We are now arrived at the most perfect mile-castle remaining on the

line, generally named, from the farm-house to the north of it, the

Cawfields Castle. The gap which it guarded was denominated by the

peripatetic party of 1849, in commemoration of their visit, the

Pilgrims’-gap, a name which is beginning to be recognised by the

inhabitants of the neighbourhood.

[Sidenote: THE CAWFIELDS CASTELLUM.]

Until recently, the castellum was nearly covered with its own ruins.

Since the annexed drawing was taken, the rubbish has been entirely

removed from the inside, as well as the out.

The building is a parallelogram, but the corners at its lower side are

rounded off. It measures, inside, sixty-three feet from east to west,

and forty-nine feet from north to south. The great Wall forms its

northern side. The stones used in the construction of this building are

of the same size and character as those employed in the Wall itself; the

mortar has disappeared from between the courses of the facing-stones,

but portions of lime are seen in the grout of the interior. In the

western wall, nine courses of stones are standing. The side walls of the

castle have not been tied to the great Wall, but have been brought close

up to it, and the junction cemented with mortar.

[Illustration:

H. Burdon Richardson Delt. John Storey, Lith.

MILE-CASTLE NEAR CAW-FIELDS

Printed by W. Monkhouse York.

]

It is provided with a gateway of large dimensions, both on its northern

and southern side. In Horsley’s day, it was a matter of doubt whether

there was any opening through the Wall, excepting at the points where

the Watling-street and the Maiden-way crossed it; the disinterment of

this mile-castle sets the question at rest, and justifies us in

believing that the passages at Busy-gap, Rapishaw-gap, and other places,

are of Roman formation.

The gateways are formed of large slabs of rustic masonry, and to give

them full development, the walls are thicker here than in other parts.

The width of the wall at the lower gateway is nine feet three inches; at

the upper, which was, of course, the more exposed, ten feet six inches.

The opening of each gateway is ten feet. Two folding-doors have closed

the entrance, which, when thrown back, have fallen into recesses

prepared for them. Some of the pivot holes of the doors remain, which

exhibit a circular chafing, and are slightly tinged with the oxide of

iron. The security of the northern gateway did not entirely depend upon

the solidity of its masonry, or the strength of its doors. It opens upon

a sort of cliff, and the road from it does not lead directly away, but

runs for a little distance under the Wall, so as to give an opportunity

of more readily acting against an enemy.

The masonry of the whole building, but particularly of the gateways, is

peculiarly fresh. The lines that have been lightly chiselled on some of

the large rustic slabs of the gateways, in order to guide the workmen in

correctly placing those above which project less than than the others,

are still quite distinct. The stone is of a very durable nature, but it

is difficult to conceive how such slender markings, particularly when in

a horizontal position, could long resist the action of the weather. Were

we to judge only from the appearance of the masonry, we might be led to

suppose that the building had been enveloped in its own ruins not long

after its erection—perhaps in that dreadful irruption of the Caledonians

which brought Severus to this country—and that it was never afterwards

repaired.

In clearing out the interior of this building, no traces of party-walls,

of a substantial character at least, were found. It stands upon a slope

of about one foot in five, and, towards the hanging side of it, the

ground has been rendered horizontal by ‘made earth.’ Some fragments of

gray slate, pierced for roofing, were found among the rubbish; it is

therefore not improbable that a shed was laid against the southern wall

for the protection of the soldiers. At about the elevation which the

raised floor would reach, the Wall is, in one place, eaten away by the

action of fire. Here, probably, was the hearth round which the shivering

soldiers of the south clustered, to forget, in the recital of their

country’s tales, the fierce Caledonians who prowled around them, or the

still fiercer tempests, which all their valour and all their engineering

skill could not exclude from their dwellings. With the exception of such

sheds, or mere temporary erections, the whole building seems to have

been open above. Two large fragments of funereal slabs were found in the

castellum; one of them has been roughly shaped into a circular form, and

is reddened by fire; the letters which remain are distinct and well

formed. Has it been the hearth? The inscription has been erased from the

other. Another stone of still greater interest was found here,

furnishing additional [Illustration: Part of Slab to Hadrian] evidence

of the erection of the mile-castles by Hadrian. From the annexed cut, it

will at once be perceived that it is a duplicate of the inscription,

already described, in which the second legion endeavours to perpetuate

its name, and those of its emperor, Hadrian, and Aulus Platorius Nepos,

his legate. There cannot be a doubt that the castellum and the Wall were

built at the same time, and by the same parties; if Hadrian therefore

built the one, the other is erroneously ascribed to Severus.

Two small silver coins were found amongst the rubbish within the

castellum, one of Vespasian, the other of Marcus Aurelius. Although

their testimony is of a negative character, it will be observed, that it

is not inconsistent with the idea, that the castle was erected in the

time of Hadrian, and with the opinion already hazarded, that it was

dismantled at an early period. There were also found large pieces of

earthen-ware, chiefly of the coarser kinds, and fragments of millstones

formed of lava, which shew that culinary operations were carried on

within these cold, bare walls, and a solitary oyster-shell among the

rubbish bore testimony to the attachment of the Romans to this article

of luxury. The mile-castle is very nearly midway between the seas.

Besides the articles already enumerated, there were picked up within the

castellum some large glass beads of somewhat singular appearance, (Plate

VII., figs. 7, 8) and a fibula of brass. The whole of these relics are

safely deposited in the collection of antiquities at Chesters. The

interesting building is, happily, upon an estate belonging to John

Clayton, esq.; the hand of the spoiler will therefore not be allowed to

touch it.

About one hundred and fifty yards south of the castellum, is a spring of

excellent water. Near it, about midway between the Vallum and the Wall,

an altar to Apollo was lately discovered, which will afterwards be

described.

[Sidenote: TEMPORARY CAMP.]

A road leads from the vicinity of the mile-castle to the town of

Haltwhistle, in the sheltered valley of the Tyne, whither, should the

shades of evening be approaching, the way-worn antiquary may be glad to

bend his steps. At the point where the path joins the modern military

road, a Roman camp will be observed. On the sides which are most

exposed, double and triple lines of earth-works have been raised. The

rock on the western face of the ground where the camp stands, has been

wrought by the Romans for stones, and the camp has given them temporary

protection. It was here that the inscription on the face of the rock,

LEG. VI. V., was discovered in 1847, as already mentioned, page 81. The

quarry, not being required for the use of the district, was shortly

afterwards closed.

[Sidenote: HALTWHISTLE.]

The Castle-hill at Haltwhistle is, apparently, a diluvial deposit;

ramparts, still quite distinct, run round the margin of its summit.

Several peel-houses in the town and its vicinity, will interest the

antiquary.[113]

To those who cherish the religious views of the early Anglican

reformers, it will be interesting to remember, that this is the native

district of Nicholas Ridley, bishop and martyr. Willimoteswick-castle,

his reputed birth-place, is on the south bank of the Tyne, about three

miles below Haltwhistle.[114]

[Sidenote: HALTWHISTLE-BURN-HEAD.]

Rejoining the Wall, Haltwhistle-burn-head is the first object of

interest that we meet with in our course westward. The burn, to which

important reference will presently be made, is derived from the

overflowings of Greenlee-lough. Between its source, and the gap by which

it passes the ridge on which the Wall stands, it is called the Caw-burn;

below that point it bears the name of Haltwhistle-burn.

As the width of the defile, and the passage of the stream, render this a

weak point in the barrier, the two lines of fortification approach very

near to each other; they afterwards again diverge.

Westward of Burn-head farm-house, the fosse is boldly developed, but the

Wall is traceable only in the ruins of its foundation. As we proceed

onwards to Great Chesters, the foundations of a mile-castle which has

stood half to the north of the Wall, and half within it, may be, though

not without careful scrutiny, observed. The tower which formerly stood

at Portgate is the only other known example of a similar arrangement.

[Sidenote: GREAT CHESTERS.]

ÆSICA, or Great Chesters, is the tenth stationary camp on the line of

the Wall. Its superficial contents are 3 acres, 35 poles. The ramparts

and fosse are clearly defined. The southern gateway may be traced; it is

nearer the eastern than the western side. A double rampart of earth

seems to have given additional security to the western side, which, by

situation, is the weakest. A vaulted room in the centre of the camp

still answers very correctly to the description given of it in 1800 by

Dr. Lingard, (quoted by Hodgson, II. iii. 203.)

It is 6½ feet square, and 5 feet high. It was descended by steps, and

had, at the opposite end to its entrance, a sort of bench, raised on

mason work, 2½ feet wide and high, and covered with a slab of stone.

The roof consisted of six similar and contiguous arches of stone, each

15 inches broad. It had also one pillar. The floor had on it a great

quantity of ashes, was flagged, and on raising one of the stones, a

spring gushed out, which converted the vault into a well.

About one hundred and fifty yards south of the station, in a field which

has for years been furrowed by the plough, the remains of a building of

somewhat rude construction have just been discovered. Its floor,

consisting, for the most part, of the usual compost, is nearly a foot

thick. Further examination would probably disclose, in its vicinity, the

foundations of numerous suburban buildings.

An ancient road leads from the southern gateway of the station to the

great military way which ran from CILURNUM to MAGNA.

[Sidenote: ÆSICA.]

The station of ÆSICA, according to the Notitia, was about the year 430,

garrisoned by the _cohors prima Astorum_.[115] Horsley (writing in 1731)

observes, that no inscriptions had been found here mentioning the first

cohort of the Asti, or any other cohort. In 1761, however, an

inscription was dug up in this station, which is now deposited in the

museum at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, recording that in the reign of Alexander

Severus (200 years before the date of the Notitia) the ‘cohors secunda

Asturum’ rebuilt a granary here which had fallen into decay from

age—‘horreum vetustate conlabsum.’ It is to be observed that the

spelling of ‘Asturum’ is similar to that of the inscription at CILURNUM,

and we do not find that the _second_ cohort, either of the Asti or

Astures, is mentioned elsewhere as part of the Roman auxiliary forces in

Britain.

Near the eastern gateway of the station there has been lately dug up a

large mural tablet, shewn in the wood-cut, and bearing the following

inscription:

[Illustration:

IMP. CÆS. TRAI[A]N. HADRIA

NO AVG. P[ATRI] P[ATRIÆ].

To the emperor Cæsar Trajanus Hadria-

nus Augustus, the father of his country.

]

It is not probable that this slab has been derived from the Vallum,

which is upwards of a quarter of a mile from the station.[116] Why the

upper part of the tablet was left blank does not appear; enough,

however, has been inserted to support the theory, that Hadrian built the

Wall. Although several of the stations were probably built before the

Wall, and were quite independent of it, this can scarcely have been one

of them; its position seems to indicate that it was called into

existence in order to accommodate the mural garrison.

[Illustration:

_SURVEYED BY I. T. W. BELL 1860_ _A. Reid’s Lithog. 117

Pilgrim St. Newcastle._

Plan of

AN ANCIENT WATER COURSE EXTENDING FROM

SAUGHY BIG WASH POOL TO ÆSICA GREAT-CHESTERS.

]

[Sidenote: ETYMOLOGY OF ÆSICA.]

Celtic authorities all agree in tracing the name ÆSICA to a word

signifying _water_. The propriety of such an appellation does not at

first sight appear. The camp is far from either the eastern or western

sea; no lake is visible from its ramparts; the only water which is near

is the Haltwhistle-burn, a somewhat tiny stream. The low ground to the

south has a fenny aspect, but the station itself stands high and dry,

though upon a part of the mural ridge less elevated than usual. It is

not improbable that it may have derived its name from an aqueduct which

leads the water from the Greenlee-lough to the camp. As this

water-course has hitherto escaped the notice of writers upon the Wall,

and is a work of considerable interest, a somewhat detailed description

of it may be allowable.

THE WATER-COURSE AT ÆSICA.

The camp, though not greatly elevated, stands higher than the ground,

either north or south of it. The country to the north, though

generally flat, is studded with numerous hills of moderate elevation.

On the sides of some of these, about two-thirds up, may be noticed a

line that reminds the spectator of the parallel roads in Glenroy and

other places. On examination, it is found to be an artificial cutting,

made with evident reference to the maintenance of the water level. The

sections given in Plate XVI., shew its size and form. In some places

the water stands in it yet; in others a mass of peat fills it; and

very frequently, where the channel has been obliterated, its course is

shewn by a line of rushes, which grow on the damp ground. Wherever the

water-course can be distinctly discerned, it has been laid down in the

accompanying plan by a green line; where the traces of it are lost,

the line of the water level has been pursued, and is indicated by dots

of the same colour.

[Sidenote: THE WATER-COURSE.]

The whole length of the water-course is six miles; the distance in a

straight line is little more than two miles and a quarter. It takes

its commencement at the Saughy-rig-washpool, which is formed by the

occasional damming up of the Caw-burn, at about a mile from its exit

from the Greenlee-lough. In the immediate vicinity of the burn, the

side of the water-course next the rivulet which would be endangered by

the overflowing of the natural stream, is made up with flat stones put

in endwise, some of which still remain as shewn in the section at B,

in the plan. In its course to the station, in order at once to

preserve the level, and avoid the necessity of using forced

embankments or stone aqueducts, it is taken along the sides of the

moderately elevated hills which rise from the plain. So ingeniously is

this done, that once only has it been necessary to cross a valley by

an artificial mound of earth. This has been at a spot between the

third and fourth mile of the water-course, and which is still known in

the district by the name of Benks-bridge, though probably few of the

inhabitants are aware of the evident origin of the term. Some

ingenuity has been employed in fixing the site of this mound. It is

placed in that part of the valley where there is a slight descent on

each side of it; the drainage of the surface is thus provided for

without the use of a culvert; the surface water on the west, naturally

making for the Halt-whistle-burn, that on the east for the river

Tipalt. The mound which has taken the water-course across the valley

at Benks-bridge has entirely disappeared, having probably been

absorbed, in the course of ages, by the mossy ground on which it

stood. The whole fall of the water-course, reckoning from the

Wash-pool to the bottom of the arched chamber in the centre of the

station is thirty feet. This is distributed over its entire length in

the way shewn in the following table:—

ft. in. m. f. c. ft. in.

Commencing at A 0 0 At 2 6 0½ 11 10 fall

m. f. c. 2 7 5 E 14 4 ”

0 0 6 B 2 10 fall. 3 0 0 21 6 ”

0 1 5 3 10 ” 3 0 3 23 7 ”

0 2 4 3 7 ” 3 0 6 23 5 ”

0 3 4½ 3 7 ” 3 1 3 29 10 ”

0 4 9 3 6 ” 3 3 5 25 3 ”

0 6 0 3 7 ” 3 5 0 North end, 25 4 ”

Benks-bridge.

0 7 8½ 4 0 ” 3 5 0 South end, 29 7 ”

Do.

1 0 6½ 4 1½ ” 4 1 5 29 9 ”

1 1 3½ 3 7 ” 4 5 8 29 11 ”

1 3 2½ 3 6 ” 5 3 5½ 28 6 ”

1 4 0 C 3 10 ” 5 4 4 28 11 ”

2 0 5 5 9 ” 5 5 5 29 0 ”

2 1 6½ 11 4 ” 6 0 0 Present 30 4 ”

bottom of

arched

chamber in

centre of

station.

2 2 9½ D 11 2 ”

The nature of the ground threw considerable difficulties in the way of

the engineer, which accounts for the exceedingly tortuous nature of

the track pursued. It is indeed remarkable that without the aid of

accurate levelling instruments, any one could be so fully assured that

the requisite fall existed as to venture upon the task of its

formation. The workmen in the execution of the design probably drew

the water along with them as they proceeded. In one place, (G) they

seem to have made too free with the fall, and after proceeding for

some distance, (upwards of a furlong) have retraced their steps, and

constructed the cutting at a higher level. In crossing the valleys,

there is sometimes an unusual loss of fall. This is particularly the

case at the third mile (E) where there is a difference in the level of

the course, on the opposite side of the slack, of nearly ten feet.

This valley is permeated by a streamlet, and to take the water across

it at the level previously preserved, a stone aqueduct would have been

necessary. Appearances seem to indicate that an easier plan was

adopted. A dam being formed across the hanging side of the valley, the

water of the course was allowed to deliver itself freely into it, and

eventually rising after the manner of a mill-head to the level of the

course on the western side, pursued its way as before. That this plan

was the result of a change in the design of the architect seems

evident, for on the eastern side of the valley a second cutting (E)

has been made at a lower level than the other, apparently with the

view of leading the water more gradually to the lower point.

Unfortunately all traces of the water-course are lost for some

distance before approaching the station, so that it cannot be

ascertained where it entered it, if it did so at all.

That some important object was gained by the formation of so long a

cutting is undoubted, but what that object was is a perplexing

question. It can scarcely be supposed that the garrison at ÆSICA were

dependent for their daily supply of so important an article as water

upon an open cutting outside the Barrier. The feeblest of their foes

could, in an instant, cut off the provision. No doubt the country, for

some distance north of the Wall, was held in subjection by the Roman

forces, but when the Wall was built, and the station planned, such was

not the case. The station itself is not destitute of water. A well,

sunk some years ago, to the depth of twenty-four feet, yields to the

tenants of the farm-house an unfailing supply. I am disposed to think

that the water brought by the cutting was to give to the north rampart

of the station the advantage of a wet ditch. By throwing an embankment

across the depression on the north of the station, as it begins to

slope down to the bed of the Haltwhistle-burn, a considerable body of

water would lodge here. The station of ÆSICA was an important one. In

a particularly wild district, at an unusual distance from the great

lines of Roman communication, and close beside the great opening in

the mural ridge, by which the waters of the Forest of Lowes effect a

passage to the low grounds, it would be peculiarly exposed to the

attacks of the enemy. Although somewhat elevated above the ground

north of the Wall, it is not so much so as to be impregnable on that

quarter. A body of water collected here to keep the enemy at a still

greater distance might not be beneath the attention of the garrison.

Any temporary interference with the aqueduct would in this case be

productive of no inconvenience. The existence of a water-course on the

enemy’s side of the Wall at HUNNUM, which may have served a similar

purpose, has already been noticed. At BREMENIUM, High Rochester, some

guttered stones, covered with flags, were recently found lying in a

direction which led to the supposition, that they brought water from

some springs outside the station to the eastern moat.

In the Archæologia Æliana[117] is a plan and description of an ancient

aqueduct, which brought water from some distant rivulets to the

station at Lanchester. It consists of two branches, the longer of

which is nearly four miles in extent. Earthen embankments, to preserve

the level, are occasionally used in both of them, and, as they run

over sandy ground, the bottom of them has been puddled. The two lines,

after uniting, deliver their water into a reservoir outside the

station, near to its south-west corner. That the water of this

aqueduct cannot have been used for domestic purposes appears from what

Hodgson, the author of the paper, adds—‘Several wells have, from time

to time, been discovered here by labourers, on the outside of the

walls, and there is a plentiful spring at a short distance from where

the bath stood.’

Whatever may have been the object served, the water-course at ÆSICA is

a striking memorial of the skill, forethought, and industry of the

Roman garrisons. At the present day, in a highly civilized country,

and after the enjoyment of a long period of internal peace, we are but

beginning to see the necessity of bringing water from a distance into

our large towns. An individual garrison, exposed to all the hazards of

war, scrupled not, even fourteen or sixteen centuries ago, for some

purpose which they thought important, to cut a water-course six miles

long!

It is not a little remarkable too, that after the lapse of so long a

period, the cutting should be distinctly visible through so large a

portion of its track.

The view which is here taken of the object of the water-course is not

given because it is absolutely satisfactory, but because it presents

the fewest difficulties. We might have expected that if a miniature

lake had been formed on the north of the station, some remains of the

embankment necessary to confine its waters would appear; none are,

however, to be observed. The soil, on being turned up, has not the

black and sludgy aspect, which might be anticipated, but is of a

yellow hue; the bottom of a pond at Wall-mill, which was drained

within living memory, has, however, a precisely similar appearance.

To the south of Great Chesters is Wall-mill, near to which the burying

ground of the station seems to have been. Brand observed here several

remarkable barrows, and was shewn some of the graves which had been

opened. ‘They consisted,’ he tells us, ‘of side stones set down into the

earth, and covered at top with other larger stones.’ He took them to be

very early Christian sepulchres; this is more than doubtful. The

progress of agricultural improvement has obliterated all traces of the

cemetery; to one, however, of its sepulchral monuments reference will

afterwards be made.

The Romans systematically avoided intra-mural interments. The following

is one of the laws of the Twelve Tables:

HOMINEM MORTUUM IN URBE NE SEPELITO NEVE URITO.

It is remarkable that at so early a period of the history of the

republic, attention should have been turned to this subject, and that in

a digest of legislation so brief as that referred to, this should form

one of the enactments.

[Sidenote: COCK-MOUNT-HILL.]

Shortly after leaving ÆSICA, the crags again appear, and the Wall

ascends the heights. At Cock-mount-hill, about a quarter of a mile

forward, the Murus is four or five feet high. On the Ollalee ground, it

is six and seven feet high, and shews on the north, nine courses of

facing-stones; at another place, ten courses appear, and the height is

six feet four inches.[118] The earth-works are seen in the valley below,

covered with the whin, called by botanists, _Genista Anglica_. The

continuous sandstone ridge is deeply scarred with ancient quarries.[119]

Here the view is most extensive, Skiddaw, Crossfell, and other

celebrated summits, shewing themselves conspicuously on the south, and

Burnswark, a peculiar flat-topped eminence, and several more distant

hills, on the north. A truncated pyramid of stones and earth, used by

the ordnance surveyors,[120] has been left upon the elevated ridge,

called Mucklebank-crag.

[Sidenote: WALLTOWN-CRAGS.]

The next defile that we reach is a very wide one, and is denominated

Walltown crags. Walltown consists of a single house, which, though now

occupied by the tenant of the farm, bears marks of having formerly been

a place of strength, and the residence of persons of consideration.

Ridley the Martyr refers with much affection in his valedictory letter

to his brother who resided here:—

Farewell, my dearly beloved brother John Ridley of the Waltoune, and

you my gentle and loving sister, Elizabeth, whom, besides the natural

league of amity, your tender love, which you were said ever to bear

towards me above the rest of your brethren, doth bind me to love. My

mind was to have acknowledged this your loving affection, and to have

requited it with deeds, and not with words alone. Your daughter

Elizabeth I bid farewell, whom I love for the meek and gentle spirit

that God hath given her, which is a precious thing in the sight of

God.

In the crevices of the whin rock, near the house, chives grow

abundantly. The general opinion of the country is, that they are the

produce of plants cultivated by the Romans, who were much addicted to

the use of this and kindred vegetables. This belief is but a

modification of the more extended statements of our earliest writers on

the Wall. Sampson Erdeswicke in 1574, says—

The Skotts lyches, or surgeons, do yerely repayr to the sayd Roman

Wall next to thes, (Caer Vurron) to gether sundry herbs for surgery,

for that it is thought that the Romaynes there by had planted most

nedefull herbes for sundry purposes, but howsoever it was, these

herbes are fownd very wholesome.

Camden gives an account precisely similar.

On the eastern declivity of the gap, and near the line of the Wall, is a

well, which, in the district, is generally called king Arthur’s Well.

Brand, however, gives a different account of it:—

At Walltown, I saw the well wherein Paulinus is said to have baptized

king Ecfrid. It has evidently been enclosed, which indicates something

remarkable in so open and wild a country. Some wrought stones lay near

it. The water is very cool and fine.

The western ascent is steep. Hutton tells us he was sometimes obliged to

crawl on all fours. On the summit are evident traces of a mile-castle.

[Illustration: Nine-nicks of Thirlwall]

[Sidenote: NINE-NICKS OF THIRLWALL.]

We now enter upon a most interesting part of the line. The mural ridge,

divided by frequent breaks into as many isolated crags, is denominated

the Nine Nicks of Thirlwall. The view from the edge of the cliff is

extensive; stunted trees unite with the craggy character of the rock in

giving variety to the foreground. The Wall adheres, with tolerable

pertinacity, to the edge of the crags, and hence pursues a course that

is by no means direct. The accompanying wood-cut, which exhibits the

view looking eastwards, shews the zig-zag path which it adopts. Nearly

all our historians agree in stating that the most perfect specimens of

the Wall now remaining, are on Walltown crags. Certain it is that all

who have examined the other parts of the Wall with care, will visit this

with peculiar pleasure; but such are the varied features which each

section of the Barrier presents, and the consequent interest which each

excites, that it is difficult to determine which part, on the whole, is

most worthy of attention.

[Sidenote: WALLTOWN-CRAGS.]

For a considerable distance along the crags, the Wall is in excellent

preservation, presenting, on the north side, in several places, ten

courses of facing-stones, and in one, twelve. In the highest part it is

eight feet nine inches high, and nine feet thick. The military way may

in many places be seen, avoiding very dexterously the more abrupt

declivities of its rocky path.

At length the cliffs, which extend in a nearly unbroken series from

Sewingshields to Carvoran, sink into a plain, and the fertility and the

beauty of a well-cultivated country re-appear.

However pleasing the change, the traveller will not fail occasionally to

look back upon the road he has trod, and view with secret satisfaction

those bold and airy heights which so well symbolize the austere and

undaunted spirit of that great people whose works he is contemplating;

and when in after years, and it may be in some region far distant, the

image of them rises in his imagination, he will be ready to exclaim—

I feel the gales that from ye blow

A momentary bliss bestow.

[Sidenote: CARVORAN.]

MAGNA, the modern Carvoran, lies to the south both of the Vallum and

Wall. The nature of the ground in its neighbourhood seems to have

dictated this arrangement. The Wall occupies the edge of a strip of

elevated ground, the benefit of which, as a position of strength against

an enemy, it was desirable not to lose. Had the station been placed as

usual on the line of the Wall, the Vallum, in skirting its southern

rampart, would have been brought into a swamp that occupies the valley

between the high ground on which the Wall stands, and the somewhat

commanding site of the station. Both the lines of the Barrier have

therefore been allowed to pursue their parallel course nearly together,

and the station has been placed about two hundred and fifty yards within

the Wall, on a platform which is sufficiently defended on the south by

the declivity that slopes from it to the modern village of Greenhead.

It is not impossible, however, that MAGNA may have been one of

Agricola’s forts, the valley, through which the river Tipalt flows,

requiring the adoption of this method of resisting the aggressions of

the Caledonians.

The station has enclosed an area of four acres and a half. Having, a few

years ago, been brought under tillage, it is with difficulty that even

its outline can now be traced; some fragments of the north rampart,

however, remain, and the north fosse is distinct.[121]

[Sidenote: MAGNA.]

In the front of the farm-house which was erected in the year—long to be

remembered in these parts—1745, is built up a Roman altar, apparently

without an inscription. In the garden, and behind the dwelling, are

several other interesting memorials of Roman occupation. Amongst them

are broken capitals and fragments of columns, moulded coping-stones,

gutter-stones, and troughs, of various shapes and rude construction.

Several bases of columns lie scattered about, the prevailing form of

which is square, as shewn in Plate XIII., fig. 5; one of them is,

however, of circular shape, and is ornamented with a cable-pattern

moulding, resembling the Housesteads pedestal, given in Plate XI.[122]

There are also preserved here a small altar, in perfect preservation,

inscribed, D[E]O BE[L]ATVCADRO, some imperfect altars, several centurial

stones, a broken effigy of the bird of Jove, a pair of bronze shears

(figured of the full size on Plate XIV., fig. 1), evidently, from their

proportions, meant to be handled by fair fingers, fragments of Samian

ware and amphoræ, a few beads, and some implements of iron. Amongst the

articles disinterred from the stations on the line, there are generally

to be found numerous small flat circular implements, of which examples

are engraved (of the full size) on Plate XI. They vary from half-an-inch

to two inches in diameter, and have a circular hole in the centre. For

the most part they are composed of sherds of Samian ware, occasionally,

of jet, and of amber; at Carvoran are some of rude shape, made of

imperfectly burnt clay and shale. Various conjectures have been hazarded

respecting their use; the most probable is, that they were employed as

tallies, the small beads representing units, the large, tens. In the inn

at Glenwhelt are preserved a magnificent pair of stag’s horns, nearly

perfect, which were found in the well of the station; each antler is a

yard long. In the possession of the Society of Antiquaries,

Newcastle-upon-Tyne, are several valuable inscribed stones derived from

this station, which have been presented by Colonel Coulson of Blenkinsop

Hall.

_PLATE XIV._

[Illustration:

Lamp, Fibula, Shears, and Compasses

]

MAGNA, during the days of Roman occupation, must have been a place of

considerable importance. Not only did the road which leads directly from

CILURNUM, come up to it, but the Maiden-way, from Whitley Castle and the

south, ran through it, as is supposed, to Bewcastle and the other

stations north of the Wall, as shewn on the Map, Plate I.

Rejoining the lines of the Barrier, we find them about to descend into

the valley watered by the Tipalt, _insaniens flumen_, as Camden calls

it. The moat of the Wall is peculiarly well developed, that of the

Vallum, though less so, is still distinct; they are exactly parallel to

each other. Before the traveller forsakes his present elevation, it will

be well for him to mark the westward course of the objects of his study,

lest he lose their track in the swampy ground fronting Thirlwall Castle.

A valley of considerable extent stretches before him; on the north brow

of it, at the distance of about three miles, Gilsland Spa is situated;

the works of the Barrier stand upon its southern edge. The trough of the

north fosse may easily be discerned where it is intersected by the

railway.

It has been suggested that one of the objects contemplated by the Romans

in the construction of a double line of fortification, was the enclosure

of a space of ground which might be cultivated by the garrison, and

where their cattle might graze in security. If this had been the case,

the Wall would have been drawn along the northern margin of the wide and

fruitful valley of Gilsland, and the Vallum along its southern edge.

[Sidenote: THIRLWALL CASTLE.]

Thirlwall Castle is, as Hutchinson calls it, ‘a dark, melancholy

fortress’ of the middle age.[123] It was for many centuries previous to

its purchase by the ancestors of the earl of Carlisle, the residence of

an ancient Northumbrian family of the name of Thirlwall. Amongst the

witnesses examined on the occasion of the famous suit between the

families of Scrope and Grosvenor, for the right to bear the shield

‘azure, a bend or,’ which was opened at Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1385,

before king Richard II. in person, was John Thirlwall, an esquire of

Northumberland. The witness related what he had heard on the subject of

the dispute, from his father, who ‘died at the age of 145, and was when

he died the oldest esquire in all the North, and had been in arms in his

time sixty-nine years.’ Such is the language of the record of these

proceedings, preserved in the Tower of London.

This locality may also bring to the reader’s remembrance the lines in

Marmion—

The whiles a Northern harper rude

Chaunted a rhyme of deadly feud,

‘_How the fierce Thirlwalls, and Ridleys all,

Stout Willimondswick,

And Hardriding Dick,

And Hughie of Hawdon, and Will o’ the Wall,

Have set on Sir Albany Featherstonhaugh,

And taken his life at the Deadman’s-shaw_.’—

It is not generally known that this ‘ancient ditty,’ which sir Walter

Scott gives at length in a note as a genuine antique, is a modern

fabrication, the production of his correspondent Surtees, the historian

of Durham. The ballad, however, breathes the very spirit of the fierce

borderers, or it would not have deceived so accomplished an antiquary as

Scott.

The walls of the castle are nine feet thick, and are faced, both inside

and outside, with stones taken from the Roman Wall. It is a singular

thing to see a building, formed out of a prior structure, itself in

ruins, and becoming a prey to yet more modern depredators. The stones

remain meanwhile, whether in the primeval structure, or in those of

mediæval and recent date, as good as ever. Brand observes—

There is built up near the inn at Glenwhelt, a most barbarous,

gigantic head of stone, which is most certainly not Roman. It came

from Thirlwall Castle, and has no doubt belonged to some of those

hideous figures made use of anciently in such castles to frighten the

distant enemy.

Brand’s original still graces the vicinity of the inn, and its effigy,

this page. Its ugliness is no proof that it is not Roman; but, after

all, whose beauty would not be tarnished by exposure such as it has

endured?

[Illustration: Stone Effigy]

[Sidenote: CENTRAL REGION OF THE BARRIER.]

That portion of the line which lies between the Tipalt and the Irthing

is probably weaker than any other between Wallsend and Bowness. Not only

is the ground flat, but it is destitute of the aid which copious rivers

give it, both at its eastern and western extremities. Throughout the

whole of this district, both barriers keep close together. Except in the

neighbourhood of Rose-hill, no portion of the stone Wall remains in all

this tract.

The country between the Tipalt and the Solway is characterized by a

number of diluvial hills, not unfrequently resembling barrows. To the

south of Brampton, they are so numerous and so nearly uniform in size

and shape as to suggest to the playful imagination the idea of their

being gigantic mole-hills. The occurrence of these in the line of the

Barrier must have caused some trouble to the engineer of the Wall. The

difficulty, however, was overcome. The first hill of this description

that we meet with, occurs immediately westward of the point where the

Newcastle and Carlisle railroad crosses the mural line. The Wall

unhesitatingly ascends it on the one side, and descends it on the other,

though it would scarcely have described a larger arc had it gone round

its base.

[Sidenote: VALLUM AT WALLEND.]

About half-a-mile onward is a small village, called Wallend. The

earth-works are, for a short distance, in an admirable state of

preservation; nowhere else is the Vallum seen to greater advantage.

A peculiarity in the relative position of the Wall and Vallum will here

force itself upon the attention. The Wall, which, for the larger portion

of its course, stands considerably above the Vallum, now takes a lower

level, and for nearly the whole space between this point and the

Irthing, is completely commanded by the earthen ramparts. The following

diagram will give a general idea of the country, and of the mutual

relation between the two structures. Had the Wall (A) and Vallum (B)

been independent undertakings, this arrangement would not have been

adopted. The earth-works ascribed to Hadrian having been found

inefficient, would have been relentlessly cut in upon by the officers of

Severus, who would doubtless have planted the Wall in those positions

which were naturally the strongest, irrespective of any prior work. As

it is, to give the Vallum the advantage of an eminence in resisting a

southern foe, the Wall relinquishes a portion of the acclivity which it

might with advantage have taken.

[Illustration: Section of Works near Wallend]

[Sidenote: CHAPEL HOUSE.]

Chapel-house and Fowl-town, two contiguous farm-houses, are next met

with in our course. Chapel-house is probably the site of a mile-castle,

it having been constructed out of the materials of a [Illustration: Slab

to Hadrian, by Leg. XX. V. V.] prior building, which boasted walls of

great thickness. An inscribed stone, of which the woodcut is a copy, is

to be seen lying in an out-house, from the walls of which it has

recently been taken. The letters on one end have been worn away. The

inscription may be read—

NERVÆ N[EPOTI]

TRA[IANO] HADRIA[NO]

AVG[VSTO]

LEG. XX. VV.

To the grandson of Nerva,

Trajanus Hadrianus

Augustus,

The twentieth legion, valiant and victorious.

This is another testimony which recent research has brought to light, of

the part which Hadrian and the twentieth legion bore in the

construction, both of the Wall and the Vallum.

At the village of Gap, the Vallum, which is very distinct, stands

considerably above the Wall. The place is said to take its name from the

Wall having been broken through here at an early period.

Rose-hill is a hill no longer. The top of the diluvial mount was thrown

into the surrounding hollow, in order to afford a site for the railway

station, that has assumed the name of the summit which it displaced.

[Sidenote: MUMP’S HALL.]

In the immediate neighbourhood of Rose-hill is Mump’s-hall, formerly the

residence of the Meg Merrilies of sir Walter Scott:—

'Mump’s-hall,' says Hodgson, 'according to tradition, was once a

public-house, kept by a notorious person of the name of Meg Teasdale,

who drugged to death such of her guests as had money. In Guy Mannering

she glares in the horrid character of Meg Merrilies. But certainly all

this tradition is deeply coloured with unpardonable slander against

the ancient and respectable family of the Teasdales of Mump’s-hall.'

Sir Walter Scott was in early life an occasional resident at Gilsland.

The broad, flat stone is pointed out, a little above the Shaws Hotel,

on which tradition asserts he was standing when he declared to the

subsequent lady Scott the emotions which agitated his bosom. He had

therefore the opportunity of becoming acquainted with the district and

its traditions.

The small thatched cottage, opposite to the road leading from the

railway station, is usually pointed out as the residence of Meg, but

it is not the one which was occupied by her. She lived in the larger

building beyond, round which the road bends at a right angle. The

front of the house is modernized, but the back of it still retains the

character of a border fortress. My information upon this and other

subjects respecting her, has been derived from an individual residing

in the district, whose mother knew Meg well, and visited her upon her

death-bed. Although the heroine of Mump’s-hall was cast in a mould

somewhat suited to the state of the district at that time, she was not

the fiend-like woman that she is generally represented. One murder,

however, the tradition of the country lays to her charge. A pedlar

having called upon Meg’s brother, who kept a school at Long Byers

(mid-way between Rose-hill and Greenhead), accidentally presented to

him a box filled with guineas instead of his snuff-box. The traveller

was requested to convey a note to Mump’s-hall, which he did, but was

not seen alive afterwards. Suspicion arising, the house was searched,

and the body found concealed among hay in the barn; but the parties

who made the discovery durst not reveal it, for fear of injury to

themselves and families. About six weeks afterwards the body was found

lying upon the moors. My informant added to his narrative—‘probably

the laws were not so active in those days as at present, for these

things could not escape now.’

When Meg was upon her death-bed, the curiosity of the neighbourhood

was excited, and many of her cronies visited her, in hopes of hearing

her disburthen her conscience respecting the death of the pedlar. They

were, however, disappointed; for whenever she attempted to speak upon

the subject, some one of the family, who always took care to be

present, placed a hand upon her mouth.

Upper Denton church is hard by. It is evidently a very ancient

building, and possibly exhibits some Saxon work. It is one of the

smallest churches in England, and is as damp and mouldy as felons’

dungeons used to be. Meg and several of the members of her family lie

in the church-yard. Four tombstones, ranged in a row, mark their

resting places.

[Sidenote: POLTROSS-BURN.]

The works of the Barrier are crossed by the railway a little to the west

of Rose-hill station. The Wall here exhibits three or four courses of

facing-stones. A little beyond this point, the lines, still clearly

defined, cross the stream called Poltross-burn, which divides the

counties of Northumberland and Cumberland. The gorge in which the stream

flows is deep and well-wooded. There are no remains of a bridge in the

valley, but traces of a mile-castle, by which the defile has been

guarded, are distinct upon its western bank. Before reaching the

Irthing, at a farm-house called Willowford, the site of another

castellum may be discerned. From this point to the water’s edge, the

Wall and Vallum have probably gone in close companionship; but this is a

matter which cannot now be ascertained. The western bank of the river is

lofty and precipitous. Consisting, as it does, chiefly of diluvial soil

and gravel, on which the water of the stream below is continually

acting, it is not surprising that all traces of the Wall, if it ever

ascended the height, have long since disappeared. On the very brink of

the precipice above, the remains of the Wall and fosse re-appear. The

faithful followers of the Wall, who have closely pursued its track from

the eastern sea, will not be willing to desert their companion, even for

a brief space, at this point. The cliff, however, will test their

constancy. Hutton had his troubles; he says, somewhat magniloquently—

[Sidenote: PASSAGE OF THE IRTHING.]

I had this river to cross, and this mountain to ascend, but I did not

know how to perform either. I effected a passage over the river by the

assistance of stones as large as myself, sometimes in and sometimes

out; but, with difficulty, reached the summit of the precipice by a

zig-zag line, through the brambles, with a few scratches.

The latest historian of the Wall attempted to ascend the bank in a right

line; he has given us the result of his experience, as a warning to

others.

None of the party completely succeeded in ascending the precipitous

bank by the course of the Wall. The attempt is very dangerous, and, as

success accomplishes nothing, should never be tried by those whose

life and existence are in any way useful.

On the top of the cliff is a mile-castle. To the north, two conical

summits appear, which strongly resemble barrows. We now approach

Birdoswald, the twelfth station on the line.

[Sidenote: AMBOGLANNA.]

AMBOGLANNA, the Birdoswald of the present day, is an interesting

station. [Illustration: alt=Altar to Jupiter, by Coh. I. Ael. Dac.]

Numerous inscriptions have been found within its walls, mentioning the

first cohort of the Dacians, surnamed the Ælian, which, according to the

Notitia, was quartered at AMBOGLANNA. One of them, in the possession of

Robert Bell, esq., of the Nook, Irthington, is here figured.

I[OVI] O[PTIMO] M[AXIMO]

ET N[VMINIBVS] AVG[VSTI]

COH[ORS] PRIMA AEL[IA]

DAC[ORVM] CVI PR[ÆEST]

GALLICVS

TR[I]B[VNVS]

To Jupiter, the best and greatest,

And the deities of Augustus,

The first cohort (the Ælian)

Of the Dacians, commanded by

Gallicus,

The Tribune.

The name AMBOGLANNA seems to signify, the circling glen. The former part

of the word, meaning _about_, is met with in most of the western

languages; as the Welsh _am_, the Irish and Gaelic _umain_, the Saxon

_ymb_ or _embe_, the Greek αμφι, and the Latin (in compound words)

_amb_. _Glanna_ is obviously synonymous with the modern _glen_, a term

of very frequent use in the land of the Gäel.

Here the name has been most appropriately bestowed. The camp stands upon

the precipitous edge of a tongue of land, which, on every side except

the west, is severed from the adjoining ground by deep scars. Hodgson

describes the spot with great accuracy—

The Irthing, in front of the station, makes two grand and sweeping

turns, under red scars, which have rich flat grounds before them,

deeply fringed along the margin of the river with a border of alder,

heckberry (_Prunus Padus_, or bird-cherry,) and other upland trees.

When the banks are not steep, they are deeply wooded: and diluvial

hills, rounded into vast and beautiful varieties of form, present to

the eye rich sylvan and cultivated scenes, while their component

parts, as the river passes their sides, expose to the geologist

rounded specimens of the different kinds of rocks to be found in the

plains of Cumberland, and the high mountains that lie on each side of

the Firth of the Solway.

[Sidenote: BIRDOSWALD.]

The modern name presents greater difficulties than the ancient one. Had

king Oswald been a denizen of these parts, which he was not, we might

have supposed that Birdoswald was a _burgh_ of his. The name is one of

old standing, but the etymology of it can only be a subject of

conjecture.[124]

The station contains an area of between five and six acres. The walls

are in an unusually good state of preservation; the southern rampart

shewing eight courses of facing-stones. Camden’s statement is still true

to the letter;—‘it has been surrounded with a stately wall of

free-stone, about five feet thick, as may be fairly measured at this

day.’ The moat which surrounded the wall may also be satisfactorily

traced.

Although the Wall adapts itself to the north rampart of the fort, the

station is entirely independent of the Wall (see the wood-cut _p._ 84),

and must have been built before it. Probably the first step taken in the

construction of the Barrier, in every case, was the erection of the

stationary camps.

The Vallum cannot now be traced in the immediate vicinity of the

station; but Gordon tells us, that it came close up to the southern

rampart.

[Illustration: West Gateway, Birdoswald, Amboglanna]

The southern gateway may be discerned, though it is encumbered with

rubbish; the eastern and western have recently been divested of much of

the matter that has for ages obscured them. The wood-cut, representing

the western portal, as seen from the inside, exhibits the pivot-holes of

the gates, and the ruts worn by the chariots or wagons of the Romans.

The ruts are nearly four feet two inches apart, the precise gauge of the

chariot marks in the east gateway at Housesteads. The more perfect of

the pivot-holes exhibits a sort of spiral grooving, which seems to have

been formed with a view of rendering the gate self-closing. The aperture

in the sill of the doorway, near the lower jamb, has been made

designedly, as a similar vacuity occurs in the eastern portal; perhaps

the object of it has been to allow of the passage of the surface water

from the station.

The whole area of the camp is marked with the lines of streets and the

ruins of buildings. The present farm-house occupies, according to

Horsley, the site of the pretorium. On the east side of the southern

gateway are the remains of a kiln for drying corn; the stones are

reddened by fire. Near the eastern gateway a building, furnished with a

hypocaust, has been partially excavated. From its ruins a sculptured

figure, draped, and in a sitting posture, has recently been taken. The

head and other highly relieved parts were found to have been broken off:

it remains on the ground.

[Illustration: Mural Stone, Leg. VI. V. F.]

A large altar with an inscription, which is in a great measure

illegible, lies within the walls of the camp. A stone broken in two

pieces, and which is preserved on the spot, bears testimony to the

presence of the sixth legion here; it may be read, LEGIO SEXTA VICTRIX

FIDELIS—The Sixth legion the Victorious and Faithful.

[Sidenote: AMBOGLANNA.]

The boldness of the lettering, and the depth and clearness of the

cutting, give reason to suppose that the inscription is of early date.

Besides these, several centurial stones, mill-stones, and coping-stones,

as well as portions of tile, and fragments of pottery, are preserved in

the farm-house, and yield to the visitor indubitable proofs of Roman

occupation. In draining the field to the west of the station, many small

altars, without inscriptions, have been found, which were remorselessly

broken, and used with other materials for filling the drains. Strange,

that altars before which Romans of ‘fierce countenance’ have bowed,

should be put to such a use!

Imperious Cæsar, dead, and turned to clay,

Might stop a hole to keep the wind away:

O, that the earth which kept the world in awe,

Should patch a wall to expel the winter’s flaw!

On the east of the station are extensive and well-defined marks of

suburban buildings.

The accompanying lithograph is taken from the western side of the

station. It well represents the chilly and somewhat forbidding aspect of

this now nearly deserted place.

[Illustration:

H. Burdon Richardson, Delt. John Storey, Lith.

BIRDOSWALD, WESTERN RAMPART.

Printed by W. Monkhouse, York.

]

Westward of Birdoswald, the Wall is in an unusually good state of

preservation. Taking into account, not only the height, but the length

of the fragment, and the completeness of the facing-stones on both

sides, it may be pronounced the finest specimen of the great structure

that now remains. Some portions of it, however, are beginning to exhibit

evident signs of decrepitude and decay.

[Illustration: Section of Works, Wallbours]

Within a short mile of the station, the remains of a castellum appear.

Here the Vallum exhibits the unusual feature of a second ditch, as is

represented in the subjoined section.[125] Hodgson says—

Through a bog, about a mile west of AMBOGLANNA, the Vallum has had two

ditches, probably intended for draining the military road that ran

between them. They are still very distinct.

A careful examination of the spot induces me to think, that the

additional fortification was intended to give increased security to a

defile, which, running from the vicinity of the Wall to the bed of the

Irthing below, renders the works in this part more than usually liable

to attack from the south.

[Sidenote: THE WORKS AT WALLBOURS.]

At the western extremity of this extra ditch, the Wall and Vallum come

into close proximity; the space between them was, with the exception of

room for the military way, occupied by the foundations of a castellum.

The place bears the name of Wallbours.

The Barrier next crosses a small hill called the Pike. The Vallum is a

little below the summit of the eminence, on its southern side; if this

fortification had been formed irrespective of the Wall, it would

doubtless have been drawn along the top of the height. The same remark

applies to Hare-hill.

The view from the Pike, of the flat and fertile vale below is truly

magnificent.

[Sidenote: THE WALL AT HARE-HILL.]

Soon after passing Banks-burn, we arrive at Hare-hill, where a portion

of the Wall stands nine feet ten inches in height. This is the highest

piece of the Wall that is anywhere to be met with; but, owing to the

smallness of the fragment, and to its being entirely deprived of

facing-stones, it is less imposing than it would otherwise be. Hutton’s

enthusiasm, however, never fails him; his remark at Hare-hill is—

I viewed this relick with admiration: I saw no part higher.

At this point of our progress, the antiquary may be disposed to turn

aside for a little, to view two relics of the mediæval period of great

interest—Lanercost Priory and Naworth Castle. The priory is a beautiful

specimen of the early English style, and bears architectural evidence of

having been built somewhere between the years 1155 and 1160. Besides the

church, partially in ruins and partially in repair, the refectory and

some portions of the monastic buildings remain. The whole structure has

been formed of stones taken from the Roman Wall. In addition to some

altars preserved in the crypt of the church, several centurial and

carved stones are to be seen in the walls of the adjacent buildings.

[Sidenote: NAWORTH CASTLE.]

Naworth Castle, though still an interesting building, is destitute of

some of the attractions which it once possessed. The Roman altars and

other primeval monuments collected by lord William Howard, have long

been dispersed, and a fire in 1844, almost entirely destroyed the

baronial residence of that renowned border-chief, which, until that

event, remained nearly in the state in which it was in his own day. The

dungeons, however, in which the daring moss-troopers were immured,

remain, and two magnificent oak trees near the grand entrance still

extend those brawny arms on which, according to tradition, lord William

suspended the victims of his lawless power. The load of twenty gasping

wretches would not materially weigh down the larger boughs of these fine

trees. That the government of lord William—the Belted Will of Border

tales—was of a vigorous character, there cannot be a doubt; but that he

used his power capriciously, cruelly, or tyrannically, there is no

evidence. Lord William seems to have sent the most desperate of his

prisoners to Newcastle-upon-Tyne or Carlisle. They would probably have

as good a chance for life at Belted Will’s tribunal as at the assizes of

either of these towns, if we may judge of the state of feeling towards

them from North’s Life of Lord-keeper Guildford. His lordship, then sir

Francis North, came to Newcastle, on the northern circuit, in 1676. His

biographer says—

The country is yet very sharp upon thieves; and a violent suspicion,

there, is next to conviction. When his lordship held the assizes at

Newcastle, there was one Mungo Noble, supposed to be a great thief,

brought to trial before his lordship, upon four several indictments;

and his lordship was so much a south-country judge as not to think any

of them well proved. One was for stealing a horse of a person unknown,

and the evidence amounted to no more than that a horse was seen

feeding upon the heath near his shiel, and none could tell who was the

owner of it. In short the man escaped, much to the regret of divers

gentlemen, who _thought he deserved_ to be hanged, and that was

enough. While the judge at the trial discoursed of the evidence and

its defects, a Scotch gentleman upon the bench, who was a border

commissioner, made a long neck towards the judge and said—'My laird,

send him to huzz, and ye’s ne'er see him mair.'

On rejoining the Barrier, we find, that though the line of the Wall, in

its course to the Eden, may yet be distinctly discerned, in very few

instances any portion of the masonry remains.

[Sidenote: MONEY-HOLES.]

The site of a mile-castle nearly opposite Lanercost Priory, is termed

Money-holes, in consequence of the efforts made to discover some

treasure supposed to be concealed in it. At Crag-hill the north ditch is

very bold. At Hayton-gate, a drove road, probably an ancient pass,

crosses the line of the Wall from north to south. At Randilands the

north fosse is still well developed. After crossing the rivulet, called

Burtholme-beck, a piece of the Wall is seen, which stands about 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 and stunted specimens of the alder and oak. The

Vallum is about seventy yards to the south of the Wall.

Approaching Low-wall,[126] something like an out-work appears on the

north side of the Barrier. Has there been a double line of wall here?

After crossing a road, denominated Friar-wain-gate, which leads from

Bewcastle to Lanercost, we reach another house called Wall; Roman masons

might claim many of the stones as theirs. At How-gill is a cottage,

where probably a mile-castle stood to defend the ‘beck,’ In the modern

structure may be observed stones broached in the Roman fashion, and

others variously tooled by Roman hands.

The farm-house of Dove-cote is on the eastern bank of the King-water.

The fosse and the foundation of the Murus are seen crossing the hill on

the northern side of the summit: the Vallum, which is indistinctly

marked, probably took a corresponding position on the southern side.

[Sidenote: WALTON.]

The village of Walton, by its very name, bears testimony to its

relationship with the great Barrier-line. Many of the stones of the Wall

may be detected in its cottages. One of its dwellings furnishes a good

specimen of the mode of cottage-building formerly prevalent in the

North. The rafters of the house, which consist of large and

rudely-shaped pieces of timber, instead of resting upon the walls, come

down to the ground; they are tied together near the top by a transverse

beam, and the mud walls, as well as the thatched roof, partially depend

upon them for support. Horsley says, 'at Wal-town there seems to have

been some fortification or encampment. One side of the square is yet

very visible, and the ramparts pretty large, about eighty yards long. It

is high ground and dry. Perhaps it has been a summer encampment or

exploratory post for the garrison at Cambeck.'

At Sandysike farm-house the foundation of the Wall as well as abundant

traces of mural vicinage are to be seen. The barn consists of Roman

stones marked with the diamond-broaching. Several sculptured stones are

built up in the garden-wall; amongst them is one which displays the

thunderbolt of Jove; the wall-fruit peacefully rests upon it. Another,

exhibiting the wheel of Nemesis, the emblem of swift justice, and which

no doubt once formed part of an altar to Jupiter, is built into a

pig-sty. A mill-stone of peculiar shape, and closely resembling one at

Naworth Castle, is preserved on the grounds; it is probably Roman.

[Sidenote: PETRIANA.]

PETRIANA, the Cambeck-fort of Horsley, and the Castle-steads of the

locality, is to the south of the Vallum and Wall. A deep scar separates

it from the lines of the Barrier. The site of the station may be

recognised, but it is long since its ramparts were overthrown, and the

ruined buildings of the interior entirely obliterated.

Its rich soil and sunny exposure recommended it to the father of the

present proprietor of Walton-house as a fitting site for a garden, and

such it is at the present day. It has yielded many altars and[Sidenote:

CAMBECK-FORT.] sculptured stones, some of which are still preserved upon

the spot, and from time to time the spade still reveals to the

numismatist, treasures, over the loss of which, Romans in ancient days

may have mourned, though not in a degree proportioned to their present

value. Wood-cuts of three of the coins which have been found at

Castlesteads are here introduced, as they commemorate the family of a

man whose name is intimately connected with the Wall. They are in the

cabinet of Robert Bell, esq., of Irthington.

[Illustration: Coin of Severus, Julia]

JULIA, the second wife of Severus, and the mother of Caracalla and

Geta. Severus, who was a believer in astrology, on the death of his

first wife, looked out for another whose nativity was favourable to

the ambitious views which he at that time entertained. He heard of a

woman in Syria whose destiny it was to marry a king, and accordingly

solicited and obtained in marriage Julia Domna.

[Illustration: Coin of Caracalla]

BASSIANUS, commonly called Caracalla. He was created Cæsar by his

father, A.D. 196, when he took the names of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.

In A.D. 198, he was invested with the dignity of Augustus. Amongst his

other titles, he bore the name of Britannicus, as is shewn on the

coin. The engraver of the die from which this coin was struck, has

probably given a correct likeness of his subject; at least, he has

represented an individual who appears capable of attempting an aged

father’s life, and of imbruing his hands in the blood of a brother.

Vengeance at length overtook him.

[Illustration: Coin of Geta]

GETA, who, together with his brother Caracalla, accompanied his father

to Britain. He was murdered by Caracalla A.D. 212.

The finest of the altars, standing in the garden of Walton-house, is

here engraved. The thunderbolt of Jupiter adorns one side of it, the

wheel of Nemesis the other. The inscription has been read by Mr. Thomas

Hodgson, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in the following way, after a careful

and learned examination of it, and kindred inscriptions.

[Illustration: Altar to Jupiter, Coh. II. Tungr.]

I[OVI] O[PTIMO] M[AXIMO]

COH[ORS] SECVNDA TVNGR[ORVM]

M[ILLIARIA] EQ[ITATA] C[IVIVM] L[ATINORVM] CVI

PRAEEST ALB[VS]

SEVERVS PR-

AEF[ECTVS] TVNG[RORVM] IN-

STA[NTE] VIC[TORE] SEVRO

PRINCIPI

To Jupiter, the best and greatest,

The second cohort of the Tungrians,

A milliary _regiment_, having a proportionate supply of horse, _and

consisting of_ citizens of Latium,

Commanded by Albus

Severus, pre-

fect of the Tungrians, _erects this_;

The work being superintended by Victor Sevrus (or Severus), the

princeps.[127]

[Sidenote: PETRIANA.]

The Notitia places the ‘Ala Petriana,’ under a prefect, at PETRIANA.

Although two inscriptions belonging to this place mention the second

cohort of the Tungri, none have been found here which name the Ala

Petriana. It is possible that this cohort may have been a part of the

Ala Petriana, but until this point be settled, or some further light

thrown upon the subject, the occurrence of Cambeck-fort[Sidenote:

CAMBECK-FORT.] next in order to AMBOGLANNA, must be regarded as the best

evidence of its being the PETRIANA of the Notitia.

[Illustration: View of Pigeon Crag]

[Sidenote: WRITTEN-ROCK OF GELT.]

Before crossing the Cambeck-water it may be well to remind the reader,

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. With the view of clearly displaying the inscription, which

has frequently been inaccurately engraved, the lithograph opposite to

page 81, has been drawn to a scale which precludes the possibility of

shewing the height of the cliff. The adjoining wood-cut partly supplies

this deficiency; it exhibits another inscription, not of a very

intelligible.[Sidenote: PIGEON-CRAG.] character, on the Pigeon-crag,

which is a little higher up the water, and shews the general character

of the scenery on this beautiful stream.

The distance of these quarries on the Gelt, from the line of the

Barrier, renders it very questionable whether large supplies were

derived from them for the Wall. Hodgson remarks—

The quarry at Helbeck-scar (the Written-rock) might serve for the

largest stones for part of the Murus, and the stations at

Brampton-old-church, and Walton-castlesteads; for the general purpose

of the Murus, stone, however, could be got in places much nearer than

Helbeck-scar.

At the quarries of High and Low Breaks, about a mile and a half north of

the Wall, there are marks of extensive ancient workings; the quarries

are still in use and yield stone of good quality.

The Written-rock will not be easily found by a stranger, but directions

and assistance may generally be obtained from the workmen employed upon

a modern quarry, which is not far from the spot.

[Sidenote: HEADSWOOD.]

We now rejoin the Barrier. The passage of the Cambeck-water seems to

have been guarded with some care. On the eastern margin of the stream,

to the north of the Wall, is an earth-work raised a little above the

general level of the surface, which here is somewhat depressed. Stones,

which do not appear in the contiguous parts, lie scattered about the

place. These circumstances seem to favour the idea of there having been

some additional fortification in this part. The western bank of the

stream consists of a bold breastwork of red-sandstone, rising about

fifty feet above the level of the water. The fosse of the Wall has been

deeply cut into this rock; it still remains in a state of great

perfection. The old drove-road between Newcastle and Carlisle, which,

for some distance west of this, runs upon the site of the Wall, or close

by it, here avails itself of the fosse as a means of climbing the bank.

The ditch of the Vallum is also discernible. The farm-house of Beck is

partially constructed of Roman stones, and on the east side of the

rivulet of Beck a few stones of the Wall are in their original

situation. Headswood, as its name implies, occupies a commanding

position. The ditch of the Vallum is at this place peculiarly bold, and

is about thirty-five yards distant from the Wall. The fosse of the Wall

[Illustration: Mural Stone, Leg. II. Aug.] bends round an object which

has the appearance of being an additional fortification outside the

Wall. At the west end of Newtown-of-Irthington are the remains of a

large mile-castle; the stones still lie in confusion upon the site. The

stone represented in the margin was found at this place. We next come to

White-flat, where the rubble of the foundation of the Wall is very

discernible and the ditch very deep. Hurtleton (the town of strife) is

next reached; both lines of fosse are distinct and in close contiguity.

In the corner of a field, called Chapel-field, there are evident signs

of a mile-castle; the plough, however, has been drawn over the site. The

two works, which between White-flat and this point have approached each

other very closely, now quickly diverge, the Wall bending to the north.

[Sidenote: IRTHINGTON.]

The village of Irthington is a little to the south of the Barrier. Here

formerly stood one of the strongholds of the powerful Norman family of

De Vallibus; the building is now entirely removed, its site being

occupied by the Nook, the residence of Robert Bell, esq. The foundations

of some of its walls have recently been exposed. The keep probably

occupied a lofty earthen mound which is now crowned with thriving trees.

The parish church has recently been renewed with much skill and taste.

The old fabric was entirely built of Roman wall-stones. In the course of

its restoration, a striking proof of the disturbed state of the border

district in the middle ages was disclosed; a number of skeletons,

confusedly thrown together, being found buried within its area. The

church, originally a Transition-Norman building, had evidently at some

period after its erection, been contracted in its dimensions by the

rejection of the side aisles. The outer walls consisted of the original

columns of the aisles, filled up very roughly with common rubble. The

columns bore decided marks of fire. The neighbouring parish church of

Kirklinton, which has also been recently rebuilt, exhibited similar

appearances. On taking down the old tower, which was a fortified

stronghold, the bony remnants of upwards of sixty bodies were found in a

space of not more than five yards square; others were found in confused

masses in other parts. [Sidenote: BORDER STRIFE.] The probable

explanation of these circumstances is this:—After the battle of

Bannockburn, the Scottish forces, flushed with success, entered England,

and the inhabitants, unable to withstand them, fled to the churches for

protection. But neither the strength of the buildings nor their supposed

sanctity could yield them effectual succour; the miserable people were

slain, and their bodies left among the smouldering ruins. Those of their

countrymen who escaped, buried them in a hasty manner upon the spot.

When the desolated district had recovered energy enough to repair the

churches, its utmost efforts were barely sufficient to enclose those

parts which had, by their solidity, withstood the fire; and the reduced

population required nothing more.

The coins of Edw.I. and II. are comparatively abundant in this district,

the armies of that monarch and his immediate successors, frequently

taking the western route, in their marches to and from Scotland.

Rejoining the Wall, we meet, when within a quarter of a mile of

Old-wall, with the site of a mile-castle. The ruins of the building

slightly raise it above the general level, and prevent the plough biting

into it. The road formerly deviated from its track to go round it. An

altar, an urn, and several coins of Edward I., have been found in it. In

the buildings at Old-wall, many Roman stones will be noticed, and the

earth-works of both lines of the Barrier may be traced. The Wall is

entirely uprooted; upwards of six hundred cart-loads of stones, within

the recollection of the inhabitants, have been taken from it in this

immediate vicinity.

Between this point and Stanwix, the works may be traced with tolerable

satisfaction, an ancient drove-road running upon the site of the Wall

for the greater part of the way.

[Sidenote: BLEATARN.]

At Bleatarn (blue tarn or lake), on the south side of the Wall, is a

mound of earth resembling an elongated barrow; between this earth-work

and the Wall, is a marshy hollow, which is said to have formerly been

the bed of a lake or tarn. The Vallum takes a sweep to avoid this

morass, and at its greatest distance is removed from the Wall about two

hundred and twenty yards.

About half-a-mile south from Bleatarn, is the site of a Roman camp,

which Horsley conceived to be one of the stations _per lineam Valli_; it

is now called Watch-cross. If it be a station of this class, and if the

order in which the stations are arranged in the Notitia exactly

corresponds with their consecutive positions in reality, the name of it

was ABALLABA, which was garrisoned by a _numerus_ or troop of Moors,

under a prefect. There is, however, reason to doubt whether this was a

stationary camp at all, as will presently appear.

As already remarked, no inscribed stones have been found to identify any

of the stations west of AMBOGLANNA with the list given in the Notitia.

Even though this difficulty respecting Watch-cross had not occurred, to

go on appropriating the names of the Notitia, station after station,

guided solely by the slender thread of the order of their succession,

would be a hazardous undertaking, and is rendered still more so by the

uncertainty existing as to those which are, and which are not,

_stationes per lineam Valli_. In our journey from this point westward,

the stations will, therefore, be designated by their modern names; when

the Latin names are added, it is to be understood that they are

conjectural.

[Sidenote: WATCH-CROSS.]

_WATCH-CROSS._—Horsley gives the following account of this station:—

A little detached from the wall, to the south, is a Roman fort, of

about four chains and an half square, called Watch-cross; and as I was

assured by the country people, and have had it since further

confirmed, a military way has gone near it, or between it and the

military way belonging to the Wall; for they often plough up paving

stones here, and think part of the highway to Brampton to be upon it.

This is the least station on the line of the Wall, and is as usual,

plundered of its stones, as that at Burgh and Drumburgh. However, the

ramparts and ditches are very fair and visible.

The common on which it stood having been enclosed about seventy years

ago, and brought into cultivation, all traces of the camp have been

obliterated. On a careful examination of its site, I failed to discover

any fragments of Roman pottery, or other marks of Roman occupation. In

those parts of Cumberland where the soil is not naturally stony, the

site of a mile-castle or station, which has been brought into

cultivation, may often be distinguished by the occurrence in that

particular spot of numerous fragments of freestone. No such appearance

here presents itself. The person who farms the ground says it is of

better quality than the surrounding land; still, it does not seem to

possess the peculiar fertility of a spot that has at any period for a

length of time been the resort of a crowded population. Hutchinson

describes ‘the whole ground-plot’ as being covered, in his day, ‘with a

low growth of heath;’ the sites of all the other cities of the Wall are

too replete with animal remains to yield, even unaided by cultivation,

so coarse a product. I am therefore strongly disposed to think, with

Hodgson, that it was a mere summer encampment. The spot has been well

chosen; for, though not greatly elevated, it has an extensive prospect.

Horsley himself had some doubts of the propriety of admitting it into

the rank of a stationary camp, ‘by reason of its being so small, and

having no remains of stone walls.’ The distance, however, between

Cambeck-fort and Stanwix, which is rather greater than that between any

other two stations, induced him to give it this position.

From Bleatarn the antiquary will, with some care, be able to trace the

Barrier by Wall-head, Walby, and Wall-foot, to Tarraby. From this

village to Stanwix, a rural road runs upon the foundations of the Wall;

the ditch on its north side, which within living memory was very boldly

marked, although partially filled up is yet distinctly traceable.

[Sidenote: STANWIX.]

_STANWIX._—The church and church-yard of Stanwix occupy the site of the

station which guarded the northern bank of the Eden. Recent explorations

have displayed distinct remains of ancient edifices. In pulling down the

old church, to make way for the present structure, a very fine figure of

Victory, somewhat mutilated, was disclosed, which is now in the museum

at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The name of the place indicates, that whilst the

dwellings in the vicinity were made of clay, as many of them are yet, by

reason of the plunder of the Roman station, it could boast of being a

_town of stones_. The situation is one of great beauty. To the east, at

a considerable distance, the Nine-nicks of Thirlwall rear their rugged

peaks; and to the south and south-west, appear the beautiful grounds of

Rickerby-house, the river Eden permeating a rich and well-cultivated

country, the ancient city of Carlisle crowned with its venerable

cathedral, and the long vista of country terminating in the Cumbrian

mountains.

Between the station and the north bank of the river Eden, the fosse of

the Wall is distinctly marked, and a hollowed line, formed by the

excavation of the foundation of the Wall itself, shews its track to the

water’s edge, near to the Hyssop-holme-well. We are told by Camden—

That the Wall passed the river over against the castle—where in the

very channel, the remains of it, namely, the great stones, appear to

this day.

That the Wall, on the other side of the river, clambered up that part of

the castle-bank which projects most boldly forward, is rendered probable

by the appearance of masonry, resembling its foundations, beneath the

grassy surface. At this point, however, we lose all trace of the great

structure until we get beyond the boundaries of the famous Border city

of the West.

[Sidenote: CARLISLE.]

All antiquaries agree that Carlisle is the LUGUVALLIUM of the Romans. It

is not improbable that it was one of Agricola’s forts. It is not named

in the list of the stations _per lineam Valli_ given in the Notitia. The

Notitia mentions only the forts having separate garrisons, and it is

probable that after the erection of the camp at Stanwix, LUGUVALLIUM

became subordinate to that camp, and had no distinct garrison, which

will account for its omission.

Whitaker says LUGUVALLIUM signifies, in the ancient Celtic, the fort

upon the Waters.

Extensive remains of the ancient city lie beneath the modern Carlisle;

seldom is the ground penetrated to any considerable depth without

disclosing ancient masonry, Samian ware, and Roman coins.

Carlisle contains two interesting structures of the mediæval period—the

castle and the cathedral. The keep of the castle is a good specimen of

the Norman donjon, though some parts of it have been modernized. On the

walls and door of one of its chambers, used as a prison in the ‘Fifteen’

and the ‘Forty-five,’ are to be seen the coats of arms, the devices, and

marks of the ‘sorrowful sighings,’ of the unhappy rebels, who beguiled

their wretched hours in carving them. The cathedral exhibits some

interesting specimens of the Norman as well as later styles. Its east

window, which is of the decorated period, is the finest in the kingdom,

with the exception, perhaps, of the west window at York.

About a quarter of a mile beyond the canal basin, and nearly midway

between the canal and the river, the track of the Wall may again be

discerned. Owing to the difficulty of entirely uprooting it, its

foundations have been suffered to remain; they form a cart-road which is

used for farm purposes. A little farther on, the plough has won the day,

and a uniform green sward or luxuriant harvest baffles our research.

[Illustration: Altar—ob res trans vallum prospere gestas]

[Sidenote: KIRK-ANDREWS.]

A turf-covered mound on the east side of the church of Kirk-andrews, is

occasioned by a portion of the ruins of the Wall. In the village is

preserved the altar of which the wood-cut gives a representation. It was

found at Kirk-steads, about a mile south of the Wall, and bears marks of

having been cut down to suit the purpose of some comparatively modern

builder. The focus of the altar is unusually large; the boldness of the

lettering indicates an early date. It may be read—

L[VCIVS] IVNIVS VIC-

TORINVS ET (?)

C[AIVS] AELIANVS LEG[ATI]

AUG[VSTALES] LEG[IONIS] VI VIC[TRICIS]

P[IÆ] F[IDELIS] OB RES TRANS

VALLVM PRO-

SPERE GESTAS.

Lucius Junius Vic-

torinus, and

Caius Ælianus, Augustal legates

Of the sixth legion, victorious,

Pious, and faithful, on account of achievements beyond

The Wall pros-

perously performed.

This is a vivid memorial of deeds of common occurrence during the period

of Roman occupation. The original possessors of the isthmus, driven from

their homes, and forced to seek an asylum in the hills to the north of

the Wall, would be accounted the lawful prey of the aggressor.

The gates of mercy shall be all shut up;

And the fleshed soldier,—rough and hard of heart,—

In liberty of bloody hand, shall range

With conscience wide as hell; mowing like grass

Your fresh fair virgins and your flowering infants.

Whilst the Roman warrior gloated over his success, and feasted, and

thanked his gods, and recorded his exploits on the votive stone, the

routed remnants of the Caledonian bands would mourn over their

slaughtered comrades and desolated home-steads.

The great scarcity of stone in the western part of Cumberland has

rendered the Wall a valuable quarry to the inhabitants from time

immemorial. In our future progress we shall see little of it, except in

the buildings contiguous to its site. The heart of the antiquary will,

however, occasionally be gladdened by the recognition of the lines of

the earth-works—their slightly elevated mounds appearing to his eager

gaze scarcely less beautiful than the moulded forms produced by the

genius of the sculptor, in districts more rich than this, in the remains

of antiquity.

The Vallum appears to have gone nearly due west, along the valley, from

Kirk-andrews to Burgh; the Wall proceeds, after its usual manner, from

eminence to eminence.

[Sidenote: BURGH-UPON-SANDS.]

_BURGH-UPON-SANDS_ is the next station. In Horsley’s day the remains of

its ramparts were to be seen at a place called the Old-castle, a little

to the east of the church. He says—

On the west side these remains are most distinct, being about six

chains in length. And Severus’s Wall seems to have formed the north

rampart of the station. I was assured by the person to whom the field

belonged, that stones were often ploughed up in it, and lime with the

stones. Urns have also frequently been found here. I saw, besides an

imperfect inscription, two Roman altars lying at a door in the town,

but neither sculptures nor inscriptions are now visible upon them.

...... If besides all this, we consider the distance from the last

station at Stanwix, I think it can admit of no doubt but there must

have been a station here, though most of its ramparts are now

levelled, the field having been in tillage many years. I shall only

further add, that it was very proper to have a station at each end of

the marsh, which, if the water flowed as high as some believe, would

make a kind of bay.

At present, little meets the eye of the inquirer, to inform him of the

spot where the station stood, but when the surface of the ground is

broken, the traces of a Roman city are still sufficiently distinct. The

church-yard is filled with fragments of red sandstone blocks. At the

depth of two feet, it contains several distinct lines of foundations.

Entire ‘lachrymatory’ vessels and fragments of unglazed jars and urns

have repeatedly been dug up. A small bronze figure was recently found.

When the canal was cut, blocks of stone, blackened by smoke, were dug

out of the soil to the south-east of the church.

A few inscribed stones have been found since Horsley’s day, but none of

them name the cohort which was stationed in the camp. Hence we have no

means of knowing whether Watch-cross has been rightly thrown out of the

list of ‘stations along the line,’ and whether Burgh is, as Horsley

states it to be, the AXELODUNUM of the Notitia, or CONGAVATA, according

to the opinion of Hodgson.

In the absence of more decided remains of the camp or Wall, an

examination of the church of this long straggling town will reward the

attention of the antiquary. It is a good specimen of the fortified

Border churches. It has served the threefold purpose of a church, a

fortress, and a prison.

In case of an inroad from the Scottish coast, the cattle appear to

have been shut up in the body of the church, and the inhabitants to

have had recourse to the large embattled tower at its western end. The

only entrance to this tower is from the inside of the church, and it

is secured by a ponderous iron door, fastening with two large bolts.

The walls of the tower are seven feet thick. Its lowest apartment is a

vaulted chamber, lighted by three arrow-slits. At the south angle is a

spiral stone staircase, leading to two upper chambers.

Many of the stones of which the church is built, are Roman, and exhibit

reticulated tooling.

[Sidenote: KING EDWARD’S MONUMENT.]

Near to Burgh is the site on which the castle of sir Hugh de Morville,

one of the murderers of Thomas à Becket, formerly stood. The adjoining

field is called—‘Hang-man-tree,’ doubtless because my lord had his

gallows here, always ready for use. A neighbouring enclosure bears a

designation not less ominous—‘Spill-blood-holm.’ But the most

interesting historical memorial which the neighbourhood of Burgh

affords, is the monument to king Edward I., which stands on the marsh.

Longshanks had marshalled his army: his numerous host lay encamped

upon the sandy flat on the north of the town: the waters of the Solway

alone separated him from the objects of his vengeance. Here the mighty

Edward was called to enter into conflict with an enemy whom he had

often braved on the battle-field, but who was now to approach him by a

new method of assault. In this struggle, his valour availed him

nothing, his chivalrous hosts could yield him no aid, and no devoted

Eleanor was there to abstract from his veins the subtle poison which

the king of terrors had infused. On Burgh-marsh the ‘ruthless king’

breathed his last. A monument, represented in the vignette at the

close of this part, marks the spot.

[Sidenote: TOWER OF REPENTANCE.]

Another structure, on the opposite side of the Firth, may be noticed by

the traveller. The history of the ‘Tower of Repentance’ is strikingly

illustrative of the disordered state of society in this district before

the union of the two kingdoms.

A chieftain from the northern side having made a successful inroad

into the English border, was crossing the Solway on his return, laden

with booty, when a sudden storm arose. In order to lighten his

labouring vessel, he threw his prisoners overboard in preference to

the cattle which he had stolen. The danger past, he was smitten with

remorse. In order to make such amends as he could, he built a

beacon-tower which overlooks the Solway, and to this day is called the

Tower of Repentance. Tradition avers that the penitent himself carried

all the stones used in its erection to the top of the hill. It is not

far from the town of Ecclefechan.

In passing along the village of Burgh, the observing visitor will notice

the large number of boulder-stones, some of them half a ton in weight,

which are strewed over the ground; several of them have been used in

forming the foundations of the cottages. They are of granite, and in

some distant age have been wrenched from the summit of Criffel, the hill

which lends so much beauty to the landscape on the northern side of the

Solway.

On the western side of the village of Dykesfield, which we next

encounter, is a common that contains several earthen ramparts and

temporary camps.

Between Dykesfield and the next station, Drumburgh, an extensive marsh

occurs, which even now is occasionally overflowed by the waters of the

Solway. Hodgson inclines to the belief, that the Wall ran directly

across it. Horsley, however, took a different view of the subject.

From hence to Drumburgh Castle no vestige of the Wall is to be seen;

though I think it certain that the Wall did not pass through the

marsh, but by Boustead-hill and Easton, for both tradition and matter

of fact favour this course of it. The country people often strike upon

the Wall, and could tell exactly several places through which, by this

means, they knew it had passed, and always by the side of the marsh.

Besides it is no way reasonable to suppose that the Romans would build

their Wall within tide-mark.

[Sidenote: EASTON-MARSH.]

After careful inquiry, I am disposed to adopt Horsley’s view; even now,

stones which appear to be Wall-stones, are turned up by the operations

of the husbandmen in the line which the Wall is supposed to have taken

by Boustead and Easton. It need not be a subject of surprise, that the

Wall in this district has been so thoroughly removed, as there is no

quarry within a convenient distance, and the Wall, therefore, has been

the source from which the inhabitants of the country have drawn their

supply of building stones. The Romans seem to have gone to Howrigg

quarry, which is not less than eight miles south of the Barrier, for

their facing-stones; those which they used for the interior of the Wall

correspond in character with the proceeds of Stone-pot-scar, a quarry on

the north shore of the Solway.

We must now part company with the Vallum. This wonderful earth-work,

which has outlived the accidents of seventeen centuries, and which we

have traced, with but few interruptions, from the modern representative

of PONS ÆLII to this point, is not observed going beyond it. As the

Vallum falls short of the Wall at its eastern extremity by about four

miles, so it does at its western. Horsley, who wrote more than a century

ago, and who, consequently, had better opportunities of judging than we

can now have, says—

Whether Hadrian’s work (the Vallum) has been continued any further

than this marsh, or to the water-side beyond Drumburgh, is doubtful.

But I am pretty confident that it was not carried on so far as the

Wall of Severus at this end, any more than at the other. And I can by

no means yield to Mr. Gordon’s sentiments, that the one, for a good

space at each end, was built upon the foundation of the other.

However, it is certain that from the side of the marsh to the west end

of the Wall there is no appearance of Hadrian’s work, or any thing

belonging to it.

[Sidenote: DRUMBURGH.]

_DRUMBURGH_ contains distinct remains of a small stationary camp. This,

if Watch-cross be rejected, was the sixteenth station of the Wall, and

consequently, the AXELODUNUM of the Notitia, which was garrisoned by the

first cohort of the Spaniards. The camp is on the grounds of Richard

Lawson, esq. The ramparts are well defined, as well as the ditch which

surrounds them. The whole area is covered with a luxuriant sward, and

its northern margin is shaded by some thriving ash-trees. No portion of

the Wall remains in its vicinity, but its present proprietor remembers

witnessing the removal of the foundation. The northern rampart of the

station did not come up to the Wall, but was removed a few yards from

it; probably the military way ran between the station and the Wall. The

station at Barr-hill, on the Antonine Wall, is similarly situated.

South of the station is a well, enclosed by a circular wall of Roman

masonry. It is still in use, though the water is drawn from it by a

pump.

The mediæval castle, of which there are considerable remains, is a very

fine specimen of the ancient fortified manor-house. It is built of Roman

stones. Extensive alterations were made upon it in the reign of Henry

VIII. The habitable part of it is now occupied as a farm-house.

The tranquillity of this region was not always what it now is.

Standing on the northern rampart of the station, Mr. Lawson, the aged

proprietor, directed the attention of the Pilgrim-party of 1849 to a

small cottage on the opposite shore. ‘There,’ said he, ‘lived a

Scottish reaver, who in the days of my grandfather made, on nineteen

successive Easter-eves, a successful foray on the English side. A

twentieth time he prepared to go; his family remonstrated, he however

persisted, saying that this should be his last attempt. Our people

were prepared for him and slew him.’ Some of the party asked ‘what

notice did the law take of the transaction?’ 'None; the law which

could not protect a man, would not punish him for taking the law into

his own hands.'

Now, nearly arrived at the western extremity of the great Barrier, we

meet with but few traces of its characteristic masonry; enough, however,

remains to lure us pleasantly to our journey’s end.

In cutting the canal from Carlisle to the Solway Firth, in 1823, a

prostrate forest of oak was discovered, which belonged to an age

anterior to that of Hadrian. The engineer of the canal says—

[Sidenote: PRIMEVAL FOREST.]

A subterraneous forest was cut through in the excavation of the canal,

near the banks of the Solway Firth, about half a mile north-west of

the village of Glasson, and extending into Kirklands. The trees were

all prostrate, and they had fallen, with little deviation, in a

northerly direction, or a little eastward of it.—Some short trunks, of

two or three feet in height, were in the position of their natural

growth; but although the trees, with the exception of their alburnum

and all the branches, were perfectly sound, yet the extremity of the

trunks, whether fallen or standing, were so rugged, that it was not

discoverable whether the trees had been cut down, or had fallen by a

violent storm. The level upon which the trunks lay, was a little below

that of high tides, and from eight to ten feet below the surface of

the ground they were embedded in; which, excepting the superficial

soil, is a soft blue clay, having the appearance of marine

alluvion.... Although the precise period when this forest fell is not

ascertainable, there is a positive proof that it must have been long

prior to the building of the Wall because the foundations of the Wall

passed obliquely over it, and lay three or four feet above the level

of the trees.—_Arch. Æl._ ii. 117.

The forest extends over a considerable tract of ground. It is

probable that it was overthrown by a tempest from the south or

south-west, at a time when the sea occupied a lower level than it

does at present. The wood was so sound, that it was used in common

with other oak timber in forming the jetties at the outlet of the

canal into the Solway Firth. The president’s chair of the Society of

Antiquaries, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, is formed of it.

At Port-Carlisle is a mound resembling an ancient British barrow, called

Fisher’s-cross. About half-a-mile to the westward of it is another which

has been somewhat encroached upon by the road that runs along the margin

of the Solway, and is denominated Knock’s-cross. The proverb is common

throughout Cumberland, 'As old as Knock’s-cross.'

In the front of the Steam-packet hotel, Port-Carlisle, is built up the

fragment of a small Roman altar, bearing the inscription, SVIS MATRIBVS.

It is one of the numerous instances that we meet with, along the line of

the Wall, of altars dedicated to the _Deæ Matres_.

[Sidenote: BOWNESS.]

Between Port-Carlisle and Bowness, the site of the Wall may be traced

nearly the whole way; not unfrequently the foundations of it and its

fosse may be discerned. In one place some large stones resembling those

used in forming the gateways of the mile-castles will be noticed. In

Brand’s day some considerable portions of the Wall remained, between

these points. He says—

About three quarters of a mile to the east of Bowness, some fragments

of Severus’ Wall remain, of a great height; on measuring one of them,

we found it to be about eight feet high; it was bound and overgrown

with ivy in a most picturesque manner. The facing-stones on both sides

have been taken away.

On my first visit to Bowness, I saw a portion of it as Hodgson describes

it—

It is six feet high. Its rugged and weathered core, still hard as a

rock, is thickly bearded with sloe-thorn and hazel, and mantled below

with ivy and honey-suckle.

This interesting object has been entirely removed, which is the more to

be regretted, as no advantage has been gained by its destruction; it

served as a fence between two fields.

[Illustration:

H. Burdon Richardson, Delt. John Storey Lith.

BOWNESS.

]

[Sidenote: TERMINATION OF THE WALL.]

_BOWNESS_ is the name of the low, bow-shaped ness, or peninsula, at the

extreme point of the left bank of the Solway Firth. It is slightly

elevated above the surrounding country, as is plainly seen when it is

viewed from a distance. A little to the east of the site of the station,

the Solway is easily fordable at low water; but no one, in the memory of

the inhabitants of these parts, has forded the estuary westward of the

town. This circumstance would render Bowness a fit place at which to

terminate the Barrier Wall. With difficulty the antiquary detects some

slight traces of the walls of the station, its southern lines near the

church being those which are most apparent. No quarry being within

several miles of the spot, the Wall and station have furnished the

materials of which the church and most of the habitations of the town

are composed. A small altar built up in the front of a barn in the

principal street, has an inscription importing that it was dedicated to

Jupiter the best and greatest, by Sulpicius Secundianus, the tribune of

the cohort for the safety of our lords, the emperors Galbus and

Volusianus.

Bowness may be the GABROSENTUM of the Notitia; Horsley reckoning

Watch-cross among the stations of the line, conceives it to be

TUNNOCELUM.

Over that beautiful expanse of waters bounded by the Criffel and other

Dumfriesshire hills, which we see from the somewhat elevated beach that

has formed the northern margin of the station, the eye of the Roman

sentinel must often have listlessly rolled, as he paced his tedious

hours away. The memory of Roman and Caledonian feuds gives to the

picture, as we now behold it, a charm enhanced by contrast with the

state of things which existed in ancient days. [Sidenote: CHANGE OF

TIMES.]The hills have the aspect which they formerly bore, the waters of

the Solway ebb and flow as they were wont, the same clear sky spans the

vault of heaven which was outstretched in Roman days;—but then, the

occupants of the opposite shores scowled upon each other with deadly

hate, and planned the means of mutual slaughter. Stealthily they cast

the net and threw the leister into the margin of the sea, or when they

openly appeared upon the waters, it was in galleys armed for sanguinary

aggression;—now, with each returning tide, the fisherman plies his

peaceful trade, fearless of harm, and the inhabitants of both the

northern and the southern shore hail each other as friends and

fellow-countrymen.

[Illustration: Monument to Edward I.]

-----

Footnote 54:

He who has the heart of a pilgrim ‘_per lineam Valli_,’ will not fail

to accompany the author, while he attempts, at the very commencement

of his local peregrination, to pay a tribute of respect to three

departed worthies who made the Wall their especial study.

JOHN HORSLEY was the first and mightiest of the three—is it too much

to say that he was the father of the science of Archæology? Born in an

unknown locality of this county, receiving his elementary education at

Newcastle, his academical at Edinburgh, he spent the greater portion

of his life as the pastor of a Presbyterian congregation in Morpeth.

His tastes, and great familiarity with the classics, induced him to

devote his leisure hours to the study of the antiquities of

Northumberland. Had he conceived that the Britannia Romana would have

cost him one-third of the time which its execution required, the world

would never have seen it. Having embarked in the undertaking, he felt

it his duty to make it as good as he could. How severe his toils, how

great his pecuniary sacrifices, how ardent his aspirations after

emancipation from his self-imposed task, in order that he might

entirely devote himself to his sacred calling, who shall tell? The

thought that his flock might eventually be no losers, that his family

and his own fair fame might gain by the enterprise, buoyed him up in

his course. On 2 Jan. 1731-2, he put the finishing stroke to his

labours, the dedication of his work bearing that date. Now he might

hope to reap the fruits of his toils—the enjoyment of rest, such as

the wearied only know, the congratulations of friends, the approbation

of the learned, the replenishment of his exhausted means. None of

these fruits he enjoyed. He can scarcely have had the satisfaction of

casting his eyes upon a completed copy of his work. The ink of his

dedication was hardly dry when he was summoned to the unseen world.

Respecting him who recorded the mighty doings of the Romans in

Britain, the parish clerk of Morpeth made the following entry in the

church-yard calendar:—Buried,

‘_1731-2, Jan. 15_, Mr. John Horsley.’

‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.’ As regards the honours or

enjoyments of this world, he died an utterly unrequited man. Even of

that bubble, posthumous fame, an attempt was made to rob him.

Warburton, in his Vallum Romanum, transfers Horsley ‘in bulk’ to his

pages—he even copies, without alteration, the opinions which Horsley

expresses in the first person. The honest Hutton often quotes the

‘judicious Warburton,’ little knowing whose the feathers are which he

so justly admires. The precise spot where his remains rest is unknown.

He whose lot it was to interpret, after the lapse of many centuries,

the throbbings of natural affection over departed relatives in the

heathen breast, had no one to erect over him, though a Christian

minister, a memorial that should outlive a single century. Even the

parish clerk, in his attachment to the altar and the throne, denies

him, in the sepulchral register, the title which courtesy, at least,

would have accorded him. _Requiescat in pace!_

The Rev. ANTHONY HEDLEY, was also a native of Northumberland; he was a

man of literary tastes, and considerable antiquarian acquirements. He

entered public life as curate of Hexham, where his preaching was that

of a Boanerges. He subsequently held some temporary appointments at

Whelpington, Newcastle, and Whitfield. Having, however, actively

espoused the cause of that political body, who, until lord Grey became

premier, had no patronage to bestow, it was his lot to sigh in vain

for a summons to active occupation in the work which he loved. When

the party whom he had long and conscientiously served, came into

office, neglect was his portion. One of the original members of the

Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, he did much to promote

the study of primæval archæology in the fruitful region traversed by

the Wall. Biased by his taste for antiquities, he was led to select,

as his abode for life’s evening, the beautiful valley of the Chineley

Burn. The rural hall arose at his bidding, nearly every stone of which

was chiseled by Roman hands. The milliary which told to Hadrian’s

soldiers that another mile had been traversed, stood by his barn. The

station of VINDOLANA was in his grounds—many beautiful altars and

other important reliques had he dug out of it—he could tell where the

prætorium stood, where the standards were deposited, where every

soldier slept. Scarcely were all the arrangements for his comfortable

residence at Chesterholm made, when death seized him as its victim.

Imprudently superintending, whilst somewhat indisposed, the exhumation

of an urn in the station, his mortal part was a few days afterwards

deposited in the church-yard at Beltingham. He died in 1835, and his

beautiful abode has since remained desolate.

Westmoreland has the honour of giving birth to the Rev. JOHN HODGSON,

but Northumberland enjoyed the advantage of his youthful and maturer

labours. Successively curate of Sedgefield, Lanchester, and Heworth,

and afterwards vicar of Kirkwhelpington, he was shortly before his

death promoted to the living of Hartburn. He was the chief founder of

the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and the chief

contributor to its transactions. His tastes led him to contemplate,

and an honourable desire to make provision for the education and

settlement of his family, induced him to begin, a history of

Northumberland. Seldom have laudable designs been so signally

defeated. He lived but to complete a part of his task; his health

failed, and his mind gave way under his excessive labours. His

fortunes were not bettered by them; ‘I have lived,’ said he, 'to see

that works of this kind are not suited to the times I live in, perhaps

to any time. It is not profitable to me—it is not suited to my

profession—I ought to do my duty in my profession—to take up night and

day to do it well. Well? no; but as well as good intentions, holy

zeal, every thought and faculty of my mind fully exerted, could do

it.' Hodgson paid great attention to the Wall, and its antiquities.

The last published portion of his history contains a vast mass of

learned information upon the subject. It is perhaps enough for the

present author to say, that had not Horsley and Hodgson cleared the

way before him, he would never have adventured to write a book upon

the Barrier of the Lower Isthmus. Though he cannot be a Horsley or a

Hodgson, he hopes he will never prove a Warburton.

Footnote 55:

Brand conceives that SEGEDUNUM may be derived from the Saxon _secg_, a

sedge or flag, and _dun_, which is an Anglo-Saxon, as well as a Celtic

word; this would give, as its meaning—the hill of sedge. If we can

suppose that any of the Germanic hordes had obtained so complete a

settlement here, as to give them the power of forming a local

vocabulary in accordance with their own language prior to the Roman

occupation of this post, the Saxon origin of the term is by no means

improbable. In no part of England was an early settlement more likely

to take place than on the eastern coast of Northumberland, but, after

all, we must probably assign a later date to the first arrival of our

Gothic forefathers. If a Saxon derivation be at all admissible,

another might be suggested: _sige_ is the Anglo-Saxon for victory, and

_tun_ is town—the town of victory—an appropriate name for a station

occupied either by Roman or Saxon forces.

Footnote 56:

This statement I make on the authority of the late Mr. Buddle, who

said, as I remember, that in his youth he had seen the stones

extending far into the river.

Footnote 57:

This place derived its earlier name from being the property, and

perhaps the suburban residence of John Cosyn, a worthy alderman of

Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in the seventeenth century. About 1740, sir

Robert Carre, a London knight, and draper, but also, it is thought, a

burgess of the northern metropolis, bought Cosyn’s house at Wallsend,

and thenceforward designated it Carre-ville. The present mansion is,

with some little impropriety, called Carville-_hall_.

When I began my inquiries at Wallsend, I had much difficulty in

ascertaining which was Cousin’s-house. One man told me he had lived

all his life in Wallsend—sixty years—and had never heard of it. Our

books still continue to copy from Horsley, and to give us the

out-of-date information that the Wall began at Cousin’s-house.

Footnote 58:

In districts where the Wall has been levelled with the earth, a

foot-path or bridle-road frequently indicates its course. When land

was of less value than it is now, the farmers, who appropriated the

stones of the Wall to their own use, were not at the trouble to remove

its foundation. The stony track, however, afforded a firm road, and

when the increased value of the ground rendered it worth while to

bring the whole into cultivation, a right of way had, in many

instances, been established.

Footnote 59:

Hodgson, II. iii. 169.

Footnote 60:

Horsley’s traditionary account was probably derived from the same

source as Leland’s; and therefore may indicate, not the station wall,

but the great Wall itself. If, as the excavations made since Horsley’s

day seem to prove, the Wall crossed obliquely from the south to the

north side of Collingwood-street, it must have passed over the site of

St. Nicholas’-church—not to the north of it.

Footnote 61:

So inviting a post would not escape the notice of the ancient

British warrior—the appearances Mr. Hodgson describes, are not

inconsistent with its having been an Ancient-British strong-hold.

Footnote 62:

Drawn to twice the usual size.

Footnote 63:

The author, as the leader of the pilgrim-band who traversed the Wall

in the summer of 1849, used a staff made out of this primeval oak. It

is now in the Newcastle collection of antiquities.

Footnote 64:

Tour, iii. 313, quoted by Brand, i. 37.

Footnote 65:

Brand’s Newcastle, i. 37.

Footnote 66:

Jerusalem was called after him Ælia Capitolina, and the games at

Pincum, in Mæsia, Ælia Pincensia.

Footnote 67:

Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.

Footnote 68:

In the possession of the Society of Antiquaries at Somerset-house. The

wood-cuts are drawn to twice the usual scale.

Footnote 69:

Baxter, in his glossary, derives it from the ancient British words

_Pen ual_, the head of the Wall. A comparatively modern village would

hardly take a Celtic name; besides, although the Roman station has a

commanding prospect in a military point of view, it is scarcely so

elevated as to be entitled to the epithet of Pen or Ben; the village

of Benwell is below it.

Footnote 70:

History of Manchester, i. 224.

Footnote 71:

The cottage is still standing in the neighbourhood of Wylam, in which

George Stephenson first saw the light. Aided, in due time, by his son,

worthy of such a father, he did more than any other man to elaborate

our present railway system. The antiquary who has been revelling in

the associations of the past will scarcely fail, as he looks down from

his Wall-traversed heights upon the vale which gave birth to such a

man, to give for a moment the reins to his imagination, and suffering

his mind to penetrate the mists of futurity, ruminate upon the changes

which the efforts of the Stephensons are destined to produce, not only

in the physical, but in the moral aspect of society.

Footnote 72:

Derived from wall and _botle_, the Saxon for an abode.

Footnote 73:

Anciently written Throcklow. Low, or Law, is applied either to a low,

round-topped eminence, or an artificial mound.

Footnote 74:

Hodgson, II. iii. 178.

Footnote 75:

Britannia Romana, 139.

Footnote 76:

Note in Lappenberg’s Anglo-Saxon Kings, i. 91.

Footnote 77:

The road leaves the Wall here, and keeps to the right of the hill. The

north side of the hill is planted with trees, and it is interesting to

notice in the summit of the plantation, a dip, corresponding to the

depression of the fosse of the Wall.

Footnote 78:

Unable to resist the positive testimony of an intelligent eye-witness,

I was, at first, disposed to think that he had included in his

measurement some chamber on the inside of the station wall. I am now

prepared to receive the statement without deduction. Some recent

excavations at Risingham have laid bare a part of the curtain wall

which has been built double, the intervening space, or chamber, being

filled up with rubble and rubbish run together with lime, so as to

form a solid mass of masonry of considerable thickness. The object of

this arrangement may have been, to form a solid, elevated platform,

for the use of the soldiery.

Footnote 79:

Both Horsley and Lingard had previously noticed it. Horsley says he

was told by a countryman that ‘it was what the speaking trumpet was

laid in.’

Footnote 80:

The aqueduct was not traced on the Halton side of the valley, so that

the precise point where it joined the station is not known; it is now

entirely removed.

Footnote 81:

Several of the sculptures at Matfen were sent to Alnwick Castle.

Wallis uses the term, ‘centurial stone,’ very loosely, applying it

even to the large Milking-gap slab.

Footnote 82:

Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, b. III. ch. ii. Giles’s translation.

Footnote 83:

Although a walk of a few minutes will bring the traveller, who knows

exactly whither to bend his steps, to this curious relic, a stranger

may fruitlessly spend much time in examining the many low scars which

diversify the surface of the fell. It is a deeply interesting object.

Footnote 84:

The cramps seem to have been of various kinds. Some authors speak of

iron cramps. One antiquary, I know, spent a livelong summer’s day

knee-deep in the water, extracting one which proved to be entirely of

lead. A. cramp, of very curious form and structure, taken from this

bridge, is preserved in the museum at Chesters, and is figured Plate

VII. fig. 1.; it seems to have been triply dove-tailed; the substance

of it is iron, but it has been coated all over to the thickness of

one-eighth of an inch with lead. The iron would give the instrument

tenacity, and the lead protect the more corrosive metal from

oxidization; truly the Romans built for perpetuity.

Footnote 85:

History of Northumberland, II. iii. 180.

Footnote 86:

The initial L, page 103, is formed of two of these Roman balusters.

The lower one is at Chesters, the upright one at Chesterholm.

Footnote 87:

The section of the hypocaust wall on Plate III is taken from this

example, and shews the hanging floor.

Footnote 88:

See an interesting ‘Account of an Excavation recently made within the

Roman Station at CILURNUM, by John Clayton, esq.’ in the Archæologia

Æliana, iii. 142.

Footnote 89:

The improved method of making draining-tiles for agricultural uses has

suggested the formation of hollow bricks for building purposes. A

floor might be paved and side-walls formed of these, so as readily to

admit of the circulation of air throughout the whole substance of the

apartment, and a handful of coke or charcoal, placed at the entrance

of the flue, would effectually warm the whole. Specimens of bricks of

this kind, remarkably strong, and ingeniously contrived for securely

locking into one another, are before me, for which I am indebted to

Robert Rawlinson, esq., after whose design they were formed. The Latin

comedy represents the miser begrudging the smoke that escaped from his

chimney—well may the benevolent man regret that whilst his poor

neighbours are bending under the chills of winter, three-fourths of

the heat generated in his parlour-grate is absolutely wasted.

Footnote 90:

Now at Alnwick-castle.

Footnote 91:

The words printed in italics have been supplied from contemporaneous

inscriptions; they can scarcely be said to be conjectural readings.

Footnote 92:

Soldiers who by their good conduct had earned a double allowance of

corn or pay.

Footnote 93:

Hodgson learnedly explains this inscription—Arch. Æl. i. 128.

Footnote 94:

Preserved in the interesting collection at Chesters.

Footnote 95: