different purposes this would be the case? Most persons
traversing the Vallum from end to end will come to the con-
clusion that its several parts are the work of one man and of

one period.
234 THE BUILDER OF THE WALL.

Let us next consider how far the theory is tenable that the
Vallum was constructed by Hadrian, about A.D. 120, and that
Severus built the stone Wall about a.p. 208 or 210.

Severus, like Agricola, contemplated the conquest of Scot-
land. He would not build the Wall before he went upon his
northern expedition. When he returned from his three
years’ campaign. sick and sad, having lost fifty thousand men
in his enterprise, he would have neither the inclination to
enter upon so vast a work nor the power of doing so. He
died shortly after his return at York, and his sons, Caracalla
and Geta, beat a hasty retreat to Rome.

Let us look at the works themselves, and consider their
testimony. Ifthe Vallum had been an independent fortifica-
tion, erected with a view to operations against a northern foe,
it would have been drawn along the northern side of the
stations, or have been brought up to their northern ramparts;
the fact, however, is that it usually coalesces with their
southern ramparts, leaving the station itself, so far as it is
concerned, wholly exposed to the enemy.

Again, if the Vallum had been an independent fortification,
its track would have been along those portions of country
which would have enabled the military to operate with
greatest effect against a northern foe. This is by no means
the case. For miles together, the Vallum runs along low-
lying ground, which is commanded by considerable elevations
to the north of it. Generally speaking, the Vallum occupies
ground which is best for a defence against a southern foe, the
Wall, that which is best against a northern. This fact is
fully admitted by Horsley. He says, ‘‘It must be owned that
the southern prospect of Hadrian’s work [the Vallum] and
the defence on that side, is generally better than on the
THE BUILDER OF THE WALL. 235

north; whereas the northern prospect and defence have been
principally, or only taken care of in the Wall of Severus.’*
We must therefore either come to the conclusion that Hadrian
reared not only the Vallum as a means of preventing aggression
on the part of the subdued but discontented Britons to the south
of his line of military organization, but the Wall also as a line
of operation against his fierce and avowed enemies on the
north, or that his engineers were great blunderers, and offended
against the primary rule of castrametation as laid down by
Vegetius, ‘‘ That care should be taken to have no neighbour-
ing hill higher than the fortification, which, being seized by
the enemy, might be of ill consequence.”’

Further, it is impossible to conceive that the stations of
Borcovicus and A#sica would have been placed where they
are, unless the Wall had been intended to traverse the basaltic
heights which it now does. The Wall and these stations
must have been virtually contemporaneous, and parts of the
same great design. These stations are where they are in
order to accommodate the troops who manned the Wall in
these parts.

Lastly, the testimony of inscriptions is strongly in favour
of the theory which ascribes the Wall to Hadrian. Several
stones found upon the Wall mention the name of Hadrian,
none on the Wall itself bear the name of Severus. The mile-
castles are an integral part of the Wall. Now, in four of
these mile-castles slabs have been found, bearing in bold
characters the name of Hadrian and his propretor Aulus
Platorius Nepos. (See pp. 103, 154, 163, 167.) These mile-
castles are, the one immediately west of Housesteads, that op-
posite Hotbank, the one at Castle-Nick, and that at Cawfields.

* Horsley’s Britannia, p. 125.
236 THE BUILDER OF THE WALL.

They all occur in the wild, central portion of the mural tract,
where the Wall and its buildings have been less interfered with
than elsewhere. The probability is that similar inscriptions
have been attached to all the mile-castles along the Wall.
The name of Severus does not occur in any of them. It has
been objected that these stones are for the most part ina broken
condition, that they have been found among the debris on
the floor of the building, and that they may have been
brought from the Vallum as building stones. That they
should be found in a fractured condition, and amongst the
rubbish of the floor, is just what we would expect. Every
station on the Wall, every castle, every turret, bears marks
of having suffered more than once from the vengeance of a
successful foe; the garrison on driving out the enemy, did
not stop to clear out the whole of the rubbish, but making all
smooth, set to work to build their broken and battered walls.
It is not likely that these stones bearing the name of Hadrian
would be brought from the Vallum, for the Vallum happens
to be further from the four mile-castles where these stones
were found, than is usually the case.

Justice to the memory of Horsley requires that we should
state that all the inscriptions found upon the Wall bearing
the name of Hadrian have been discovered since his day, with
the exception of the fragment of one which he had not the
means of reading correctly.

If Hadrian built the Wall as wellas the Vallum, it is quite
evident that Severus, before setting out on his northern
expedition, repaired the Wall, and saw that the stations were
put into an efficient state of repair. We do not, as has been
already stated, find his name on any inscriptions found upon
the line of the Wall itself; but we find it inscribed upon some
THE BUILDER OF THE WALL. 2.37

quarries in Cumberland, and upon slabs found at Hexham,
Risingham, and at Old Carlisle. An inscription found at
Risingham, on the Watling Street, north of the Wall, is
suggestive. It gives him the honour of restoring the gate of
the station over which it was set, and the contiguous wall—
portam cum muris vetustate dilapsts ... restituit. This is
probably the whole history of Severus’ connection with the
Wall; he repaired it and set it in order. As being the last
person to have any dealings with it, it was called in the ages
immediately subsequent to him, the Wall of Severus; just
as the western world, which was discovered by Columbus,
took the name of a subsequent adventurer Amerigo Vespucci.

The reader will naturally ask, What say the ancient
writers upon the question at issue? If their statements are not
entirely satisfactory, they are at all events not inimical to the
view here taken that Hadrian built the Wall. Two historians
of note flourished during the reign of Severus—Dion Cassius
and Herodian—and they both treat of British affairs. Dion
Cassius twice mentions the Wall. Speaking of the state of
things in the time of Commodus, he says, ‘‘Some of the
nations within that island, having passed over the Wall
(ro te?yos) which divided them from the Roman stations, . ..
committed much devastation, &c.” (Monumenta Historica,
p. lix.) The other passage relates to the reign of Severus;
‘Among the Britons, the two greatest tribes are the Cale-
donians and the Meate . . . . The Meate dwell close to the
Wall, which divides the island into two parts; the Caledonians
beyond them.” (Mon. Aizs¢. p. 1x.) Herodian flourished about
the year 238. The only reference which he makes to the
Wall is the following—‘‘ His (Severus’s) army having passed
beyond the rivers and fortresses which defended the Roman
2.38 THE BUILDER OF THE WALL.

territory, there were frequent attacks and skirmishes, and
retreats on the side of the barbarians.”

These are the only passages that we have in the writings
of any contemporary author; they are consistent with the
idea that Hadrian built the Wall, but scarcely so with the
supposition that Severus did so.

Spartian is the next writer who mentions the subject. He
is not an author of much credit, and as he did not flourish
till the close of the third century, his testimony is of the less
value. Speaking of Hadrian, he says—‘‘ He sought Britain,
where he corrected many things, and first drew a Wall
(murum duxit) for eighty miles to separate the barbarians
and the Romans.” Writing of Severus he says, “‘ He secured
Britain, which is the chief glory of his reign, having drawn
a Wall across the island (muro per transversam insulam
ducte); whence he also received the name of Britannicus.”
(fon. Hist. p. xv.) Once more he mentions the Wall in
connection with Severus—“ After the Emperor had passed
the Wall or Vallum (fost murum aut vallum missum), and
was returning to the nearest station,” &c. (Mon. Hist. p. xv.)

Julius-Capitolinus, who flourished at the close of the third
century, in recording the erection of the Antonine Wall in
Scotland, says—‘‘ Antoninus carried on many wars by his
legate; for he conquered even the Britons by his legate,
Lollius Urbicus, having, after driving back the barbarians,
constructed another wall composed of turf, (alo muro ces-
piticio ducto). (Mon. Hist., p. Ixv.)

These are the chief passages bearing upon the subject, and
all that our space will admit of.

These quotations are not in themselves decisive but none
of them invalidate the testimony which the builders of the
THE BUILDER OF THE WALL. 239

Wall themselves have given us in the tablets of stone found
in the mile-castles. We must always bear in mind too that
Hadrian was a great builder, which Severus was not.

The first of modern writers to propound the view here
advocated was Stukeley, the Antiquary. His testimony as
given in his ‘“‘ /ter Boreale” is— In my judgment the true
intent both of Hadrian’s Vallum and Severus’s Wall was in
effect to make a camp extending across the kingdom; con-
sequently was fortified both ways, north and south.” ‘ Both
works were made at the same time, and by the same persons.”
The Rev. John Hodgson in the last volume which he lived to
write of his History of Northumberland enters at length upon
' the subject and successfully pleads the cause of Hadrian. To
him the present writer is under great obligations. The follow-
ing calmly written sentence has great force, especially when we .
consider the great attention he had given the subject; and
with it we conclude :—‘‘In the progress of the preceding inves-
tigations, I have gradually and slowly come to the conviction,
that the whole Barrier between the Tyne at SEGEDUNUM and
the Solway at Bowness, and consisting of the Vallum and the
_ Murus, with all the castella and towers of the latter, and
many of the stations on their line, were planned and executed
by Hadrian; and I have endeavoured to show that in this
whole there is unity of design, and a fitness for the general
purposes for which it was intended, which I think would not
have been accomplished if part of the Vallum had been done
by Agricola, the rest of it by Hadrian, and the Murus, with
its castella, towers, and military way by Severus.”

In taking leave of these two renowned men, Hadrian and
Severus, who for a time held the world in their grasp, it may
be allowable to advert to the testimony which they left behind
240 OBJECTS FOUND ON THE WALL.

them of the unsatisfactory nature of their vast possessions and
advantages. Hadrian, in his last sickness, is said to have
addressed his soul in these words :—
“ Animula, vagula, blandula
Hospes, comesque corporis
Quze nunc abibis in loca
Pallidula, rigida, nudula ?
Nec ut soles dabis joca.”
Lines which have been thus imitated by Prior—
“Poor little, pretty, fluttering thing,
Must we no longer live together ;
And dost thou prune thy trembling wing,
To take thy flight thou know’st not whither.
Thy humorous vein, thy pleasing folly,
Lies all neglected, all forgot ;
And pensive, wavering, melancholy,
Thou dread’st and hop’st thou know’st not what.”

Severus’ restless pursuit after happiness was equally vain.
His dying words are said to have been “ Omnia fui et nihil
expedit:’’ “I have tried everything, and found nothing of any
avail.”

 

 

CHAPTER Vir

THE ANTIQUITIES FOUND ON THE WALL.

Many specimens have been given in the course of the pre-
ceding pages of the most important class of antiquities found
upon the Wall—altars, dedicatory slabs, and centurial stones.
Gold coins are extremely rare; many silver pieces have been
found; the copper and brass coins that have been picked up
are for the most part very highly corroded. Finger rings of
OBJECTS FOUND ON THE WALL. 241

gold, silver, bronze, iron, and jet are occasionally dug up.
There is set in many of those rings an artificial stone, on
which some design is roughly but effectively cut. One of

 

the most recent acquisitions of this kind is one that was found
in the station of CituRNUM. On the stone has been carved
the representation of a chariot race in the Circus Maximus at

 

 

Rome. It is remarkable what a number of objects the artist

has been enabled to represent is so small a space, and so

correctly. The woodcut is drawn to four times the size of
Q

~
242 OBJECTS FOUND ON THE WALL.

the original. Fibulz or brooches, (see below) generally of
bronze, for the fastening of the woollen garments of the men,
as well as women, are also found.

Another object of recent discovery shows that the Romans
resident in Britain were not neglectful of the fine arts. The
woodcut represents a cameo, found at South Shields, and now
in possession of Mr. Robert Blair, of that town. The stone is
Indian sardonyx of two layers, the upper opaque white, the
lower a rich translucent brown. Thesubject isa bear. The

 

drawing here given is of the size of the original. Cameos ot
this description were mounted in gold and silver, and served
for the fastening the great military cloak upon the shoulder,
in the manner of the modern solitaire.

If the object shown in the woodcut, which is here given
of its full size, be as it appears, a vinegaret (Fig. 1), it shows
that the elegancies of life were not, even in those days of
fierce conflict, banished from the region of the Wall. If
modern locksmiths had but studied Roman antiquities, they
would have found a royal road to some of their modern
OBJECTS FOUND ON THE WALL. 243

inventions. Here is a key (Fig. 2) of elaborate form, in-
tended to be worn as a ring upon the finger; it is from the
museum at Chesters.

  

bigee2)

Pottery usually forms an abundant class of Roman relics
in every camp that has been long occupied. The Samian
ware is very beautiful, and very characteristic. It is some-
times embossed, as in the specimen here given, but more
frequently plain. This
species of ‘ware’ has
been imported from the
continent. Other kinds
are common, and were
probably of native manu-
facture. Amongst them
may be noticed the mor-

 

tarium, a strong shallow
dish with a spout (of which there is a specimen in the centre
of the next cut), which was used for gently bruising their food
in and was also occasionally thrust amongst the embers as a
stew-pan. Fragments of wine amphore are not uncommon.
Glass vessels are occasionally met with, but they are rare.
Window glass is also found.
244 CONCLUSION.

The writer would now withdraw—hoping that the student,
for whose benefit he has, not without considerable toil and
much anxiety penned these pages, may be strong of limb and

 

joyous of heart,—that the heavens may be propitious,—and
that every step of his journey may yield him knowledge,
and fit him the better to fulfil those high duties for the
discharge of which we have been called into existence.

 
 
 

 

pee st ye tee

_——

i,

1}

FN

Ht i

Mi

iM I
rh

 

 

 
POSTSCRIPT. 245

POSTSCRIPT.

In a former part of this work (p. 73) it was stated that
some buildings had been struck upon outside the station of
CiturNuM—close to the river. So far as the excavations
have proceeded (July, 1884) the following structures have
been revealed :—The most remarkable feature in the group of
buildings is the wall represented in the accompanying etching.
In its eastern face are seven recessed arches. Each niche is
three feet high, two feet wide, one foot six inches deep, and is
raised above the level of the floor eight inches. The wall in
which these arches occur is three feet thick, and its founda-
tions penetrate the soil for at least six feet below the surface.
In front of it is a court-yard about thirty feet wide and forty-
five feet long, paved with flags. This court is provided with
side walls, but there are no traces of a wall on the side next
the river. Passing out of this court-yard by a doorway in its
south wall we come into a passage, having a low wall on each
side of its main walls—intended perhaps for a seat. This
passage leads at its western extremity into a chamber, whose
walls stand fourteen courses of stone high. It is provided
with a hypocaust, and in its south wall is an air-course formed
of flue tiles for taking the hot air upwards. This chamber
leads into another on its north side, the masonry of which is
very good, and which also has been warmed by a hypocaust ;
and this again leads into another, the walls of which have, to
all appearance, been interfered with in times subsequent to
the Roman period. Returning to the passage which we have
just left we find a doorway in its south wall leading into a
chamber, which at present is thirty-four feet long by thirteen
feet and a half broad, but it seems at one time to have been
246 POSTSCRIPT.

divided into two. Its floor is of concrete, and underneath it
there is a passage, the upper part of which is coated with
soot. In excavating this chamber numerous slabs of concrete
of a peculiar form have been met with, the use of which it is
difficult to divine. In the lowest course of the east wall of
this chamber are two carved stones; on one of them a bird
is seen having over it the word NEILO(?), on the other a
mystic scene is represented. Communicating with this hall,
at its southern extremity, is a chamber which terminates in
a circular bay, in which is a splayed window, resembling those
in medizval castles. The width of the window is four feet ;
the upper part of it is wanting. The wall in which the
window occurs is twenty-two courses of stones high; but the
stones are small. With the exception of one of a similar
form in the forum of the Camp at South Shields, no other
example of a window has been found in any Roman structure
in the North of England.

The excavation of these remarkable buildings is being
proceeded with. At present no probable conjecture as to
their original use can be formed. Two fragments of inscribed
stones have been met with in the course of the excavations,
which are shown below :—

MatriBvs COM PER CL
PRO SALVTE DF LEG PR
AVR. SEVERI SEP NIL

both of which belong to the time of Severus Alexander.

Very few coins or ornaments or objects of personal use,
such as are commonly found in excavating dwellings that
have been long occupied by the Romans, have been met with
in these excavations, which leads to the supposition that these
halls have not been ordinary barracks, but have been devoted
to some public purpose.
pene HX.

Abutment of North Tyne Bridge, 68
erarium, Forum, Chesters, 89
#Esica, 168

Agricola, Calpurnius, 7

Gn. Julius, 6
Ala, 14
Allalee farm house, 170
Allectus, 9

Altar to Belatucader, 175

to Coventina, I15

—— tothe Genius of the Camp, 157

—— to Mithras, 54

to Neptune, 43

to Jupiter used as a building
stone, 132

—— to Jupiter, 142

Amboglanna, 182

Amphore, 243

Amphitheatre, Borcovicus, 126

Ancient gods, 104

Andernach mill-stones, 140

Antenociticus, altar to, 47

Antiquities found on the Wall, 240

Antoninus Pius, 7

—————- Pius, inscription to, 97

Apollo, altar to, 77

Aqueduct, 169

Arcadius, 10

Army, Roman, 13

Arthur, King, traditions of, 119

Astarte, altar to, 75

Astures, 2nd cohort, 168

 

 

 

Badge of Second Legion, Ior
Bagpiper, Roman, 211
Banks Head, 194

Barcombe hill, 31, 152
Batavians, Ist cohort of, 111
Beaumont, 217

Benwell Hill, 46

 

Beneficiarii, 14

Bewcastle, 227

Birdoswald, 182

Black Carts, turret at, 109

——-~ Dike, 121

Blake Chesters, 37

Bleatarn, 208

Bloody Gap, 166

Boadicea, 6

Boar, badge of Twentieth Legion,
159

Bonnyrig, 152

Borcovicus, 123, 127

Borcum Hill, 152

Bowness, 222

Bradley Hall, 153

Brampton, 212

Brand’s ‘“‘ History of Newcastle,” 3

Bremenium, 225

Bridge, abutment of, 68

of Hadrian, 42

‘“ Britannia Romana”? of Horsley, 2

Britannia, second brass coin of An-
tonius Pius, 116

British Camp, 160

Broomlee Lough, 121, 152

Brown Dikes, 117

Brunton, Wall and turret at, 66, 67

Builder of Wall, who? 229

Burgh-upon-Sands, 218

Burn-head farm house, 167

Busy Gap, 122

Byker Hill, 40

 

Ceesar Julius, lands in Britain, 4
Calpurnius Agricola, 7

Cameo, representation of a bear, 242
Camden’s Britannia, I

Camp, British, on Barcombe, 160
—-— of Ninth Legion, 177
248

Camps, small earthen, opposite mile-
castles, 63

Caracalla, 8

Caractacus, 5

Carausius, 9

Carlisle, 214

Carr Hill, 55

Carraw, I17

Carrawburgh, ITI

Carriers using Roman military way,
148

Carvoran, 174

Carville Hall, 39

Castlesteads, 203

Castle Nick, 162

Castle of Newcastle, 44

Catapult stones, 131

Cats’ Stairs, 163

Catuvellauni, tribe of, 201

Cawfield’s mile-castle, 166

Caw Gap, 165

Centurial stones, 64, 102

Centurions, 13

Chariot race on intaglio, 241

Chapel Hill, Housesteads, 141

Chapel House, 178

Chesterholm, 155

Chesters, 82

Chives, 171

Chollerford, 68

Cilurnum, 82 ‘

Circular chamber in Wall, 51

Citizenship, Roman, 85

Claudian, 231

Claudius visited Britain, 5

Coadley gate, 156

Coal wrought by the Romans, 47,

129
Cocklaw Tower, 68
Cockmount Hill farm house, 170
Coins, the latest found in Britain, 11
—-— Saxon, at Hexham, 81
— find of, on Barcombe, 160
Collectanea, Antiqua, 4
Commodus, 7
————— coin of, 146
Condercum, 46
Constantine the Great, 9
Constantius Chlorus, 9
Coome Crag, 31, 193

 

 

INDEX,

Corchester, 74

Cornovii, 43

Cousins’ House, 39
Coventina, figure of, 106
Crag Lough, 152, 154

Cross, Maltese, on stone, 136
Crypt, Hexham, 79

Curize, Chesters, 39

Cybele, figure of, 100

Dea Matres, 143, 188
Decuria, 14

Denton, 48

Dewley Hill, 50

Dibus veertibus, on altars, 104
Diploma of citizenship, 85
Down Hill, 57

Doorway of station, plan of, 137
Drawdikes Castle, 208
Drumburgh, 220
Dumnonians, tribe of, 175
Duplares, 14

Dykesfield, 219

Ear-drop, gold, 145
Earth Wall, 21
East Denton, 48

' Edward I. at Bradley Hall, 153

Elagabalus, 8, 98
Emeriti, 14

Erasures in tablets, 99
Errington Hill Head, 63

Fallowfield Fell, 31

Fashions, ancient restored, 100

Finger-ring, gold, 145

Fir-cone ornament, 98

Fisher’s Cross, 222

Fosse of Wall, 20

and Vallum on top of
Limestone Bank, 110

Forum of Cilurnum, 88

Funereal slab, 61

 

 

Galgacus, 6

Gammadion on altar, 190
Gap, village of, 178
Gateways, Chesters, 83
Genius of North Tyne, 165
Geta, 8
INDEX.

Geta’s name suppressed, 80

Giant’s Grave, 53

Gildas’ Account of Wall, 229

Gilsland, 179

Glass Window found in stations,
135

Glasson, p. 221

Glenwhelt, 175

Gordon, ‘Sandy of “The Anti-
quary,” 2
Gratian, 10

Gratus and Seleucus, Consuls, 98
Great Chesters, 168

Greek altar, 75

Greenlee Lough, 152

Grindon Lough, 121, 152

Habitancum, 227

Hadrian, 6

yeas slabs, 103, 153, 154, 158,
163, 167

Halton Chesters, 58

Shields, 57

Haltwhistle burn, 167

Hare Hill, 195

Harlow Hill, 55

Haughton Castle, 68

Headswood, 207

Heddon-on-the-Wall, 51

Hefenfield, Battle of, 65

Height above the sea of points of
the Wall, 15

Hexham,a Roman Post, 76

High Shields, 155

Hodgson’s History of Northumber-
land, 13

Honorius, 10

Horsley’s ‘‘ Britannia Romana,” 2

Theory of the Wall, 233

Houses in stations, dark and
gloomy, 135

Housesteads, 127

——— mile-castle, 149

Hunnum, 58

Hurtleton, 207

Hutton’s ‘History of the Roman
Wall,” 3

Hypocausts, 92

Hyssop Holme Well, 211

 

 

 

249

Irthington, 213
Inscription by the Second Legion,
60
- to Hadrian, 103
Itinerary of Antonine, 13

Jarrow, 37

Judzea Capta, coin, 214

Julius Agricola, 6

Jupiter and other gods, altar to, 95
Juvenile Scratchings, 104, 105

Key for Finger, 243

King’s Crag, 120

King Arthur, Traditions of, 119, 171
King Edward’s Monument, 219
Knag Burn, 123, 125

Lanercost, 195
Lapidarium Septentrionale, 4
Legate, 14
Legion the 2nd, 5
——— 6th, 6
gh eS 7th, 4
Se
————— oth, 4
Se

— 20th, 5, 158
Legions, their constitution, 13
Limestone Bank, 109
Lines to a Lady, 173
Lollius Urbicus, 7
Lyson’s Cumberland, 3

 

MacLauchlan’s Survey of Wall, 4
Magna, 174

Maiden Way, 29, 175
Marcellus Ulpius, 7

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, 7
Maryport, 228

Masonry of Wall, 30, 32
Matfen, 57

Maximinus, 8

Middleby, 228

Mile-castles, 26

Mile-castle, Housesteads, 149
Mile-stone, 155

Military road, modern, 52
aaa way, 28

Mithras, sun-god, 142, 158

 
250

Moresby, 229
Mortar, Roman, 34
Mucklebank Crag, 171

Naworth Castle, 198

Nepos Aulus Platorius, 6
Netherby, 228

Nether Denton, 193
Newburn, 50
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 42
Nine Nicks of Thirlwall, 172
Ninety-fathom Dyke, 49
North Tyne, Genius of, 105
Notitia, 11, 13

Numerus, 14

Officers of Army, 13
Old Carlisle, 228
Old Wall, 207

Old Walker, 40
Ostorius Scapula, §
Oswald, King, 64
Over Denton, 180
Oyster shells, 94

Palmyrene inscription, 225

Paulinus, Suetonius, 5

Peel Crag, 164

Petriana, 203

Petronius Urbicus, 96

Pigeon Crag, 201

Plane-trees Field, 66

Platform of bridge, North Tyne,
timber, 70

Platorius Nepos, Aulus, 6

Poltross Burn, 179

Pons A#lii, 42

Postcript, 245

Preetorium, Chesters, 91

Procolitia, 111

Proconsuls, 14

Propreetors, 14

Purse, skiff-shaped, 159

Pytheas of Marseilles, 4

Quarries , Roman, 31
Queen’s Crag, 120

Rapishaw Gap, 152
Red Barns, 41

 

INDEX.

Regina, slab to, 225
Ridley, John, 172

Rob of Risingham, 226
Rose Hill, 179

Round Hill, 55
Rutchester, 53

Ruts of wheels, 130, 228

Samian ware, 243

Sandysike, 201

Saxon Chronicle, 11

Scapula, Ostorius, 5

Scott’s lines to a Lady, 173
Segedunum, 36

Severus Alexander, inscription to, 98
— Lucius Septimius, 7, 80, 237
Sewingshields farm house, 118
Shield-on-the-Wall, 117, 165
Shields, South, camp at, 37
Speaking tubes, 30

Stanegate, 29, 169, 175
Stanwix, 210

Stations of the Wall, 11, 23, 24
Steel Rig, 161

Stilicho, 231

Stote’s Houses, 39

Streets of a station, 128
Stukeley’s Theory of Wall, 239
Suetonius Paulinus, 5

 

Temple restored, 98

outside Condercum, 47
Theodosius, 10

Thirlwall Castle, 175

Tomb-stone, Roman, at Hexham, 77
Tower Taye, 108

Turret at Black Carts, 108

at Brunton, 67

near Walltown, 173

27

Triermain Castle, 192

Trough in Housesteads station, 133
Tynemouth Priory, 37
Twice-brewed Inn, 161

 

 

 

 

Ulpius, Marcellus, 7
Urbicus, Lollius, 7

Valentinian, Io
Vallum, 21, 22
Vault, Chesters, 90

Victory, figure of, 101, 145
Villa, east of Borcovicus, 125
Vindobala, 53

Vindolana, 156

Vexillatio, 14

Walbottle, 49

Wall Houses, 56

Wall, general description of, 18
Wallend, 178

Wallsend, 36

Walltown, 171
——— Mill, 169
Walton, 201

 

INDEX. 251

Warburton’s “ Vallum Romanum,” 3

Warden Hill, camp on, 108

Watch Cross, 213 .

Water nymphs from well of Pro-
colitia, 114

Watling Street, 29, 62

Way, military, 28

Well at Procolitia, 113

Welton, 56

Wesley, John, on the Wall, 52

Whitley Castle, 227

Willimontswyke, 161

Willowford, 181

Winshields, 164

Written rocks, 31, 32

 

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