PEEL CRAG TO WALLTOWN
On Peel Crag I was quite delighted with the Wall. It stretches for a
long distance, eight or nine courses high and 6 feet wide, running
along the more or less level summit of the Crag. I learned
afterwards that the upper facing-stones on the southern side had been
restored in 1909, as nearly as possible in the Roman manner, but that
on the northern face they were untouched. One of the men who had
helped in this restoration told me he had spent all the winter on
Peel Crag, and "cawld wawk it was, with the stones." The south
foundation of the Wall in this stretch stands on a higher level than
the north.
If the Wall here had not been carefully restored it would have to
have been replaced by an ordinary "dry dyke" to keep the sheep from
falling down the Crag, which descends steeply to the north.
[Illustration: THE WALL ON PEEL CRAG]
Investigations on Peel Crag and Winshields have gone to show that, in
Severus's reconstruction of the Wall, most of the turrets in this
neighbourhood were not restored, but, on the contrary, the insets
{133} where they had been recessed into the Wall have been filled up
level with the face.
Ten years ago the positions of only five or six turrets were known
along the Wall. Since then, over thirty have been found and six
excavated. This leaves many which are still awaiting their turn to
be opened.
Peel Crag ends abruptly, and the Wall, after bending southward, as
usual at every gap, strikes steeply down into the gap, as is shown
very clearly in the picture facing page 142. The advancing enemy
would be subject to a flank attack from the Roman defenders hidden in
the safe shelter of the Wall.
The Wall then turns slightly northward, in order to gain the top of
Winshields. It is in excellent condition on the low ground to the
north of this gap, about 6 feet wide and nine courses high, and makes
a good "road" to walk upon. The Wallditch recurs here, as always,
whenever the Wall leaves the heights, if only for a few yards.
The road which runs north and south through the gap will take us down
to "Twice Brewed," the Inn on Wade's Road, if we are wanting tea. I
never found "Twice Brewed" very anxious to give me tea; I fancy they
thought it a lot of trouble for one. There is "only one pair of
hands to do everything," so they said. I asked if I could stay there
for a week while I was painting, but there {134} were many good
reasons why I could not. First, it was the food; so difficult to
get. I said I could live on bread and butter and eggs--"and bacon,"
I added, looking at the "backs" and the "streaky" hanging from the
ceiling behind her.
"But we want all that for oorselves."
"Well, bread and butter and eggs will do."
"I must ask 'him,'" said she.
And when she did ask "him," he said it would interfere with his
regular customers! So that settled it; and I found somewhere in the
neighbourhood that suited me better, and everybody was satisfied.
I stayed at a little farm where the husband worked "in the pits," and
helped his wife with the farm in his spare time. The wife was such a
neat, bright, pretty young thing. The husband was on night-shifts,
and came home for his supper (or was it breakfast?) at five o'clock
in the morning, so I used to have my breakfast at the same hour, and
get off early. I think my record-day on the Wall started at 5.30
a.m. and ended at 10 p.m.--a long June day.
I used to bicycle along Wade's Road, leave my bicycle at the farm
nearest to where I wanted to paint, and then walk from point to point
along the Wall, with perhaps four different sketches going on, at the
different periods of the day. Having started off one morning at 6
a.m., I wanted somewhere to {135} leave my bicycle. A little house
with an enclosed garden looked suitable, so I jumped off, and then
saw to my amusement that a horse was standing looking in at the
little bedroom window under the eaves, from which a hurried voice was
calling to him: "I'm a-coming; I'm a-coming." Presently an old lady
appeared, and I asked permission to leave my bicycle, saying I should
be gone all day. She answered: "What odds? A'll be here." She then
introduced the horse. "He always looks for his corn at half-past six
sharp." And I often saw him after that, at the window. When I
returned in the evening, rather late, the old lady said: "I was feart
ye was fallen into t' Lough;" and then she produced my bicycle from a
shed: "I thocht ye didna want yer tyres brusten wi' the sun."
But I have wandered a long way from Peel Crag. I did not need to go
to "Twice Brewed" for tea; I was fortunate in having a friend near by
who had often made tea for me when I was painting on the Wall. And
to her I went now. I found she had visitors. A great event had
taken place in the neighbourhood the night before; there had been a
local subscription dance in the barn of Twice Brewed Farm (or East
Twice Brewed, as it is sometimes called. It was the Inn in Hutton's
time). The people "out-by" had never had such an opportunity before,
though "in-by," at Haltwhistle, there were dances in plenty. Three
of the dancers {136} were calling--bonny young girls whose first
dance it had been, and they were full of it. "It was champion!"--or
"It was terrible nice!" (their highest terms of praise). They had
breakfasted at five o'clock in the morning before going to bed. One
of them had done her hair up for the first time in honour of the
occasion. "There was a pocket of hairpins in it, more hairpins than
hair, and yet it wouldn't keep up!" And so they ran on, while I
enjoyed the "berry-cake" and gingerbread for which my hostess was
famous. She was busy making one of the wadded quilts which one sees
so often along the line of the Wall. And their rag-carpets, or
"stubbed mats," as they call them, are sometimes like bits of stained
glass! They frequently dye the cloth themselves, the exact colour
they want, and make very elaborate and rich designs.
And now we come to Winshields, the highest point to which the Wall
rises, 1230 feet above the sea. Below, on the left, is a farm-house
known as "The Bog," and south of that, very near to Wade's Road, runs
the Vallum.
It is impossible to miss the line of the Wall in the high regions,
for it is always on the ridge. I cycled out one day through Caw Gap
to the hamlet of Edges Green, along one of the little-used roads that
run north into the lonely wastes, in order to make a sketch of
Winshields from "out-by," {137} that is to say, from the country to
the north of the Wall. I had barely finished this sketch when a
brilliant flash of lightning warned me to move, and it was soon
followed by thunder and heavy rain. I found shelter, and a kind
welcome (which included tea, as usual!) in the nearest house. My
good hostess apologized for having "nothing" to give me for tea,
because she lived so far "out-by," but I found an abundant
spread--cheese, jam, scones, two kinds of cake, and white and brown
bread. I wondered what "something" would have been! When it came to
paying, she said: "Oh, it's nothin'; it's just a drink o' tea."
She had lived there twenty-one years, and told me they were often
snowed up in winter and had to dig themselves out. "But we're
nothin' to some folks," she added; "we're 'out-by' to Hautwissel, but
we're 'in-by' to Hope-Alone!" She was referring to a lonely farm 2
miles farther north, standing at a height of 900 feet.
The works of the Vallum are splendid, as seen from the top of
Winshields; the eye can follow them for a great distance. The best
developed section is at Cawfields.
And the view is wide and beautiful, especially on such a changeable
day as this, with all round a tumble of brilliant white clouds on a
blue sky, but with heavy masses of black appearing in the east, and
gradually blotting out the hills. Presently {138} there is a change;
the clouds break, and patches of sunlight begin to dance on the
hills, which but a moment before were obscured. The rays of the sun
are like a moving finger, tracing out the form of distant farm, and
tree, and wall, on the hillside, and then passing on.
Then another change: heavy clouds appear to the north-west, and the
rain comes down and blots out the Solway; which yet again gleams out
in a long line of silver light before another half-hour has passed.
From the top of Winshields at midday I have more than once seen a
huge red flare, like an evening sun, spring up and disappear again
almost immediately. I am told this has been the destruction of
ammunition dumps near Gretna Green. It must be a fearsome sight (and
sound) at close quarters.
The Wall varies very much on Winshields; sometimes in tolerably good
condition; sometimes a mere ruin.
The gaps here are called "slacks," a curious word, which I heard the
people use for any depression or shallow dell.
Green Slack is a depression in the hill where there are traces of
British dwellings; and then there is Lodham Slack, a deep heathery
valley, where for some distance the Wall-ditch again becomes
necessary, and runs, filled with rushes, on our right. There is very
little heather along the line of the Wall.
{139}
Next comes Shield on the Wall, where there was a mile-castle, and
where patches of rhubarb still mark the garden of the cottage which
was built of the mile-castle stones.
Now Cawfields and the Nine Nicks of Thirlwall come into view ahead.
The next gap is Bogle Hole, with very steep sides; and Winshields
comes to an end at Caw Gap, where a road runs through to the north.
As I descended Winshields, and came down into the road, it was
raining fast on the Nine Nicks, though still sunny where I stood.
The two gaps which follow are Bloody Gap and Thorny Doors--names
significant of the many struggles they have witnessed. No doubt they
were very "thorny" doors to the Picts, who tried to pass through them
from the north!
The picture facing page 152 shows this gap. The Wall is in a very
ruinous condition just at the gap, but much better preserved on the
heights. The way in which it was made to bend to the south, to
enable the Romans to enfilade the approaching enemy, is very clearly
seen here.
Cawfields mile-castle can almost be discerned from this point, lying
on the southern slope, just before the next gap, Pilgrims' Gap. In
the distance are seen the Nine Nicks of Thirlwall, over which the
Wall takes its farther course.
Seven or eight courses of facing-stones and the {140} projecting
foundations clearly visible gave me great satisfaction as I continued
my way.
The wild-flowers were very wonderful, the yellow cistus, or
rock-rose, growing all over the Wall, with its delicate blossoms and
dark silver-lined leaves. Tall foxgloves sent up their spikes of
nodding blossoms, like stately Roman Emperors, clothed in the
imperial purple, while rosy wild thyme and blue speedwell prostrated
themselves, like humble courtiers, at their feet.
Every writer on the Wall has, I believe, to do his duty in repeating
Sir Walter Scott's verses about the flowers that grow on it--once, at
least. _His_ flowers came from the Nine Nicks, it is said, and not
from this particular spot, but this seems a suitable opportunity for
quoting his lines:
"TO A LADY WITH FLOWERS FROM THE ROMAN WALL"
"Take these flowers, which, purple waving,
On the ruined rampart grew.
Where, the sons of freedom braving,
Rome's imperial standards flew.
Warriors from the breach of danger
Pluck no longer laurels there:
They but yield the passing stranger
Wild-flower wreaths for beauty's hair."
As the ground dips down to the next gap, Cawfields mile-castle is
seen on the slope of the hill. This was the first mile-castle to be
opened, by Mr. John Clayton, in 1848. In the following year Dr.
Bruce took a party of pilgrims along the Wall, and {141} they
christened this gap between Cawfields mile-castle and quarry, "The
Pilgrims' Gap."
The masonry of both northern and southern gateways is massive, and in
splendid condition. It should be studied from north of the Wall
also. The size of this mile-castle is 63 feet by 49 feet. The
pivot-holes of the gates are very clearly seen.
It was now beginning to rain, and by the time I had got through the
gap and into the Cawfields quarry yard it was coming down heavily, so
I sheltered in the shed of the quarry, which is close by the
Haltwhistle Burn, known as the Caw Burn between this point and its
source.
At a bend of the stream are the remains of a Roman water-mill, such
as is described by Vitruvius, writing early in the first century.
Third-century pottery has been found there, and a coin of Trajan;
also the remains of the water-shoot. The mill-stones are in Chesters
Museum. A little defensive rampart ran across to protect it, from
river to river.
We are now also near the Haltwhistle Burn Fort, which is not a mere
temporary Roman camp, as was supposed, but a permanent fort, with two
branch roads leading from the gates to the Stanegate, which here
crosses the burn. The headquarters building, the barracks and other
buildings, and the oven were excavated in 1907 by the late Mr. J. P.
Gibson and Mr. F. G. Simpson. The fort {142} was dismantled when
Æsica, the next fort on the Wall, was built.
Burnhead farm-house is next passed, standing on the site of the Wall.
The line of the Wall has verged to the north-west. The Wall-ditch is
our guide.
North of the Wall here there is a large Roman temporary camp, 9 acres
in extent, with rounded corners, as is usual, and a short ditch
across the gateway-opening, the earth out of the ditch being thrown
up into a mound called a "traverse," to lie across the opening and
hinder an attack.
It is worth visiting as we pass.
The rain had quite stopped; and, as I pushed on, I noted the traces
of the building crossing the line of the Wall which was formerly
thought to be a mile-castle. However, only a few yards away a real
turret has been found. Shortly after, the Wall began to be in better
condition. Two or three courses of facing-stones were in place on
the south face for some distance.
Just here a stoat, carrying some sort of gruesome carcase, passed me,
and disappeared into a loosely constructed part of the Wall. It ran
up and down inside the Wall, furious with fright, making a noise like
the clucking of an angry hen, and glaring at me through chinks
between the stones. I fancy it had a young chicken.
[Illustration: PEEL CRAG, FROM THE GAP. HERE THE GREAT WALL BENDS
SOUTHWARD AS USUAL BEFORE DESCENDING INTO THE GAP]
I pressed on quickly, for it was thundering in {143} the distance,
and soon reached Great Chesters, where the fort of ÆSICA stood. The
farm-house here had a very beautifully kept lawn in front, and rows
of pink columbines standing up neatly under the windows, which looked
strange, though attractive, in such a wild spot.
ÆSICA
The chief feature of the fort at Æsica is its western gateway, which
represents the gateway just as the Romans finally left it. There has
been a total blocking up of nearly all the gates. Probably only a
narrow portal was left at the south.
The fort-walls were, as is usual, reinforced by a sloping bank of
earth inside, which accounts for their excellent preservation. The
inner buildings have been found to be reconstructions of the latter
part of the third century.
One of the ditches which go right round the outer wall of the fort
has been found below the foundations of the Great Wall, showing that
the fort was built some time before the Wall. Four successive
ditches all appear to go under the Great Wall at the north-west angle.
Extra ramparts of earth were thrown up on the western side, for
additional protection. The position of Æsica was very weak on the
west before the Wall was built.
A Roman road ran from the Stanegate to the {144} southern gateway,
and again from the western gateway towards Carvoran. It can be
clearly traced.
Water was brought to this fort by the Romans by means of a very
winding aqueduct, 6 miles long, from the head of the Caw Burn, 2¼
miles away.
[Illustration: Fig. 13.--Cross-section of Fort-wall, showing how it
was reinforced on the inner side with earth.]
The Wall abuts on the rounded north-west angle of the fort. The
tower at this angle appears to belong to the Wall and not to the
fort. It was evidently rebuilt when the Wall was built, like the one
at Housesteads.
The Wall-ditch is very clearly marked to the west of Æsica.
{145}
The remains at Æsica have been fenced round to protect them from
cattle, but the fences are broken, so when I was there, sheep and
lambs were disporting themselves on the very walls of the
guard-chambers.
After passing Cockmount Hill farm-house, where, in spite of the bleak
situation, white lilacs were blooming in the garden, and the
regulation farm-house sycamore was firmly established, I entered a
dense little wood, and here the Wall was in very satisfactory
condition. Under the pine-trees it ran, its lower courses hidden by
beautiful ferns and foxgloves, but I could see the projecting
foundation stones in places. In the wood I met an old lady, with two
pretty children, from the farm, gathering sticks. The children made
just the right patches of colour there amongst the pine-needles, a
patch of purple and a patch of emerald green.
South of Cockmount Hill many of the newly discovered causeways,
referred to on page 34, can be seen crossing the ditch of the Vallum.
The rain now began to come down in earnest, and I hurried past the
next site of a mile-castle without even looking at it. As I reached
Allolee farm-house, I decided I must take shelter. Two huge
specimens of the pig-tribe saw me coming, and charged down the hill
at me at full speed, grunting loudly. It needed all my determination
to keep on in a straight line! But they faded away, {146} with a
disappointed look, just before they reached me.
I was most hospitably received at Allolee, hung out to dry, and fed,
and entertained, to my heart's content. Two children, a boy and a
girl, were with their mother in the farm-house kitchen. I told them
the pig-incident, and all the sympathy I got was: "Poor dears! they
were hungry!"
The little girl was engaged in cutting out a jumper for her doll, a
very intricate process, and I was called on to help. She was very
proud of the doll, and rightly so, for through an unfortunate
accident it had become bald, and her mother had made it a very neat
new wig out of her own hair, with grey strands in it.
The boy had a gramophone, and he selected "Lead, kindly Light" for my
benefit. I don't know if he meant it to be appropriate, but it
certainly was.
"The night is dark, and I am far from home.
Lead Thou me on!"
And I could not help thinking how the "kindly Light" was shining in
that remote little farm-house through the kindness that was being
shown to a stranger.
As I sat by the fire, they told me _they_ had no coal-shortage,
because a farmer near them had found coal on his farm.
Presently other members of the family dropped {147} in--a father, and
some older brothers; but still the rain poured down, and they would
not let me go. Fortunately, I had a shelter for the night awaiting
me, only a mile or so away, and as soon as ever the rain stopped, I
took my leave, very grateful for all they had done.
It is a very short distance from the fir-wood which shelters Allolee
to Mucklebank, the highest part of the Nine Nicks of Thirlwall, 860
feet above the sea. On its western side, just where the Wall makes
its customary bend to the south, to protect the gap, stands a Wall
turret. Both its northern and western sides are recessed into the
Wall. It was uncovered in 1891 by the late Mr. J. P. Gibson of
Hexham. A rabbit-hole gave him the clue as to the existence of this
turret.
Criffel now appears, as a distant peak against the sky, on the right,
and Walltown farm-house is seen lying ahead on the left, with a
beautiful belt of trees round it. The gap here is a wide one, and
the Wall-ditch comes into play again as usual. Signs of the "King's
Well" are seen in the gap, where the rushes grow thick; this is where
legend says some early Christian King was baptized. Could it have
been the baptism of King Edwin of Northumbria by Paulinus in 627? It
hardly seems likely, but that is what is suggested, though some say
it was Egbert.
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