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Title: Hadrian's Wall
Author: Jessie Mothersole
Release date: August 6, 2023 [eBook #71350]
Language: English
Original publication: London: John Lane The Bodley Head Limited, 1922
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HADRIAN'S WALL ***
[Frontispiece: THIRLWALL CASTLE, BUILT OF WALL-STONES, HERE THE
SCOTTS THIRLED (_i.e._ PIERCED) THE WALL]
HADRIAN'S WALL
BY JESSIE MOTHERSOLE
WITH FOURTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS
BY THE AUTHOR MAPS & PLANS
JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD LIMITED
LONDON VIGO STREET W.1
First Published ... October 1922
Second Edition .... December 1922
Third Edition ..... December 1924
MADE AND PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY MORRISON AND GIBB LTD., EDINBURGH
_BY THE SAME AUTHOR_
THE ISLES OF SCILLY : Their Story,
Their Folk, and their Flowers
With 26 Plates in Colour
THE SAXON SHORE
Illustrated in Colour and Black & White
{v}
PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION
Since the first appearance of this book, a very important event has
occurred in the history of Hadrian's Wall. It has been definitely
recognized as a monument of national importance, to be scheduled and
protected under the authority of the Office of Works. This means
that owners and occupiers of the lands over which it extends will be
powerless to interfere with it, unless by the authority of the
Department, and that they will be liable for the repair of any damage
that may be done to it.
It is not too much to say that this marks the greatest epoch in the
history of the Wall since, at the end of the fourth century, it
ceased to be garrisoned, and was allowed to fall into disrepair.
Neglect or wanton destruction fell to its share for fourteen hundred
years. Now the Office of Works has set the seal on the tireless
efforts of Mr. John Clayton and Dr. Collingwood Bruce, who would
indeed have rejoiced to see this day.
* * * * * * *
Important discoveries have been made at several {vi} points along the
line of the Wall during the last three years.
The site of the fort at Burgh-by-sands was definitely located by Mr.
W. G. Collingwood, F.S.A., and Mr. R. G. Collingwood, F.S.A., in
1922. Since 1903, when the main road was "up" for drainage purposes
and no Roman remains were found, the very existence of the fort had
been questioned.
But excavation has resulted in the discovery of the east gate, lying
just north of Hadrian's Wall, on the edge of the main road, which
represents roughly the _via principalis_. Stone barrack-buildings
were also traced, running north and south, and the fort was proved to
have lain across the line of Hadrian's Wall, as did Cilurnum. The
main road is a cutting, below the level of any Roman remains. The
stones of some of the fort walls had rotted so completely that the
spade cut quite through them, and thus my scepticism about "perishing
stones" in the neighbourhood was rebuked (p. 207). The Church at
Burgh probably occupies the site of one of the central buildings,
perhaps of a granary, the massive stones from which would be very
handy for the Church-builders.
Hadrian's Wall was found to join the main road a little to the east
of the Vicarage, from which point the road is laid partly on the
Wall's {vii} foundations, and partly on its berm, up to the junction
of Wall and fort.
A site known as Old Castle, about 200 yards eastward from the fort,
marks the position of the mediæval castle of Sir Hugh de Morville,
built, no doubt, of stones from the Wall and fort. The remains of a
small Roman bridge, which carried the Military Way over the Powburgh
Beck, are to be seen some 300 yards east of the Old Castle.
At Rudchester, Mr. Parker Brewis, F.S.A., has directed excavations of
the fort of Vindobala. It was found to be similar in plan to
Cilurnum, lying across the Wall, and with six gates. Three out of
the five chambers of the headquarters buildings were uncovered,
including the Chapel of the Standards with the treasury beneath; and
there was also found the largest granary yet known in the north of
England.
Both portals of the double west gate, and also the west portal of the
south gate, were found to have been built up as early as the middle
of the second century.
The Excavation Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of
Newcastle-on-Tyne, appointed in February 1924, has been enlarged into
"The North of England Excavation Committee," which hopes to open up
other sites on the Wall during 1925, with Mr. Parker Brewis still as
Director. A detailed {viii} report of the work at Rudchester will
shortly be published.
Below Birdoswald, Dr. R. C. Shaw, of Manchester University, is, as I
write, completing the excavation of the bridge over the Irthing,
referred to on page 163. No trace has been discovered of any western
abutment, and it has therefore presumably been washed away by the
strong current of the river; but on the eastern side a whole series
of abutments has been uncovered. The course of the river is now much
farther west than it was in Roman times, and it was evidently
necessary in their day to rebuild the abutments farther and farther
west as the river receded in that direction.
The remains of these abutments are most impressive, and Hadrian's
Wall has been found standing up to nine courses of stones.
The stages of the work appear to be as follows:
I. A very interesting feature, and one likely to give rise to much
discussion, is the discovery of a 10-foot thick wall, of earlier date
than the Great Wall, and ending in an abutment which is also 10 feet
thick. The bridge starting from this abutment could only have been
wide enough to carry the rampart-walk. Farther inland this wall has
been found to a height of one or two courses of stone above the
foundations.
II. Here a wall of superior masonry, of the {ix} character usually
associated with Hadrian's Wall, has been built, 7½ feet wide, on the
lower courses of the earlier wall, the original wall having been
allowed to remain near the water. The new wall was found to be
accompanied by a road about 14 feet wide, which was carried up to an
abutment of large masonry blocks--re-used material, apparently taken
from the breastwork of the earlier abutment. The road has a gravel
surface and a foundation of cobbles.
III. A tower, larger than the one at Chesters, was built on the top
of the aforesaid road-abutment. Of its two floor-levels, the
earlier, of clay, was Hadrianic or Antonine, later than the Wall, and
earlier than the late Antonine rising. The second floor, of sand,
was also probably second century, the two floors agreeing
approximately with what are known as the 1_a_and 1_b_ levels.
A new length of wall, westwards towards the river, was added when the
tower was built, the abutment was reconstructed, and buttressed on
the south side by a massive tapering breastwork.
IV. Possibly a rectangular abutment was added to the face of the
tapering breastwork, but this phase is not yet clear.
V. A very massive curved abutment and a Water-pier, with stone
pavement between them, were constructed still farther west, forming
an open {x} sluice. The character of this work suggests the time of
Severus or later in the third century.
VI. The open sluice was filled with gravel and stones, sealed down
with a layer of lime; probably in the fourth century.
Since the work is still in progress, these notes can only indicate
the stage reached up to 17th November 1924.
Dr. Shaw has also excavated two Wall-turrets, one behind the byre of
Willowford farm-house, which has been left uncovered, and another
nearer Gilsland. The Wall was found to have been thickened to 10
feet in width in the neighbourhood of the turrets.
* * * * * * *
The question has often been raised as to whether it is better to walk
the Wall from east to west (as I did) or from west to east. I am an
"East-to-Wester" all the time. It is far pleasanter to end the walk
on the seashore of a picturesque fishing-village than in the smoky
suburbs of a great industrial city.
And has not the trend of humanity always been westward? ... "A kind
of _heavenly_ destiny," says Wordsworth in his "Stepping Westward."
It is almost certain that the Romans worked westward in building the
Wall. As their first fine enthusiasm began perhaps to wane, they
found {xi} it necessary to call in the help of tribes from Devon and
Cornwall, and from near London, and also of men of the fleet.
Inscribed stones have been found at Netherby near Carlisle, and at
Triermain near Birdoswald, giving evidence that men of the _Classis
Britannica_ worked on the Wall at the western end; and other stones,
at Holmhead and at Howgill, give the names of two southern tribes,
the Dumnonii and the Catuvellauni, suggesting that they also helped
at this end.
* * * * * * *
Following Dr. Collingwood Bruce, I have called the road from
Newcastle to Carlisle "Wade's Road." This is a mistake, for General
Wade died in 1748, as his monument in Westminster Abbey shows, and
the road was not made until 1753. The Act of Parliament authorizing
it was passed in 1750.
* * * * * * *
In conclusion, I must add a few words about the purpose of the Wall.
On page 23, I have said: "No one ever doubts what it was meant to be
or to do." This is true, in the sense that the Wall, in its perfect
condition, would cry aloud to all comers, "Thus far and no farther."
It was essentially a _barrier_. But the old idea that it was
intended to be used as a _fighting-ground_ is exploded. It had been
built two centuries before the Romans could have practised
bow-and-arrow warfare, such as Kipling describes in "Puck of Pook's
Hill." The {xii} auxiliaries were then armed only with the usual
short sword and heavy throwing-spear, quite unsuitable weapons for
warfare from a wall; and the width of the Wall was insufficient for
the use of catapults and ballistæ.
No; the Wall was an elevated sentry-walk, a continuous look-out
tower; it was a guarantee that no one could enter Roman territory
without Roman permission. When the sentries on the Wall gave warning
of an attack from the north, the cohorts from the forts would not
line up on the Wall; they would fling wide the northern gates, and
march out to meet the enemy in the open. The whole question is very
interestingly discussed in an article on "The Purpose of the Roman
Wall," by Mr. R. G. Collingwood, in No. VIII. of _The Vasculum_.
{xiii}
INTRODUCTION
"You never can bring in a Wall.
Some man or other must present Wall."
_Midsummer Night's Dream._
The idea of a colour-book on Hadrian's Wall was suggested to me by
friends in 1914. Then came the Great War, blotting out all thought
of work of this kind.
But in 1920 I was taken by these friends along the line of the Wall,
and I soon fell a victim to its many attractions. My friends went
home; but I found hospitality at the farms and other houses in the
neighbourhood, and began to paint at once.
Before long I decided to "walk the Wall" every foot of the way, 73½
miles, from sea to sea, being inspired thereto by the example and the
record of William Hutton. Many of my readers will need an
introduction to this delightful character, whose book--to which I
shall often have occasion to refer--is now out of print.
William Hutton was an archæologist of Birmingham, who in 1801, at the
age of seventy-eight, {xiv} travelled alone and on foot "six hundred
miles to see a shattered Wall."
He then published an account of the Wall and the walk, written in a
very original and interesting style, although, as he tells us, "the
_Battledore_, at an age not exceeding six, was the last book I used
at school."
"The respectable and amiable Author" (to use the words of
contemporary critics) started from Birmingham with his daughter; but
since she rode on a pillion behind a servant, and he went on foot,
they can hardly be said to have "accompanied" each other. They used
to meet at the inns, for dinner, bed and breakfast; and at Penrith
they parted, she making her way to Keswick and the Lakes, he to
Carlisle and his beloved Wall.
He sent his daughter two notes during his Wall journey: the first
from Carlisle, in which he said he was sound in body, shoe and
stocking, and had just risen from a lodging among fleas; the second,
from Newcastle, when he wrote (to quote her words) "that he had been
at the Wall's End; that the weather was so hot he was obliged to
repose under hedges; and that the country was infested with thieves:
but, lest I should be under any apprehensions for his personal
safety, he added they were only such as demolished his idol, the
Wall, by stealing the stones of which it was composed."
Of his aim in writing his book, he thus speaks:
{xv}
"I would enliven truth with the smile, with the anecdote; and while I
travel the long and dreary Wall, would have you travel with me,
though by your own fireside; would have you see and feel as I do; and
make the journey influence your passions as mine are influenced."
There is no doubt that his enthusiasm is infectious, and that whoever
follows the Wall in the same spirit as he did, will not find it a
"long and dreary" journey.
For myself, I was fascinated by it; I enjoyed every step of the way;
and the pictures of the Wall which are here reproduced are the fruit
of many happy days spent in its company.
Owing to present conditions, the original idea of a colour-book was
dropped, for something more portable and less costly, so the number
of illustrations in colour is limited to six, instead of the
twenty-five I had prepared; and of the remaining nineteen, only eight
appear in monochrome.
In one sense I did not walk the Wall alone. I had two companions,
William Hutton and Dr. Collingwood Bruce. The latter was represented
by his _Handbook_ on the Wall, which was first published in 1863, and
which has proved its value by having appeared, in seven successive
editions, as the standard work on the subject. Dr. Bruce and Mr.
John Clayton will always be remembered as the great pioneers of
practical research on the Wall.
{xvi}
I owe much to the kindness of Mr. F. Gerald Simpson, who hopes to
return to active work on the Wall next year (at Birdoswald), and who
is my authority on many points in the archæology of the Wall which
his recent excavations have brought to light. Much is waiting to be
done, but the adequate prosecution of the work in the future will
depend entirely on how much financial help is forthcoming from those
interested in historical research.
I was very fortunate in falling in with the Three Days' Pilgrimage of
the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the Cumberland
and Westmorland Archæological Society, and in being allowed to join
it, in September 1920; and I have to thank the members for their kind
welcome to a stranger, and for their readiness to help me. In this
connection I must specially mention Mrs. T. H. Hodgson, Mr. Robert
Blair, F.S.A., and Mr. W. G. Collingwood, F.S.A.
_Archæologia Æliana_, issued yearly by the Society of Antiquaries of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and the annual _Transactions_ of the Cumberland
and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archæological Society have been of
the greatest service as works of reference. To the former I am also
indebted for the plans of the Roman Bridge and of Cilurnum and
Borcovicium (Figs. 6, 8, and 12).
From the work entitled _Romano-British Buildings and Earthworks_, by
the late Mr. John Ward, {xvii} F.S.A., the author and the publishers
(Messrs. Methuen & Co.) have kindly allowed me to take Figs. 9, 10,
11, 12, and 14.
Readers who wish to study the latest discoveries with regard to the
Vallum will find them in the recently published _The Purpose and Date
of the Vallum and its Crossings_, by Mr. F. Gerald Simpson and Dr. R.
C. Shaw (Titus Wilson, Kendal). It forms part of vol. xxii. of the
Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and
Archæological Society, but it can also be obtained separately.
For those who do not care to walk all the way, and who wish to see a
great deal of the Wall in a short time, the George Inn at Chollerford
makes a delightful centre. It stands on the bank of the North Tyne,
with well-kept gardens sloping down to the water's edge, just where a
five-arched stone bridge crosses the river. The bridge dates from
1771, the year when every bridge over the Tyne except the one at
Corbridge was swept away by heavy floods.
Chollerford is only 21 miles by road from Newcastle, and the road
runs on the Wall foundations nearly all the way. The little station
of Humshaugh, on the branch-line from Hexham, is quite close to the
_George_.
For motorists an excellent plan is to make the {xviii} _George_ their
headquarters and thence to visit the Fort of Cilurnum at Walwick
Chesters. Then to travel by car along Wade's Road, noting the points
of interest _en route_, until the entrance to Housesteads
(Borcovicium) is reached. Here the car must be left and the fort
examined. The walk thence along the mural ridge can be made long or
short according to inclination. Tracks run down to Wade's Road at
frequent intervals--at Milking Gap, Peel, Caw Gap and Pilgrims' Gap
(by the Haltwhistle Burn). From Borcovicium to Pilgrims' Gap would
be a walk of nearly 6 miles along the Wall ridge; so for those who do
not care to walk so far on rough ground, a better plan would be to
send the car on to Bradley farm-house and to descend to the road by
Milking Gap; travel by car to Peel and examine the fine remains of
Wall there; return to the car for another 2½ miles along Wade's Road,
and then walk up by the Haltwhistle Burn to examine the Cawfields
mile-castle and the Wall in its neighbourhood.
Gilsland is the best centre for visiting, not only the Fort of
Amboglanna, at Birdoswald, but also the Nine Nicks of Thirlwall and
Thirlwall Castle, and the site of the Fort of Magna at Carvoran.
There is very good accommodation at Gilsland. From Birdoswald, cars
can travel actually on the line of the Wall as far as the village of
Banks, near which, at Hare Hill, the highest piece of Wall {xix} yet
standing is to be seen. The road journey can be continued past
Lanercost Priory through Brampton to Carlisle, whence road and Wall
run close together, for the most part, all the way to Bowness, where
the Wall ends; but only the pedestrian can examine it thoroughly.
Those who prefer to travel by train can easily visit the Wall in
sections, making Hexham, Gilsland and Carlisle their headquarters.
On the line between Newcastle and Carlisle, Fourstones is the station
for visiting Cilurnum; Haydon Bridge for Sewingshields; Bardon Mill
for Vindolanda and Borcovicium; Haltwhistle for Æsica and Winshields;
Greenhead for Thirlwall Castle and the Nine Nicks; Gilsland for
Amboglanna; and Naworth for Lanercost and Banks.
{xxi}
CONTENTS
CHAP.
Preface to Third Edition
Introduction
I. The Message of the Wall
II. Historical
III. Descriptive
IV. The Vallum
V. The Walk: Wallsend to Walbottle
VI. Walbottle to East Wallhouses
VII. Hunnum and St. Oswald's
VIII. Brunton and The Roman Bridge
IX. Cilurnum
X. Walwick to Sewingshields
XI. Sewingshields to Housesteads
XII. Housesteads to Peel Crag
XIII. Peel Crag to Walltown
XIV. Walltown to Gilsland
{xxii}
XV. Gilsland To Lanercost
XVI. Lanercost To Bleatarn
XVII. Bleatarn To Grinsdale
XVIII. Grinsdale To Drumburgh
XIX. Drumburgh To Bowness
XX. Vindolanda, Corstopitum, Bewcastle
Conclusion
Index
{xxiii}
LIST OF PLATES
IN COLOUR
1. Thirlwall Castle ... _Frontispiece_
2. North Gate of Housesteads Mile-castle
3. The Wall on Peel Crag
4. Thorny Doors Gap
5. The Wall Overhanging the Irthing
6. View looking South from Amboglanna
IN MONOCHROME
7. The Wall from Cuddy's Crag
8. The Bath-house at Cilurnum
9. The Basalt Cliffs above Crag Lough
10. North Gate, Borcovicium
11. Crag Lough from Milking Gap
12. Castle Nick Mile-Castle
13. Peel Crag, from the Gap
14. The Roman Milestone on the Stanegate
MAPS
Contour of Wall-ridge
Map of Hadrian's Wall
{xxiv}
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT
FIG.
1. Section of the Wall and Vallum
2. Comparative Plans of Mile-castle and Wall-turret
3. Sections of Vallum in Three Stages
4. Roman Head from Benwell Hill
5. Roman Altar from Rudchester
6. Plan of Roman Bridge near Cilurnum
7. Lewis for Lifting Stones
8. Plan of Fort of Cilurnum
9. Fortification Turrets from Trajan's Column
10. Fortification Gates from Trajan's Column
11. Gate of Fort on Mosaic, Avignon Museum
12. Plan of Fort of Borcovicium
13. Cross-Section of Fort Wall
14. Comparative Plans of Fort Gates
{xxv}
LIST OF FORTS ON THE WALL WHOSE ANCIENT NAME IS KNOWN.
Miles Great Wall joins its
Fort. Modern Name. between. Size. Gates. Troops stationed there. Wall.
Segedunum Wallsend -- 3½ acres 4 4th Cohort Lingones North Jamb of W. gateway
Pons Aelii Newcastle 4 ? 4 1st Cohort Cornovii ?
Condercum Benwill Hill 2¼ ? 4 1st Ala Asturians Midway
Vindobala Rudchester 7 3½ acres 6 1st Cohort Frixagi (Frisii) "
Hunnum Halton Chesters 7½ 4¼ " 4 Ala Saviniana "
Cilurnum Walwick Chesters 6 5¼ " 6 2nd Ala Asturians "
Procolitia Carrawburgh 3½ 3½ " 4 1st Cohort Batavians North Rampart
Borcovicium Housesteads nearly 5 n'ly 5 " 4 1st Cohort Tungrians " "
Vindolanda Chesterholm -- 3¼ acres 4 4th Cohort Gauls Lies 1 mile south of
Great Wall
Æsica Great Chesters 5½ 3 " 4 1st Cohort Asturians North rampart
Magna Carvoran 2½ 3½ " 4 2nd Cohort Dalmatians Lies to south of both
Wall and Vallum
Amboglanna Birdoswald 3¼ 5½ " 6 1st Cohort Dacians North rampart
46½ miles from Wallsend.
{xxvii}
HADRIAN'S WALL
{1}
HADRIAN'S WALL
CHAPTER I
THE MESSAGE OF THE WALL
"_Forma mentis æterna._"--TACITUS.
There is no doubt that this great Roman Wall, from Tyne to Solway,
this mighty relic of a mighty people, gains a wonderful hold on the
affections of those who follow its course, stirring the imagination
and quickening the pulses in a way that could hardly be expected from
a mere crumbling ruin. All who have learnt to know and to love it
will admit this; it unites them all in one common bond; though built
to place a barrier between the dwellers of the north and the south,
certainly nowadays it draws many of them closer together! What is
the secret of this attraction? The fact that the Wall is the
mightiest antiquity of Britain is not of itself sufficient to account
for the glamour it sheds. We must seek a more subtle reason; and the
true {2} source of its attraction is that it stands for a great ideal.
As we follow it in its unfaltering course from sea to sea, and mark
how bravely it has withstood the ravages of time and the hand of the
destroyer, it dawns upon us that it stands for something permanent,
something eternal, something in the very nature of man which can
never die. We see that these stones, of Wall, and Fort, and Castle,
are signs of the strength and endurance, the discipline, obedience
and devotion to duty of the men who conceived the whole idea, and of
the men who carried out the conception.
Although it is now definitely ascertained that Hadrian built the
Wall, yet we must go back to Agricola for the source of the
inspiration. It was he who laid the foundations of a righteous Roman
rule in Britain. It was he who saw that the petty chieftains of the
southern parts must be educated to sink their differences, and to
unite in allegiance to the Roman Empire. It was he who, by his own
disinterested and unselfish conduct, gave to the British chiefs an
example of public-spirited loyalty to principle which was a thousand
times more valuable than precept.
And it was he who built the first line of Forts from Tyne to Solway.
As I followed the Wall, this was the refrain which repeated itself
over and over again in my {3} ears, and echoed in the streets of the
deserted forts: these words of Tacitus which form part of the tribute
paid by a distinguished son to his distinguished father:
"Only the fashion of the soul remains."
Yes, the Wall is a ruin; the "defenced cities" have become "heaps";
and the might and glory of Rome have long been laid in the dust; but
the great and good qualities of men like Agricola and Hadrian shine
down the ages, and remain a source of inspiration and of strength for
ever.
Agricola was the finer character, and he had the advantage of
escaping the temptations which imperial dignities bring; but in
Hadrian, also, we see that devotion to a sense of duty, that clear
perception of justice, that wisdom in administration, which are of
the qualities that endure, and leave their mark on future ages.
"Only the fashion of the soul remains."
The aim of both Agricola and Hadrian was to convert Britain into a
peaceful and self-governed Roman province. Their incentive was the
love of an ideal. Each had a vision of stability and unity; but
whereas Agricola's direct endeavour was to absorb and Romanize the
whole island, Hadrian chose to consolidate rather than to extend. In
helping the Britons south of the Wall line to keep out the raiding
Caledonians, and encouraging them {4} to settle down, undisturbed, to
peaceful agricultural and industrial pursuits, he hoped that in time
the leaven of this higher ideal would spread north to the farthest
limits of the island.
And with this aim the Wall was built.
In all ages the building of walls has marked a stage of advance in
the evolution of human character, in so far as it has meant a
progress from the offensive to the defensive position.
In ancient Persia, the great reformer Zarathusthra condemned the
raiding lives of the nomads, and held up the purer ideal of a
peaceable and industrious community, dwelling within walls, and
living on the fruit of their labour. Tradition says that he was
slain by a resentful nomad on the steps of a temple, and thus he gave
his life for his ideal.
History repeats itself. Persia, China, Greece and Rome all built
walls of brick or stone to keep out the enemy, and maintain the
stability of their respective empires. Each had an ideal of unity to
achieve, and sought in this way to promote it.
In our own day, unity is still the ideal. Have we made a great
advance over the methods of our predecessors?
Rome had great qualities, great and good men; yet she fell. What did
she lack? She has left us shining examples of strength, endurance,
courage, justice and devotion to duty. Where did she fail?
{5}
She lacked just what we lack ourselves: the _true idea_ of unity, the
true ideal of universal love, without which all other greatness
"profiteth nothing."
Are we just beginning to learn that the true "walls" which can alone
preserve any nation or empire from destruction or decay, and which do
indeed ensure its stability, are not walls of brick or stone, not
armies, Dreadnoughts, aeroplanes nor submarines, but great moral and
spiritual qualities, high aspirations, an ideal of unity which views
the whole world as one, faced by one common enemy, and sees that,
with the nation as with the individual, true greatness consists in
humility and willingness to serve?
"Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction
within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy
gates Praise."
"Only the fashion of the soul remains."
{6}
CHAPTER II
HISTORICAL
In studying the Wall it is well to refresh our memory of Roman
history wherever it relates to Britain, to sit in our mental
"picture-house" as it were, and let scene after scene flit by us on
the screen.
First, in 55 B.C., we see Julius Cæsar, as governor of Gaul, arriving
to punish the interfering islanders of Britain for the help they had
given to the Gallic tribes in their resistance to him; meeting with
little success, and so withdrawing, only to return again the
following year, with five legions instead of two. Then we see the
British king, Cassivelaunus, whose capital was where St. Albans now
stands, uniting with hostile neighbours to meet the common foe. We
see him fixing sharp stakes in the bed of the Thames at the only
fordable point, in a vain attempt to check the Roman legions; which
stakes were still to be seen in the river-bed seventy years ago, and
are probably there still.
The next picture shows Cæsar's return to Gaul in the same year,
taking with him British hostages, {7} to ensure the payment of
tribute, and exhibiting as a trophy a corslet of British pearls.
After this there was what Tacitus calls "a long forgetfulness of
Britain," so far as conquest was concerned. He says of Cæsar that
"he rather discovered the island for his descendants than bequeathed
it to them." For ninety-seven years there was peaceful communication
with Rome, and the whole island, according to Strabo, became
"intimate and familiar to the Romans." The British king, Cunobelin,
the Cymbeline of Shakespeare, was brought up at the Court of
Augustus, and no doubt did something to introduce Roman laws and
customs. But still the people were as free as if Cæsar had never
landed.
Then, in 40 A.D., we see the demented Caligula (or "Little Boots,"
the nickname his soldiers gave him) deciding in a moment of caprice
to invade Britain, but returning after no more than a glance at the
white cliffs of the island, and with sea-shells from the beach at
Boulogne as his only trophy.
The Emperor Claudius comes next, in 43 A.D. Stirred up by
discontented British fugitives at Rome, he sent troops to Britain,
under Aulus Plautius and Vespasian. When the expedition succeeded,
he came in person, stopping only sixteen days in the island, but
celebrating a stupendous triumph on his return to Rome. On the
strength of his victorious campaign, he called his infant son {8}
Britannicus, and had the name of Britain stamped on his coins.
Aulus Plautius was the first consular governor of Britain. His wife,
Pomponia Græcina, was a Christian. Was she, perhaps, the first
Christian to land on our shores?
Ostorius Scapula succeeded Plautius, and it was into his hands that
the British king, Caradoc (or Caratacus), the son of Cunobelin, fell,
after offering a brave resistance for at least seven years.
Our next picture shows the entry of Caradoc and his family into Rome,
in 50 A.D., as prisoners of war. The noble bearing of the king alone
saved him from death in the arena.
After this the Romans began definitely to colonize Britain. Tacitus
writes in 97 A.D.: "The nearest portion of Britain was reduced little
by little to the condition of a province; a colony of veterans was
also planted; certain states were handed over to King Cogidumnus (who
has remained continuously loyal down to our own times), according to
the old and long-received principle of Roman policy, which employs
kings among the instruments of servitude."
Successive governors maintained or extended Roman authority, until
the eastern and southern portions were so far subdued that the
governor, Suetonius Paulinus, felt able to cross over to Mona (the
island of Anglesey) to bring into subjection this stronghold of the
Druids.
{9}
Here was the opportunity of the British tribes, more restive than
they had seemed beneath the Roman yoke. Our next picture is a
terrible one. In 61 A.D., seventy thousand persons, "all Romans or
confederates of Rome," were destroyed by the Iceni, under Queen
Boudicca, in the Romanized towns of Camulodunum, Londinium and
Verulam (Colchester, London and St. Albans).
Paulinus returned hastily to the rescue, and "the fortunes of a
single battle restored the country to its ancient submissiveness."
So says Tacitus; but it was only a surface submission; the fire was
smouldering, not quenched.
A milder governor succeeded Paulinus, and under him and his
successors Roman civilization and Roman vices began to spread among
the Britons.
Then came two rulers of sterner type, who subdued the Brigantes (of
Lancashire and the north-west counties) and the Silures (of South
Wales).
Following them came Agricola, in 78 A.D., surely the greatest figure
in the history of Roman Britain! He was appointed governor by the
Emperor Vespasian, the foundations of whose own career had been laid
in Britain. Agricola, also, had served his apprenticeship to war in
the island, under Suetonius Paulinus, having passed through the
critical period when the Roman towns were burned and the populations
butchered.
His character has been very ably drawn for us {10} by his son-in-law,
Tacitus, who shows that the ideal of true greatness, in those days of
imperial luxury and vice, was as high as our own, and that there were
some who came near to attaining to it.
Unassuming, tactful, patient, incorruptible; kind and affectionate;
brave and energetic, and yet modest; strictly just, and yet merciful;
so great that it would be an insult to dwell upon his probity and
self-control--these are some of the qualities with which Tacitus
credits his father-in-law; and the ability with which he governed
Britain goes a long way towards proving the picture true.
Shortly before his arrival in Britain to take up the reins of
government, the tribes of the Ordovices, of North-west Wales, had
crushed almost to a man the regiment of cavalry encamped amongst
them. Such an incident could not be overlooked by the new Governor.
Now was the moment to show what spirit he was of! Supplementing
Roman troops with native auxiliaries, he marched to the hills where
the Ordovices were hid, and almost exterminated the whole tribe.
"Horrible!" does some one say? Yes; it was horrible. A soldier's
devotion to duty always gives him terrible work to do; and we in this
so-called Christian country can take no superior attitude, though
1800 years have passed.
Agricola then subdued Mona; and having thus {11} established a
reputation for courage and firmness he set himself to the task of
making peace more attractive to the Britons than war. His intention
was to habituate them to peace and quiet by turning their thoughts to
something better than war, and therefore he encouraged them to build
temples, houses and market-places.
"The rivalry for his compliments took the place of coercion." "He
began to train the sons of the chieftains in a liberal education, and
to give a preference to the native talents of the Briton as against
the plodding Gaul." But he did not neglect military tactics. "Time
was found also for the planting of forts. Experts noted that no
other general selected more shrewdly the advantages of site; no fort
planted by Agricola was carried by storm by the enemy, or abandoned
by arrangement and flight; as for a protracted siege, against this
they were secured by supplies for twelve months. Accordingly, winter
was shorn of its fears, and sallies were frequent; each commander
could protect himself, whilst the enemy were helpless, and therefore
despaired. They had been accustomed in most places to weigh the
'incidents' of winter against the summer's losses; now they were
repelled summer and winter alike."
So far, Tacitus.
But of all Agricola's notable achievements that which specially
concerns us now is his work in the {12} north. Here, in 79 A.D., he
constructed for military purposes the famous cross-road, which in
Saxon times began to be called the "Stanegate," or "Stone Way." His
chief centres, or advanced bases, were Corbridge (Corstopitum) and
Carlisle (Luguvallium) between which this road ran. His other forts
were on the same road line, but not generally on the line of the
Wall, as archæologists formerly thought. It may yet be proved that
two or three of the Wall forts were first built by him as outliers of
his chain of forts.
Later, in 81 A.D., he built a chain of forts from the Forth to the
Clyde, "the enemy being pushed back into a separate island, so to
speak," says Tacitus; and thus he initiated the barrier of Antoninus
Pius.
After Agricola's victory over the Britons at Mount Graupius, in 85
A.D., the Emperor Domitian, jealous of his successful generalship,
recalled him to Rome. Tacitus says that he "handed over a peaceful
and safe province to his successor." His seven years' rule had been
so fruitful that one cannot help wondering how much he would have
achieved if he had been allowed to continue his work of tranquil
colonization, and his conquest over the affections of the people of
Britain. He was only forty-five when recalled to Rome, and nine
years later he died, poisoned, as is thought, by the still jealous
Emperor.
{13}
Tacitus cannot pity him: "The true blessings of life which lie in
character he had fulfilled"; and he closes his essay with these
magnificent lines, so often quoted and so eternally true, whether
spoken of the avowed Christian, or of the so-called pagan, who has
practised Christian virtues in a Christian spirit, and in doing so
has indeed been led by the Light which lighteth every man that cometh
into the world:
"Vain alike and passing is the face of man and the similitude
thereof; only the fashion of the soul remains, to be known and shown
not through alien substances and arts, but in your very life and
walk. Whatever we have loved in Agricola, whatever we have admired,
abides, and will abide, in the hearts of men, in the procession of
the ages, in the records of history. Many of the ancients has
Forgetfulness engulfed as though fame nor name were theirs: Agricola,
whose story here is told, will outlive death, to be our children's
heritage."
And as, looking southwards from the line of the Wall, we trace the
course of his road and note the positions of his forts, we also can
be grateful for his upright life and his disinterested service.
Nerva succeeded Domitian, and was in his turn succeeded by Trajan,
who reigned till 117 A.D. At about this date the forts of Agricola,
which had held the country for thirty years, were entirely swamped
during a great native rising. The Ninth {14} Legion, then stationed
at York, disappears from history, having been annihilated by the
Britons.
And next comes Hadrian, the actual inventor of the Roman frontier
system. He became Emperor in 117 A.D., and initiated his policy in
Britain about two years later. It is now generally agreed that he
was responsible for the works of the Vallum, as well as for the Stone
Wall, with its forts, mile-castles and turrets.
Here was an Emperor who lived no life of self-indulgent ease, nor
used his imperial rank merely to serve his own private ends.
He was indefatigable in his journeyings through his empire, to
reorganize and reform. Every province came under his personal
supervision, and traces of his activity are to be met with
everywhere. He was also undoubtedly a great builder. The largest
temple ever erected in Rome, the temple of Venus and Roma, owes its
origin to him, as also do the Pantheon and the Castle of St. Angelo.
He was therefore quite capable of conceiving and carrying out such a
project as the Great Wall.
He visited Britain in person, towards the close of 121 A.D., or early
in 122, but the works were only completed after he had left, under
the direction of Aulus Platorius Nepos, his proprætor.
Antoninus Pius succeeded Hadrian in 138 A.D. He was himself a man of
peace, and left the settlement of disturbances to his provincial
governors. {15} Under him Lollius Urbicus built the turf wall
between the Firths of Forth and Clyde, along the line of the forts of
Agricola. This is known as the Antonine Wall. In mediæval times it
was called Grahame's Dyke.
Britain was very disturbed from 161 A.D. to 193 A.D. during the
reigns of Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher, and his son and
successor, Commodus. The Wall and its forts and turrets suffered
much during this period.
Under Septimius Severus there was still trouble, and the Emperor came
over in person, in 208 A.D., bringing with him his sons Antoninus and
Geta. The former is usually called Caracalla, from a Gallic mantle
which he had made fashionable in Rome. Severus was an African by
birth, and a soldier by profession, having risen from the ranks, but
he was a splendid administrator. On arriving in Britain, he
collected troops, repaired the roads, and rebuilt, where necessary,
the forts and the Wall.
Then we have a pathetic picture of the old Emperor, hampered by gout,
and obliged to be carried in a litter or a closed chair, distracted
by the quarrels and ambition of his sons, and yet advancing far into
the enemy's country, under inconceivable difficulties, and with a
great loss of men. Finally he died at York, in 211 A.D., "worn out
with sorrow more than with disease." It is said of him that he had
"a greater tenderness for his children {16} than for the republic;"
and yet it was no secret that his elder son had once endeavoured to
stab him in the back, and, failing, had tried to bribe his physicians
to poison him. On their father's death the sons returned to Rome, to
succeed him, but in less than a year the elder had contrived the
murder of the younger.
The inscribed stones which have been found bring out very clearly
that Severus left behind him an impulse towards the restoration of
the Wall and its forts which continued until 240 A.D.
Britain was now left to herself. Rome was too much occupied with
troubles at home to pay much heed to her island province, and
peaceful conditions prevailed.
Taking advantage of Rome's preoccupation, Carausius, who had charge
of a Roman fleet, under Diocletian, to repress the Saxon pirates,
betrayed his trust, and assumed the sovereignty of Britain in 287
A.D. For six years he ruled an independent kingdom, to be betrayed,
in his turn, and murdered by his minister Allectus, who succeeded
him. Three years later Rome resumed her authority, and Allectus was
slain.
Constantine is accused by the historian Zosimus of having withdrawn
the soldiers from the forts of Britain to the towns, where they
became effeminate. Now Emperor succeeded Emperor in rapid
succession. Soon Rome had all she could do to keep {17} the Goths at
bay; and, in 410 A.D., Honorius wrote to the Britons to tell them
they must look to themselves for safety.
Experts differ as to when the Romans actually abandoned the island,
but it is safe to say that it was early in the fifth century.
Rome's hold on Britain had thus lasted nearly four centuries; and
when we remember that it is not much more than four centuries since
Columbus discovered America, we can better realize how thoroughly
Roman in that period the island and the people must have become.
"Under the _Pax Romana_, established by Agricola," writes Mr. H.
Rushton Fairclough in _Art and Archæology_, Vol. I. No. 2, "Roman
temples, forums, dwelling-houses, baths and porticoes had sprung up
everywhere; and, above all, Roman schools, where the youth of the
land learnt with pride to adopt the tongue and dress of the
conquerors." And this was when more than three centuries of Roman
rule were yet to come!
{18}
CHAPTER III
DESCRIPTIVE
What is this Wall like, of which we have heard so much?
It consists of three parts:
1. A Stone Wall with a ditch on its northern side.
2. A series of forts, mile-castles and Wall turrets, connected by
roads.
3. An earthwork known as "The Vallum," consisting of a deep central
ditch and two (frequently three and sometimes four) earthern mounds,
running always to the south of the Wall and its fortifications.
Excavations and inscriptions have now pretty well established the
order and the period in which the different parts were constructed,
and it appears to have been as follows:
1. Agricola built a series of forts (including Corbridge and
Carlisle) across the isthmus, about 79 A.D., with a road, afterwards
known as the Stanegate, connecting them.
2. Hadrian first built a new line of forts a short distance to the
north of the Stanegate line.
{19}
[Illustration: Fig. 1.--Section showing the relative positions of the
Stone Wall, the Vallum and the Military Way.]
{20}
3. Hadrian then constructed the Vallum, as a limes or boundary,
slightly to the south of these forts, yet everywhere north of the
older line of Agricola.
4. Hadrian finally built the Great Wall, linking up the new forts and
including a mile-castle every seven furlongs, and two wall-turrets
between every pair of mile-castles. He also made a road from castle
to castle, and so from fort to fort--122-127 A.D. This great Stone
Wall, was the last word in the defensive problem. The original
scheme, of forts and Vallum, had failed to ensure the safety of the
frontier; and the necessity for a continuous barrier had become
evident.
So it came about that the Wall was built. In the course of its
building, the Vallum with its deep ditch and high mounds would form a
continuous obstacle to the free passage of workers and building
materials coming from the south. To obviate this difficulty, the
mounds of the Vallum were cut through and the ditch was filled up at
frequent intervals, to form temporary level-crossings.
5. After the Great Wall was completed, the Vallum-ditch was cleared
where necessary, and the clearings from the ditch were thrown up as
an additional mound on the south margin of the ditch. This indicates
that the Vallum still represented a boundary: no longer, indeed, to
the enemy, for the Wall was now their boundary, but to the civil {21}
population of the province of Britain. North of the Vallum was now a
military district, "out of bounds" for civilians.
6. Severus reconstructed great portions of the Wall and forts, which
had been thrown down by the enemy--207-210 A.D.
It is thus clear that most of the work which we see was originally
designed by Hadrian in the second century.
It would serve no purpose for me to go into all the older arguments
and theories as to who was the builder of the Wall, and what was the
object of the Vallum, but I have endeavoured to give the latest
views, based on the most recent discoveries.
As is well known, archæologists do not now aim at finding objects,
but rather at learning history and fixing dates. Especially do they
aim at dating the various levels of occupation by means of the
pottery fragments found there--a method unheard-of when excavations
were first begun on the Wall. Much still remains to be done in this
direction.
The evidence in favour of Hadrian's having been the builder of the
Wall is now so strong as to be irrefutable. In four mile-castles
have been found slabs bearing his name and that of his proprætor,
Aulus Platorius Nepos. The name of Severus has not been found at all
on the actual line of the Wall.
A bronze purse of coins was found hidden in a quarry on Barcombe
during the last century. {22} There were no coins later than the
time of Hadrian; and, since the purse was probably hidden in his
reign by a worker in the quarry, this evidence would point to Hadrian
as a builder in stone, and not merely the constructor of the Vallum,
as some have thought.
Many old writers have made reference both to the stone Wall and the
Vallum.
Camden, the antiquary, writing in 1587, says:
"Through the high part of Cumberland shooteth that most famous Wall
(in no case to be passed over in silence) the limit of the Roman
Province, the Barbarian Rampier, the Forefence and Enclosure, for so
the ancients termed it, being called * * * by Antonine, Cassiodore,
and others, Vallum, that is, the Rampier; by Bede, Murus, that is,
the Wall; by the Britons, Gual-Sever, Gal-Sever, Bal, Val, and
Mur-Sever; by the Scottish, Scottish-waith; by the English, and those
that dwell there-about, the Picts Wall, or the Pehits Wall, the Keepe
Wall, and simply by way of excellencie, The Wall."
Throughout this book we will call the stone Wall "simply by way of
excellencie," the Wall, referring to the other parts of the
fortifications, the Vallum, forts, mile-castles and turrets, by their
several names.
And, before going farther, I may as well confess the true state of my
affections, for I am sure to be {23} found out sooner or later. The
Wall, "simply by way of excellencie," is my real love; the Vallum
only takes a very secondary place.
I love the Wall for its aspiring nature, always keeping to the very
tops of the hills, when there are any hills to be had, while the
Vallum creeps sluggishly along in the low land.
I love the Wall for the way in which it overcomes obstacles, never
swerving from its determination to keep to the highest at all costs,
while the Vallum allows itself to be turned aside to the south by
even such a little obstacle as Down Hill.
And I love the Wall for the sense of strength which it gives, even in
its present battered condition, a sense of strength and solidity
which no number of ditches and earth mounds could ever give. Earth
mounds (of a sort) can be made by earth-worms; for stone walls it
takes men!
I love the Wall because I can picture it, manned by the soldiers of
the cohorts, as a living thing, all eyes and ears; a link from sea to
sea; a chain of forts and turrets threaded on a single string!
And I love it because of its plain straightforward purpose. No one
ever doubts what it was meant to be or to do; whereas the object of
the Vallum is still to some extent a matter of conjecture, over which
wordy battles may be fought.
And I love the Wall because it lends itself to being painted, while
the Vallum stubbornly refuses to {24} look anything but insignificant
in a picture, however imposing it may be when examined on the spot.
Lastly and chiefly, I love the Wall because of the symbol it presents
of a firm stand and a patient, faithful, conscientious, tireless
watch against the enemy; no risks taken, no pains spared, no
loopholes left. It is to me a symbol of vigilance and endurance.
I know that I am self-condemned in the eyes of the archæologist for
having such a preference, for is not the Vallum older than the Wall,
and does not that in itself constitute an unimpeachable claim to
superiority?
But I am not an archæologist; I am only an artist with a taste for
archæology, and that is why I fall so far short of the true standard.
The Wall stretches all the way from Wallsend-on-Tyne, 4½ miles east
of Newcastle, to Bowness-on-Solway, a distance of 73½ miles; and the
Vallum runs alongside of it, on the south, from Newcastle to
Dykesfield, in Cumberland, a distance of about 66 miles.
The original height of the Wall was at least 12 feet to the rampart
walk, so that it was probably 18 to 20 feet high, including the
battlements.
Bede, writing from his monastery at Jarrow, opposite Wallsend,
somewhere about 700 A.D., says:
"It is eight feet in breadth, and twelve in height, {25} in a
straight line from east to west, as is still visible to beholders."
He probably did not include the battlements.
Sir Christopher Ridley, Vicar of Haltwhistle, about 1572, writes:
"The breadth iij yardis, the hyght remaneth in sum placis yet vij
yardis."
Samson Erdeswick, visiting the Wall in 1574, says:
"As touching Hadrian's Wall, begyning abowt a town called Bonus
standing vppon the river Sulway now called Eden, and there yet
standing of the heyth of 16 fote, for almost a quarter of a myle
together, and so along the river syde estwards."
Camden, who was here in 1599, saw it 15 feet high:
"Within two furlongs of Caervoran, on a pretty high hill the Wall is
still standing, fifteen feet in height, and nine in breadth."
This must have been on the edge of the crags of the Nine Nicks of
Thirlwall.
The breadth of the Wall is about 9 feet 6 inches at the foundation,
and varies between 6 and 8 feet at the top. Dr. Bruce says:
"Probably the prevailing width is 8 feet." The northern face is
continuous, but the southern face has many offsets and insets,
measuring from 4 to 12 inches, where variations in the width of the
Wall have occurred. It is thought, therefore, that the work was done
{26} in sections, simultaneously, and that each superintending
centurion was allowed to exercise his own judgment as to the width.
This brings us to what are known as "centurial stones," many of which
are found along the line of the Wall. The inscription on these
stones is always preceded by a reversed C, thus [reversed C], or an
angle, thus, >, which indicates _Centuria_. It seems probable that
they were set into the Wall to indicate that a particular section was
built by troops under the command of such-and-such a centurion. The
centurial sign is always followed by a name.
A deep V-shaped ditch defended the Wall all the way on the north
side, except where it was protected by natural precipices. This
ditch, at its greatest, was about 15 feet deep and 40 feet across at
the top. It must have greatly added to the formidable appearance of
the Wall on the side presented to the enemy.
No matter what the character of the material to be excavated, the
ditch clings closely to the Wall on all the lower ground. It is hewn
through basalt, sandstone and limestone with equal indifference.
The Wall is constructed in the method usual with the Romans; that is
to say, it consists of a rubble core mixed with mortar, faced on each
side by masonry blocks. The stone used for the facing is a species
of sandstone. The size of the blocks {27} is very regular: 8 or 9
inches by 10 or 11 inches on the face, and sometimes as much as 20
inches long. The length is tapered off to form a wedge-shape, so as
to bind well into the core of the Wall. After a little practice, one
can readily recognize the Wall stones where they have been made use
of in later buildings and in fences.
The front surface of the stones is often tooled in a rough pattern,
with diagonal lines, known as "diamond broaching," or with waved
lines, known as "feather broaching." The latter has been held to be
specially characteristic of Severus's work of reconstruction.
The Wall was built on a foundation of flat flagstones, laid on the
rock. Upon these, one or two courses of facing-stones were set in
place, and into the intervening space was poured a mass of fluid
mortar. Rough stones of any shape--chiefly whinstones--were then
introduced into the mortar, which, when dry, bound all together in
one solid mass. So course after course was added until the required
height was reached.
On gently undulating ground the courses of the Wall keep parallel to
the surface of the ground; on steep slopes the courses are laid
horizontally.
The colour of the stone is very varied; individual stones are
brownish, yellowish, reddish, grey; and the general impression varies
also because the stone has not always "weathered" in the same way.
{28}
Like the Great Wall of China, the Wall disregards obstacles, climbs
hills, and crosses valleys and streams, choosing always the greatest
possible heights to traverse.
Camden says of it:
"Verily, I have seene the tract of it, over the high pitches and
steepe descents of hills wonderfully rising and falling."
It is set for the most part in very beautiful surroundings, sometimes
in the peaceful and fertile lowlands, sometimes on the lonely barren
hills, with wide vistas stretching out to north and south. The
highest hill it climbs is Winshields, 1230 feet high.
Unlike the Great Wall of China, it has suffered much at the hands of
the destroyer, and for miles together scarcely a trace is to be seen.
In the more or less populated districts it has been used as a quarry,
and farm-houses, churches, and pele-towers have been built with its
stones. For 19 miles out of Newcastle the road (made by General Wade
in 1753, from Newcastle to Carlisle) runs chiefly on the foundations
of the Wall, and much of the Wall was pulled down then, to give place
to "military necessities." This road I shall in future refer to as
"Wade's Road."
[Illustration: THE WALL SEEN FROM CUDDY'S CRAG. HERE FOR A LONG
DISTANCE IT IS EASY TO WALK ALONG THE TOP OF THE WALL, WHICH IS 8
FEET WIDE, AND 5 OR 6 FEET HIGH.]
The Wall is best preserved on the lonely heights, as at Borcovicium,
where in parts it may be seen going up hill and down dale, at its
original width {29} of 8 feet, and 5 or 6 feet high. The greatest
height of any fragment still standing is 9 feet 10 inches, at Hare
Hill, Banks, in Cumberland.
The forts along the Wall, or "stations," as they are sometimes
called, are military cities, set at an average distance of five miles
apart, with barracks, storehouses, baths, etc., and very often with
suburbs outside the enclosing wall.
The clue to the names of the forts has been found in a document which
has fitly been called the "Who's Who" of the later Roman Empire.
This document is known as the _Notitia_; and the section which refers
to the Wall is headed, _Item per lineam Vatti_. Then follows a list
of all the forts along the Wall, with the name of the body of troops
stationed at each. There are twenty-three on the list, and only the
first twelve have been satisfactorily identified--as follows:
_Fort._ _Troops._ _Modern name._
Segedunum. 4th Cohort of the Lingones. Wallsend.
Pons Aelii. 1st Cohort of the Cornovii. Newcastle.
Condercum. 1st _ala_ (or wing) of the Asturians. Benwell Hill.
Vindobala. 1st Cohort of the Frixagi (Frisii) Rudchester.
Hunnum. The Savinian _ala_. Halton Chesters.
Cilurnum. 2nd _ala_ of Asturians. Walwick Chesters.
Procolitia. 1st Cohort of the Batavians. Carrawburgh.
Borcovicium. 1st Cohort of the Tungrians. Housesteads.
Vindolanda. 4th Cohort of the Gauls. Chesterholm.
Æsica. 1st Cohort of the Asturians. Great Chesters.
Magna. 2nd Cohort of the Dalmatians. Carvoran.
Amboglanna. 1st Cohort of the Dacians, Birdoswald.
styled "Aelia."
{30}
The means of identification has been by altars or other inscribed
stones found on the spot. For instance, at Housesteads was found an
altar with this inscription:
"To Jupiter, the best and greatest, and the deities of Augustus, the
first cohort of the Tungrians (a military one) commanded by Quintus
Verius Superstis, præfect."
At Carrawburgh there was found a stone of the date 237 A.D., with the
words "COH · I · BATAVORUM" very clearly inscribed. At Chesterholm
more than one altar has been found inscribed "COH · IIII · GALLORVM."
At Walwick Chesters was found an important slab declaring that "the
[soldiers] of the second _ala_ (or cavalry regiment) of Asturians
restored [this temple which had fallen down] through age."
At Great Chesters a roofing slab was found stamped "COH · I · ASTVR,"
besides other inscriptions.
So also at Carvoran and Birdoswald there is abundant confirmation of
the _Notitia_ statement.
The largest fort is Amboglanna, 5½ acres; the smallest is at
Drumburgh, ¾ of an acre, an exceptionally small site.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
{31}
[Illustration: Fig. 2: COMPARATIVE PLANS OF MILE-CASTLE & TURRET]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The mile-castles or _castella_ were placed at the distance of one
Roman mile, or seven furlongs, from each other. They vary in size,
but are roughly about 60 feet by 50. The Wall forms their north {32}
wall; their east and west walls are bonded into the Wall, so they
were evidently built at the same time as the Wall. Their southern
angles have been rounded off outside, though rectangular within.
There has always been a massive gateway to the north and to the
south, with a central road between, and inner buildings on either
side of it.
There were two Wall turrets between each pair of mile-castles. They
were sentry-boxes, recessed into the great Wall, with walls 3 feet
thick, and measuring about 12 feet by 10.
The Romans always had a military way accompanying their
fortifications. The Stanegate, made by Agricola, has a foundation of
cobbles bedded in clay, and on that is a layer of cobbles or gravel,
considerably raised in the middle. Kerbstones on either side mark
its limits. It is now certain, through work done, that the paved
military road which accompanies the Wall extended for its whole
distance, running along between the Wall and the Vallum. It is about
18 feet wide, and can be very frequently recognized by its curved
surface and stone kerbs, although it is grass-grown. The modern
field-gates are very often placed upon it.
{33}
CHAPTER IV
THE VALLUM
The history of the Vallum in detail would appear to be as follows:
The Emperor Hadrian decided that his new frontier should be defended
by a chain of new forts, and that a great ditch--the
Vallum-ditch--should be dug across the island, along the line of
these forts, to mark the boundary of the Roman Province of Britain.
This would be quite consistent with his usual policy of limiting the
extent of the Roman Provinces in order to strengthen his hold on what
it was most important to retain. By keeping to the south of the
chain of forts, the ditch would come under their protection.
That the ditch, and not the mounds, was the objective is pretty
certain, for the ditch was made continuous at all costs, while the
mounds were afterwards subject to trespass by the road, by quarries,
by a mile-castle etc.
The mounds are the upcast from the ditch, not thrown up on the very
edge of the ditch, for then rain and other causes would soon have
combined {34} to fill the ditch again, but carried some 24 feet away,
leaving a flat safety platform, known as a "berm," on each side,
between the ditch and the mound. Thus the mounds had the effect of
making the ditch appear deeper, and yet had no great tendency to fall
back again into it. The mounds are not the mere upcast from the
ditch; sods, and sometimes stones are laid as kerbs to strengthen
them, and keep them from settling down on themselves.
A subsidiary mound to the south of the ditch is often found, covering
a portion of the berm. This is now known to be no part of the
original scheme, but to consist of a later clearing of the ditch.
Sometimes there are two subsidiary mounds, one to the north as well.
In this connection, three important points have been noted by Mr. F.
G. Simpson and Dr. R. C. Shaw.
1. That there are ancient causeways across the Vallum-ditch in some
parts of its course, where the ditch has been quite filled up level
with the berms.
2. That wherever these causeways occur, gaps occur, opposite the
causeways, in the Vallum-mounds; and this suggests that a passage-way
has been cut through the mounds, and that the earth removed has been
used for filling up the ditch at the same point, so as to make a
roadway right across the earth-work.
{35}
[Illustration: Fig. 3.--Three stages in the history of the Vallum.]
{36}
3. That in many cases gaps occur in the mounds where there are no
corresponding causeways across the ditch; but it is just in these
regions that the subsidiary mound is found. Where there are
causeways, there is no subsidiary mound.
The deduction is that when the causeways had served their purpose the
ditch was cleared again, and the clearings were cast up to form the
marginal mound; but nothing was done to fill up the gaps, because the
ditch was the only consideration.
Excavations have all tended to support this theory. The causeways
were evidently made not long after the digging of the ditch, because
the ditch is not silted up under the cast-up rubbish of which the
causeways are formed; and everywhere else in the Vallum-ditch there
is a depth of 3 or 4 feet of silt.
Gaps occur in the Vallum-mounds all along the line to beyond
Carlisle, with great regularity (as if they had some set purpose) and
generally about 45 yards apart. The explanation suggested is that
nearly all the stone and building-materials needed for building the
Wall and repairing the forts had to be brought from beyond the
Vallum; that thousands of men, employed in bringing materials, would
be constantly passing over the mounds and ditch of the Vallum. Hence
the need for causeways and gaps.
We can imagine the men would get impatient {37} at having to climb a
mound, descend into a ditch, and then climb another mound at each
journey north or south. And if rough carts were used, a causeway
would be a necessity. By degrees continuous traffic would of itself
sink a path across the mounds; and what would be easier than to make
deliberate gaps and fill up the ditch with the soil?
The Romans were a methodical people, and in undertaking an enormous
work like the Wall they would certainly have points, at regular
distances apart, to which building materials had to be brought. The
only difficulty in the theory seems to be that a gap every 45 yards
could hardly be necessary.
Supposing this theory to be correct, then the Vallum _is older_ than
the Wall and its contemporary buildings, but very little older. It
has already been proved that the Vallum is not older than the
original forts, because it always curves round to the south when it
approaches a fort, in order to avoid it.
The Stone Wall appears to have been an after-thought, found necessary
for the final solution of the defensive problem.
It has long been a question whether there was not originally a
turf-wall right across the island, thrown up hastily to mark out the
course of the Stone Wall, and as a temporary defence, and then
gradually replaced by the Stone Wall. The presence of a piece of
turf-wall, more than a mile long, between Birdoswald and Wallbowers,
running north of the {38} Vallum and south of the Stone Wall, has to
be accounted for; and for two reasons it seems probable that this was
only a temporary structure: first, because there is no carefully-laid
stone foundation under the turves, as is the case with the Antonine
Wall; secondly, because no military way accompanies it, and the
Romans always had a road accompanying their fortifications.
Mr. Simpson thinks this particular stretch represents a mistake in
the laying out of the works, because it is so close to the Vallum
that a mile-castle could not have been built at the usual position:
which mistake was corrected by the Stone Wall, but the fruits of
which it was not thought necessary to remove.
Or--another theory--this turf-wall may have been a temporary local
barrier, thrown up during some interruption of the building of the
Stone Wall. It is certain that the turf-wall is the earlier, for
where it ends, at Wallbowers, its ditch goes under the Stone Wall,
and had to be filled up when the Stone Wall was built.
{39}
CHAPTER V
THE WALK: WALLSEND TO WALBOTTLE
I decided to begin my walk at the Newcastle end because I thought it
would be the least interesting part, and I wanted to get it over.
However, it proved far more interesting than I expected.
I reached Newcastle from King's Cross at five o'clock on a May
morning, and, booking my luggage, I started off at once, knapsack on
back, for Wallsend.
The sun had risen, and though the houses hid it, rosy clouds that
faced me proclaimed its presence as I turned eastwards.
Along Collingwood Street I went, across Pilgrim Street, then under
the railway-arch which crosses City Road; and there, on my right,
were the ruins of the old Sallyport gateway, which stand near--if not
on--the line of the wall.
Then past "St. Dominic's Priory," with its modern buildings and
prosaic brass-plate, to Byker Bridge, over the valley of the
Ouseburn, which appears to be all valley and very little burn. At
first I searched {40} in vain for any sign of water; I saw only a
valley full of rubbish. And the stony bed of the little stream
contained even more broken crockery than stones.
Byker Hill followed, lined with small shops. I sighed as I
remembered what it had looked like in the eighteenth century. For
before "industrial necessities" claimed it (as shown in Dr. Bruce's
third edition) it was a country road with a picturesque windmill on
the hill, a large piece of Wall still standing, and a beautiful view
of the city and the Tower of St. Nicholas' Church (now the Cathedral)
in the distance!
Turning to the left along Shields Road, I was amused to see an old
woman, in dirty apron and grey shawl, going round knocking at much
be-curtained windows on the ground floor with a small hammer:
"Lizzie, it's well-nigh six o'clock"; "Mary, it's time ye riz;" and
so on, at house after house. It was my first sight of a "knocker-up."
The misty valley of the Tyne began to show on my right, with clusters
of chimneys peering through the mist. I thought Shields Road would
never end; but it brought me to Wallsend at last. There I turned to
the right, and lighted at once on Hadrian Street! And, spying an
"inscribed stone" on a building opposite, I crossed over, and this is
what I read:
{41}
"The Eastern Gateway of
the Roman Camp of
SEGEDUNUM
stood about twenty yards
to the south of this spot
and remains of it were found
when this house was built
Anno Domini 1912."
The building is Simpson's Hotel, Wallsend. And so I really had
reached the Wall's End (although for me it was the Wall's Beginning)
in the midst of a wilderness of houses.
There are drawings in Newcastle which show the south-east angle of
Segedunum in 1848, with grassy banks, and trees, and a peaceful
river, and not a house to be seen.
I wandered down towards the Tyne now, to get an idea of where that
south-east angle must have been, but it seemed hopeless, with
buildings crowded thickly together as they are. There should be a
stone to mark the site, but I did not find it. The Wall ran down
from this corner right into the river, just as it did at the other
end, into the Solway, at Bowness, to cut off the passage of an enemy.
While part of Messrs. Swan & Hunter's shipyard was being levelled,
prior to the building of the _Mauretania_, this part of the Wall was
discovered, not far from the river-bank. The _Carpathia_ was
"completing" at the time at the same yard, and several Wall-stones
were placed in the saloon in a glass case.
{42}
I turned westward along Hadrian Street, past the row of houses called
"The Roman Wall," and made for the farm-house of Old Walker. The
Wall-ditch can be seen at intervals, and fragments of the core; and I
could recognize Wall-stones in the farm-house. I saw no signs of
mile-castles, though there should be two before we reach Byker Hill,
nor did I trace any further signs of Wall, though I followed its
course as I had come--by the Priory, Sallyport Gate, Wall Knoll,
Pilgrim Street, and St. Nicholas' Church (the Cathedral), of which
Leland says, writing about 1539: "S. Nicolas Chirch in Newcastel
stondith on the Picth Waulle."
Newcastle was the second fort on the line, the fort of PONS AELII,
so-called from the bridge which Hadrian, who was of the Ælian family,
built across the Tyne. The present Swing Bridge marks the site of
Hadrian's Bridge, which appears to have lasted, with various repairs,
till 1248 A.D. Traces of the old Roman piers have been found. The
exact site of the fort of Pons Aelii has not been ascertained.
From the railway station at Newcastle, the line of the Wall is up
Westgate Hill, on the very road itself; and the Vallum ran parallel
to it, along the south side of the road, as is shown in a drawing by
H. B. Richardson, made in 1848, before the houses were built there.
No traces of either are now to be seen.
{43}
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Roman Head, found on Benwell Hill.]
In a nurseryman's garden on the right, as I neared Benwell Hill, I
noticed a very beautiful head, evidently of Roman workmanship. It
was only a mask, with a little drapery hanging from it, and might
have served as the keystone of an arch. The laughing eyes looked
downwards, the mouth slightly open with a gentle smile, the hair
parted in the middle, and brought in waves rather low over the
forehead. There was very delicate modelling about the mouth. I went
up to the house, and asked to be allowed to make a drawing of this
head. The nurseryman's wife told me that her husband's grandfather
had dug it up in his ground {44} as well as other Roman treasures.
She showed me a tiny Roman altar, no more than a small stone bowl
with a foot, in which she said many a Christian baby had been
baptized. They used to send over and borrow it for baptisms at the
mission opposite. It had been dark in colour once, like the head,
but she had scrubbed it till it was quite light.
The fonts of the churches at Haydon Bridge and at Chollerton have
both been Roman altars.
So here we have pagan altars adapted to Christian uses, just as we
have pagan festivals in the Church's calendar; and pagan marriage and
funeral customs, borrowed from Rome, and used in the Christian Church
even to the present day.
After sketching the smiling lady, and finding her fascination grow in
the process, I continued my way up the hill, until I saw on the right
a large reservoir, and on the left three private houses, known as
Condercum, Condercum House, and Pendower. Here the road cuts right
across the site of the Roman fort of CONDERCUM, the third on the line.
The gardener at Pendower was busy just inside the gate, so I inquired
about the Roman remains, and he readily consented to show me what was
to be seen. He led me past mighty rhododendrons, in full bloom, to
the southern side of the garden, where what was evidently a fine
piece of the southern wall of the fort was still standing, some 30
feet long. {45} overgrown with London pride and bluebells, and
shadowed by beautiful trees. Part of a lintel lay amongst the stones.
Hearing that I was "walking the Wall," the gardener recommended to me
the Temperance Hotel at Matfen, kept by some friends of his, and I
made a note of it for future use, and now pass on the recommendation
to my readers. Accommodation along the Wall is not too easy to get.
Matfen is a very pretty village, 2 miles north of the Wall, at a
point 14 miles west of Newcastle.
The gardener pointed out to me, over the dividing fence, the
foundations of the little temple in the grounds of Condercum House,
to which I next made my way. Here another friendly gardener came to
my aid, and I saw the temple at close quarters, with its stone
pavement, circular apse, and solemn grouping of yew-trees round the
apsidal end. These yews were evidently planted soon after the temple
was excavated, some forty years ago. There was a rough stone head of
the Sun-god, and there were mill-stones "for the women to grind the
sacred corn during the temple-services"--so said my guide. Two
altars, which stood in their places at the ends of the apse when the
building was uncovered, are now in the Blackgate Museum, Newcastle.
The eastern wall of the fort runs through these grounds. I was told
that some of the Roman {46} masonry had been knocked down by soldiers
who occupied the house during the recent war, and that it had been
very unsatisfactorily replaced by masons.
The family was away, so the gardener let me roam about by myself; and
in a sunny meadow sloping down towards the Tyne, I found distinct
traces of the suburban buildings of the fort. The Vallum is here
recognizable for the first time, towards the south.
And now to return to the road. Hutton says of the Wall in this part:
"Its bare stones under my feet are frequently distinguishable from
those used for mending the road." But the tarred surface for
motor-cars has quite obliterated every sign of the old stones now.
It was getting very hot when I left Condercum, and this same tarred
surface made walking rather trying, for in many places it had become
soft and sticky with the heat, and not even the path on either side
had been left free. At some points the very gutters ran with tar.
There was no shade from trees overhead, except at long intervals; it
was "the hottest day of the year," as the papers said next day,
though as yet it wanted an hour or so of noon. But I trudged on,
inspired by my quest, and well knowing that my first day was bound to
be my worst day, compelled, as I was, to keep to the hard high road.
For 19 miles out of Newcastle {47} the road runs mainly upon the
foundations of the Wall.
A steep hill, Benwell Hill, leads down from Condercum to East Denton.
It was on this hill that John Wesley, with his step-daughter and
grand-children, had a narrow escape from injury or death. The horses
took fright, and ran away, dashing through a closed gate as if it had
been a cobweb, and then across a corn-field. The little girls were
terrified, but Wesley writes: "I told them, 'Nothing will hurt you;
do not be afraid'; feeling no more fear or care than if I had been
sitting in my study." The horses stopped suddenly, just on the brink
of a precipice.
At the bottom of the hill, the road crosses Denton Burn, once a
pretty stream, but now dry; I saw only a dirty green puddle in which
a dirty brown sparrow was trying to bathe. Just before the burn, on
the left, a stile leads to the very first piece of Wall which appears
above ground. It is only a few paces south of the road, and has been
enclosed by a wooden fence, but a mere fraction of the fence was
left; the rest had apparently been stolen for firewood. This piece
of Wall is 9½ feet wide. When Hutton saw it, it was 36 feet long,
and had an apple-tree growing on it. There is much less left now,
and even the dead trunk of the apple-tree has gone.
Mounting the opposite hill, I soon came to Denton {48} Hall, a
ghost-haunted old house on the right, built of Wall-stones in 1503 by
the monks of Tynemouth, as a summer residence. A few sculptured
stones from the Wall are to be seen in the hall. Mrs. Elizabeth
Montague, "The Queen of the Blue Stocking," lived there from 1760,
and entertained many distinguished guests.
Now I felt that I had at last got beyond Newcastle. The fields were
golden with buttercups; the may-trees were masses of pearly white;
beneath them the cattle stood drowsily in the heat; and away in the
distance the hills south of the Tyne lost themselves in a blue haze.
Opposite Denton Hall, the core of the Wall can be seen, and the
Vallum, running along the bottom of the meadow.
{49}
CHAPTER VI
WALBOTTLE TO EAST WALLHOUSES
The first indication of a mile-castle I noted in a field on the left,
just before reaching the lodge of West Denton House. It was just a
daisy-covered mound, as I saw it, with cows lying about on it.
I pushed on up the hill towards Walbottle (A.S. _botel_, an abode;
the abode on the Wall), with the Wall-ditch running alongside. At
the top there is a beautiful view across the valley of the Tyne. The
painter Martin, a native of Haydon Bridge, is said to have made it
the basis of his picture, "The Plains of Heaven."
Walbottle is now an unattractive colliery village, whatever it may
have been in Saxon times. There were many colliers about, for the
strike was on, and I saw women and children searching in the rubbish
at the pit-heads for scraps of coal.
At the Engine Inn at Walbottle I was able to get a bottle of
lemonade, and was also plentifully supplied with soap and water in
the back-kitchen by the kindly landlady. So I went on my way much
refreshed.
{50}
Soon I came to Walbottle Dene House, a farm-house on the right, in
the front garden of which are the splendid remains of the northern
gateway of a mile-castle, the first mile-castle to be seen uncovered.
The course of the road was altered here to avoid injury to this
mile-castle after it had been excavated. The huge stones can be
easily seen by looking over the low garden wall.
Wall-stones appear in the hedge on the right a little farther on; and
then comes Walbottle Dene, a steep little ravine, with paths
traversing its tree-covered sides, green with ferns and fresh spring
foliage, and the Newburn flowing through at the bottom.
In the mining village of Throckley, I saw crowds collected for a
funeral. The miners on strike were sitting in rows on the path
opposite the house, dressed in their Sunday clothes, to do honour to
their neighbour. A late-comer overtook me, and said as he passed: "A
hot day." I said: "Yes; I am glad it is fine for your holiday."
From that we came to the question of the strike (as I had intended),
and the respective claims of the owners and the miners. He told me
he had been in every trade you can name, and coal-mining was the
worst. I said: "Then why are you in it now?" and he replied:
"Because of the pay." He then described to me the unhealthiness and
the dangers of a miner's life, and to emphasize it he said: "You {51}
should compare what these men are now with what they looked like six
weeks ago; why, they are not the same men!" He drew such a vivid
picture of the hardships, that I said, in all good faith: "Oh, if
only a substitute could be found for coal!" But there I found he did
not agree with me at all, any more than the owners would have done.
It is a truism that there must be something wrong with a society in
which the workers in a disagreeable and dangerous calling would not
have it made less dangerous because the very danger gives them a
claim to higher wages. They are used to the danger, and they are
used to the wages; they would rather keep both! And who can blame
them, things being as they are? Perhaps some day we may reach a
condition of society in which every labour-saving device, or
danger-averting discovery, will bless the whole of the community, and
penalize none. This must surely come about in proportion as we learn
to think of mankind as "one body," and to see that if one member
suffers, every member is bound to suffer with it.
There can be no real gain through another's loss.
My miner-friend took my remarks very good-temperedly, and joined the
groups seated on the ground as soon as we came up to them.
Opposite the Filter-beds at Throckley, I turned off on the left,
through an inviting-looking green {52} meadow, and, crossing the
Vallum, sat down under some trees to rest. A man and a boy were busy
chopping and carting logs of wood in the little plantation near
me--another sign of the coal-strike. Soon after returning to the
road I saw traces of another mile-castle.
All this time the Wall-ditch can be traced on the right for the
greater part of the way, and the Vallum on the left, at varying
distances from the road, about 30 to 50 yards. At the top of the
hill leading down to Heddon-on-the-Wall, both the Wall-ditch and the
Vallum are a delight to the eye which has perhaps hitherto been
tempted to see them as monotonous. Both ditches are cut through the
sandstone rock. This was a specially good place for testing the
shape of the Vallum-ditch, and sections made in 1893 proved it to be
flat-bottomed and not V-shaped, just as it was later found to be
along its whole length.
A little way down the hill, by climbing into the field on the left,
we can see the Wall, 5 or 6 courses high, and, built into it, an
interesting circular chamber of unknown use, 7 feet in diameter. The
Vallum-ditch is here only 35 yards to the south.
As I entered Heddon, my thoughts began to turn towards refreshment,
but the only available place for a meal looked so uninviting that I
passed on. It was early-closing day in all the villages I had come
through, so no shops had been open {53} after one o'clock, and I had
let that hour slip by without knowing what a crucial hour it was.
At Heddon a road turns off on the left, leading to Horsley and
Corbridge.
John Wesley was preaching near Horsley in 1755. It was a noted
centre of Nonconformity, because it fulfilled the necessary condition
for meeting-places (required then by law) of being "more than 5 miles
from a parish church."
Wesley writes in his diary:
"_Wednesday_, 21 May 1755.--I preached at Nafferton, near Horsley,
about 13 miles from Newcastle. We rode chiefly on the new western
road, which lies on the old Roman Wall. Some part of this is still
to be seen, as are the remains of most of the towers, which were
built a mile distant from each other, quite from sea to sea. But
where are the men of renown who built them, and who once made all the
land tremble? Crumbled into dust! Gone hence, to be no more seen,
till the earth shall give up her dead!"
The next fort on the line of the Wall is VINDOBALA, and the
farm-house of Rudchester stands close to its site.
When I was only a mile from this place a large motor-lorry passed me,
going at full speed. To my surprise, it stopped suddenly in front of
me, and when I came up to it, the driver kindly offered me a lift. I
was indeed sorry to decline. The hill {54} was steep in front of me,
and I had already walked about 16 miles, not counting digressions;
but in any case I could only have travelled as far as Rudchester, for
I did not want to miss seeing Vindobala. And then, I _did_ want to
walk every foot of the way, from sea to sea! So I resisted the
tempter, though thanking him sincerely, and he was soon out of sight.
The road was very much pleasanter here, shaded by trees or by high
green hedges, and with grassy strips to walk upon.
At Rudchester the house and farm-buildings lie a little way off the
road, on the left, and are all well to the south of the site of the
fort. A lane crosses the road at right-angles, and the entrance to
the farm is a little way down this lane. Buoyed up with hopes of
tea, I made my way there first; not to the "big house," but to a
smaller one, where I found the farm-bailiff (as I suppose) and his
sister had just finished their tea. They most kindly asked me in,
and the sister said the kettle was boiling, and she could soon "make
some fresh." They had only just moved in, and had no idea that there
was any special archæological interest attached to the place. When I
inquired about the Roman "Station," the sister said: "Would it be
Wylam Station ye're wanting?" referring to the nearest railway
station, 2 miles to the south. When I had had tea (and how welcome
it was!) she took {55} me to the "big house." The master was away,
but the housekeeper showed me the drawing-room fireplace, where a
centurial stone from the Wall forms what was once the actual hearth
on which the fire was kindled. It plainly shows the marks of fire.
Now a modern grate has been fitted in above it.
[Illustration: Fig. 5.--Roman Altar found at Rudchester (Vindobala).]
Like most of the houses along this line, on the south it has a sunny
garden sloping towards the Tyne valley, with a glorious widespread
view, such as one would not expect on seeing the house from the road.
They took me through the garden, and then through a plantation, to
see the "Giant's Grave," a trough cut out of the solid rock, 12 feet
long, 4½ feet wide, and 2 feet deep; and the housekeeper held stoutly
to the opinion that its original purpose had been the brewing of
beer. "Giant's Grave, indeed!" said she; "better call it the Giant's
Bath!"
Before leaving, I traced the general outlines of the fort. With its
southern gateway and ramparts, {56} it can be easily made out,
between the farm-buildings and the road, the road itself probably
representing its _via principalis_. The house, farm-buildings and
field-fences are mostly built of stones from the Wall and fort. A
mediæval pele-tower was the nucleus of the present house.
I took my leave of Rudchester much refreshed, and grateful that my
experience had been the exact opposite of old Hutton's, for this is
the verse with which he commemorates his visit:
"I saw old Sir at dinner sit,
Who ne'er said, 'Stranger, take a bit,'
Yet might, although a Poet said it,
Have sav'd his beef, and rais'd his credit."
The site of another mile-castle is recognizable by the gate into a
field a little farther on; and then comes "The Iron Sign," once an
inn, with Roman-inscribed stones built into the front. The old lady
who lived here had recently been killed by a passing motor-car, while
crossing the road, so I was told.
Harlow Hill then came into sight, and glad I was to see it, for I
hoped to spend the night there. It was Hutton's first stage from
Newcastle. I had written to the Temperance Hotel there (mentioned by
Dr. Bruce), asking if I could have a bed, and enclosing a post-card
for reply; and although I had received no answer, at least I had not
had an unfavourable one.
The Wall-ditch showed very clearly ahead, running {57} up to Harlow
Hill, on the right of the road; and the Vallum, diverging from the
road, could be seen on the left.
Arrived at the village, I inquired at once for the Temperance Hotel,
only to be told I was several years too late! It had been closed
during the war. A day or two later I received my post-card, which
had been pursuing me. It bore no signature, and only this sad
legend: "No temperance at Harlow Hill."
The hotel, where Hutton had spent one night, was still there, a
substantial stone building, but it was now occupied by a private
family. I made inquiries from end to end of the village street, but
no one could give me a bed, so I found I must walk on a mile or so
farther to the next Inn, the "Robin Hood."
Passing the Whittledene Reservoirs, I noticed the houses of Welton
(Wall-town), and turned aside to the south for half a mile, to try my
chance there.
The road runs along the very brink of the reservoir. Several anglers
were seated on the steep banks, very much preoccupied, and their cars
were waiting for them in the road.
Welton Hall is pleasantly situated, overlooking the water. It is
built entirely of Wall-stones, and the oldest part is a pele-tower.
The initials and date--"W.W.--1614"--over the lintel of the
back-door, commemorate the building of the more recent {58} portion
by Will of Welton, a sort of modern Samson. Sitting outside the
tower one day, when old and blind, he called a ploughboy to him, and
wanted to feel his arm, to test its strength. The boy, afraid of
being hurt, held out the iron plough-coulter instead of his arm, and
Will promptly snapped it in two, remarking, "Men's banes are naught
but girsels (gristles) to what they were in my day."
A servant-girl was sitting sewing outside the back-door as I drew
near. In answer to my inquiry, she said there was no village, only a
farm, but I might perhaps get a bed there. Outside the farm-gate was
a little group of boys, playing quoits with large rusty iron rings.
Inside the yard I found a busy scene. Several women were occupied in
painting, beating or cleaning furniture of various kinds, which was
all spread out in the farm-yard. One of them was painting a kitchen
bench and table Indian red. Very tentatively I made my request.
"Don't ye see that we are busy spring-cleaning?" was the reply, but
in no unkindly tone.
Indeed, I did see, only too well; and I also saw, with my mind's eye,
another mile and a half of road stretching out before me, and the
night coming down, so I beat a retreat as quickly as I could. How
tiresome I must have seemed to those busy women!
I passed a pleasant-looking house before reaching {59} the Robin Hood
Inn, and, seeing the front door wide open, I walked up the garden,
gay with pansies and polyanthus, and knocked. No reply. I went
round to the back-door, which was also wide open. Still no reply.
So I came away. Then I tried a farm-house. The woman who answered
my knock told me she was housekeeper to two old bachelors, one of
whom was ill, so she could not help me. Lastly I came to the Robin
Hood Inn. An uncompromising notice hung in the front window:
"CLOSED;" and a motor-car stood outside the door. However, I
knocked, and a girl of about fourteen, very neatly dressed, answered
my knock. She told me that their family was so large that they never
had a bed to spare; that her sister was ill (it was the doctor's car
outside), and they could not possibly take me in. I asked for
lemonade or aerated water. No; they had nothing at all. "Well, a
glass of plain water?" Yes, I could have that, and welcome. When
she returned with it, I inquired how far it was to the next inn. She
could only tell me of Matfen, nearly 3 miles away. I had already
walked more than 20 miles, not counting the distance covered in my
explorations so in desperation I mentioned the house with the open
doors, and said: "Do you think the lady of that house would give me a
bed?" She brightened up, and answered: "Why, perhaps she would;
she's very nice. I'll ask her; she is upstairs helping {60} with my
sister." So she came down, and she _was_ very nice. She was,
indeed, a good Samaritan, for I hardly felt I could walk much
farther. She gave me the kindest welcome, and her husband did the
same when he came home and found me enjoying a good supper with his
wife. Never did a guest-chamber seem more attractive than hers to me
that night. Remember, I had spent the previous night in the train,
travelling from London; I had started on my walk at five o'clock that
morning, and the walk for a great part of the day had been on an
unsheltered high road, and in a temperature of 81° in the shade.
{61}
CHAPTER VII
HUNNUM AND ST. OSWALD'S
Next morning I took leave of my kind hostess, and set out again,
prepared to take things easily that day.
The Wall-ditch was very deep and clearly marked on my right, planted
with trees (chiefly young larch), and carpeted with
flowers--primroses, herb bennet, and the purple giant cranesbill.
The Vallum also was conspicuous on the other side of the road.
In the garden of the next house, "Wall Houses," apple-blossom, purple
and white lilac, and laburnum were all in full beauty, though they
had been quite over in the south before I left. It was a sweet fresh
morning, and a gentle breeze was sending down showers of
apple-blossom over an old lady walking in the garden.
The next house is called "High Wall Houses," and is all that is left
of a village of that name. Everywhere it is Wall--Wall--Wall in the
place-names--all along the line.
A road on the left leads down to Corbridge, and then for the first
time the road begins to be quite {62} overarched by trees, very
beautiful and shady, and it continues so for some distance. Almost
opposite the road to Matfen are traces of a mile-castle. A little
way farther on is Matfen Piers, a small farm-house, with a long piece
of the Wall-ditch surrounded by a strong stone wall in front of the
house, and planted as an orchard with apple-trees and currant-bushes.
It looked as if a stream ran along the bottom in wet weather. Now
the apples were in blossom, and there were young lambs frisking
amongst the currant-bushes. I went round to the back of the house to
ask for a drink of water, but the place seemed deserted. Wild
rabbits were playing on the back doorstep. And yet the scraper had
been used quite recently. I was puzzled at first to think what it
was that gave the house a sort of sophisticated air in front; and
then I saw. Several of the inverted cups used on telegraph-posts
were stuck up in the pear-tree which grows on the house, and it quite
gave the impression of telephonic connection! But they were only
traps set for unwary earwigs.
The newly discovered causeways across the ditch of the Vallum called
for attention next. They are readily discernible in this region.
Soon after this, gorse began to appear on the mounds of the Vallum.
The overhanging trees had ceased, and distant hills to the south of
the Tyne had come into view, while the Wall-ditch was {63} again
planted with young larch, and this time bright with marsh marigolds.
The road runs through the village of Halton Shields, which now
consists only of a chapel, a school, a farm-house and two cottages,
though in Hutton's time there were twelve houses.
On Carr Hill the mounds and ditch of the Vallum are more striking
than ever. A little farther on, a tree-covered mound, known as Down
Hill, intervenes between the road and the Vallum, which has evidently
made a bend to the south to avoid the hill.
Passing Halton Red House, with its beautiful beds of wallflowers, I
began to look out for signs of Halton Chesters, where lies the Roman
fort of HUNNUM. A white gate on the left of the road opens on to a
lane through a field; the lane is bordered by gnarled and twisted
trees, and leads to Halton Tower and the village. This is our
indication of the site of the fort, through the midst of which Wade's
Road runs, cutting it clean in halves. Having this clue, it is easy
to recognize in the pasture to the south of the road the buried
gateways and ramparts. The ground to the north was under grass for
hay when I was there. When it was being dug up many years ago, the
foundations of elaborate buildings were found, and the hypocausts for
heating them.
The picturesque Halton Tower, which lies immediately {64} to the
south of the fort, is the one remaining tower of the
thirteenth-century castle, built of Roman stones from the Wall and
the fort. The present owner is evidently a great lover of flowers.
There are beautiful rock gardens (with a Roman altar among the rocks)
and masses of rock cistus of every colour, especially a rich rose
colour which was new to me.
Regaining the road and continuing westward, I soon crossed a lovely
little ravine, with a stream flowing along the bottom, and
beech-trees arching overhead. Its steep sides were decked with
primroses and other flowers of spring.
A little farther on there is an interesting landmark; it is the site
of the Portgate, the gateway through the Wall at the point where the
famous Roman road running north crossed the line of the defensive
barrier. This road used to be called "Watling Street," a name which
was arbitrarily and mistakenly conferred on the entire length of
Roman road from London to Scotland by archæologists of the eighteenth
century. The mediæval and Saxon name was "Dere Street," and this
name is correctly given to it for the first time in the 1921-22
edition of the Ordnance Survey.
William of Malmesbury, writing about 1140 A.D., refers to the
Portgate, "where there stood a gate in the Wall, as may appeare by
the word, that in both languages importeth as much."
{65}
A small Inn, the Errington Arms, stands on Dere Street, close to the
site of the Portgate. I called here to ask for a glass of milk.
There was no one to be seen inside but a postman, who had evidently
completed his delivery of letters for the day, and was reclining on
the long low window-seat, in a Panama hat and carpet slippers,
reading a newspaper, with a glass by his side. I knocked on the
table, and a barmaid appeared, who brought my milk, but I found I had
no change left, so I was diving into my haversack for a note to
change. Meantime the postman had settled his account, and the
barmaid had disappeared.
While I drank my milk, the postman talked very pleasantly about the
state of the roads, and the weather, and the coal-strike; but when I
knocked on the table to summon the barmaid again, he said quietly:
"You needn't do that; I told her to take it out of mine, as you
hadn't any change." This was my first experience of being "treated"
in a public-house! But the way in which it was done only made me
feel that it was another proof of the comradeship of the road. So I
thanked him, and went on my way rejoicing.
Soon after this I heard and saw my first curlew, a sure sign that I
was nearing the moorland; and these beautiful birds, with their sweet
whistling note, were my constant companions from this point for many
miles onward.
{66}
And now I came to a point where both Wallditch and Vallum surpassed
themselves in grandeur. Hutton writes with enthusiasm of the Vallum,
and is quite poetic in his fervour:
"I climbed over a stone wall to examine the wonder; measured the
whole in every direction; surveyed them with surprise, with delight,
was fascinated, and unable to proceed; forgot I was upon a wild
common, a stranger, and the evening approaching. I had the grandest
works under my eye, of the greatest men of the age in which they
lived, and of the most eminent nation then existing; all which had
suffered but little during the long course of sixteen hundred years.
Even hunger and fatigue were lost in the grandeur before me. If a
man writes a book upon a turnpike road, he cannot be expected to move
quick; but, lost in astonishment, I was not able to move at all."
The effect when I saw it was heightened (if such a thing were
possible) by the marvellous clothing of gorse, glorious clusters of
gold, as if Nature herself desired to do honour to this great
achievement.
From the top of the next hill the Vallum can be seen to perfection,
running up the slope of the hill facing us; nowhere is it better.
Soon after this, the distant hills come into view, over the tops of
which we are to follow the Wall.
Just before reaching the eighteenth milestone, another mile-castle
can be very distinctly traced.
{67}
Here again the sight of the gorse was something too much for words.
The north bank of the Wallditch, which is very high just here, was
one blazing mass of gold, facing south, and with the sun full upon
it, while primroses and celandine starred the turf at the bottom. I
got over the fence and walked along the glacis. The facing-stones
were to be seen then on the northern face, several feet high. It may
be the dry weather was specially good for the gorse. Certainly the
hot sun brought out to perfection the sweet almond scent, and the
bees appreciated it as much as I did, droning in and out of the
blossoms in their hundreds.
It was simply baking on the road; the time was midday, and there were
hardly any trees at all; only the long white road stretched out
before me, going up and down, up and down, in straight, relentless
lines.
Crossing the road to examine the Vallum near a small plantation of
fir-trees, I caught sight of a column of smoke curling up from behind
a low gorse bush. Yes, there was no doubt about it; the bush was on
fire! It could not have been burning long, but the fire seemed to be
spreading rapidly, running along the dry grass, which burned like
tinder. I broke off some green elder-boughs from a bush in the
ditch, and began to beat the fire, continuing till I had got it under
enough to be able to stamp upon it; but it was half an hour {68}
before I was satisfied that it was dead. It was by bringing water in
my hands from a tiny stream that I finally finished it off.
Nearly at the nineteenth milestone there is another mile-castle. It
is just where the hawthorn hedge on the left stops, and a fine row of
beeches begins to shadow the road. How welcome their shade was! The
view to the south from this spot was glorious. And gorse again! The
Vallum was a "Field of the Cloth of Gold," seen against the blue
background of the hills to the south of the Tyne.
A little farther on, at St. Oswald's Hill Head, a centurial stone is
to be seen, built into the farm-house, on the extreme right, high up
near the eaves. It is blacker than the other stones, and not easy to
find without directions. The patient daughter of the house saw me,
from the window, looking for it, and came out to point to the right
one, a kind office she must often have to perform during the summer
months.
On a little hill to the north of the road is St. Oswald's Church,
supposed to be built on the very spot where Oswald, the Christian
king of Bernicia, set up a wooden cross before meeting in battle the
Welsh king, Caedwallon, in 635. Bede tells us the story. Holding
the cross with both his hands while the earth was thrown in to set it
fast, the King cried to his army: "Let us all kneel and {69} jointly
beseech the true and living God Almighty, in His mercy to defend us
from the haughty and fierce enemy, for He knows we have undertaken a
just war for the safety of our nation."
This speech might be taken word for word from a modern newspaper's
report of an appeal from the pulpit during the recent war.
Though Oswald had but a small army compared with that of his enemy,
yet he won a complete victory.
Bede goes on to say:
"The place in the English tongue is called Heavenfield, or the
Heavenly Field, which name it formerly received as a presage of what
was afterwards to happen, denoting that there the heavenly trophy
would be erected, the heavenly victory begun, and heavenly miracles
wrought to this day.
"The same place is near the Wall with which the Romans formerly
enclosed the islands from sea to sea, to restrain the fury of the
barbarous nations, as has been said before."
The little church presents a very modern appearance now, and there is
no necessity to ask for the key, for the whole interior is revealed
at a glance--through one window.
As I climbed the hilly field in which it stands, a mother and three
children were toiling on ahead of me, three chubby children, with
bunches of bluebells, and campions, and buttercups flagging {70} in
their hot little hands. They had walked some miles, I found, to lay
these wild flowers on a grave behind the church--one of the many
customs which we are apt to forget we derive from ancient Rome.
On the south side of the road, opposite St. Oswald's, is a field
called Mould's Close, where tradition says that the hottest part of
the battle was fought, and where, in witness, the plough has turned
up skulls and sword-hilts.
Still farther south is Fallowfield Fell, where there is a series of
Roman quarries, and a "written rock." Flavius Carantinus, a
quarryman, left his mark there: "PETRA FLAVI CARANTINI." An old
woman outside a cottage directed me where to find the rock, telling
me it was near some "old wawkins." The Northumbrian country people
so often elide the letter "r" and the final "g." One man puzzled me
very much by talking about the "'Omans;" not till I had been
listening to him for five minutes did I realize that he meant the
Romans!
I found the old coal shaft, but I had some difficulty in finding the
stone, and when found it was hardly decipherable. So many other
people had wanted to claim the stone of Flavius, for no other reason
than because he had claimed it, and had written their names beside
his, when there were any number of unclaimed stones to be had! Well,
that's the way {71} of the world, I suppose; the way of the spoilt
child, who only waits to see his brother pick up a pebble, and then
wails: "_I_ wanted that."
However, it was worth anything to have come; the outlook is so
beautiful from Fallowfield Fell; and the beautiful name suits it. It
is a wide heathery expanse, flecked by cloud-shadows, as I saw it,
and sloping steeply down towards Hexham and the Abbey, which lie,
tree-surrounded, at the foot of the Fell. And beyond the Tyne, hill
upon hill recede into the distance as far as the eye can follow.
{72}
CHAPTER VIII
BRUNTON AND THE ROMAN BRIDGE
Returning to the road, the next landmark I saw was a mile-castle,
just visible by a field-gate on the right. Black Pasture Quarry is
also on the right. Here the Romans obtained much of their sandstone
for the Wall, and for the Roman bridge at Chesters. Now there are
mountains of broken fragments, covered more or less with a grassy
growth, and shadowed by large trees, with paths winding in and out.
It is a queer-looking place altogether, and worth a visit.
Just about here the Wall crosses the road from right to left; and
before we reach the twentieth milestone, a good strip of it is seen
in a field on the left belonging to Plane-trees Farm. Some of the
facing-stones are still in place, but it does not look as if they
could long remain so, for thorn-trees, with gnarled and twisted
stems, are growing along the top, thrusting their great sinewy roots
between the stones, and pulling the Wall to pieces. This is the
piece of Wall which, in 1801, just before Hutton passed, was 224
yards long and 7½ feet high. {73} He saw it being taken down to
build a farm-house. His tears and entreaties prevailed to save the
next piece on our road--so says local tradition. This is in the
grounds of Brunton House, hidden in trees and shrubberies on the
left. I applied at the house for permission to see the Wall, and the
little maid who came to the door said pleasantly, "Oh yes, you can
see it; but there's really nothing to see!" Her conception of
"nothing" was evidently quite different from mine, for I found a
great deal to see. First, there was the Wall-ditch, which is very
bold in its proportions. It was full of rhododendrons, azaleas, and
forget-me-nots. The path leads through a wicket-gate right into and
along the ditch, and brings us to the Wall. It is a magnificent
piece of Wall! It is 7 feet high, with nine courses of facing-stones
in place on both sides, and it must be 60 feet long at least.
Yew-trees, hawthorns, oaks and nut-stubs are growing on the top. Two
altars lean against the north face. I climbed the Wall, with
religious care not to disturb a stone, and found myself standing
above the first turret we have come to, and perhaps the finest there
is to see. It is 12½ feet by 11½ feet in plan. Its north wall is
eleven courses high, rising to a height of 8½ feet. It was so
smothered in nettles that I could not examine it at all closely, but
I could see in what excellent preservation the stone-work still is.
Jumping down into the adjoining meadow, I followed the {74} Wall,
till it ended abruptly at the angle of the grounds; but I could see
that it was making straight for the Roman bridge at Chesters,
striking boldly away from the high road for the first time since
Newcastle. I followed its course to the bottom of the meadow, then
through the field gate, and across the road leading to Hexham, into
the meadows opposite, and so to the railway line. A short distance
beyond the railway the Wall joins the Roman bridge, which passed over
the North Tyne, and led straight to the fort of Cilurnum. The
remains of the Roman bridge are fenced in, to protect them from rough
usage, but the defences are not impregnable; there are many gaps in
the hawthorn hedge. Just inside the hedge the Wall is seen joining
the stone abutment of the bridge, having here a width of over 6 feet.
It ends in a square tower on the abutment, a tower rather larger than
an ordinary wall turret.
Dr. Bruce calls this bridge "the most remarkable feature on the whole
line of the Wall," and it is wonderful, though I confess I was
disappointed with it at first for not presenting greater
possibilities for a picture. Trees and plants had so grown up round
it that when I first saw it it looked smothered, but in preparation
for the Pilgrimage of the Archæological Societies, the scythe was
very busy in September 1920, and it has since been more visible.
{75}
[Illustration: Fig. 6.--Plan of Roman Bridge over the North Tyne,
near Chesters, showing how the Great Wall joined it. (After
Clayton.) A pier of the earlier bridge is seen embedded in the
masonry of the later one.]
{76}
Stukeley, who travelled along the Wall in 1725, speaks of "a
wonderful bridge of great art, made with very large stones, linked
together with iron cramps fastened with molten lead." Hutton does
not appear to have taken the trouble to turn aside to look for it,
but kept straight on across the bridge at Chollerford. Until 1860
the remains were completely buried in silt from the river, but were
then excavated by Mr. John Clayton, "of happy memory."
There are remains of two bridges. The first was much narrower than
the later one, only about half as wide. The later one was wide
enough to take the Military Way (normally 18 to 20 feet). Both
bridges rested on stone piers in the bed of the stream, and it is
from the remains of these piers that the width of each bridge can be
ascertained. They have pointed ends, technically known as
"starlings." The earlier piers were pointed at both ends; the later
ones only at the up-stream end. There were three piers to the later
bridge, thus leaving four water-openings. One theory is that the
course of the river changed between the building of these two
bridges, and so necessitated a reconstruction, the earlier bridge
being possibly Hadrian's, and the later one constructed by Severus
when he repaired the Wall. This would assume that the river had
altered its course a great deal in the ninety years between Hadrian
and Severus.
{77}
Another theory ascribes the original bridge to Agricola, on the
supposition that he built the first fort at Chesters, where some
pottery, which appears to be of earlier date than Hadrian, has been
found. In any case this earlier bridge was built before the Wall was
thought of.
Mr. F. G. Simpson's suggestion is that it may have been part of
Hadrian's original scheme of Forts and Vallum (or "Boundary"). With
the building of the Wall the bridge would have to become "defensive,"
and it would be necessary to make the water-passage as short as
possible. It would no longer be a matter of indifference, as when it
merely served as a passage-way and a boundary-line. Hence the very
massive later abutments, to narrow the width of the river-passage;
and this would sufficiently account for the fact that one of the
water-piers of the older bridge is embedded in the masonry of the
east land abutment of the later one.
The course of the river has changed since Roman times; it has swerved
to the west, so that the western abutment is quite under water, and
the eastern one is high and dry, and separated from the river by
quite a mountain of silt, overgrown with grass and trees.
The stones of which the abutments are built are very massive, one of
them measuring nearly 5 feet in length. They must have been brought
from the Black Pasture Quarry. Many of them have {78} lewis-holes in
them, for lifting; some of the holes have been filled up with cement.
The earlier parts have no lewis-holes in the stones, which were
evidently put in position by hand.
A continuous iron cramp follows the outline of the abutment where it
faces the river, being anchored inward by iron bars.
That Severus did repair the bridge there is little doubt, for the
feather-broaching which is characteristic of his period is to be seen
on some of the stones.
One of Trajan's coins shows a bridge with wooden arches. The later
bridge may have been like this, or they may both have been flat
wooden platform bridges. It is clear that some means of closing each
of the four water-openings by a kind of portcullis would be necessary
to prevent the passage of an enemy when the stream was low. In times
of "spate," these portcullises would have to be raised. A peculiar
barrel-shaped stone, 4 feet long, lying amongst the ruins, with holes
all round for the insertion of spokes, may have served as a
counterpoise in the process of raising; and two round stone pillars,
the remains of which also lie there, might have taken a part in the
same scheme. In Cumberland such a water-gate is called a "heck."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
{79}
[Illustration: Fig. 7.--Section of a stone (S) with a lewis-hole,
showing the method of lifting by means of a lewis. The two
wedge-shaped pieces of iron, A, A, are first inserted in the hole,
and the third piece, B, is then placed between them. The pin of the
lifting-tackle, C, is then passed through all three pieces.]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Remains of piers similar to these at Chesters have been found at
Corbridge, where the Roman bridge over the Tyne was about 462 feet
long, with eleven waterways, as compared with the four {80} waterways
and 184 feet of length between the abutments here on the North Tyne.
The waters of the North Tyne were very "low and placid" that day, as
Dr. Bruce says they must be if the piers in the middle of the stream
are to be seen. They also looked very cool and inviting; and so I
soon found myself in the middle of the stream searching for the piers.
There they were, both of them, just where they were sunk eighteen
hundred years ago, with their pointed ends facing up-stream, to
cleave a parting through the swirling waters when the river "came
down."
Then I searched for the western abutment, and finally landed on the
Chesters side of the river, intending to link up the bridge with the
fortifications there. But here I was on Chesters ground, and I had
not paid my sixpence! Visions of tea at the _George_ also began to
rise before me, so conscience and inclination for once pulling in the
same direction, I put on my shoes and stockings and made tracks for
the _George_. I went along the west bank of the river, and so passed
the old mill-house, partly built of Roman stones, with a Roman altar
built into a wall in the mill-yard, and a large Roman mortar standing
by its back-door.
Soon the familiar _George_ came into sight, but the familiar face of
the landlord was not to be seen {81} outside. This was very unusual
on a fine day, so I entered, and turned towards the office, expecting
to find him there. Two men were seated there, half buried in papers,
and they came forward to ask my business. I said I wanted a bed for
the night, and would like to see Mrs. Simmonds. They sent for her,
and she soon appeared, gave me a. kindly welcome, said they could
quite well take me in for the night, and surely I must be wanting
some tea? But the house seemed strangely quiet. I had my tea alone
in the coffee-room, and then I wrote letters till dinner-time. One
of the maids came to ask: "Will you be taking dinner?" "Certainly,"
I said, with some surprise.
But when I found myself quite alone at dinner, I knew something was
wrong, and I made inquiries of the waitress. "Why, yes," she said;
"didn't you know? Haven't you seen the papers? Mr. Simmonds was
buried yesterday." No, I had not heard; I had seen no papers since I
left London, for I had been on the road all the time. After dinner,
I hastened to see Mrs. Simmonds, to express my sympathy, and to
explain what must have seemed my strange behaviour.
And so the _George_ has lost its landlord; and many people have lost
a kind friend and neighbour. From morning to night in fine weather
his tall figure and cheery face, crowned with white hair, were to be
seen outside the _George_, where he held himself {82} ready to extend
a welcome to all who came. He will indeed be missed.
Next morning I started westward again, first to visit Chesters,
within half a mile of Chollerford, where are the famous remains of
tie Roman fort of CILURNUM. My plan was to walk every step of the
line of the Wall, as far as possible consecutively, so now I had to
pick it up again on the west bank of the North Tyne where the Roman
bridge had crossed.
It was a perfect morning, with a sweet fresh air, and great clouds
rolling up, from behind which the sun shone coquettishly at frequent
intervals. The beeches which here overhang the road were at their
freshest stage of green, having just scattered their bright russet
leaf-caps all over the road, as a carpet for the wayfarer to tread
upon. The pink and white leaf-caps of the sycamores made less show,
in colour as in quantity; there is no tree so lavishly clothed with
leaves as is the beech.
I once had a little conversation with the genial landlord of the
_George_ about these very beeches, one evening when he was showing me
his garden.
He was telling me of the famous people who had visited the _George_
and signed its visitors' book, amongst them Bernard Shaw and Rudyard
Kipling; and then he added: "It's a funny thing, but do you know, Mr.
Rudyard Kipling didn't know the difference between a beech and an
oak--clever {83} gentleman as he is. Would you have believed it?"
I said: "What makes you think that?"
"Well, he came up to me, and he said: 'Mr. Simmonds, you have some
very fine oaks in this part of the country.' I said: 'They're not
oaks, sir, they're beeches.' And he said: 'Oh, are they?' So you
see he didn't know."
"But how can you be sure he was not referring to the oaks, for there
are oaks about here too?"
"Oh no; he _meant_ the beeches right enough."
And so we left it at that.
{84}
CHAPTER IX
CILURNUM
It was the late Mr. John Clayton of Chesters who laid the foundation
of the new knowledge of the Wall which excavation has brought to
light. As other people collect antiquities to put in a glass case,
so he collected the Roman Wall. Whenever a piece of ground along its
line was in the market, he was first in the field to buy it; and to
his zeal and knowledge it is due that so much has been preserved and
excavated. It was his life-work. Therefore it is no mere figure of
speech to say that a visit to the Roman Wall is a visit to his
shrine; and since Chesters was his home for so many years, the Museum
there, and the very fort of Cilurnum itself are especially
commemorative of him and his work.
All the forts along the line follow a general plan, though each has
its distinctive features. In plan they are parallelograms, with
rounded corners, enclosed by a stone wall at least 5 feet thick, with
a circumscribing ditch, and with gateways north, south, east and west.
{85}
[Illustration: Fig. 8.--Plan of the Fort of Cilurnum at Chesters.
(From _Archæologia Æliana_.)]
These gateways have double portals, which were arched over, and were
closed by two-leaved wooden doors, swinging on pivots shod with iron.
The doors shut against a stone set up in the centre, or else against
a stone threshold. The pivot-holes can very {86} often be seen, and
sometimes the iron sheath is still in the pivot-hole, although the
wooden door has perished.
In the case of this fort of Cilurnum, as also at Amboglanna, there
were six gateways altogether, two smaller ones to the south of the
main eastern and western gateways; these had only one portal instead
of two.
[Illustration: Fig. 9.--Fortification Turrets from Trajan's Column.
(After John Ward.)]
A guard-chamber was always set on either side of each main gateway;
there was a turret just within each rounded corner of the fort, and
intermediate turrets were set along the walls.
The appearance of these turrets may be surmised from the
fortification-turrets shown on Trajan's column.
{87}
Chambers above gateways are also shown on Trajan's column, which
suggest to the mind's eye a possible reconstruction of the single
gateways of the Wall-forts.
[Illustration: Fig. 10.--Fortification Gates from Trajan's Column.
(After John Ward.)]
It is generally accepted that the twin flanking-towers of the double
fort-gateways, and also the Wall turrets, were carried up from one
and a half times to twice the height of the wall (whether fort-wall
or Great Wall). The rampart-walk is reckoned to have run at a height
of from 13 to 15 feet from the ground, so that it would pass over a
gate quite horizontally, and without steps. It would be continued
right through the towers and turrets, passing through doorways in
their side walls, and across the floor of their upper storey.
Mr. John Ward (in _Romano-British Buildings and Earthworks_, p. 70)
calls attention also to a gate {88} figured on a mosaic in the
Avignon Museum, as suggesting the possible character of the double
gates on the Wall-line.
Frequently the great Wall aligns itself with the northern wall of the
forts, as at Borcovicium, Æsica and Amboglanna; but sometimes, as
here at Cilurnum, it strikes the fort about one-third way along the
eastern and western walls, leaving one-third, including a gateway, to
project northwards into the enemy's country. This looks as if the
garrison could not have lived in a constant state of warfare.
[Illustration: Fig. 11.--Gate of a Fort on a mosaic in the Avignon
Museum. From _Collectanea Antiqua_. (After John Ward.)]
Streets run between the north and south gateways and the east and
west, in every case. Where they cross are the central buildings,
which were called the "Forum" by Mr. Clayton. But that is a civil
term. Probably the more correct term is "Principia," to indicate the
H.Q. building of a military unit.
{89}
This always includes an open courtyard, surrounded by a covered
colonnade, the bases of whose piers are still to be seen here at
Chesters, as also the gutter-stones to carry off the drippings from
the roof.
Roofing-tiles are found, made of a grey shaly sandstone, which would
readily cut into thin slabs. They are almost square, and were hung
angularly, from one corner, on nails driven into wooden beams, as the
rust in the holes still shows. This kind of roofing slab is used up
to the present day, but it is hung on a wooden peg. At one period
they used to be hung on sheep-bones thrust in under the beams.
The Romans also used red pantiles, specimens of which are found here.
The entrance to the Principia always faced the main gate of the fort
(the north gate at Cilurnum, the east gate at Borcovicium). At the
far end was a series of five small office-rooms, of which the middle
one was the most important. It was the _sacellum_ or Chapel of the
Standards, the centre of the religious life and of the _esprit de
corps_ of the cohort or _ala_ which occupied the fort. It was a
constant feature of all Roman forts. The standards themselves, which
were deposited there, were objects of worship. They bore a medallion
or effigy of the reigning Emperor, and thus these Chapels were the
official centres of {90} "Emperor-worship," a cult actively
propagated by the government for political motives. The fact that
Christians refused to join in this cult, and thereby committed a
political offence, was the initial cause of their persecution.
Here, in the _sacellum_, the deferred pay of the soldiers was
deposited until it became due to them on their discharge. Here also
were kept the army pay-sheets, an actual example of which has been
found in the sands of Egypt.
At Cilurnum a strong room has been constructed, evidently in a later
and more disturbed period. It is entered by steps leading down from
the _sacellum_, and lies under the office-room next to the _sacellum_
on the east, blocking that room in such a way as to prove it could be
no part of the original plan. Early in the nineteenth century the
heavy oak door of the strong room, studded with nails, was still in
place, but it perished when exposed to the air. A slab of stone has
been thrown (probably by invaders) across the flight of steps, so
that in descending them one has to stoop very low.
The arched roof of the strong room is formed by a series of large
stones "stepping over" each other; and its back wall is also "stepped
over," so as to make it incline towards the roof.
On my last visit I saw a blackbird's nest neatly tucked in between
the stones of this roof. It contained three young ones, with their
mouths {91} perpetually open--creatures of one idea, for the time.
There had been five eggs, but tourists had taken two away, as
mementoes of Cilurnum.
The colonnade of the Principia at Cilurnum consisted of neat piers
made of specially small stones, instead of the circular columns that
are found elsewhere. The paving is beautiful; but there are
indications that it covers an earlier floor. The chamfered bases of
the piers go below the level of the present paving-stones, which may
some day be removed, and the original floor-level reached and dated.
It would be interesting to see in what state of preservation that
floor would be found.
In this outer court there is a round well, still half full of water;
the stones are all the original Roman work except the top row. There
are "set-backs" at intervals down the sides of the well, to form
footholds when it was necessary to descend it. Its workmanship is
beautiful.
Another necessary and constant feature in the inner arrangement of a
Roman fort was the pair of granaries, often set close together, side
by side. These granaries were the strongest of the inner buildings.
Their walls were thick and heavily buttressed, and their floors
supported either on dwarf walls, or on pillars, to provide for the
circulation of air underneath them and so prevent damp.
The remains of the granaries at Cilurnum have {92} unfortunately been
removed; they stood to the south-west of the Principia.
A very important find in a guard-chamber at Cilurnum was what is
known as the "Chesters Diploma," a bronze tablet, conferring the
privileges of Roman citizenship on certain soldiers who had earned it
by faithful service. It is now in the British Museum. Dr. Bruce
gives a full description of it in his _Handbook to the Roman Wall_.
The barracks are another essential feature of a Roman fort.
At Cilurnum these were situated to the north of the Principia, and
important remains are to be seen in the north-eastern section of the
fort area.
There was probably accommodation for six companies of one hundred
men, ten men in a room. The Asturians who formed the garrison came
from a mountainous district in the north of Spain, where it is quite
as cold as the valley of the North Tyne. The hardy mountain ponies
they brought with them were known as _Asturco_ by the Romans. The
stables have not been identified. The barrack-rooms had a covered
way or verandah running in front, with a series of columns, some of
whose bases remain. A massive stone gutter runs down the middle of
the street between the barracks. They probably had little pent-house
roofs. When the rooms were excavated they were full of pottery,
bones, oyster-shells, and rubbish of all kinds, giving {93} a very
bad impression of the standard of refinement and comfort of the last
occupiers.
To the east of the Principia is what is most probably the residence
of the commandant, with private baths, as well as dwelling-rooms,
elaborately heated by means of hypocausts. The building was finely
designed and finished. A beautiful moulding runs round the base, and
also round the buttress.
The site of the furnace is close to a large yew-tree; it is
semi-circular, and the fuel for it was wood. The hot gases and smoke
were drawn under the floors of the rooms, which were supported on
hypocaustal pillars of burnt clay tiles mortared together, or of
stones such as are used in the walls. Brick tiles were used nearest
the furnace, because the heat would have cracked the stone.
Fragments of circular columns are also used, but these are diverted
from their original purpose. The floors of the rooms were of double
slabs of stones, cemented together, so as to prevent the smoke from
coming up through the floors.
The tiles were roughened with a tool usually, to give a grip to the
mortar. Accidental marks, made on them when wet, are often seen: the
footprints of dogs, dents from the nails of a sandal, thumb-marks,
showing the lines of the skin, and the mark of a man's bare foot,
showing the great toe.
The baths had been cemented all over with pink cement, probably made
with brick-dust. The rooms {94} were plastered inside, and the
plaster decorated with deep red, terre-verte and yellow ochre.
Evidently they had been replastered sometimes over the paint, and
coloured again on the top, just as we put on successive wall-papers.
The level of the floors had been raised nearly 3 feet since the
building was first made.
Over its ruined walls there grows the pretty little purple "Erinus
Alpinus," which is said by some to have made a mysterious appearance
only since the excavations were begun. Did it spring from seed which
had long lain dormant, having been originally brought from Spain by
one of the Asturians who garrisoned this fort?
It is an attractive legend, and I would like to believe it true; but
the hard cold fact is that somebody remembers its having been
deliberately planted on the ruins after the excavations were made!
A very interesting point which must not be missed is the way in which
the stone thresholds of the gateways have been worn by the
chariot-wheels passing over them. It must have been a dreadful jolt
for the occupants to cross these high thresholds when they were new,
but Roman soldiers were of course above minding little things like
that! The ruts are just over 4 feet 6½ inches apart, exactly the
distance of the wheel-marks we see in the streets of Pompeii.
{95}
The Vallum runs into the circumscribing ditch at Cilurnum; that is to
say, the two ditches coalesce at the south of the fort.
What has been called the Roman "Villa" at Cilurnum is now definitely
recognized as the bath-house provided for the comfort of the troops,
or perhaps for the officers only. It is the best-preserved building
on the Wall-line, one of its chambers still standing twenty-three
courses of stones, or 9½ feet high.
The great storehouse at Corstopitum, which might claim to rival it,
is 2½ miles south of the Wall.
There is a great bath-house built for the local garrison at
Ravenglass which is even more striking, as its walls are standing
almost their whole height. It was excavated in 1881.
The position of the buildings at Cilurnum, outside the fort walls, at
the foot of a slope and close to the river, where the soil has been
washed down and has covered them up, accounts for their excellent
preservation.
The baths are entered now (by a flight of wooden steps) just at the
point where the original entrance doorway stood. An outer lobby led
into what appears to have been the unrobing and anointing room, a
very large flagged chamber, with seven round-arched stone niches on
the west wall. There has been much speculation about their use, and
{96} nothing certain is known, but it is suggested that they may have
been cupboards for the bathers to hang their clothes in.
From this apartment one passes into a lobby, giving access to the hot
rooms, to the right, and to the cold rooms, with a fountain, to the
left. Straight forward is the final "rest-and-amusements" room,
which has flues in the form of a cross.
Turning out of this is another chamber, also with cross-flues, and
with a semi-circular apse, out of which opens a splayed window, 4
feet wide. Roman window-glass, of a bluish-green, was found on the
ground outside this window. The glass is not very transparent,
having probably been poured out on a flat surface when made. It is
very rare to find examples of Roman windows, because buildings are
hardly ever preserved up to the window-level. These walls are
twenty-three courses of stones high, or about 9½ feet.
There are two hot rooms, one leading out of the other, and both
heated by hypocausts. The jambs of the doorway between them are
single stones, each 6 feet high. The walls of one chamber stand 7½
feet high.
The furnace lies beyond these two rooms and is immediately behind the
wall with the seven niches.
[Illustration: THE BATH-HOUSE AT CILURNUM, SEEN ACROSS THE NORTH
TYNE.]
There are remains of the concrete vaultings of the rooms, and in
several instances there are double thresholds, where the floor levels
have been raised. {97} We see also drainage arrangements for
carrying the water down to the river.
Altogether this is a most interesting building, and it is a pity that
no inscriptions have been found here which would fix definitely its
date and its purpose.
As seen across the North Tyne it is very inconspicuous, because the
grassy river-bank hides it. The soil having in the course of ages
washed down and buried the building, now that it has been excavated
it stands in a hollow. However, the seven arches of the
unrobing-room are very plainly seen. The yew-tree, behind the cows
in the picture, marks the situation of the furnace for the heating
arrangements of the Commandant's house.
The western abutment of the Roman bridge can sometimes be seen in the
water under the trees to the right.
I was sitting painting here one day when the river was very dry; the
stones showed me much more of themselves than I wanted to see. I
said to myself: "I do wish the river would fill up a little." Almost
immediately after, I looked up, and it had filled up a little, just
about enough to suit my purpose. I hardly had time to be thankful
before it had risen a good deal more than enough, and in a very short
time there was not a stone to be seen. This was indeed too much of a
good thing! I realized that the river had "come down," as they {98}
call it. It was now rushing madly along, getting very brown and
frothy, and boughs of trees were beginning to be borne along on its
current. When I went home to lunch, I met a dead sheep being carried
along, and at the _George_ they told me that Barrasford Ferry was
impassable. Haughton Castle had telephoned to say so, and to ask to
have its friends coming by rail stopped at Humshaugh Station.
No wonder ardent fishers are warned to be careful when fishing in
these northern streams.
Another day, when I was painting here and the stream was fairly low,
I was entertained by the antics of a merry party of girls. They kept
crossing and recrossing the river by means of very inadequate
stepping-stones, and at last two of them tumbled in. They made no
trouble of it, but took off their pink cotton frocks and hung them up
in a tree to dry, put on their waterproofs, and went off to view the
fort. Meantime the cows came down to the river to drink, and,
curious as cows always are, they began licking the dresses until at
last they licked them off the tree. I on my side of the stream was
powerless to help. Finally they went off, leaving the dresses in a
huddled heap of pink, and wetter than ever, I should think. I was
only thankful that they had not shared the fate of a blue woollen
motor-scarf on the banks of the Dee, which was hung over the back of
a car by its owner while {99} she went fishing. She returned to see
the last six inches disappearing down the throat of a cow! She was
left frivolously wondering whether, in its new sphere of influence,
it would turn the milk blue.
* * * * * * *
One more word about Cilurnum. In the church at Chollerton, about 1½
miles up the North Tyne from Chollerford, the columns of the south
side of the nave bear evidence of Roman origin, and no one who is
following the Wall should miss seeing them. They are round columns,
each consisting of a single stone, and are of the same diameter and
general character as portions of shafts found at Cilurnum. It is
more than likely that they were stolen from the ruined fort to occupy
their present position, and that to this they owe their perfect
preservation.
{100}
CHAPTER X
WALWICK TO SEWINGSHIELDS
After striking off from the western gateway of Cilurnum, the Wall
appears once again in the grounds of Chesters, several courses high,
and is then just traceable through the plantation to the west of the
house till we come out on to the road leading to Walwick. Here the
Vallum is clearly visible in a field on the left. The foundations of
the Wall could long be seen in the road on the rise of the hill
towards Walwick, but I doubt if they can often be seen now. "A good
surface for cars" is made so that it does not easily wash off, even
in thunder-showers!
I did not see them myself; but I have since been told that, though
the north face is very seldom seen, the south facing-stones can be
made out just at the south edge of the road, unless too much covered
by the wayside grass. With this hint, my readers may be more
successful than I was in finding them. Hutton says of Walwick: "The
village is delightful, and the prospect most charming," and this is
as true to-day as it was when he wrote it. From the {101} top of the
hill, Hexham, with its towers, the valleys of the Tyne, and a fine
wooded country with hills beyond are spread out before you.
Presently the Wall-ditch appears in good condition on the right of
the road. Nearly opposite the road on the left leading to Fourstones
is a cottage, built entirely of stones from the Wall. It presents a
very solid rectangular eastern face, from which four battlements
project, and it is known as "Tower Taye." A bit of wall running
behind it looked in the distance like _the_ Wall, so I went to
examine it. As I drew near the house, which lies in a field a little
way back from the road, I noticed that the gate into the yard was
merely the head of an old iron bedstead, originally painted green.
One castor remained--on the loose leg; the other leg was tied, at top
and bottom, to the wooden gate-post, and its foot sunk deep into the
soil. It made a decidedly original gate! A huge sow, with a litter
of young ones, had flung herself down in front of this gate, as
though to act as a watch-dog. A large tin basin, full of dirty
soap-suds, stood in the middle of the path to the front door, which
was a heavy oaken one, thickly studded with nails. Altogether the
place struck me as being a very well-defended Tower!
The wall behind was not _the_ Wall, so I came away. As I emerged on
to the road, a young man was passing in a light cart. He pulled up
and asked if I was going far. I said I was following the Roman {102}
Wall. "Well, I could have given you a lift. It's not much of a
trap; I only bought it yesterday at a fair, and one of the wheels is
a bit shaky, but I don't think it will come off." I should not have
minded the rickety cart, but "lifts" were not in my line just now; so
I thanked him, saying I was pledged to walk, and he drove on.
Shortly afterwards two caravan-carts passed. One was covered at the
back with red-brown tarpaulin, from under which a fat brown baby
could be seen, lying asleep.
As I reached the top of the hill, I saw a boy leaning against the
stone fence, so I asked him if he could tell me whether I was near
the piece of Wall on Black Carts Farm. He said: "D'ye see that bit
dene in the field yonder? That's the Wall." And he pointed on
ahead, to a field on the right. The "bit dene" was a hollow, filled
with trees and undergrowth, running parallel to the road through a
field of young corn. At the very top of the hill on which I stood
there is a young plantation, and just beyond it a stile on the right
leads by a little path to the site of a mile-castle. From this point
I found that, for the first time, I could walk continuously along the
line of the Wall as it ran through the grass. The "bit dene" still
lay ahead.
It was a perfect "Wall-day," and both Wall and Vallum were traceable
to perfection in front of me, one on either side of the road, right
up to the top of the steep Limestone Bank. At my feet {103} were
purple orchis growing in the young bracken, and the whole countryside
was clothed in what Chaucer calls "the gladde brighte grene" of
spring.
Following the line of the Wall, I soon came to the "bit dene" on
Black Carts Farm, where there is a very fine piece of Wall standing,
and also a considerable portion of a Wall turret. The facing-stones
of the Wall are in position on both sides for a considerable
distance, and to a height of 7 feet. In the turret were found coins
of Constantine the Great, showing that it was not disused, as some of
the recently examined turrets were, when the Wall was reconstructed
by Severus, about A.D. 207-10.
The wild flowers in the "bit dene" were very lovely and varied:
bluebells, cowslips, campion, wild garlic, cranesbill, herb bennet,
sweet woodruff, the great stitchwort, and purple orchis were all
growing in profusion.
Still following the Wall, I crossed a lane known as "Hen Gap," and
began to climb the hill called Limestone Bank, where another fine
piece of Wall is standing, overhung with gorse, now in full blossom.
The Vallum-ditch is very remarkable in this region; and hazel,
hawthorn and mountain-ash trees grow on its steep sides.
Looking back from Limestone Bank, you can see the Wall and the Vallum
very clearly, running {104} one on either side of Wade's Road. The
mile-castle mentioned on page 102 lies close to the road on the left,
just where it disappears over the hill.
I was first brought to this spot with my painting-things by friends
in their car, and just as we reached it I saw on ahead, walking along
the line of the Wall, a hatless, stockingless, shoeless figure, with
a haversack on its back.
"Look!" I cried; "there's a real 'Pilgrim of the Wall.' Take me on
another half-mile, and I'll walk back and meet her."
They did so, but the Pilgrim disappeared behind a stone fence before
we passed her.
When I met her she was not at all the strong-minded female I had
expected to see, but a gentle-looking young thing, a school teacher
from Newcastle, and it was sheer timidity that had made her hide
behind a wall when she saw us coming.
However, she was delighted to have some one to talk to when she saw I
was not shocked at her bare feet! She told me she was walking from
Hexham to Crosby-on-Eden, and hoped to sleep at Gilsland that night.
As for the Wall, she knew very little about it, but she hoped to
learn more on the way.
At the top of Limestone Bank I found a pictureesque encampment by the
side of the road. Four horses were tethered, cropping the grass,
while {105} two mothers and a swarm of children out of the caravan
carts were busily employed in lighting a fire in the shelter of a
little copse. Two men were collecting fuel, and in one of them I
recognized the young man of the light cart.
The women greeted me cheerily. They were making for Appleby Fair,
and reckoned on doing about 20 miles a day.
A mile-castle is easily distinguished on the right of the road, just
opposite where the plantation ends. A piece of its wall has been
uncovered. The military way is specially worthy of notice here,
coming up to the south gateway of the mile-castle, for it is the
first time we have come across it, with its curved surface and stone
kerbs. We shall very frequently meet with it, where the Wall runs
over the heights.
From this summit can be noticed for the first time the curious
formation of the hills in these parts, sloping up gradually from the
south, and ending precipitously on the north, for all the world like
a breaking wave; following each other also just like a succession of
waves. The Romans made good use of this formation, planting the Wall
and their forts on the very highest ridges, wherever it was possible.
The Wall-ditch and the Vallum-ditch demand all our attention just
over the crest of Limestone Bank. They have been cut through the
solid basalt rock, {106} and huge boulders lie about still, just as
they lay when the Roman workmen left them.
Peewits and curlews now began to be very plentiful on this open
moorland, the former flying round and round me, with their plaintive
cry, fearful lest I should track their nests. I noticed how
difficult it is to see their crests when they are flying; they lay
them back so close to their heads. I suppose they would otherwise
retard their flight.
Speaking of crests, reminds me of an old lady who takes in visitors
along the line of the Wall, and who has been heard to say that she
much prefers to have "crested people" to stay with her!
The west wind was getting stronger and colder as I walked on. Great
pillars of cloud stood up against the deep blue sky to the
north-west; while on the south-west, over Tindale Fell, it was
raining hard.
The next farm-house is Carrawburgh, and near here lay the Roman fort
of PROCOLITIA. A mile-castle is seen on the left just before we come
to the fort.
There is very little indeed of Procolitia to be seen on the surface.
The famous well of the water-goddess, Coventina, is merely a patch of
rushes railed round, and too wet even to be examined. It is just
possible to make out the walls and gateways of the fort under the
grass. The great Wall joined on to the north wall of the fort. The
Vallum curves round to the south to avoid it.
{107}
The first cohort of the Batavians was stationed at Procolitia; and
the Tungrians were stationed at the next fort, Borcovicium. This is
significant, because Tacitus mentions that Batavians and Tungrians
fought side by side in Agricola's army when he won the battle of Mons
Graupius. So it seems that they first came to Britain under
Vespasian.
After we have passed the farm-house of Carraw, built by the monks of
Hexham for a summer residence, Sewingshields comes into full view,
nestling in trees, exactly over the top of the next hill in the road.
The land has now become still more bleak and barren; there are no
longer fresh green pastures, but brownish sheep-moors, dotted with
tufts of rushes and coarse grass. Presently I saw something dark
sticking up in the long grass by the side of the road. I was meeting
the wind, so I got quite close before it moved. It was the two dark
ears of a hare which sped like lightning, when it saw me, under a
five-barred gate on the right, and so across the moor, till it
vanished, as a speck, over the horizon.
And now at last the Wall leaves Wade's Road, so I climbed over the
stone fence which bounds the road to walk on its grassy mound. It
diverges more and more from the road, and makes straight for where
the crags begin at Sewingshields.
It soon brought me to a very interesting {108} mile-castle which has
been excavated. The northern gateway is the first good specimen of a
mile-castle gateway that we have come to. It is fenced round to
protect it from animals. I clambered over the stone dyke and down
into the Wall-ditch, to gaze up at the massive masonry, which looks
much more imposing seen from the north. Nine courses of stones are
in place on the western side of this gateway.
There were now two stone dykes between me and Wade's Road. The
Wall-ditch continued to be very deep and striking. Flags and
water-reeds covered its bottom, and great boulders lay strewn about.
At a fir-plantation the Vallum crosses Wade's Road, and from this
point onwards it runs along in the low land while the Wall clings to
the heights.
On this May day the brown moorland to the north of the Wall was
thickly sprinkled with cotton-grass, its downy white heads giving a
silvery sheen to an otherwise dull expanse. "Moss-troopers," the
children call them, a white army invading from the north! Or, as a
farmer's wife put it to me: "They bits o' flooff would mak' ye think
we'd had a shower o' snaw."
And so I came to Sewingshields, where the most fascinating part of
the walk begins.
[Illustration: Fig. 12. CONTOUR OF THE WALL RIDGE, FROM SEWING-SHIELD
TO THE NINE NICKS OF THIRLWALL, AS SEEN FROM THE TOP OF BARCOMBE]
Hitherto I had had to keep almost entirely to {109} Wade's Road.
Now, good-bye to the high road, and hurrah for the heights!
Not till we come to Birdoswald, full 13 miles ahead, is it necessary
to follow a road again; and even then, after 3 or 4 miles of road,
the path lies mainly through fields as far as Burgh-by-sands.
The house at Sewingshields is now used as a shooting-box by Mr.
Charles Straker of High Warden, near Hexham. It is built entirely of
Roman stones, so it is not surprising that there is very little Wall
left in its neighbourhood. The centurial stone, which Dr. Bruce
mentions, has been taken out, and is preserved inside the house,
where it was shown to me.
The fir-plantation which now shelters the house from the north winds
is only of comparatively recent planting. It must have been bleak
indeed up there without this protection. The plantation is entered
by a stile, just on the site of the Wall, and this is really where
the crags begin.
Let us sit a moment on this stile and look back the way we have come.
The ditch of the Vallum and its triple mounds are very clearly marked
on the right of Wade's Road, and the Wall-ditch is very plainly
visible on the left. The low rays of the sun cast shadows which
emphasize the form, and all round the eye can follow wave upon wave
of undulating ground, right into the dim blue distance.
{110}
CHAPTER XI
SEWINGSHIELDS TO HOUSESTEADS
The path from the stile takes us, behind the house of Sewingshields,
along the very line of the Wall, until we emerge from the trees by
another stile, and find ourselves, as it were, on the very Roof of
the World, with steep crags to the right, and long-drawn-out slopes
to the left, and magnificent views all round.
To the north lie what are called "The Wastes," with only scattered
farms and sheep-moors; a desolate-looking country, I grant you, in
dull weather, but a very fairyland as seen from the Wall on an ideal
"Wall-day," when its vast expanse is flecked with blue cloud-shadows,
reflecting the blue of the sky overhead, and when the little hills
seem to "rejoice on every side."
I think I love this view to the north, bare as it is, even more than
the one to the south, over the fertile Tyne valley.
An ideal Wall-day is a day of mingled cloud and sunshine, with a bit
of a breeze, and yet not enough to make it "windy;" a day when heavy
cumulus {111} clouds marshal themselves along the horizon, and then
spread, and scatter, and form again, always threatening to do
something great, but always thinking better of it; a day when it is
perhaps raining heavily over Barcombe, or over Tindale Fell, and
rainbows are chasing each other across the rolling fells to the
south; but when "the top of the world," where we follow the Wall, is
peaceful and calm in the sunshine, sweet with the smell of the wild
thyme as we tread it under our feet, and musical with the notes of
the curlews.
I have known many such days. On such a day one is inclined to feel
that the lot of a Roman sentry on the Wall was to be envied, until
one remembers the other side of the picture--the drenching rain, the
bitter wind, the snowdrifts, to say nothing of the constant sense of
the need for vigilance, and the actual encounters with an
unscrupulous enemy.
Here at Sewingshields we are farther from shops and civilization than
at any other point on the Wall. It is 5 miles to Haydon Bridge, the
nearest post-office.
The name "Shield" or "Shields" occurs so often along the line of the
Wall that it is interesting to see how Camden uses the word in 1599.
He says:
"Here every way round about in the Wasts, as they tearme them, as
also in Gillesland, you may see as it were the ancient Nomades, a
martiall {112} kind of men, who from the moneth of Aprill into
August, lye out scattering and summering (as they tearme it) with
their cattell, in little cottages here and there, which they call
Sheales and Shealings."
Sewingshields is said to mean "wellings by the seugh (or ditch);" but
Camden calls it "Seaven-shale," so it may have merely meant "Seven
cottages."
All the 10 miles from Sewingshields to Carvoran the Wall runs along
the tops of "basaltic columns," huge pillars of volcanic rock
crystallized in hexagonal formation, and making a great natural
barrier. The course of the Wall is mainly in a westerly direction,
but it also has a general tendency towards the south. Carvoran is
just 3 miles farther south than Sewingshields.
[Illustration: THE BASALT CLIFFS ABOVE CRAG LOUGH, ALONG THE TOP OF
WHICH THE WALL RUNS. HOT BANK CRAGS ARE SEEN IN THE DISTANCE]
A steep pass leads down to the plain shortly after we cross the stile
from the Sewingshields plantation. This is called Cat Gate. When I
was staying in this neighbourhood the farmer told me it was the only
point where the Sewingshields Crags could be ascended or descended.
I did not dispute it, but I smiled to myself, for during my
wanderings I had many times gone up and down the Crags at other
points. I used to love to sit half-way down the Crags and watch the
rabbits, who got so used to me that I believe they only thought of me
as a queer kind of a rock. When I was sketching I used to see
hundreds of rabbits sitting about, one on every {113} projecting rock
below me. The Crags swarm with them. One evening an old father
rabbit showed his unconcern at my presence by sitting up a few feet
off, scratching his front abstractedly with his fore-paws while he
looked at me, as much as to say, "I know what you are." Just then I
gave an unfortunate sneeze, and it seemed to set all the crags in
motion. The _thump, thump_, of the parental hind-legs, warning their
subterranean families of danger, sounded on every side. It is a
great proof of family affection that these older rabbits will stop in
the danger-zone and _thump_, as they do, thus losing precious time
that might be occupied in flight. The first time I saw this process,
I thought my friend the rabbit had been seized with a sudden nervous
affection, but I soon found it was only obeying a universal instinct;
and even hutched rabbits, after generations of domesticity, and with
their families safe by their sides, will carry on the tradition, and
_thump_ on the floor of their hutches, to give warning of danger.
Once at the top of Cat Gate I found a pocket-book, almost hidden in
the heather. I picked it up, and could see it contained a sheaf of
Treasury notes. An hour or so later I saw a young man coming slowly
along at the foot of the Crags, looking distractedly from side to
side. I stood up, and shouted, "Catch!" and you should have seen the
way his expression changed as the pocket-book {114} went hurtling
through the air! In these almost pathless regions it is a serious
matter to lose anything of value.
But to return to our rabbits. The rabbits are turned into a source
of revenue by the farmers. They increase so rapidly that their
numbers have to be kept in check. Sometimes a farmer will sell the
"rabbiting" on his farm for the season, for £50 or so, just as the
"shooting" is let. Then the rabbit-catcher makes what he can out of
it. At other times the farmer will pay the rabbit-catcher so much
for every couple caught, and then sell them at a profit. I have
known fifty-seven couple to be caught by one man in a day on
Sewingshields Crags. You need to look well to your walking when the
rabbit-catcher is abroad, for of course he makes his loops of wire as
invisible as possible, and you would certainly be brought to the
ground if you put your foot in one of them. I was very glad that I
never came across a rabbit in a trap, though I used to see hundreds
of traps. A shepherd told me that once he saw a pathetic sight: a
rabbit in a trap, still feeding her young ones. Missing her, they
had crept up out of the burrow, and had traced her to the trap. He
set her free at once, for she was not hurt.
This has been a long delay on our walk, but it is so hot that to sit
and watch the rabbits will have done us all good.
{115}
There used to be a castle, known as Sewingshields Castle, in the
fields to the north, built there, it is supposed, to defend this pass
of Cat Gate. The field where it stood is still known as "The Castle."
Continuing along the crags, I soon came to the site of another
mile-castle. All along here the Wall is in a very ruinous condition,
but one can follow closely the mound which once was Wall.
Before leaving the Sewingshields region, we see ahead an important
gap called Busy Gap.
Here the Wall bends nearly southward, in order to avoid Broomlee
Lough (which laps the feet of Sewingshields Crags) and to make for
the next line of crags.
Nothing but the foundations remain of the actual Wall, but stones are
piled up roughly on them to make a field-boundary.
It is the interval between the end of Sewingshields Crags and the
beginning of the Housesteads series which is known as "Busy Gap," for
it was a very weak place on the Wall, and the enemy knew it. Besides
digging the usual Wall-ditch across the gap, the Romans made an
earthern rampart, triangular in form, as an additional protection.
Camden says of this Gap in 1599:
"I could not with safetie take the full Survey of it for the
ranke-robbers thereabout."
One evening when I was returning home from {116} this spot, quite
suddenly the mist came down, and blotted everything out. I could not
even see the ground at my feet, and anyhow there is no path to
follow. So the only thing I could do was to strike upwards until I
came to the mound of the Wall on the top of the crags, and then to
keep along its south side. After a while the mist lifted as suddenly
as it had come down, and I found myself within a stone's-throw of the
little plantation at Sewingshields.
It is no joke to be caught by a mist on these fells in the evening;
they come down without any warning, and sometimes last for days.
Just beyond the grass-grown site of another mile-castle the platform
of the fort of BORCOVICIUM comes into view, with the farm-house of
Housesteads. All this time the Vallum can be seen to the left,
traversing the low land between us and Wade's Road.
Following the Wall up and down the steep sides of two unchristened
gaps, I came to a little wood, which can only be entered and left by
climbing the stone wall which surrounds it. A few steps beyond the
wood, and there was the "amphitheatre" of Borcovicium lying before
me, where Dr. Bruce thought that gladiatorial contests were carried
on for the entertainment of the soldiers of the fort. There was also
a splendid stretch of Wall, 8 feet wide and 6 feet high, with a flat
grass-grown surface, {117} running along right up to the wall of the
fort! This was indeed worth seeing!
I went down into the "amphitheatre," a mere grassy hollow, where Dr.
Bruce says nettles are usually growing. I found, not
stinging-nettles--not the smallest trace of one--but bright patches
of purple "heartsease," surely a far better omen for poor suffering
humanity!
It must have been a cynic who first started the idea that
stinging-nettles were a sign of human presence. I would like to
think that pansies give a truer sign; that good "thoughts," instead
of evil ones, are more truly representative of man. In the way in
which heartsease has (apparently) displaced stinging-nettles here, on
the site of many a bloody contest, let us see a symbol and a prophecy
of the displacement of human hatred and rivalry by the spirit of
fellowship and love.
But wait! I am forgetting. The "bloody contests" are a myth.
Professor Bosanquet trenched the hollow in 1898 and proved it to be
an ancient quarry. And so it is marked on the new Ordnance Survey!
Now for the first time it was possible to walk along the top of the
Wall, feeling that it was the very structure built by the Romans, and
not a mere mound. Soon the course of the Wall was interrupted by a
gateway, supposed, by Dr. Bruce, to have been made as an approach to
the {118} "amphitheatre," but the probable explanation of its
existence is given on page 122.
Just here the Wall crosses the Knag Burn, and it is interesting to
note how it crosses, because it was no doubt the method employed by
the Romans to carry the Wall over every narrow stream. First, the
bed of the stream has been paved with stone; then low walls, four or
five courses high, have been built along the edges of the stream for
a distance of about 10 feet. Lastly, large slabs of stone have been
thrown across from wall to wall, to bridge the stream to a width of
10 feet, and on this foundation the Wall has been built. It leaves
an opening for the stream about 34 inches high, 30 inches wide, and
10 feet long, not a very pleasant passage for one man to squeeze
through, even when the stream was dry, and hopeless for a raiding
band!
At this point a notice is posted: "Admission 6d.; parties over 20,
3d. each." It reminded me of the old lady who claimed to be so much
over twenty that she ought to be admitted for a penny!
The Wall joins the north wall of the fort at its rounded north-east
angle.
{119}
CHAPTER XII
HOUSESTEADS TO PEEL CRAG
BORCOVICIUM
The fort of Borcovicium was constructed on the same general plan as
that of Cilurnum, but it presents also a very great contrast in
situation and in its special features.
Cilurnum lies in the fertile valley of the North Tyne; Borcovicium
clings to the bleak heights; but they are alike in the massive nature
of their gateways, in which pivot-holes and wheel-ruts can still be
seen, and alike in the general arrangement of the Principia and other
buildings.
At Borcovicium the Principia faces east, instead of north. A wide
arch covered the main entrance, and there were two similar arches
inside. There was the usual outer court, surrounded by a colonnade
which supported a pent-house roof; the inner court, with a portico;
and the series of five small rooms at the back.
In the northernmost room were found over eight hundred iron
arrow-heads and some scrap iron, as if {120} some one had been making
arrow-heads here before the fort was finally deserted.
The columns here are round, as contrasted with the square piers of
Cilurnum. One very beautiful base is left; it was probably turned on
a lathe, as a pattern, and then the building appears to have been
interrupted, and the other bases were copied from the first, not very
successfully.
The storehouses (_horrea_), for supplies to last all the winter, have
had as usual very thick walls and buttresses, in order to support the
heavy stone roofs, tiled with stone slabs, to prevent their being set
on fire by red-hot sling-bullets. The floors were raised above the
ground on squared blocks of stone, to keep the buildings dry, and so
preserve the grain. In the Middle Ages a circular kiln was made in
the southern granary.
The masonry of the gateways at Borcovicium is particularly massive
and beautiful. The north gateway opens on to such a steep slope as
to render it practically useless for wheeled traffic. It has been
suggested that general instructions were issued, and then carried out
_au pied de la lettre_, even when inappropriate, under special
conditions. Such a thing has been known to occur in more recent
military works.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
{121}
[Illustration: Fig. 12. Plan of the Fort of Borcovicium. (After
Dickie and Bosanquet.) (Reproduced, by permission, from
_Romano-British Buildings and Earthworks_, by John Ward, F.S.A.)]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
There is a large stone tank by the north gateway, the purpose of
which is doubtful. Knives have been sharpened round the edges,
giving it a scalloped {122} appearance, as shown in the picture of
this gateway which faces this page.
The so-called "amphitheatre" is seen on the left--a grassy hollow in
the angle formed by the Wall and a field-boundary. The gateway in
the Wall by the Knag Burn is also seen. In the distance are
Sewingshields Crags with the Wall running along the ridge.
It is probable that it was found necessary to make the gateway in the
Wall by the Knag Burn because, _after_ the building of the Wall, the
only access to the enemy side would otherwise have been by the almost
impassable north gate.
Prior to the building of the Wall the east gate was the most
available route.
The gateways have been all more or less filled up during some period
of the Roman occupation, but the filling-up has been entirely
removed. This was done in the dark ages of archæology over fifty
years ago, and no records were kept at that time of the finds and the
different floor-levels, by means of which it is alone possible to
learn the period when the gates were blocked. At Rudchester they
were filled up in the second century.
The barracks were long narrow huts, about 30 feet in width, built to
accommodate a hundred men. They each contained ten or eleven rooms.
Here at Borcovicium they run along the length of the fort, instead of
crosswise as usual.
[Illustration: NORTH GATE, BORCOVICIUM. THE GREAT WALL IS SEEN
RUNNING UP TOWARDS THE PLANTATION, AND THE SO-CALLED "AMPHITHEATRE"
APPEARS AS A HOLLOW ON ITS LEFT. SEWINGSHIELDS CRAGS RISE IN THE
DISTANCE, WITH THE WALL FOLLOWING THEIR LINE]
{123}
The long building by the western gateway was a workshop; part of it
was a smithy; there were traces of iron and coal.
The sanitary system was very complete, and is one of the chief
evidences of the high level of civilization and comfort which Rome
demanded for her soldiers, even at such a remote outpost of the
Empire.
The north-east angle tower has been moved when the Wall was built, in
order to be in a better position for commanding the line of the Wall,
showing that the Wall was not thought of when the fort was built.
The slopes to the south outside the south gateway were covered with
buildings so closely that there was no room for a man to pass between
the walls of the houses; and to the west there are signs of terraced
gardens, such as are common now in Italy.
There are many traces at Borcovicium of the occupation of the enemy,
during which time he has destroyed as much as possible of the
buildings and walls; and the Romans on re-entering have built again
on the ruins, without removing the débris. This accounts for great
differences in floor-levels that are found.
I left Borcovicium by the north gate, and followed along the north
wall till I came to a little wood, which begins just where the fort
ends. The track {124} of the Wall runs through this little wood,
almost hidden in lush and lusty grass, on the extreme edge of the
basalt cliffs, which are very steep again here. With slight breaks,
the best walking is along the top of the Wall all the way from this
little wood to Rapishaw Gap; and then again from Cat Stairs to the
west end of Peel Crag. A splendid piece of Wall is this that we are
now traversing!
A quarter of a mile from Borcovicium is what is known as the
Housesteads mile-castle, the most perfect specimen of a mile-castle
that can be seen to-day above ground.
As usual the Wall forms its northern wall, and here it stands
fourteen courses, or 9½ feet, high. The thickness of the Wall at the
north gateway is not less than 10 feet. The original opening was 10
feet wide, and spanned by an arch, the springers of which are in
position still, as also one of the voussoirs; and one of the
voussoirs of the arch of the inner gateway is placed on the impost of
the outer, as shown in the picture facing this page. Broomlee Lough
is seen in the distance.
[Illustration: THE NORTH GATE OF HOUSESTEADS MILE-CASTLE SHOWING HOW
THE GATEWAY WAS NARROWED IN LATTER ROMAN TIMES]
The inner gateway has been made, at a later period, by walling up the
original one, and so reducing the width from 10 feet to 3¾ feet, and
the floor has been raised 3½ feet above the original level.
Everything goes to indicate that the gateway has been destroyed
several times, and that the Romans have built it up again without
removing {125} the débris. This partial walling-up of the gateways
seems to have been done in the case of most of the forts and
mile-castles, in the later period of Roman occupation, when Rome
could not spare many soldiers for this outlying province.
If we examine the north gateway from the north side it is clear that
one of the piers has been partly overthrown when the enemy was in
occupation. Something has been inserted in the bar-holes, and the
whole Wall has been levered out. This would make the arch collapse.
In Severus's reconstruction the pier has been left thus, pushed out
of place, and has been built round.
Severus's reconstructions are much better work than some of the later
ones.
Still walking on the Wall, I came to Cuddy's Crag (Cuddy is a pet
name for St. Cuthbert), the Wall maintaining its full breadth of 8
feet and a height of 5 or 6 feet for a long distance. The picture
which faces page 28 shows the Wall as seen from Cuddy's Crag, looking
eastwards, along the way we have come. Wade's Road is seen like a
white ribbon to the left of the trees. Just below it is the gateway
through the Wall referred to on page 122. The hollowed line on the
extreme left of the picture, near the horizon, where the Wall makes a
great dip down, is Busy Gap.
Over Cuddy's Crag we come to Rapishaw Gap, where the Wall becomes too
steep and rough for {126} walking on. Apparently the mat of turf
which covers it elsewhere could not grow on this steep slope.
Just here I came across a sad sight--a new-born lamb with its eyes
pierced, evidently by a kite or some such bird of prey.
Next come Hotbank Crags, from the top of which Crag Lough comes
grandly into view. To the south of Wade's Road, Barcombe is now
prominent, covered with heather, still in its sombre stage, and with
the Long Stone standing out sharply against the sky. Beyond Barcombe
the green platform of the fort of Vindolanda, at Chesterholm, can be
distinguished.
Crag Lough is one of the most beautiful natural features along the
line of the Wall. Lying for its whole length immediately under the
steep basalt crags, it has the advantage of Broomlee and Greenlee,
which spread themselves out in the plain.
Crag Lough is reached through Milking Gap, which lies between the
Lake and the farm-house of Hotbank. I tried to get rooms at Hotbank
when I was painting along the Wall, but the family was too large to
allow of their taking visitors.
There is a mile-castle in Milking Gap; and thence the Wall climbs the
slope to the summit of Highshield Crag, where the columns of basalt
are particularly striking.
[Illustration: CRAG LOUGH FROM MILKING GAP, WITH WINSHIELDS IN THE
DISTANCE. THE WALL IS VISIBLE ON THE HEIGHTS ABOVE THE LOUGH, AND
ALSO RUNNING OVER WINSHIELDS.]
In the picture facing this page, the Wall is seen {127} running along
the top of Highshield Crag above the Lough, having passed through the
little wood.
In the distance it is seen taking its farther course over Winshields,
the highest hill that it traverses.
The basaltic columns overhanging the Lough, and Hotbank farm-house in
the distance, are seen in the picture which faces page 112.
It is a beautiful walk through the little wood above the Lough, with
its waters seen through the branches of the trees. Hosts of jackdaws
dwell in these crags, and keep up a perpetual conversation with each
other.
The wind had now dropped, and it was warm walking on the unsheltered
crags. I had met no one since leaving Sewingshields, so I took off
my shoes and stockings and walked barefoot on the grass. But I kept
wanting to cross and recross the Wall, and to climb stone hedges, and
this was not pleasant with bare feet, so at last I took my
bedroom-slippers out of my haversack, and walked in them for several
miles, till I suddenly found that I had worn them into holes on the
rocks, so they were no longer any protection!
At Steel Rigg Gap the ground falls very steeply, and the Wall-stones
are laid horizontally. Here in the gap is a small walled enclosure,
with a sycamore growing in it. No! it is _not_ a Wall turret, only a
sheep-fold.
Now comes Castle Nick, containing a mile-castle {128} in very good
condition. It is 50 feet by 62 feet. Probably the narrowness of the
gap explains why its greatest size is north and south, instead of
east and west, as usual.
The south gateway is smaller than the north. Under the foundations
of the south gateway have been found the pivot-holes of a wider gate.
Foundations of buildings are to be seen within the walls; no doubt
they were similar to the barracks in the stations, and had pent-house
roofs.
The next gap is called Cat Stairs, where a very rough and rocky path
descends to the plain.
[Illustration: CASTLE NICK MILE-CASTLE, WITH CRAG LOUGH IN THE
DISTANCE]
I was coming this way once with my sketching-things at six o'clock in
the morning, and I though I would go down the Stairs, and get a view
of the Wall from the plains. My things were heavy, so I left them at
the top, just where a stone boundary wall crosses the Wall. Having
seen enough, I was returning, when I heard a noise. Surely some very
large Cat was coming down the stairs! Stones were bounding from rock
to rock and falling on the plain. I waited, and there swung into
view a tall young shepherd with my sketching-things hung round his
neck! It was amusing to see his astonishment and confusion. But I
knew at once what had happened without his needing to explain. He
thought my things had been forgotten the day before by some member of
a party who had visited the Wall, for he said he had never before
seen any one {129} about there so early. I thanked him for his kind
intentions, and asked him to add to his kindness by taking the things
"upstairs" again. Which he did, and I went on my way.
And here I must interrupt the Walk for a little while to speak of
life at the lonely farms, where they so kindly took me in. Nearly
always they said, "No," at first. If they gave no reason, or an
incontrovertible one, I went away. If they said, "We can't get meat
for oorsel's, and we're fair stoured wi' rabbits," I saw my chance,
and protested that I wanted no meat at all, only eggs and bread and
butter and milk. Then they usually yielded at once, with a "Well, ye
sanna go hungert!"
The middle of May is the annual moving-time for the farms, I found;
so it is a bad time to try to get taken in.
Once they had hardly got straight after a move when I called, and the
good-wife said doubtfully, "Would ye mind a fixt bed?"
"Oh dear, no," I said gaily, not having the faintest idea what it
was! But I thought it must be better than a peripatetic one! When
the time came, my bed looked very ordinary indeed, and I was quite
disappointed. I made inquiries, and the housewife smiled, and said
her extra bed had come by the carrier unexpectedly soon. "But ye can
see the fixt bed if ye like." I found it was a two-legged wooden
bedstead forming part of the structure of a {130} small attic, with
the back built against the wall, and the two legs at the foot
immovably glued to the floor. Rather nice, when one moves in to a
new house, to find one bed already there!
At these "out-by" farms they keep very early hours; they often have
dinner at 10.30, tea at 2.30, supper at 5.30, and go to bed at 7.30.
Sometimes I would spend a day out with the children on the moors, or
mosses, as they are usually called, where in places the
draining-ditches are so close together that progress is a perpetual
jump. Or if there are no ditches, it means jumping from one clump of
rushes to the next. But "nae rash-bush e'er deceived true Scot," as
the proverb says, and the rush-bushes never let us down, Scots though
we were not.
There I saw cranberry-blossom for the first time; and any amount of
milk-wort, all colours, and butter-wort, and the sticky round-leaved
sundew.
Once they made me cut a peat, my first peat, standing by and laughing
while I tried my prentice-hand at it.
It looks so easy to cut one of these slices of "chocolate-mould."
But it isn't!
The crust of the ground is hard, and one is apt not to exert enough
force to start with. Then perhaps one overdoes it, and goes through
the crust all of a sudden, and so slithering down through the soft
damp peat far more quickly than one intended. {131} But they were
kind to me, though they laughed. They said: "She didn't break her
first peat; that was champion!"
We would roam on the moors and hear the badgers barking, and
sometimes we would see one; and we'd go and watch the sheep-washing
down by the "Sike." There is no end to what one can do in the
country "out-by"!
The names of some of the houses are very unusual. There is "Seldom
Seen," a herd's cottage on the Stanegate; and "Cold Knuckles," an
out-by homestead which was burnt down (in its efforts to warm itself,
apparently) and has not been rebuilt. A pity that such a name should
also perish in the flames!
{132}
CHAPTER XIII
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.
{148}
CHAPTER XIV
WALLTOWN TO GILSLAND
Walltown farm-house is built on the site of the Tower where lived
John Ridley, the brother of the martyred Bishop, who writes to him as
"My beloved brother, John Ridley, of the Walltown."
The farmer came and spoke to me while I was making a drawing of the
house from the Walltown mile-castle.
"This is a very historic place. John Ridley lived here four hundred
years ago, and here am I, John Ridley, living here still."
In Haltwhistle Church, only 3 miles away, there is a very interesting
tombstone to the memory of John Ridley, with a long rhyming epitaph
(_see facing page_).
Near the farm-house there is a very beautiful avenue of old trees,
beech, sycamore, ash and a few Scotch firs. A park-like meadow lies
in front, in which also are fine trees. Range after range of hills
sweeps away to the south, the most distant being Cross Fell.
{149}
IHON REDLE
THATE SVM
TIM DID BE
THEN: LAIRD OF THE WALTON
GON IS HE OVT OF THES VAL OF MESRE
HIS BONS LIES VNDER THES STON
--------------------------------------------
WE MVST BELEVE BE GODS MERSE
INTO THES WORLD GAVE HES SON
THEN FOR TO REDEM AL CHRESNTE
SO CHRIST HAES HES SOVL WOVN
--------------------------------------------
AL FAETHFVL PEOPLE MAY BE FAEN
WHEN DATH COMES THAT NON CA FLE
THE BODE KEPT THE SOVL IN PAEN
THROVGH CHRIST IS SET AT LEBERTE
--------------------------------------------
AMONG BLESSED COMPANE TO REMANE
TO SLEP IN CHRISTE NOWE IS GON
YET STEL BELEVES TO HAV AGAE
THROVGH CHRIST A IOYFVL RESVRRECCION
--------------------------------------------
AL FRENDES MAY BE GLAD TO HAER
WHEN HIS SOVL FROM PAEN DID GO
OVT OF THES WORLD AS DOETH APPER
IN THE YEER OF OVR LORD
A · 1562
XX
The farm-house sounds kept coming up to me as I sat on the hill
painting, till at last everything seemed to be asleep, even the
farm-carts, which were turned with their shafts up in a row in the
yard.
One evening, while I was sitting here, there was a wonderful effect
of rainbow-coloured clouds above the sun. I never saw anything like
it before. {150} These clouds were in rays, radiating upwards from
the sun as a centre, and they were just like wisps of rainbow. I
can't describe them in any other way. They would form and then
vanish, and form again, and one spot immediately above the sun always
seemed more brilliant than all the rest.
The most modern version of "John Ridley" showed me the chives which
are supposed to date back to Roman times, and which look like patches
of fine grey grass growing on the flat rocks on the hillside below
the mile-castle. I should never have found them without help. I
pulled some up, and ate some of the tiny onion-like roots with my
bread-and-cheese lunch, just to see how they must have tasted to the
Roman sentries, who probably ate them on the same spot when they were
off duty.
I had finished my sketch of Walltown, and it was still in my
painting-case when I was sitting working late one evening on
Sewingshields Crags. The case lay on the grass by my side. When it
was time to go home, I strapped it up tight as usual. Next morning,
when I looked at the sketch, there was a large, round, dry yellow
patch spread out over it! A slug had walked into my painting-case,
and in strapping it up I had compressed it on the middle of the
picture. I removed it carefully with a pen-knife, and every scrap of
colour came with it. The (probable) birthplace of the slug and the
actual {151} scene of its death are two of the pictures which are not
included in this book.
I passed another Wall turret, with only the back wall standing. Just
after that came a wide nick, full of trees, alders and hawthorn,
still dripping from the recent rain. The sweet smell of wet young
bracken greeted me all the time. Before the next nick there are some
good bits of Wall, seven or eight courses high.
So up and down went the Wall, and I with it, clinging to the sides of
the steepest nicks, with unswerving loyalty to plan! Sometimes its
northern face, overhanging the cliffs, presented an unbroken surface
of facing-stones for 5 or 6 feet; sometimes there was but a mere
mound.
Several of the nicks are little groves of trees. Sheep were grazing
everywhere, and rabbits still abounded. You might see them sitting
up on the Wall, the evening sun shining through their transparent
ears, with a (literally) blood-red glow; or playing all sorts of
pranks, apparently without fear of intrusion.
The Wall finally runs straight to the edge of Greenhead Quarry, where
an iron fence is placed, to keep the unwary (or too-faithful!)
follower of the Wall from tumbling over the cliff, as, alas! the Wall
has already done.
In the 1884 edition of Dr. Bruce's Handbook, there is an interesting
picture of a Wall turret standing {152} on the very edge of the
quarry. Now it has gone; it has simply been quarried away!
Not only was the rain over, but the sun was sending long level golden
rays over the tops of the hills as I came to the quarry; and this was
the end of my Wall-walk for the day. They were standing at the door
looking out for me when I arrived at the house where I was to spend
the night, for I had been delayed by the storm.
I had felt indignant about that Wall turret, but the next day I
realized the necessity of forgiving my enemies (in the shape of the
Greenhead Quarry Company), for I accepted an invitation to visit the
quarry before continuing my walk.
[Illustration: THORNY DOORS GAP, WITH NINE NICKS OF THIRLWALL IN THE
DISTANCE]
It is a whinstone quarry, needless to say, for it is busy cutting a
large slice out of the basaltic ridge on which the Wall has clung for
so many miles. I had previously been puzzled by the appearance of
the Cawfields Quarry, which is quite a landmark for miles, making a
rich yellow patch in the landscape. If basalt is a dark blue-grey
stone, how can it make a yellow patch? Now was my opportunity to
inquire. The manager told me that although whinstone is a dark
blue-grey stone, yet it has a yellow "skin" which forms on it under
certain conditions, as, for example, when the earth has got in
through cracks. It is not a good building-stone, apart from its
colour and the difficulty of dressing it, for capillary attraction
draws the water {153} up through it very freely, so that it always
seems damp. "The Romans were not able to work it, as it can't be
worked with wedges."
But somehow they _did_ manage to cut deep ditches through it at the
top of Limestone Bank! The great heaps of grey whin-dust (as it is
called) lying at the quarry were waiting, I was told, to be made into
blocks of artificial stone, being subjected to great pressure, and
thus forming an artificial "conglomerate."
Before I left they gave me a practical illustration of how the stone
is brought down by blasting.
The Wall continues its course along the fields opposite the quarry,
forming a boundary wall between them. It is not in good condition
(having so recently tumbled over the cliff, a frivolous person might
say!), but its ditch is magnificent, and was full of primroses, very
late for the time of year.
The Roman fort of MAGNA is just here, lying to the south of both Wall
and Vallum, which now draw near together again, after their long
separation. No doubt this fort was originally built by Agricola,
long before the Wall was thought of. A recent discovery, given
below, goes to prove that.
The site of the fort is to the west of the farm-house of Carvoran. I
had no difficulty in tracing the north rampart and the north ditch.
The Stanegate came up to the fort, direct from {154} Corstorpitum and
Cilurnum; and another Roman road, the Maiden Way, coming from the
south, joined it near the south-east angle. The two roads are one as
far as Gilsland, where they separate, the former aiming for Carlisle,
and the latter for Birdoswald and Bewcastle.
During the recent war, a very interesting bronze vessel was found at
Carvoran. "Like a bucket, only the top was where the bottom should
be," was the graphic description given me locally, and when I saw the
vessel at Chesters Museum, I felt how well it described it. It was a
measure for corn, of the time of Domitian, the last emperor under
whom Agricola served, but the emperor's name had been erased. It
therefore dates from about 82 A.D., but it looks as if it had been
made yesterday. The inscription is as clear and clean as ever,
except where it has been erased.
"IMP*/*/*/***** CAESARE
AVG · GERMANICO · XV · COS
EXACTVS · AD · S · XVIIS
HABET · P · XXXIIX"
It states that the vessel was measured and tested to hold 17½ pints.
It really holds 20 pints.
No doubt the garrison at Magna received a tribute of British corn in
this measure.
It had long lain near the surface of the ground at Carvoran, and the
postman had kicked at it many a time as he passed, thinking its rim
was {155} an old horseshoe. At last a boy on the farm had the
curiosity to get a spade and dig it up.
The Wall-ditch runs along the fields, in splendid condition, down to
the valley of the Tipalt. The path lies along the north margin of
the ditch. It led me over a fence at the bottom of the second field
into a beautiful little tree-filled glade, with great swelling
undulations in the surface of the ground as it sloped rapidly down to
the Tipalt. At the bottom of this glade Thirlwall Castle came
suddenly into view, and I must confess I was greatly struck by the
beauty of its situation.
Thirlwall Castle (shown in the Frontispiece) dates from the Middle
Ages, and has figured largely in border warfare. It is built
entirely of Roman stones from the Wall. It is now in a very ruined
state, all its eastern side having fallen into the river Tipalt,
above which it stands. A little wooden bridge crosses the stream
just below the Castle, and on this I sat to paint the picture.
Behind me was Holmhead farm-house where there is a Roman inscribed
stone built upside-down into the back premises, and where a dear old
lady lives, the patter of whose wooden clogs I could hear most of the
time as she went about her work. She used to visit me at intervals,
and brought me cushions to sit upon every day I was there.
I spent some happy times on the bridge, with the life of the little
hamlet going on around me: {156} the sound of the dirling-pin on
washing-day, the beating of the bucket to summon the calves to be
fed, the laughter of the children as they played in the stream, and
the tap, tap of the hammer of the old man at the cottage of Dooven
Foot opposite. He was busy making an erection by the side of the
stream to keep his fowls within bounds.
One evening I saw something white, high up on the walls of the
Castle, and went to see what it was. Two little girls, about nine
years old, had climbed adventurously up the walls. They came down
and talked to me; told me how some day "teacher" was going to take
them to the source of the Tipalt, where it rose in the hills. We got
out my map and studied it. We talked of the lonely farms "out-by,"
with their picturesque names, such as Far-Glow, and Hope-Alone, and
Seldom-Seen; and we pictured the solitary lights shining out in the
darkness, and the long, quiet winter evenings they must spend,
sometimes cut off by snow from all communication with the outer
world; until at last a voice from below called, in shocked tones,
"Nora, don't ye know it's nine o'clock?" And so they hurried off to
bed.
Holmhead is a typical Northumbrian farm-house, built of Roman stones
from the Wall.
I painted a picture of it in August, when hay-making was going on.
To our southern eyes, the method of carting hay in these parts seems
{157} very slow and laborious. The hay-wain is dispensed with
altogether. Each hay-cock, or "pike," as they call them, is dragged
separately, by means of chains and a windlass, on to a flat cart with
low iron wheels, called a "bogie." The trundling of the iron wheels
of the bogie on the stony roads becomes a very familiar sound in the
hay-season. We timed the work as I sat painting on the hill, and we
found it took three men one and three-quarter hours to bring in one
pike and unload it, though it came from only two fields away! They
call the process "leading" hay. The hilly character of the ground,
no doubt, accounts for the method employed.
Continuing my walk, I crossed the little wooden bridge over the
Tipalt, and then bore round to the left, past cottages, keeping now
alongside the tawny little river, a true tributary of the "tawny
Tyne."
A heron flew low down across my path, and dived between the low
bushes on the river bank quite close to me. I peeped through them,
and there he was, standing majestically on a stone in the middle of
the river, fishing, looking very beautiful with his blue-grey plumage
and dull yellow legs.
Soon I came to the railway; the Wall is quite lost in these low-lying
fields, and one has to cross the railway by the only path, almost on
the site of the Vallum. Passing a row of new cottages, called
Thirlwall View, I came out into the road {158} leading to Gilsland,
and now I could see the Vallum in the fields across the road. I
entered the nearest field-gate, and was now almost on the site of the
Wall again, as far as Wallend Farm. Then the Wall-ditch appeared
again, very conspicuous indeed, of great size and interest. I
pursued it through grassy meadows, which seemed to be all ditch and
rampart, and over stone walls, till I came to a thick group of trees
beside a stream. Here were the farm-houses of Chapel House and Foul
Town. A troop of young black cattle saw in me a hope of getting
through the farm-gate, and followed me closely, even licking my hands
as I opened the gate! But they did not get through. I could not
find the "Hadrian" stone at Chapel House which Dr. Bruce refers to,
and they could tell me nothing of it at the farm; but I understand it
has been taken to the Black Gate Museum, Newcastle. I crossed a
bridge over the stream and continued westward, Orchard House,
Gilsland and the Shaws Hotel coming into view on the green slopes on
the right.
At the Red House, Gap, a pet lamb with a garland round its neck, made
overtures to me. At the White House, I turned into the farm-yard,
and went to examine the centurial stone mentioned by Dr. Bruce. It
was thickly whitewashed over, and quite illegible. I had seen it so
on a previous visit, and had begged to be allowed to remove {159} the
whitewash, much to the amusement of the farmer's wife. However, she
humoured me, and brought me a bowl of warm water and a sponge. It
was all the kinder of her, because it was Gilsland show-day, a great
occasion, and she was busy sending off the men and the animals in all
their bravery, with coats being brushed, and manes and tails properly
combed out--all in the farm-yard.
I left the stone looking beautifully clear, though it made what the
farmer probably thought was an ugly dark patch in the white wall; but
I begged them to keep it so when next the wall was whitewashed.
So I was disappointed to find they had forgotten. No wonder Dr.
Bruce himself failed at first to find it on his last visit; that is
what I was told had happened.
After leaving White House, I found the Wallditch again magnificent
between Gap and Gilsland Station, and the mounds of the Vallum
running on a higher level than the Wall, for a wonder.
The line of the Wall crosses a side-road to the south of Gilsland
Station, and continues through fields to the Poltross Burn, which is
the boundary between Northumberland and Cumberland. I followed it,
but coming to a stone wall, with piggeries and bee-hives set up close
against it, blocking my path, I had to climb the wooden fence on to
the railway embankment, and so came without difficulty {160} to the
edge of the burn, just where the Wall must have crossed it.
There is a curious stratification of the rocks here; sloping ledges,
from 4 to 6 feet high, make a series of great natural steps down.
There must be a drop of some 20 feet from the bed of the stream,
where the Wall crossed it to the point where the railway arch crosses
it, only a few yards away.
Farther to the south, the banks of the stream are lined with Roman
stones, where the Vallum crossed it; also the sides of the
Vallum-ditch. This is not found elsewhere.
Crossing the burn, I climbed the steep bank on the opposite side,
which is planted thick with trees, and came out just at the site of
the mile-castle which is known as Poltross Burn mile-castle. It was
evidently placed here to guard the passage of the stream. It was
excavated by the late Mr. J. P. Gibson and Mr. F. G. Simpson in 1910,
but has been covered up again, and only a cairn of stones between the
stream and the railway-line marks its situation. Locally, it was
known as "The King's Stables" by the country people. The discovery
in this mile-castle of a flight of stairs leading up to the
rampart-walk is especially valuable, because from them a calculation
of its height could be made. It was found to be 12 feet above the
first-period floor, thus confirming previous calculations of its
probable height. There was also a complete {161} arrangement of
inner buildings with walls 2 feet thick.
The Wall can be seen from here running through the Vicarage garden,
the other side of the railway.
I crossed the line opposite the Vicarage, and then cut across the
fields, past the schools, into the road.
Calling at the Vicarage, I was most kindly received by the Vicar, who
is always willing to welcome pilgrims of the Wall. He showed me the
fine piece of Wall in his garden, the most striking feature of which
is the unusually wide foundation which has been laid bare. There
were also two Roman altars, which had long formed part of the
altar-steps at the little Saxon Church of Over Denton, 2 miles away;
and some centurial stones, ballista balls and mill-stones. He
pointed out where the Vallum also ran through his garden, for Vallum
and Wall are very near together here.
At Over Denton Church the original chancel arch is a Roman gateway
brought from Amboglanna, and the font is formed from the capital of a
Roman pillar.
Close by Gilsland Vicarage lives Miss Ewart, of Raise House, a
favourite resort of archæologists, and students of the Wall, and to
her I appealed for lunch.
{162}
CHAPTER XV
GILSLAND TO LANERCOST
After lunching at Gilsland, I started off again at three o'clock,
intending to make only a short distance that day, and to sleep at the
Lanercost Temperance Hotel. I picked up the line of the Wall where I
had dropped it--at the Vicarage. Keeping westward along the road, I
turned into a field-path on the right, just past a new cottage known
as "Roman Wall Villa," behind which, remains of the Wall are to be
seen. This path leads through meadows right along the line of the
Wall, with the lovely little river Irthing twisting its way below on
the right, half-hidden by the trees which overhang it.
Fragments of the core of the Wall are seen at intervals, and
presently the path runs right along the bottom of the deep
Wall-ditch. Great trees grow on the top of its northern mound. So
we come to Willowford farm-house, where for the moment all traces of
the Wall disappear, no doubt because its stones were used to build
the house.
I descended the steep little grassy hill on which {163} the house
stands, and crept through the barbed-wire fence at the bottom into a
flat meadow on a level with the river. There, in the hedge, were
Wall-stones in plenty, and again the path lay in the ditch, though it
had been very nearly levelled, probably by the plough. The river
Irthing was still on the right, curving round to meet the line of the
Wall. Just before they meet, the Wall disappears again, and the low
bank of the river is covered with undergrowth. The opposite bank is
very high and precipitous, thickly clothed with trees and bushes; but
on its summit can be seen clinging a precious bit of the Wall, seven
courses high.
Keeping to my resolve of following the Wall through thick and thin, I
took off my shoes and stockings, and crossed the river, after
searching in vain for any signs of how the Wall had crossed it.
Where it had crossed it I could guess, from the overhanging piece of
Wall in front, and the line along which I had come.
I am told by those who have the right to express an opinion that
there certainly is a bridge buried here, on the east bank, and that
it's simply "asking" to be excavated!
The river was fairly low, so I was able to cross dry-footed, jumping
from stone to stone, with only one hazardous jump in the middle,
where the current of the stream flows deepest. I was now {164}
beneath the cliffs which Jenkinson in his _Guide_ describes as "now
quite precipitous and impossible to ascend." But it was not
impossible at all, though difficult. The thick growth of trees and
bushes was both a hindrance and a help, for, though it barred my way,
it gave more foothold on the steep bank.
At last I came out on the top, close to the fine bit of Wall still
standing, and could examine it at leisure. It is making straight for
Birdoswald farm-house, now not far away, and the eye can follow it
along the boundary hedge between cornfields and pasture-land.
Close by, on the high bank of the Irthing, are traces of the Harrow's
Scar mile-castle, placed here to guard the passage of the stream.
THE WALL OVERHANGING THE IRTHING.
This bank of the Irthing, where the Wall still clings at the top, was
a perfectly bare, sandy bank in 1848, without trees or undergrowth,
as shown in H. B. Richardson's drawing in Newcastle. In 1801, when
Hutton climbed it, he speaks of "brambles," so it would almost look
as if there had been a landslip on this bank between 1801 and 1848.
Now it is covered very thickly with vegetation, especially low down
near the river.
[Illustration: THE WALL OVERHANGING THE IRTHING]
When I was making this sketch, I walked one day to the bank of the
river, a little below the Wall, {165} and there I suddenly saw the
figure of a girl appear in a tree overhanging the water on the other
side. I looked again, and I saw she was seated in a little wooden
chair suspended from a wire, and was pulling herself across by
another wire, both of which crossed from side to side. I waited for
her to land, and then I asked: "Do you think I might use that?" She
said: "It belongs to Underheugh, that farm down there, but I dare say
you might."
I promptly went to Underheugh and asked permission. The farmer's
wife said: "Oh ay, ye may if ye like, but ye'd do better by plodgin'."
"What _is_ 'plodging'?"
She laughed. "Oh, it's just takin' off yer shoes and stockin's and
goin' throo on yer feet."
"I have done that already; so I'd rather cross by the wire," said I.
"Well, then, ye may, so long as ye leave the ropes right."
So when it was time to go home, I ventured into the chair and laid
hold of the wire rope, and pulled. I only had one hand, as the other
clutched my sketching-things, so it was rather hard work. It was
literally uphill work after I got to the middle, though to start with
it was downhill, and the thing almost went of itself. It felt funny
to be suspended from a rope over the middle of the Irthing, in this
very primitive "chair."
I asked at Underheugh what they called the {166} arrangement, but
they could not say. Then I inquired at Birdoswald. "Oh, you mean a
sort of an aeroplane?"
That was the nearest I could get! And "a sort of an aeroplane" it
will always be to me! I used it several times after that.
A short walk from the overhanging Wall brought me to AMBOGLANNA, at
Birdoswald. This is the largest of all the forts, occupying 5½ acres
as against the 5¼ of Cilurnum. Like Cilurnum it has six gateways, an
extra and smaller gateway to east and west, lying to the south of the
main eastern and western gateways.
Unlike Cilurnum, but like Borcovicium and Æsica, its northern wall is
joined, at its rounded corners, by the Great Wall. The
circumscribing ditch of the fort has been found underneath the Great
Wall, as at Æsica, showing that the fort is earlier than the Wall.
An older fort is shown to have stood here, because the ditch which
surrounded it has been traced, cutting across the present fort to the
north portal of the eastern gateway, and this ditch can be traced
again in one or two places westward.
The north gate of the original fort would be about on the site of the
_Principia_ of the present one. The excavations conducted by
Professor Haverfield and Mr. and Mrs. T. H. Hodgson, between 1895 and
1900, prove that the fort was extended north and south at the same
time, northwards over the {167} ditch of the older fort, and
southwards on to the Vallum. The south-west angle tower is where the
north mound of the Vallum ought to be. The Vallum curves round the
original fort, and makes a straight course east. To the west it has
been entirely destroyed by a landslip.
[Illustration: Fig. 14.--Comparative Plans of Gateways. (After John
Ward.) Scale: 30 feet to 1 inch.]
It is a very steep fall to the Irthing on the south of the fort.
Possibly the river has changed its course 100 yards since Roman
times. Twenty years ago its course was changed 60 yards in a few
hours at Underheugh (just under these cliffs to the east) by a flood.
The granary, just in front of the farm-house, has air-passages
underneath, to keep the corn both {168} dry and cool, as at
Corstopitum. The gateways have as usual been built up in the later
periods of the Roman occupation, and the floors raised. The north
portal of the large eastern gateway has been blocked, and the west
portal of the southern gateway. Both of these gateways are in good
preservation, especially the eastern one, where one of the imposts is
specially noticeable.
Inscriptions found at Birdoswald confirm the _Notitia_ statement that
the first cohort of the Dacians, styled the Ælian, was quartered here.
The picture facing this page represents the view from Amboglanna
referred to by the late Lord Carlisle, in his _Diary in Turkish and
Greek Waters_. He says:
"Strikingly, and to any one who has coasted the uniform shore of the
Hellespont, and crossed the tame low plain of the Troad, unexpectedly
lovely is this site of Troy, if Troy it was. I could give any
Cumberland borderer the best notion of it, by telling him that it
wonderfully resembles the view from the point just outside the Roman
camp at Birdoswald: both have that series of steep conical hills,
with rock enough for wildness, and verdure enough for softness; both
have that bright trail of a river creeping in and out with the most
continuous indentations: the Simois has, in summer at least, more
silvery shades of sand."
[Illustration: VIEW FROM THE FORT OF AMBOGLANNA, LOOKING SOUTH,
ACROSS THE IRTHING]
While busy over this book, I came across a photograph {169} of the
Greek view at a friend's house, and though I recognized the
resemblance, I felt that Cumberland could well hold its own with
Greece.
From Amboglanna the Wall and the road follow the same line as far as
the village of Banks. For 500 yards west of Birdoswald, the Wall is
the south boundary of the road. From that point onwards to Banks the
Wall is the foundation of the road. This was ascertained by
excavations made by the late Mr. J. P. Gibson and Mr. F. G. Simpson,
who found that two Wall turrets (known as High House and Apple-tree
turrets) come within the road-boundary, as also does a quarter of the
mile-castle known as High House mile-castle. In these turrets and
the mile-castle four floors were traceable, the dates of which are
roughly as follows, beginning with the highest:
1. About 300 A.D.
2. 210 A.D. under Severus.
3. 158 A.D. " Antoninus Pius.
4. 120-125 A.D. " Hadrian.
The Vallum on the left and the Wall-ditch on the right call for
notice all along this stretch of road; and here also is something
unique, the turf-wall, running to meet the Great Wall at Wallbowers.
As has been mentioned, it starts from near Harrow's Scar mile-castle,
and is like the string of a bow, the Great Wall being the bow.
On the "Pilgrimage" in September 1920, sections {170} of the
turf-wall were cut to show the black and white lines marking the
limits of the turves. The vegetable-matter turns black, and bleaches
the soil that comes next to it.
At Coome Crag I turned off to the left to see the Roman quarrymen's
marks. I knocked at the lodge-door to ask for a guide, but only a
dog replied, and he was chained. So I followed the path, which runs
through a beautiful wood, sloping down towards the Irthing; and I had
no difficulty in finding the quarry, and the Roman names, cut rather
near the bottom of a large mass of rock with a flat wall-like
surface. How surprised "SECVRVS" and "IVSTVS" and "MATHRIANVS" would
have been if they had been told that thousands would follow the path
to the quarry, like pilgrims to a shrine, just to see the names they
had cut in an idle moment during their lunch-hour! It may be that
they were employed by Severus in repairing the Wall, for there is
another inscription, "FAVST ET RVF COS," and Dr. Bruce tells us that
Faustinus and Rufus were Consuls in 210 A.D., just when Severus was
in Britain.
Near Leahill farm-house, on the right of the road, the Wall-ditch is
in excellent condition.
It had been very hot and close in the Coome Crag woods, but now there
was a cool exhilarating breeze. On the left the Lake-mountains had
come clearly into view, Helvellyn, Blencathra and snow-capped {171}
Skiddaw. I passed a number of cottages which had been allowed to
fall into disrepair and would soon disappear altogether.
In the village of Banks, or Banks Hill, I saw an Inn, called "The
Traveller's Rest," and thought of tea, but, alas! there was no one at
home. The Banks Burn crosses under the road at the foot of a little
hill beyond the Inn, and in a field this side of the burn, there can
be seen a great piece of the Wall with bushes growing out of it.
Just after crossing the burn, the road ceases to run east and west,
and instead cuts the line of the Wall at right-angles. I stood in
the turn doubtfully, wondering how I could still continue to follow
the Wall, as a private garden evidently lay beyond the hedge which
faced me. Two children, and a man carrying a suit-case, were also
waiting in the road--waiting, it appeared, for a motor-car, just
coming into sight. Fortunately for me, this was the owner of the
garden, with his two grandchildren, and he kindly sent one of them to
ask if I was looking for the Roman Wall. Of course I said, "Yes";
and then he shouted: "Wait till I have packed the children into the
car, and I'll take you to see it." So I waited, and then followed
him along a side-road into the garden of Hare Hill, where suddenly,
round a corner, we came full on a splendid piece of Wall. This is
the piece of which Hutton says: "I viewed this relic with admiration.
I saw no {172} part higher." When he saw it, the facing-stones were
all gone, but now fifteen courses have been restored on the north
side by Lord Carlisle's architect. It stands 9 feet 10 inches high.
As we came away, I remembered there should be a mile-castle close to
this piece of Wall, and I wanted to turn back to look for it. My
guide was quite excited about it; he had no idea there was a _Castle_
at Hare Hill! But we would ask his wife about it first. So we went
to the house, and as we entered, he called: "Mrs. R----, here's a
lady to see you." I said: "Mr. R---- has kindly been showing me the
Roman Wall in your garden." He turned sharply on me and said: "Now
how on earth did you know my name?" I explained that it had not
required a wizard to guess it, under the circumstances!
Mrs. R---- could throw no light on the subject of the mile-castle,
and her husband continued to murmur: "To think I should have had this
place twenty years without knowing there was a castle in the garden!"
I again suggested going back to the Wall to look for it; but no! he
said we would go and ask some neighbours who lived in a long, low,
whitewashed thatched cottage close by, and who "ought to know, for
they have lived there over four hundred years."
I found this a very interesting visit. The family consisted of two
brothers and a sister, all {173} unmarried. They were the last
remaining members of the Burtholme family, who have occupied this
cottage since the sixteenth century. It had been the village smithy,
and their father had been the last of a series of "Thomas Burtholmes,
blacksmiths," who figure largely in the parish register. The cottage
was full of tokens of antiquity. On the old dresser there was the
most beautiful and complete set of pewter plates that I have ever
seen, each plate marked "T. B.," and I understood that Lady Carlisle
had more than once borrowed them for exhibition at Naworth Castle on
some special occasion.
But as for the Roman mile-castle, they also had never heard of it; so
we went back to the Wall, and there, quite clearly discernible, it
lay, between the line of the Wall and the Hare Hill cottage; and
though nothing but grassy mounds could be seen, still it was
something to have a "castle" of any sort in one's garden, so the
proud owner thought! He told me he was a Tynemouth man, and had come
to stay at Lanercost Temperance Hotel many years ago, when paralyzed
after a bad smash-up in a railway accident; and there, in the country
peace and quiet, he had learned to walk again. No wonder that he
loved the neighbourhood, and had been glad to secure this cottage for
his permanent use.
Lanercost Temperance Hotel was my objective {174} that evening, and
he offered to show me the shortest way, continuing the line of the
Wall from his garden. We went through a farm-yard and along the
fields, seeing bits of the Wall in the hedge at frequent intervals,
and the ditch in the next fields to the north. Below, on the left,
ran the Vallum, sometimes clearly seen, and sometimes disappearing in
the Priory Woods.
Up Craggle Hill the Wall-ditch is very strongly marked, and in one
place is full of water.
There is a lovely view from this hill, stretching right over Carlisle
to the Solway, and to Scotland, and the Lake-mountains.
At Hayton-gate Farm we left the Wall and turned down southwards,
crossing the Vallum, and soon coming into the lane which leads to
Lanercost Priory.
The Vicar of Lanercost was standing outside the ancient gateway of
the Priory; the evening service was just over, and he was apparently
taking leave of the last departing member of his congregation. My
guide performed a rough-and-ready introduction as we drew near,
shouting: "Mr. ---- here's a pilgrim to see you who has walked from
Wallsend." The Vicar came forward and shook hands, and then kindly
promised, at my request, to let me have the keys of the Priory at
nine o'clock next morning, instead of the usual hour of ten. The
beauty of the ruins in their warm red stone struck {175} me very
forcibly as I saw them now for the first time in the evening light.
I continued my way to the Lanercost Hotel, over the picturesque stone
bridge (dated 1723) which here crosses our now familiar friend, the
Irthing. "The last departing member of the congregation" was just
mounting his bicycle, but he kindly stopped to point out to me the
remains of an ancient bridge on the north side of the river, possibly
a Roman bridge, the position of which indicates that the river has
changed its course. He then asked if I wanted to see Naworth Castle
the next day. It was not really in my plan, for I had been told it
was not open to visitors till two o'clock, and that would have
delayed me too long, and I said so. I did not know I was speaking to
Lord Carlisle's agent, but now he gave me his name, and courteously
offered to show me the castle in the morning, after my visit to the
Priory. Such an opportunity was not to be missed, so I thankfully
accepted.
It was a blow for the moment when I reached the Hotel to find that
they could not take me in. Week-end visitors occupied all their
bedrooms, and the "all" was probably not many. However, the
proprietress told me there were houses along the road to Brampton
where I might get taken in. I was sorry not to stop at Lanercost,
for the Inn is in a beautiful spot, with the woods of Naworth Park
{176} just opposite, and the Irthing flowing past almost at its
doors. Besides, every step I took now would be one step farther from
the Wall, and would add to my journey on the following day. But
there was no help for it, so I pushed on up the steep hill towards
Brampton, with Naworth Park on my left, and passing on the right
Boothby, where the old Dowager Lady Carlisle had made her home.
I called at several cottages, but no one could give me a bed. It was
now beginning to get dark, and I was thinking it would soon be too
late to call at another house, when I came to one which looked more
promising. In answer to my knock, an old man appeared with a long
white beard, and a face which would have done credit to an apostle.
When I told him what I wanted, he looked doubtful, but asked me to
come in. I followed him along the passage, through the kitchen,
where a cheerful log-fire was burning, and through the garden to a
cow-byre at the back of the house. There, in spite of my desire to
find a haven, I forgot everything else in looking at the picture
before me. A young woman was milking the cow, and a picturesque
white-haired woman held the lantern for her. The face of the younger
woman, seen in the lantern-light, looked really beautiful. A small
boy and a collie dog made up the picture. There was something in the
lighting and the grouping--in the whole scene--which enthralled me.
I said to myself: {177} "It is worth anything to have seen that," and
it seemed hardly necessary to ask if they could take me in. I knew
quite well that I had come to the right house. And so I had! They
made no difficulty about the lateness of the hour, about the bed not
being made up, nor any details of that kind. They said I looked
tired, and that was enough for them. And indeed I was hungry, for I
had had nothing since lunch at Gilsland, and had been walking all the
time. So I did full justice, first to the new-laid eggs and
"berry-cake," and then to the roomy feather-bed, where I slept till
daybreak.
Next morning my kind hostesses filled the crannies of my haversack
with lunch, and I set out to visit Lanercost Priory.
{178}
CHAPTER XVI
LANERCOST TO BLEATARN
Lanercost Priory is built almost entirely of Roman stones. Dr. Bruce
was of opinion that there must have been a fort on the site, and
that, as the river Irthing was crossed by a Roman bridge close by, it
might have been thought necessary to guard the passage. However,
recent opinion is entirely against this view.
The nave of the Priory church is used as the parish church; the choir
and transepts are roofless. It must have been very beautiful when
the building was complete, though indeed the ruins are beautiful as
they are.
In the crypt are Roman altars, and a sculptured stone representing
Jupiter and Hercules. One of the altars is dedicated by the hunters
of Banna to the holy god Silvanus, and suggests how these Roman
officers may have spent their leisure. The situation of "Banna" has
not been identified.
From Lanercost I visited Naworth Castle, but, interesting and
beautiful as it is, it hardly can find {179} a place in the limits of
this book. Now if only it could present a claim to be built of Roman
stones----!
From Naworth I made straight for Hayton-gate, on the Wall, to pick up
the thread at the right place. The farmer's wife came out and
followed me, as I turned westward along the Wall. I looked back
after a little. "Ye'll be thinking I'm following ye," she cried.
"It's they hens; they're awfu' for laying away." And with each dive
into the nettles, she brought out an egg.
The next farm is Randelands. Here the ground begins to slope down
towards Burtholme Beck, and the village of Burtholme is away on the
left. A mile-castle appears, covered more thickly with buttercups
and daisies than the rest of the field. To the north is Walton Wood,
which is so dense that the country people say that a stranger placed
there could never find his way out.
Before crossing the road which leads to the right to Garthside Farm,
I saw several strips of Wall in the hedge, the core including great
blocks of red sandstone, such as is used in the building of Lanercost
Priory. Oaks, hawthorns and alders were growing on the top, while
below was a perfect flower-garden--primroses, bluebells, campion,
speedwell, garlic and the greater stitchwort.
From the Garthside road, the Wall-ditch formed the boundary between a
field of wheat and a {180} hay-field, so I was able to follow it till
I came out into another lane at Howgill. Here in the farmyard I
began to search for the inscribed stone, mentioned by Dr. Bruce as
being in the wall of an outhouse. Two men were driving out a flock
of sheep, and in answer to my "Good day," one of them said: "I know
what ye're looking for; wait a bit and I'll show ye." He led me
through the farm-yard, and through a wicket-gate into a garden; and
there, lying on the ground, overgrown with moss, and almost buried in
ground-elder, was the stone. It seemed to me that it was much safer
when it was built into the outhouse. My guide said it was a long
time since he had shown it to anybody, and I could well believe it.
Dr. Bruce says of it: "It seems to record the achievements of a
British tribe, the Catuvellauni. Tacitus tells us that Agricola took
Southern Britons with him to the battle of Mons Graupius; Hadrian and
Severus may have been similarly accompanied in their expeditions."
From Howgill I had to turn north along the lane a little way in order
to strike the Wall again.
I soon came to Low Wall, the next farm, and now I began to have
visions of a glass of milk with my lunch. It was very quiet in the
farm-yard, and I guessed the household must be at dinner, and so it
proved.
The door on which I knocked opened straight {181} into the
living-room, and remains of soup and potatoes were on the table, from
which men and women were just rising.
Miss B----, the daughter, who answered my knock, insisted on taking
me into the parlour to eat my lunch, and when she had fetched some
milk, she sat and talked to me. She told me of their experiences
during the war, how they had had refugee Belgians close to them, at
Howgill--relays of Belgians, some quite nice, and others "a rough
lot." These last used to catch and eat the blackbirds, besides
sucking their eggs, and had made quite a stir in this quiet
neighbourhood.
My lunch finished, she took me back to the living-room, and
introduced me to her mother, a dear old lady of ninety-one. When I
told her I was walking to Bowness, she at once began to recall a
visit she had paid eighty years ago, when she had gone to stay at
Peartree House, Bowness, on account of her health. She made the
journey by canal, from Carlisle to Port Carlisle, and had evidently
enjoyed the whole experience. This canal was only open from 1823 to
1854.
When I got up to go, Miss B---- popped on her sunbonnet and came with
me. She showed me where a mile-castle had been excavated, in 1900,
in one of their fields, north of the house.
In the field north of Dovecote, I thought I saw traces of a turret,
but I could not be sure.
{182}
The core of the Wall is now clearly to be seen, all the way to the
King Water, but both Wall and ditch disappeared in a field of young
corn which slopes down to the water's edge.
The King Water flows from north to south at this point, right across
the line of the Wall. As is so often the case with northern rivers,
it has a very steep bank on one side, while the ground slopes gently
down on the other. There is nothing to show how the Wall was carried
across this stream, but I found it very easily fordable, by
stepping-stones just where the Wall must have been. On this May day,
the steep western bank was a riot of colour. The colour of the earth
of the bank is red, almost pink, from the red sandstone; on it was
growing a perfect blaze of yellow broom. With a deep blue sky
overhead, and the fresh green of the grass and trees, the whole
colour-scheme was very much inclined to be garish--not to say
"Futurist"--in character!
I crossed the stream, and climbed the red bank, threading my way
between the bushes of broom, from which the bees were raising a
continuous drone. It was easy to pick up the Wall again on the top
of the cliff; a great ash was growing just on the Wall, at the
cliff's edge. On the right at this point a little stream runs into
the King Water, forming a natural Wall-ditch. Broom and blue-bells
made a harmony of blue and gold in its narrow gorge.
{183}
I found it better now to descend into the road, which runs on the
left close by, keeping parallel to the Wall. It soon brought me into
the village of Walton (Wall-town), a pretty village, with delightful
views of the valley of the Irthing and of the Lake-mountains.
I followed the road past the Black Bull Inn, which stands on the
exact site of the Wall; and then, to keep the trail, I had to turn
off on the right, along a lane which led to a field-path to Sandysike
farm-house.
Here, in the hedge on my left, were Wall-stones once more.
The farm-buildings at Sandysike are very ancient-looking and
picturesque. There is a hexagonal cart-shed built of stone, with a
tiled roof, and an old barn, of brick, with strikingly lofty
round-headed arches; but I did not see the Roman sculptured stones of
which it boasts.
The track of the Wall can be followed down to the edge of the Cam
Beck, the ditch being our guide; but here for the first time I
deliberately abandoned it! I could not cross the Cam Beck where the
Wall had crossed it without getting very wet and dirty, and part of
my compact with myself was to keep clean and dry, if possible. The
river cuts its way at this point very deeply through the red
sandstone. Sheer red banks stand out of the water. A very high weir
across the stream would have made {184} crossing easier, but a large
tree-trunk had fallen over it, and blocked the way. Already grass
and plants were growing out of its slippery black sides.
Reluctantly I turned back, and took the path to Castlesteads, the
house of Mrs. Johnson, whose garden is on the site of a Roman fort.
The path brought me through woodland and shrubbery to a house which
proved to be the head gardener's. The barking of a dog produced the
gardener, who took me to the lawn which represents the centre of the
fort. A little summer-house at the edge of the lawn serves as
protection to a number of Roman altars, and other sculptures, found
within the fort.
They were all in the red sandstone of the neighbourhood, some covered
with a bright greenish-yellow lichen. The largest altar was
dedicated to Jupiter by the second cohort of the Tungrians.
The site of this fort lies between the Wall and the Vallum, which
latter curves to the south to avoid it. This was proved by
excavations made by Professor Haverfield and Mr. and Mrs. T. H.
Hodgson in 1902. They traced accurately the position of the Vallum
in this section of the fortifications for a distance of about 4
miles, from Garthside to the south of Cumrenton--a work needing
endless patience. On one occasion many trenches had been dug and
measurements taken, but Mr. Hodgson had not time to plot it all out
till the end of the season. When he did so, all the points where
{185} the Vallum had been struck fell into one straight line!
The walls and gateways of this fort appear to have been standing
until 1791, when the ground changed hands, and the house of
Castlesteads was built. Then the standing masonry was removed, and
the whole site levelled.
The gardener showed me the way from the back of the summer-house,
through woods that sloped down to the Cam Beck, to a little bridge
that crossed the stream and led me out of the grounds. And so I came
to Cambeck Hill Farm, which lies on the line of the Wall.
But I was not satisfied till I had traced the Wall back eastward
through the fields to the edge of the Cam Beck opposite the place
where I had failed to cross. The view from this side is most
striking, with the red sandstone walls, and the steep steps of the
weir. I was very glad I had not missed it. A Roman altar from
Castlesteads was built into this weir for a time, but some one put in
a plea for it, and it was rescued.
The field gate which leads to the river is in the Wall-ditch, which
at this point is cut deep out of the sandstone.
I tried to make the crossing from this side, but it was impossible.
It made it no easier that the wet sandstone was _soft_, as well as
slippery, and crumbled away under one's feet.
{186}
The next farm-house to Cambeck Hill is Beck, which is partly built of
Roman stones. A wooden foot-bridge over a beck is crossed just
before the farm is reached. Beyond Beck is Headswood, which stands
high up on a grassy knoll. The Wall-ditch and the Vallum-ditch can
be clearly seen from Beck, running up this grassy knoll, one to the
right, and the other to the left, of the farm and farm-buildings of
Headswood. Two or three minutes' walk and a short climb brought me
into the farm-yard, where a part of the Wall-ditch is used as a
duck-pond.
Just in front of the farm-buildings it has been filled up level with
the ground, for the convenience of traffic.
A short distance beyond Headswood I found the Wall itself again with
me.
The village of Newtown of Irthington soon came into sight. It has a
village green with a large pond. Its white-washed cottages stand on
three sides of this green, on which battalions of ducks and geese
were pluming themselves.
For the short distance between Newtown and White Flat, the "pilgrim
of the Wall" must leave the fields and follow the road towards
Irthington. On the left of the road, traces of a mile-castle are
visible.
Beyond White Flat the fields are ploughed, but the ditch could be
faintly discerned. The path {187} now ran through a meadow gay with
wild flowers, but there was more food for the botanist than for the
antiquarian. My thoughts were beginning to turn to another kind of
food, for it was after five o'clock, and it seemed a long time since
I was at Low Wall, though actually it was only three miles as the
crow flies.
I saw a substantial farm-house on my right, so I turned off in hopes
of getting at least some milk. My hopes were super-abundantly
realized. The farmer and his wife were on the point of sitting down
to tea themselves, having just driven back from Carlisle, and with
true northern hospitality they invited me to share their meal. I
shall not soon forget that visit, and the kindness shown to a pilgrim.
They showed me a centurial stone built into the wall of their house
just above the door, and protected by the wooden porch. Beside it
are two other Roman stones with very clear broaching. They told me
they had shown them to only one other visitor since they came to live
there eight years ago.
When I left, the farmer kindly insisted on coming with me as far as
the Wall, to make sure I did not miss my way. He brought me to the
"long strip of the Wall in an encouraging state" mentioned by Dr.
Bruce. It is planted with oaks--quite large trees; and its ditch at
this point is very impressive.
{188}
It is in this neighbourhood that the Wall and the Vallum approach
each other within 35 yards.
At Old Wall, the next farm, many Roman stones are seen in the
buildings, and there are great piles of them lying in the roadway,
amongst them what looks like a lintel. The Wall-ditch is clearly
seen between the road and the house.
It came on to rain as I approached Old Wall, but, hoping that it
would not be much, I pushed on. I thought I could get to Wallhead
and then strike down into the Carlisle Road.
A drove-road runs along the site of the Wall, a grassy lane with high
hedges, so I could follow this; but before I reached Bleatarn the
rain came down in such torrents that I was compelled to leave the
Wall and get down into the main road as quickly as possible. So I
turned south until I saw ahead of me the gleam of the rain on a
macadamized surface. The rain was still streaming down, "like
knitting-needles," as some one has said, and there seemed to be no
one about. At High Crosby I inquired for an Inn, and was told there
was one at Low Crosby. By this time I was so wet I should have been
glad to get in anywhere, but the landlady of the Stag at Low Crosby
was quite uncompromising. "We don't give beds," said she. I asked
for supper. No, she could not give supper either. "Might I come in
and write a letter?" "Ay, ye can do that." So I threaded my way
{189} amongst the men who were sitting round little tables, with
their pipes and beer, in the only room of the Inn, conscious that I
was leaving a wet trail in the sawdust on the floor; and I found a
little table in a corner and wrote my letter. Then I called the
landlady, and, giving her a shilling, I asked if she could have my
letter delivered at a house in the neighbourhood early the next day.
She took the shilling and held it up between her finger and thumb.
"Do I deliver this with the letter?" said she.
"No; that's for yerself," came in a chorus from the men sitting
round, who had been taking more interest than I knew!
Just then there was a little whispering between the landlady and a
man who had just arrived. She came forward. "This gentleman says
that he and his wife will be pleased to take you into Carlisle in
their car, if you would like." Would I like? Could there be any
doubt? I was still four miles from Carlisle, and it was now dark,
and still pouring. So I accepted gladly, and was very soon set down
in the city, at the door of a nice quiet Temperance Hotel, suitable
for a pilgrim in my sodden state.
The next morning was clear and bright, and I made an early start for
Old Wall, in order to follow the stretch of Wall I had missed because
of the rain.
I will describe the walk from east to west as {190} before, although
I traversed it first from west to east.
As I drew near to Bleatarn from Old Wall, I noticed a tawny-brown
duck-pond on the right. This was part of the Wall-ditch.
Bleatarn itself is picturesquely situated on a grassy hill, above a
pond full of reeds (the "Blue Tarn"). The whitewashed farm-house is
very attractive. I called there for "a pot o' milk," as the guidwife
put it, and while she fetched it, I noticed through the open door
that the passage running through the house was not ceiled, but went
right up into the rafters, past two floors.
The Wall runs to the north of the farm-house and Tarn, so that it has
the steep grassy bank of the Tarn on its south side, and its own
ditch on the north. The latter is almost as bold in its proportions
here as at Gap.
The Vallum runs immediately south of the farm-house; and between it
and the Wall, on the west side of the farm-house, is a large mound.
This has been proved, by excavations made by Professor Haverfield and
Mr. and Mrs. Hodgson, to be rubbish from a quarry, worked in Roman
times, and still in use in mediæval times. Roman quarrymen's marks
were found; also mediæval pottery.
{191}
CHAPTER XVII
BLEATARN TO GRINSDALE
From Bleatarn the road runs on the Wall for some distance. The
undulating pastures are exchanged for a marshy common, covered with
gorse, brambles and heather, and known as "White Moss." Here the
Vallum is seen to have four mounds instead of only two. The ground
was too marshy to allow of the digging of a ditch, so they raised two
extra mounds to make a hollow between, the ditch being the objective.
At Bleatarn, where they get on to rock again, the four mounds slide
into two.
A Roman road crosses White Moss, and digging has shown that it was
made by laying grey clay on the original surface, then a layer of
coarse gravel, and fine gravel on the top of that.
At Wallhead the ditch is very clearly seen in the pasture-land. The
road on to Walby runs between hedges, and beyond it merges into a
grassy track, so much overgrown that it is evidently seldom trodden.
Near Wallhead it was muddy and full of puddles from last night's rain.
{192}
It had turned out a very hot day, though there was enough wind to
make a thunderous sound in the boughs of the still leafless
ash-trees. (Why do bare ash-boughs beat all other trees for sound?)
As I picked my way among the puddles, a little red squirrel came
running along, holding his tail out very straight to keep it out of
the mud. I stood like a rock, and he paid no heed to me, but stopped
to drink out of a puddle at my feet before running up a tree.
When I reached the untrodden grassy track, I took off my shoes and
stockings and walked bare-footed, the grass feeling deliciously cool
and soft. Broom in full blossom lined the hedges, almost meeting
overhead, and scattered its blossoms to make a yellow carpet for my
feet.
It was the drowsiest of days. An old buff hen, asleep by a gate,
awoke with a start when a stick snapped under me, but she only opened
one eye, and then "dropped off" again. I saw no one else but an
Irish terrier, very happy and busy, and out without leave, judging by
his expression.
At Walby the Wall-ditch is clearly marked, filled with greenish water.
The grassy lane continues to Wallfoot, and here I had to come out on
to the main road, for Brunstock Park lies across the route of Wall
and Vallum. A section through both was made in 1894 by Mr. and Mrs.
T. H. Hodgson; and the Vallum-ditch was {193} first shown to be flat
and not V-shaped. A flag-pavement was found near the Wall. The
Roman Military Way was also discovered, with a double kerb in the
centre, as for a two-horse chariot.
I passed Draw-dykes Castle, with its three busts on the roof, a very
gaunt and unattractive building of red sandstone; and then I turned
off on the right, where the road crosses Brunstock Beck, and followed
the beck until I struck the line of the Wall once more. The beck
forms the western boundary of Brunstock Park.
Some small boys with a fishmonger's truck were collecting firewood in
the meadow by the beck, and thought everybody's quest must be the
same. "How many sticks have _you_ got, missus?" they cried as I
passed.
The wall was easily traceable across the fields, and led me out on to
the Scaleby road, across the road into more fields, and so to Tarraby.
Here I turned off to the left, to find the Near Boot Inn, and get
some tea. I had met with a small adventure near Tarraby, on my way
out in the morning. I had my lunch of sandwiches and biscuits in my
pockets, and I was standing by a field-gate, studying my
Ordnance-map, when suddenly there sprang upon me, out of the air
apparently, five greyhound pups. Pups though they were, their
forepaws reached to my shoulders. They were all over me in a moment;
and, my {194} hands being encumbered with the map, in saving that I
never gave a thought to my pockets. Their noses led them straight
there, and before I realized what they were about they had divided my
lunch between them, and were coming back for more! They loved me so
dearly after that that I could not get rid of them for the distance
of several fields.
In consequence of this I had had nothing since breakfast but the "pot
o' milk" at Bleatarn, so I sought the Inn at Tarraby very hopefully.
But the landlady was not nearly so sure that she wanted to give me
some tea as I was that I wanted to have it. She did not actually
refuse, but she did all she could to discourage me. She seemed to
think that if she was the _Near Boot_, then I was certainly the "off
leg"! She had a bad headache, and she hadn't any cake, nor any
cream, nor much of anything apparently.
However, I took "a deal o' discouraging," and I sat on in the parlour
and waited, for she had said: "Well, anyhow, I must attend to these
men first."
As I looked at the pictures on the parlour walls, an idea suddenly
dawned on me.
Every picture represented a prize greyhound!
When the landlady returned, I remarked casually that I was very
hungry because my lunch had been stolen by five greyhound pups, and
of course I avoided showing the least tinge of resentment or
annoyance (having felt none!) She did not say {195} much, but I
noticed a change in her manner, and when the tea did appear there
were eggs and cake and pastry, to say nothing of cream, and home-made
bread and butter and jam. And, to crown all, when I inquired for the
headache, she said, "Do you know, it has gone!"
So I did full justice to her tea, while the men in the next room were
telling each other what horses they had backed for the Derby, and how
much they had lost.
Later, I learned that the landlord of the _Near Boot_ was a noted
breeder of greyhounds.
From Tarraby the path along the Wall leads through a wicket-gate into
a pasture, with a cinder-path along the hedge, and in this hedge
Wall-stones are clearly seen. Then we go between two close-clipped
hedges of hawthorn and beech, with growing crops, or plantations of
baby trees, on either side. This brings us out at Stanwix
(Stane-wegges: a place upon the "stone way").
Here we are on the site of another Roman fort, occupying a commanding
situation. The church and churchyard now indicate its position. The
ground slopes down steeply on three sides, and the river Eden draws a
semi-circle round it, making thus an additional protection on the
east, south and west. No inscriptions have been found to tell us
what troops the Romans placed here, and no remains of the Wall or the
fort are to be seen. The interesting {196} stone-figure of a Roman
playing the bagpipes, which Hutton saw here used as a horseblock in
the street, and which is now in the Tullie House Museum, Carlisle,
was seen by a writer of 1794 "upon a door at Stanwix," and his
illustration shows the bagpipes much more clearly than the stone does
now.
Stanwix is now practically a suburb of Carlisle. Here I saw a funny
sight. A baby in petticoats, certainly not so much as two years old,
was sitting on his father's knee on a doorstep. An old country-woman
was passing, lame in one leg, and with a very irregular gait. The
baby looked at her, and began to call out: "Left ... left ... left
..." at regular intervals; and the old woman laughed heartily at
being thus drilled, pulled herself up, and walked (as I fancied)
rather less lame in consequence.
The Wall can be traced again near the Eden. I went down the road
towards the famous Eden Bridge, and through the iron gate on the
right, which is almost on the Vallum. This brought me into what
seems to be the playground of Carlisle, along the banks of the
river,--a playground so spacious that though half the city seemed to
have come out to play this lovely evening, there still seemed any
amount of room. The turf was very fresh and green and beautiful on
the undulating slopes which run down to the river. Two stone posts
on the bank above Hyssop Holme Well have {197} been placed to mark
the site of the Wall and its ditch in this region, but there is
nothing to show exactly where it crossed the Eden.
In order to trace its farther course as closely as possible, I
referred the next morning to the 6-inch Ordnance-map in the Tullie
House Museum. This shows how the Wall, after crossing the river,
passed to the north of the Castle Hill, while the Vallum curved round
to the south of it. Guided by the map, I followed the Wall as
closely as I could, picking up traces here and there.
Starting from in front of the Castle, I went down Annetwell Street
and Bridge Street, turning off by Bridge Lane on the right to
Willowholme, where there is a disused mill. Leaving the mill on the
right, I crossed a footpath, and then a footbridge over a stream, and
bore round to the left, following this diminutive tributary of the
Eden. The path soon crosses under the railway, and now we are again
on the site of the Wall!
I found this a very unfrequented route, and the sluggish, gnat-beset
little stream was not very attractive; but I was out to follow the
Wall wherever it led me, no matter where. To-day it led me past the
sewage-works, to a footpath by the Eden. The old disused bone-mill
of Rattlingstones, with its high chimney and its still busy
mill-race, was on my left. I stopped to look at the frothy water.
What was that it was toying with, tossing backwards {198} and
forwards, hiding and then revealing? I could hardly believe my eyes.
It was a _mattress_, a nice large double-bed mattress, in excellent
condition! Now how _did_ it get there? Mattresses are not the sort
of thing one leaves about by mistake, or drops when one is out for a
walk. I was obliged to go on without solving the problem.
Under the wide stone railway-bridge I passed next, and so came to the
engine-sheds mentioned by Dr. Bruce. I crossed a footbridge, with
steam from the engine-sheds puffing all round me, and so came to a
stile which brought me out into the open fields which lie above the
Eden--and here once more is Wall!
The left bank of the river is very high and precipitous, while the
right bank is a gentle slope. I had no difficulty in finding the
site of the Wall in these fields, nor in walking along it; and the
Vallum runs parallel, a short distance to the south.
Now the walk is really beautiful, all the way to Grinsdale. Trees
grow in profusion on the steep river bank, and the blue river below
gleams up through their branches.
On the opposite bank a ploughman was cheering on his horses, and
fishers were spreading out their nets to dry.
At a bend in the stream, Grinsdale came into view, and soon the path
entered a delicious fir-plantation, with the resinous smell brought
out by {199} the hot sun. Two men carrying huge sacks of firewood
reminded me again of the coal-strike.
Just about here the Vallum and the Wall begin to diverge, the Wall
following the river to Grinsdale, and the Vallum striking straight
across the lower ground through Millbeck to Kirkandrews.
The railway-line to Silloth comes very close to the river here; in
fact, the two have been running more or less alongside all the way
from Rattlingstones, but I never knew a river so clever in hiding
itself as the Eden. A traveller by train to Silloth would not guess
he was quite close to a large river, so shyly does it conceal itself
behind its steep southern bank.
After flowing in a northerly direction towards Grinsdale, it makes a
sharp right-angled turn just at the village, and flows eastward past
the church.
Grinsdale is a very pretty village, standing high up on this loop of
the Eden, with the gardens of the houses sloping steeply down to the
water. It seemed half asleep as I reached it. I came out into the
road by a farm-house, making a mental note for future use of the sign
it displayed: "Aerated Waters." I met no one in the village street
but a farmer in his shirt-sleeves, who took his pipe out of his mouth
to ejaculate, "Hot!" I took the opportunity before he put it in
again to ask about the Roman Wall. He said he had heard there was a
bit standing near the church, but he had never {200} seen it. So I
turned off to the right, into fields which led to the church,
following the bend of the river.
It seemed hotter and quieter than ever. A swan was standing asleep
on one leg on the gravelly flat by the water's edge. In the
churchyard the rooks were cawing drowsily, and dropped dead branches
on me as I passed. It is a tiny church, with a tiny tower, all rough
cast, and it stands on the very brink of the steep river bank. It is
protected on the river-side by a strong stone wall into which
Wall-stones have been built. A breakwater, also containing
Wall-stones, runs down into the river, to protect the church wall.
But as for Wall itself, I saw I was quite off the track.
Still, I was not sorry to sit and rest for a while in the cool of the
churchyard.
On the opposite bank of the river, where it had encroached on the
land, men were busy sinking piles--long, long rows of them--and
bringing up loads of brushwood to build up the bank, and prevent
further inroads.
Seeing them working so hard in the sun made me feel quite thirsty,
and, remembering the sign I had seen at the farm, I turned back to
find it. Such a comely farmer's wife answered my knock that I
ventured to ask for tea instead of aerated water. She said: "Yes, if
ye can wait a bit till I have made up the butter." Of course I could
wait, so I went {201} off to explore the village a little more. A
pleasant-faced elderly woman was driving a herd of cows out of a
gate, so I asked my eternal question about the Wall. She said: "If
ye want to know aught aboot Grinsdel, go to that hoose there,"
pointing with her finger. "_He'll_ tell ye; I'm a newcomer."
Just then "he" came into his front garden, so she hailed him, and
passed me on. He told me where to pick up the line of the Wall
again, and then he invited me in, to look at some old books etc.
that he had, apologizing for "the litter" (which was invisible to me)
because the housekeeper was away, and he and his brother were "doing
for" themselves. He showed me an old Malacca cane, such as Joey
Bagstock must have carried, with an ivory handle and a silver ring.
It was inscribed: "David Stagg, 1701," and its pointed iron end
looked as if David had been a heavy man, and had leant heavily upon
it. Finally he left me in his parlour, happily absorbed in
Hutchinson's _History of Cumberland_ (1794), and with his assurance
that I should be "well oot o' the road there" for as long as I
pleased. So if there is a Sherlock Holmes amongst my readers, when
he notices hereafter the date 1794, he may possibly guess whence the
facts that go with it were obtained.
The butter was on the very point of coming out of the churn when I
reappeared at the farm. "Come and look at it!" cried the guidwife;
"it's just {202} beautiful." And she picked up a jug of water and
poured it into the churn. But, alas! she had left the cork out, and
the water was splashing all round us on the stone floor of the dairy.
I flew into the kitchen, where I had noticed the cork, and returned
in triumph with it, to be met with an approving, "Why, ye'll mak' a
farmer's wife yet!"
Then I had to "taste" the butter, to see if it was salt enough; and
finally to taste it in a more satisfactory way, in the form of bread
and butter with my tea.
{203}
CHAPTER XVIII
GRINSDALE TO DRUMBURGH
To follow the Wall to Kirkandrews, I had to cross the village street,
and pass through a farm-yard gate beside a letter-box. This brought
me out into meadows. Such a beautiful golden meadow was the first
which came, with dark-grey guinea-fowls making a foil to the
buttercups, and giant trees here and there. In the shade of one
large chestnut-tree, a handsome lad was shearing sheep. I drew near
to watch, and the clip, clip of his shears, together with the
bleating of the waiting sheep, prevented his hearing me, so I waited
till one sheep was quite finished before venturing to move or make a
sound. Then I spoke, and he jumped. "How quiet they are while they
are being shorn!" "Yes," said he, with a smile. "You never hear the
sheep saying anything then; they say it all before. I think they are
glad to get rid of it; it weighs about nine or ten pounds." As I
looked at the snowy whiteness of the inside of the fleece, I thought
how much we town-dwellers miss in the imagery of the Bible which must
come home {204} with great force to a pastoral people, such as the
Jews themselves were. "White as wool" and "As a sheep before her
shearers is dumb."
I found only faint traces of the Wall here and there on the way to
Kirkandrews, in the pasture-land, and as a mound running through a
young cornfield. In 1794 it was "very visible." The churchyard at
Kirkandrews is a mass of stones, and Dr. Bruce thought a mile-castle
stood there. There has been no church for many years. In the
eighteenth century the burial service was still read under the ruins
of the old chancel arch, but the parish has been joined to Beaumont
since 1692.
The Vallum and the Wall come together again at Kirkandrews, but they
meet only to part, for the Wall climbs to Beaumont, clinging for a
little longer to the high bank of the Eden, and the Vallum makes a
straight course for Burgh-by-sands (usually called just "Bruff").
Near Kirkandrews was found the interesting stone described by Dr.
Bruce--an altar, cut down for building purposes, commemorating the
achievements of the sixth legion, "prosperously performed beyond the
Wall" (_ob res trans Vallum prospere gestas_). Lord Lonsdale had it
taken away.
The Wall continues its course not far from the road leading to
Beaumont, on the right. The Wall-ditch is seen again where the Wall
crosses the Beaumont Beck. The church at Beaumont is right {205} on
the line of the Wall, and is partly built of Roman stones; it may be
on the site of another mile-castle.
A farm-yard gate on the right of the church leads to a lane, which
runs actually on the Wall. This merges into a grassy track,
evidently seldom used, and getting gradually more impassable.
Finally I found myself still on the Wall, but creeping on hands and
knees through a tunnel of thick hawthorn growth, where it was
impossible to stand upright. The farmer had not considered the
convenience of pilgrims of the Wall, for I found myself obliged to
squeeze through barbed wire fences, and through masses of dead boughs
and brambles which blocked my way. However, as every pilgrim knows,
difficulties, seen rightly, are only things to be overcome, and
presently the obstructions ceased to appear, and the Wall sloped
gradually and peacefully down to the main road, taking me across the
Powburgh Beck, and finally out into the road quite close to Burgh
Church.
Burgh was "the longest village in Cumberland," according to Hutton.
It is the site of one of the forts along the Wall, the exact position
of which has only recently been ascertained.
The church is very solidly built, mainly of stones from the Wall and
fort; it has a square tower, the walls of which are 7 feet thick. I
fetched the key from the Vicarage, a modern brick building, {206} and
explored it by myself. It has been classed as a "fortified church,"
and it is thought that the iron door which separates the tower from
the rest of the building was to enable it to stand a short siege if
necessary. The view from the top of the tower is well worth seeing,
especially away to the north, across the Burgh Marsh, to the Eden,
winding through the sands, and with the hills of Dumfriesshire beyond.
The pretty Old Vicarage, next the church, is a long, low whitewashed
house with very small windows. There are indications that a door in
its west wall once opened into the churchyard. The date on the
cottage next door, which looks about the same age, is 1672.
Thirty years ago, when the new Vicarage was built, this one was sold
for £150. It has just been sold again, and put into repair, and a
rent of £50 is being asked for it. The old and new Vicarages and the
cottage between are the very first houses in the long village street.
As I walked westward I noticed many clay houses. They have very
thick walls, as much as 4 feet thick, and are usually whitewashed
over the clay, but sometimes great patches of brownish-grey clay
interrupt the white surface. Stone window-jambs, lintels and
door-posts are used, and the roofs are thatched, except where
corrugated iron has, alas! replaced the original thatch.
{207}
A tall, thin old man, driving some cows, passed me while I was
looking at one of these houses, and remarked that they were very warm
and comfortable to live in. I asked him about the Roman Wall, and he
said folks did not trouble about it much, but he could show me a bit
of it, if I would wait till he had got the cows in. So I walked
alongside till we came to his house, which was of clay, as I had
guessed it would be. Outside there was a pump, and a stone trough
whose edges were scalloped in exactly the same way as the Roman stone
troughs at Borcovicium and elsewhere. I asked him why it was
scalloped, and he replied that they always sharpened their tools on
it, thus confirming the usual theory.
He then took me to Hungerhill Lane, a turning off the north side of
the main street, and there, not many paces along, he showed me the
Wall, crossing the lane at right-angles, the stones level with the
ground. It was nearly three yards wide, and very clearly discernible
right across the lane; by far the best piece I have seen in any road
since I started. He told me he had lifted a good many stones in his
time, from a field farther west, but that they "perished" when
uncovered--which last I found difficult to believe.
Walking to Bleatarn from Carlisle, I had come across a young
ex-service man who hailed from Burgh. He was very obliging in giving
me such {208} archæological information as he possessed, but it was
not exact enough to be of much use.
Old Miss Sally ----, at Burgh, so he said, had a Roman stone in her
garden with a terrible far-back date; anyhow, it was A.D.
_something_! It was covered with moss, and she had got him to clean
it. The church at Burgh was built of Roman stones, and he had been
to the top many a time; it looked a terrible long way down. When he
was a boy it was said there was treasure hidden under King Edward the
First's Monument, and a terrible big crowd had collected, with flags
flying, and ever such a to-do, wanting to dig it up, but they were
not allowed.
He told me he had joined up at once in 1914, going straight off from
Carlisle, without ever returning home to say good-bye to his father
and mother. He just left his bicycle with his sister, and went off,
not knowing he would be gone four and a half years! No doubt there
were many such. He only had two "leaves" home all the time.
However, he came through all right; some pretty hot times, but he
came through. And he saw some terrible nice places in Italy on the
way home from Salonika.
He was such a cheery fellow that I was "terrible glad" to have come
across him, although I did not feel much wiser when our ways parted.
The Vallum is clearly seen in Burgh, running {209} through
pasture-land to the north of the road. The Wall goes close behind
West-end farm-house, and then--_via_ Watch Hill--to Dykesfield, which
may be recognized by its well-kept lawns, on one of which stands a
Roman altar. Rhododendrons were in full flower in the garden, and
dark yew trees round them made their rich colour look even richer.
Here the Vallum is thought to end, but the Wall goes straight on down
to the level of the marsh. It cannot be traced again between this
point and Drumburgh, two and a half miles farther on.
It seems a very long two and a half miles across the marsh on a hot
day, for it is a perfectly straight and level road, unsheltered by a
single tree. The railway between Carlisle and Port Carlisle runs
alongside, having succeeded the canal. Signs of the canal can be
seen at intervals, where lock-gates are placed to hold up the streams
that run into the Eden through the marsh. The marsh is a
grazing-ground for many sheep and cattle.
To the north of Burgh can be seen the monument erected to mark the
spot where King Edward I. died in his tent on 7th July 1307. He was
encamped there with a large army, awaiting a favourable opportunity
to cross the Sol way and enter Scotland. Tradition says that he had
been warned in a dream that he would die at Burgh, so he had
purposely avoided coming through a place of that name in {210}
Yorkshire. On arriving here, he asked an old woman what the place
was called, and heard to his surprise the fateful name. A monument
was first placed here in 1685, by the Duke of Norfolk, on the site of
the heap of stones that had marked the spot; but after a hundred
years it began to lean to the west, and in 1795 it fell. So the Earl
of Lonsdale rebuilt it on a much larger base in 1803.
The village of Boustead Hill is seen half-way across the marsh, to
the south of the road--a mere sprinkling of houses on a grassy knoll.
I passed no one on these 2½ miles but a shepherd, and a young couple
with a motor-bicycle and trailer. They were seated on the top of the
grassy dyke; she was winding wool, and he was holding the skein. As
I passed, I said: "It's a gran' day," in the approved style of the
country, and they cordially assented.
Near Drumburgh Station there is a house where I was told a horse and
cart could be hired, so I called to engage it for my return journey,
as trains are few and far between. But, alas! "he" was out, "leading
peat," till the evening, and then was engaged to fetch some one from
"Port," for the eight o'clock train. However "she" was quite willing
to give me some tea. She had had her own long ago, at three o'clock
(for dinner was always at 11.30), so the kettle was not boiling but
soon would. I was invited into the kitchen, where "oor Tho'" {211}
as he called himself, stopped playing with his dolls to help his
mother fetch sticks, and to wake the dying embers of the kitchen
fire. "Oor Tho'" was five, and "oor Maggie," who returned from
school shortly, was a year or so older. Although their ages were
reversed, they made me think very much of the two Tullivers, not only
because of the similarity of the names.
Drumburgh village is entered through a white gate across the road, at
the end of the marsh. Just inside the gate, on the left, is
Drumburgh Castle, an old fortified manor-house now used as a
farm-house. John Leland, in his famous _Itinerary_, writes thus of
it in 1539:
"At Drumburgh the Lord Dacre's father builded upon old ruines a
pretty pyle for defence of the country. The stones of the Pict Wall
were pulled down to build it."
And again:
"Drumburgh ys in ye mydde way betwixt Bolness and Burgh. The stones
of the Picts Wall were pulled down to build Drumburgh, for the Wall
is very nere it."
A royal licence to fortify the older building had been granted in
1307.
Above the main entrance, a coat-of-arms and the {212} initials
"T.D.," for Thomas Dacre, are seen, carved in stone; and two stone
griffins with outspread wings are perched high up on a level with the
chimneys. There is a fine flight of steps up to the main door, which
is a heavy oak door studded thickly with nails. The steps and
balustrade, when I saw them, were coated with red ochre, such as is
used for marking sheep. They told me this was done to preserve the
stone, and prevent moss from growing on it. The ochre is mixed with
buttermilk, and then it does not wash off, and the steps are never
slippery for walking on.
But, oh, the vandalism of it! Even the Roman altar which stands at
the top of the steps had been given its coat of brick-red! Is it
worth preserving the stones at such a cost? I could not help
picturing to myself a brick-red Roman Wall, running along the tops of
the crags! Ugh!
The present occupiers are not responsible, for they have merely
carried on the tradition of their predecessors, and the "doorstep"
custom of the neighbourhood.
I called at a less pretentious entrance, which was evidently mostly
used, and asked for permission to see inside the Castle. The
farmer's wife was busy at the time, but she kindly promised to show
me round on my return journey from Bowness.
I will describe the interior here, though I saw it later.
{213}
Its chief beauty is its panelled room, the principal room of the
house, on the first floor, with windows looking north and south,
across the village street in front, and over the garden behind. The
walls are completely covered with beautiful oak panelling, the panels
being about a foot square. In this room I was amused to see a
reproduction of a picture of my own, which had found its way to this
remote spot, _via_ "Bibby's Annual."
We went up on to the roof to see the view, which is very fine.
Battlements still protect it at the western end. On the way up we
passed over a floor with holes in it, and my guide begged me to be
careful. Blackness of darkness was visible through the holes, and
she told me I was looking into a sealed room. Presently she showed
me where the door leading into it had been covered up and whitewashed
over; and when I looked up later at the front of the house, I saw the
window had been filled in with two large blocks of stone and cemented
over. All this seemed very mysterious, but the mistress of the house
treated it in a perfectly matter-of-fact way. "I'm very glad," said
she; "there's a deal to keep clean as it is; no doubt they thought so
too, whoever did it. But the servant-girls hear stories in the
village, and sometimes they won't stop."
She unbolted the heavy oak door to let me out. That entrance is
never used, so the wide hall of the {214} manor-house is now merely a
bare whitewashed store-room, hung with hams, and decorated with bacon.
In an illustrated edition of Sir Walter Scott's _Redgauntlet_,
published in 1832, a picture of Drumburgh Castle is given, as the
"Fairladies" of the tale.
Drumburgh is the site of a small fort on the Wall, some remains of
which were found in 1899. The ditch behind the Castle is not the
Wall-ditch.
{215}
CHAPTER XIX
DRUMBURGH TO BOWNESS
From Drumburgh Castle I continued my way through the village, where
there are many clay houses. Nothing of the Wall is to be seen until
after a sharp double turn in the road. Here, after the second turn,
I saw the Wall-ditch plainly in a meadow to the south of the road;
this was just after passing the schools, where a young master was
drilling the boys and girls with a great assumption of sternness.
The Wall can be traced at intervals in the fields to the south,
following pretty closely the line of the road as far as Port Carlisle.
Nearing Glasson, both Wall and road turn towards the sea. At the
cross-roads to the north of Glasson, the tall chimneys of the Dornock
works in Dumfriesshire are seen across the Solway, straight ahead
along the road we are travelling. Soon after this, the road runs
along close to the sea, with only a grassy stretch between, and then
Port Carlisle comes into view. The core of the Wall is to be seen
occasionally on the left. Three farms stand {216} here, facing the
sea--Lowtown, Westfield and Kirkland.
Port Carlisle was known as Fisher's Cross before the canal to
Carlisle was opened in 1823. The attempt to make it the port of
Carlisle was a failure, owing to the tendency of the harbour to get
silted up with sand and mud. In 1854 the canal was filled up as far
as Drumburgh, and a railway made on its site. Docks were constructed
at Silloth, and the railway continued to that point.
Until recently travellers to Port Carlisle had to continue their
journey from Drumburgh in a "horse-dandy," drawn along the dry bed of
the canal. Now the railway goes all the way; and one of the dandies,
painted Indian red, occupies a distinguished position as an
"antiquity" opposite the platform of the railway station, while the
other serves in the lowlier capacity of a hen-house close by.
Port Carlisle consists of a single street of comfortable-looking
stone houses facing the sea. A well-kept bowling-green and
tennis-courts near the station provide amusement for the railway
servants in the long intervals between trains. It was all interval
when I was there, for this part of the line was closed during the
coal-strike.
The jetty where the boats used to unload is now in a ruinous
condition. The sea has broken through it, so at high tide the far
end is a grass-grown island where visitors have been cut off from
escape by the {217} water. I looked for the Packet Hotel where the
fragment of an altar, inscribed "MATRIBVS SVIS," is built in over the
door, and I found it was no longer an Inn, but a farm-house, the last
house in the long street, just where the coast-line begins to bend
round towards Bowness.
I had seen no trace of the Wall since passing Kirkland, but I knew I
ought to be able to pick it up here, so I walked round behind the
ex-hotel, and began to look about. A girl was sitting sewing in the
doorway of a cottage, and I asked if she could help me. "Oh yes,"
she said; "I'll fetch my father." An old man appeared, with a pot of
green paint in one hand and a paint-brush in the other.
"You have come to the right man," said he.
Then, with a dramatic wave of the paint-brush, "The Roman Wall passed
by this very doorstep." He gave me full instructions as to how to
find it farther on:
"Follow along the road to Bo'ness till you come to a gooter across
the road, then turn to the left up a grassing-field, and go on till
you come to an elbow. Turn to the right, and you come to a high
lift; over that lift you'll find the Wall."
I obeyed these instructions as closely as I could, but I made the
mistake of following a closed gutter instead of an open one, and this
involved me in several unexpected difficulties. I reached the {218}
Wall-line sooner than my guide had intended, and the farmers about
here seem to tax their ingenuity to make it as difficult as possible
to follow that line. I crept under barbed wire into a "grassing"
field and safely reached the hedge. Here were undoubted signs of
Wall-core. I followed it to the hedge of the next field, and there I
stopped. The hedge seemed quite impregnable, and there was no gate;
all the hedges were of the thickest, and even if I could have made a
hole, it would have been contrary to my code. I turned back to see
if I could find an opening into the field on my left. A large
ash-tree grew in the hedge, and without much trouble I climbed into
its lower boughs, and could then make a drop of 6 feet into the next
field. But again I was done! There was a gate on the west, it is
true, but it was locked, and so thickly interlaced with thorn-bushes
that I could not climb it. There was nothing for it but to reclimb
my ash-tree, and have another look at my first hedge. I now saw that
the end of a long ladder was laid flat on the top of this hedge, and
rested on a gate-post in the field of my desire. Great masses of
thorn-bush were heaped up under the ladder, which had evidently been
thrown across as an additional barrier. Here was an opportunity to
turn an enemy into a friend! I pulled myself up on to the ladder,
walked from rung to rung over the thorn-bushes, and jumped off at the
end, feeling that I had scored {219} one over the farmer, for I had
circumvented him without damaging his property. The next hedge was
of thorn-trees growing on the ground, and there was just one small
hole, between two trunks, big enough for me to creep through. And
then I saw a fine piece of Wall--only the core, but several feet
high, and in very good condition. A gateway had been cut right
through it, and in the section the formation and the Roman mortar
could be readily examined. The Wall-ditch was just discernible on
its north side.
William Hutton says of this part of the Wall: "One mile prior to the
extremity of our journey and at the distance of one inclosure on our
left, appears in majesty, for the last time, Severus's Wall, being
five or six hundred yards long, and three feet high, but, as in the
mountains, all confusion. A fence grows upon it * * * In two places
it is six feet high, eight broad, and three thick; but has no
facing-stones." Dr. Bruce says that gunpowder was used in bringing
it down.
It was after this that I came to the "elbow." The Wall-ditch was to
be seen from the elbow running through the pasture to the next hedge.
I followed, scrambling down the steep bank of a burn, and up the
other side amid gorse and hawthorn, into a cart-track, with the Wall
now on my right. The burn now served as the Wall-ditch.
I was quite near to the houses of Bowness by this {220} time, and a
gate on my left across the meadow brought me into a narrow lane, and
thus into the road, not far from the church.
In the churchyard I saw a man in light tweeds carrying a bucket of
water. He asked me courteously if I would like to have the key of
the church, and I found I was addressing the Rector. Except for a
very beautiful Norman font, there is nothing remarkable about the
church.
From the main street I made my way through a little iron gate
opposite the "King's Arms," down a steep grassy slope, and on to the
shore by means of a rickety, rusty iron ladder, riveted by one leg to
a rock. The view was lovely across the sands. On my left, crossing
the Solway, was the Annan Railway Bridge, which had just been
condemned as unsafe, and Criffel showed in a violet haze beyond it.
I thought from the sands I could best distinguish the probable site
of the Roman fort, and I believe that I did succeed in identifying
the western rampart, and the south-west and north-west angles.
Bowness is a quiet little place, standing high up above the Solway,
with steep cobbled streets and many clay houses, "whose walls," said
an old inhabitant to me, "are as thick as my stick is long." As seen
from the ridge above the road to the west of the village, eight
strips of colour, gradually receding, make up my impression of the
view. {221} First a strip of white road, then a strip of green
grass; beyond that, a strip of yellow gorse; behind the gorse, a
strip of marshland, pink with sea-thrift; then a strip of yellow dry
sand, then a strip of brown wet sand; beyond that the blue water of
the Solway, and, last of all, the blue-grey distance of Scotland.
There were fishing-smacks on the Solway, and there were fishermen
fishing with their "half-nets" for salmon and trout.
Camden says of this part: "I marvailed at first, why they built here
so great fortifications, considering that for eight miles or
thereabout, there lieth opposite a very great frith and arme of the
sea; but now I understand that every ebbe the water is so low, that
the Borderers and beast-stealers may easily wade over." And he
records how, in 1216, they came, and having stayed too long were
swept away by the tide. His quaint words (or rather, Dr. Philemon
Holland's quaint translation of them) are worth quoting:
"For Eden, that notable river, * * * powreth forth into a mighty
masse of water, having not yet forgotten what adoe it had to pass
away, struggling and wrestling as it did, among the carcasses of
freebutters, lying dead in it on heapes, in the yeer of salvation,
1216, when it swallowed them up, loaden with booties out of England,
and so buried that rabble of robbers under his waves."
{222} I searched about for the end of the Wall, where it was supposed
to run northwards into the water, and was just about to give it up in
despair, when I saw an old lady in a black sunbonnet leaning over the
gate of a pretty little cottage. I got into conversation with her,
and then of her own accord she told me that the Roman Wall ended in
her garden, "behind that apple-tree." She spoke of the gentlemen who
had come to investigate, and how they had followed it down from her
garden to the shore, by the old schoolhouse, which is now used by the
fishermen for keeping their nets. She added: "There's not many that
sets any store by the Roman Wall here--only me."
So here I was, having actually arrived at my goal, at the end of my
walk of 73½ miles--not as the crow flies, but as the Wall runs. I
had made it probably twice as far, by digressions and excursions.
For the present I felt I had had enough walking; I wanted to indulge
in a lift; so I began to inquire for a pony and trap to take me back
to Drumburgh Castle. I soon found one at an innocent-looking house
in the village street, which turned out to be a farm-house, with a
yard and byres at the back. The farmer's daughter, who drove me,
asked me why I did not spend the night at Bowness. I told her that I
had engaged a room at Carlisle because I could not be sure of getting
a bed at Bowness; and I related my experiences on {223} the way to
Carlisle. "Oh," she cried, "Bo'nes people isn't like _that_!
_They'd_ no see you bet. Why, I'd give up my own bed to any one
rather than let them go without. Folks say I'll be took in some day,
but _I_ don't mind."
As we drove down the village street, she pointed out to me the Roman
altar, mentioned by Bruce, built into an outhouse near the King's
Arms. It is dedicated to Jupiter, for the welfare of the Emperors
Gallus and Volusian, so it dates from about 251 A.D.
After visiting Drumburgh Castle, I went by train to Kirkandrews. A
stout lady in the train asked me if I had been to Bowness. "Ah!" she
said, "I know it well; I've been to many a funeral there. They bury
them there from Glasson, and from Drumburgh, and I think from
Kirkbride. It's a nice place, Bo'nes, to be buried." I inquired
what were the special advantages. "Well, well, I can't exactly say,
but it's a nice place, is Bo'nes; I'd as lief be buried there myself.
My husband's father, he was a canal man, lived for twenty years on a
houseboat on the canal; and _he's_ buried at Bo'nes."
And that was all the explanation I could get.
From Kirkandrews I walked back to Carlisle, first through Grinsdale,
and then along the track of the Wall above the Eden. It was such a
lovely evening! My shadow was cast by the lowering sun half across
the blue waters of the Eden, and {224} Carlisle Castle and Cathedral
appeared at intervals over the stone railway bridge, glowing in the
warm light. As I neared Carlisle, the meadows were alive with
children of all ages, enjoying the beautiful close of a hot day.
Miners on strike were racing their whippets; small boys with hatchets
were chopping off dead boughs for firewood on the steep tree-covered
river banks; children were bathing and paddling from the rocks by the
engine-house. A sweet smell of may was in the air. And I had a
satisfied sense of "something accomplished, something done." The
week's walk had been delightful, and my acquaintance with the Wall
had been much extended and deepened; and yet I was not wholly sorry
to return to civilized habits, and to unstrap my haversack from my
shoulders for the last time.
But I had not quite said good-bye to the tramp I had been.
The following afternoon I left Carlisle to spend a day or two with
friends in Northumberland, picking up my suit-case in Newcastle.
When I went up to dress for dinner that evening, I found to my horror
that the maid had unpacked my _tramp's_ luggage, and distributed it
about the room, while the suit-case was still locked and the key in
my pocket!
And there were my poor, pathetic little bedroom-slippers, which I had
had no chance of discarding {225} since I wore through their soles on
the crags; there they were, spread out in such incongruous
surroundings!
I sat down, and laughed and laughed and laughed. I could do nothing
else. And then I gathered everything together and restored it to the
haversack, strapping it up firmly, and consigning it to oblivion
until such time as I could sort it out properly, ready for my next
tramp.
{226}
CHAPTER XX
VINDOLANDA, CORSTOPITUM, BEWCASTLE
There are a few places not within the line of a direct walk along the
Wall from sea to sea which yet form part of our subject, because they
have close associations with the Wall.
The most important of these is actually one of the forts _per lineam
Valli_, though it lies a mile to the south of the Wall. This is
called Vindolana on the _Notitia_ list, but a recently discovered
altar shows the correct spelling of the name to have been VINDOLANDA.
VINDOLANDA.
The fort of Vindolanda is at Chesterholm, about a mile south from
Hotbank on the Wall. To reach it, we can take a turning on the south
side of Wade's Road, near Bradley Hall, keeping to the left, or we
can cut across the fields from Highshield farm-house.
The green platform of the fort stands out very conspicuously, and
will be easily recognized by any one who is getting to know what to
look for. It rises up immediately to the west of the little hamlet
{227} of Chesterholm, half buried in its nest of trees; and the
heathery hill of Barcombe shelters both from the east winds.
If we approach the fort by the road, it brings us past a Roman
milestone, the only one still standing in its original position on
the Stanegate, which runs east and west here. The milestone stands
about 5 feet above the ground and is about 6 feet in circumference.
Vindolanda is supposed to be one of Agricola's forts on the Stanegate.
The walls, gateways and ditches can be readily made out, also the
hypocaustal pillars of a large building to the west of the fort. I
sat on the outer wall of the fort to make a sketch of Chesterholm in
the evening light, with heathery Barcombe beyond, and the Long Stone
standing up against the sky. No one knows the age of the Long Stone.
I was up there one day when two tourists passed. They saw the date
"1784" cut on its base by an earlier tourist. "Oh, that's the date
it was set up," said they, and hurried on. The top has been broken
off, and joined with iron bands cemented in; and there is a similar
join at the base. It stands between two large stones which keep it
in place, and these look in the distance like a pedestal for the
column.
There is a British camp near the Long Stone, and also a Roman quarry,
where the famous {228} "Thorngrafton Find" of Roman coins was made.
There are no coins later than Hadrian's in the collection, which
tends to confirm the already well-established fact that Hadrian, and
no later Emperor, built the Wall.
A glorious view is to be had from Barcombe of the "mural ridge," all
the way from Sewingshields to the Nine Nicks.
In the valley of Chesterholm there is a cottage built of Roman
stones, where some beautiful coping-stones and other sculptured
stones are preserved, built into a covered passage, approached by
slippery stone steps.
THE ROMAN MILESTONE.
To the north of the milestone is a large artificial mound, possibly
the burial-place of a British chief. One day, when I was painting
the milestone, there were young black cattle feeding on this mound,
quite a number of them. Suddenly I heard a sound of trampling hoofs
above me, and down they came, the whole crowd, at full speed. I sat
tight, hoping they would not upset me, for a thorn-tree hid me where
I sat. However, the tide did not flow quite in my direction, and
they gathered round the milestone, and did nothing worse than
obstruct my view.
[Illustration: THE ROMAN MILE-STONE ON THE STANEGATE, NEAR
VINDOLANDA, WITH BARCOMBE, RISING BEHIND THE TREES]
A boy on a bicycle came by, and stopped to look at the stone,
chattering away to me while I worked:
{229}
"What age is the old thing? About 80 A.D.? Well, he has stuck it
out! Wonder how much of him there is underground. As much again, I
suppose. I say, did you have difficulty in getting water-colour
paper during the War? No? Well, lucky you didn't! Chaps in the
Government office I worked in, they'd get out a half-crown sheet of
Whatman when they wanted a table-cloth for tea! Lot of that sort of
thing done. Shame, I call it. Flies are a nuisance here; don't you
find them so? No? Well, I do. Good morning."
And off he went.
CORSTOPITUM.
I had heard from various sources that I must not miss seeing the
Roman town of Corstopitum at Corbridge; but on my first attempt, when
I motored with friends to the little town on the Cor Burn, we only
succeeded in finding a field-gate with a notice up, "Excavations
closed." So obediently we went away, only to be told afterwards how
foolish we had been to pay any regard to the notice, for if we had
inquired at the farm, we could have got the key of the little
Museum-shed, and have seen everything. But how were we to know that?
I was not able to go again until I most happily fell in with the
Pilgrimage of the Archæological Societies, and was allowed to join it.
Corstopitum is 2½ miles south of the Roman Wall, {230} and on the
line of the Stanegate, of which its chief street forms a part. Dere
Street crossed the river here by a bridge of ten piers, and entered
this site. It seems that the importance of Corstopitum dates from
the time of Agricola, but was greatly increased after the building of
the Antonine Wall, 140 A.D., and its most prosperous times were in
that period. It probably depended for its protection chiefly on the
Wall and the Wall forts, being itself only a great military store,
covering 30 acres, of which 20 have been excavated.
When I visited the excavations they had been neglected for years
owing to the war, and ragwort and thistles had done their best to
blot them out again. I could not help thinking of these beautiful
lines by Maude Egerton King:
"Not bands, nor wheels, nor belching towers
Can break, or yoke,
Or blind with smoke
The vital powers,
So swift to spread their cloak
Of grassy forgiveness and sweet-scented stars
Over earth's man-made scars."
But on this particular occasion one wished that nature had not been
quite so busy in seeking to heal the "scars" made by the excavators!
The granaries are magnificent buildings, strongly buttressed to
resist the pressure of the heavy stone roofs, with floors raised on
sleeper walls, and a ventilation space below, to keep the corn both
dry {231} and cool. Window-openings between the buttresses admitted
air under the floors. In one window there is a stone mullion, which
is probably the only Roman mullion now to be seen. The original
western granary was evidently built before the eastern. There are
several levels of occupation in Corstopitum, and the western granary
has two floors, two walls, two sets of drainage, one above the other,
whereas the eastern granary has only one of each. The heavy stone
blocks of which they are built are rusticated--inner surfaces as well
as outer.
Beyond the granaries are a public fountain and watering-trough.
Other buildings found prove that Corstopitum was an industrial centre
of some importance.
Two very valuable hoards of gold coins have been found, one in 1908
and the other in 1911. The coins of the later find were the earlier
and more valuable, ranging from Nero to Antoninus Pius, Hadrian's
successor. They have all been sent to the British Museum.
The famous "Corbridge Lion" was found in a tank in what was probably
the garden of a house in the settlement.
Amongst the interesting inscribed stones found here is a tombstone in
memory of Barathes of Palmyra (in the Arabian desert), who was a
standard-bearer in the Roman army, and died at the age of {232}
sixty-eight. A much finer tombstone, which he dedicated to his wife,
Regina, who only lived to be thirty, is to be seen in the South
Shields Museum, having been found in that neighbourhood.
The excavations at Corstopitum were carried out, under the
superintendence of Mr. R. H. Forster, F.S.A., chiefly during the long
vacations, when Professor Haverfield and Dr. H. H. E. Craster were
able to be much on the spot, and Oxford undergraduates could get an
insight into the methods of "reading the soil" employed by
archæologists in Britain.
HEXHAM.
Hexham is not a Roman site, but there are many traces of the Roman
occupation in the Abbey.
The Saxon crypt, almost the only remaining part of the original
church built by Bishop Wilfrid in 674, is entirely constructed of
Roman stones. The workmen who built it have attached no importance
whatever to the beauty of the mouldings, nor to the interest of the
inscriptions. They have simply used them as a "key" for the plaster
with which walls and ceiling were covered.
A very beautiful olive-leaf-and-berry moulding occurs frequently;
there are also a cable pattern, an elaborate fig-leaf design from a
door-jamb, and a deeply fluted column, all built up into the walls of
the crypt.
{233}
Two Roman inscriptions occur: one is on a stone used as a flat
roof-slab, and the other has had a semi-circle cut out of it to form
the head of a door-way.
The flat roof-slab contained the names of Severus and his two sons,
but the name of Geta has been erased as usual, by order of the
brother who murdered him.
The most interesting Roman stone at Hexham is a tombstone with a
vigorous carving of a Roman soldier on horseback, carrying the
standard, and treading on his prostrate enemy.
The inscription reads:
"To the gods, the shades. Flavinus, a soldier of the cavalry
regiment of Petriana, standard-bearer of the troop of Candidus, being
twenty-five years of age, and having served seven years in the army,
is here laid."
Then there is an altar dedicated to Apollo Maponus by Terentius
Firmus, a native of Siena, and prefect of the camps of the Sixth
Legion.
Dr. Bruce was of opinion that the Roman stones in the Abbey were
brought from Corstopitum--more especially because, in the bed of the
river near Hexham, Roman stones abandoned in transit have been found.
This view has been fully confirmed in recent years.
{234}
FROM GILSLAND TO BEWCASTLE.
Gilsland, with its green daisy-starred mounds, its streams and glades
and waterfalls, its Stepping-stones, and Popping-stone, and
Kissing-bush, and generally romantic associations, is the greatest
possible contrast to the wild fells which we have so lately left, but
which can still be seen along the eastern horizon.
The very name of Gilsland speaks of softness, and verdure, and
tinkling streams.
Here it was, so says history, that Sir Walter Scott wooed and won his
life-partner, and the scenes of the different stages of his wooing
are pointed out with brazen assurance.
It therefore seemed most appropriate, when first I visited Gilsland
in a search for rooms, to be mistaken for a member of a
wedding-party, and to be greeted with the words, "Ye're just in time
to see the bride!"
Gilsland was full of "the bride." It was hopeless to try and get any
attention to business until she had passed down the street on her
father's arm, amid whispers of, "It's _real_ crêpe de chine,"--"Did
ye see how it's cut?" etc.
When I had finished my business, "the bride" still pursued me. I
picked up a halfpenny, and was looking round for some child who might
have dropped it, when the butcher at his shop door called {235} out,
"That's a looky ha'-penny, cast at the bride. Ye'll be the next. Ye
must keep it."
There must be something in the very air of Gilsland!
I had no intention of being "the next," so I gave it to a small boy
for his money-box, while the butcher looked his disapproval. It
evidently was not "the thing" to have done in sentimental Gilsland.
It was from Gilsland, later, that I visited Bewcastle, and walked
back along the Roman road known as the Maiden Way.
Bewcastle is 11 miles from Gilsland, right away across the Bewcastle
Waste.
At first we could not get a car to take us, but finally the butcher
came to the rescue, and said that if we did not mind the car in which
he sent round the meat, he would have it very thoroughly cleaned. It
was easily convertible into a sort of motor-waggonette, to hold six
people, and was really quite comfortable. The only drawback was that
we caused great disappointment to all the dogs of the villages we
went through. They recognized the front of the vehicle, and the
driver, and came up wagging their tails, to receive a nasty shock on
finding that the contents of the rear portion were human beings and
not meat.
It was a lovely run; past the ruin of Triermain Castle, then to
Askerton Castle, a beautiful old Border fortification, which we
stopped and viewed, {236} copying down two inscriptions, scratched,
one on the lead of the roof, and the other on the staircase. The
first was:
"Geo Taylr Novb 9th, 1745
the day that the rebels
Came to the Border."
The other was:
"The familie Spoeller
refuge from to War
1914."
This reminds me of a Border story, connected with Bewcastle, of a
man, a "rough customer," who wanted to claim kinship with a Scotsman,
declaring that he was himself a "Border Scot." "Gude faith, I dinna
doubt it," said the true Scot; "the coarsest part of the cloth is aye
at the border."
On we went, across the Bewcastle Waste, wild and barren, till
Bewcastle itself came into view, with its church, its castle, and a
few houses.
The church and castle are built on the site of a Roman fort standing
above the Kirkbeck Burn.
"Bueth's Castle" is the grimmest old ruin I ever saw, with bare walls
standing up in forbidding sternness.
The church is said to date back to the Conquest. There are four
holes in the wall, through which the dwellers in the castle used to
keep watch against their enemies. It had till lately shown the
beautiful grey stone inside, but when we were there it had just been
distempered buff colour all over--stone {237} walls, stone columns,
font, and all! Fortunately they had omitted to distemper the
curiously carved eighteenth-century tombstones in the churchyard, and
the Runic Cross!
This last is a magnificent example of early Christian art amongst the
Anglo-Saxons, with a runic inscription which has been translated thus:
"This slender sign of victory set up
Hwaetred, Wothgaer, Olw-wolthu,
to Alcfrith, a king and son of
Oswy. Pray for ..."
There are figures of Jesus Christ and of St. John the Baptist; and
also of King Alcfrith, whom it commemorates, holding a hawk. He is
said to have died of the yellow plague in 664 A.D.
There is very beautiful ornamental work on the other three sides;
vines, with birds and squirrels in amongst the leaves, and elaborate
interlacing fret.
Three of us walked back from Bewcastle by the Maiden Way; we kept
losing the way and finding it again; but we struck all the landmarks,
and it finally brought us out, "according to plan," just above
Birdoswald. We passed Side Fell, the highest point hereabouts, and
came to the Beacon, where the ruins of what was formerly supposed to
be a Roman watch-tower are quite unmistakable. In Dr. Bruce's third
edition there is a lovely picture of it, with, prominently in the
foreground, "a very {238} human incident," as the newspapers love to
say. A brave, top-hatted cavalier, with umbrella raised high above
his head, is defending a clinging companion in crinoline skirts from
three meek-looking cows, whose tails are curved like fish-hooks over
their backs! What a romance lies hidden there! When I saw it, I
felt how much I had failed in not peopling the solitudes of the Wall
in my pictures! But then, to me, the loneliness is half the charm,
and three-quarters of the character. We crossed Spadeadam
Waste--such a fascinating name, which takes us back to the very gates
of Eden!--and we came to Spadeadam farm-house, where an adamantine
old lady in a sunbonnet refused our appeal for milk or tea.
Haymaking was in full swing, and she really had more than she could
do already, I am sure. Then we crossed the King Water, by
stepping-stones, and over the top of the next hill Gilsland came into
view.
{239}
CONCLUSION
And so I must take leave of the Wall; and Wall must make its exit
from this little stage.
"Thus have I, Wall, my part discharged so,
And, being done, thus Wall away doth go."
(_Midsummer Night's Dream._)
It has not been possible within the limits of this book to say all I
should have liked.
The romance of the Museums I have left untouched, with their pathetic
relics of the loves, the vanities, the hopes and fears, the
sufferings, and the victories of the great people who colonized our
land so many years ago.
There is abundant proof that there was some measure of family life
enjoyed by the Romans on the wild outposts of the Wall.
The officers had their wives with them; children were born (and
lost); sorrowing husbands have left memorials to their wives;
disconsolate wives lament, on stone, their husbands.
And trinkets there are in plenty: gold, and silver, and bronze,
inlaid with stones; and beautiful {240} enamel work. At Chesters
there is a jet ring inscribed with a monogram, and the legend:
QVIS · SEPA · MEVM · ET · TVVM · DVRANTE · VITA
"Who shall separate me and thee during life?"
Has mankind changed much in eighteen hundred years?
Only one definitely Christian inscription has been found, and that is
a British tombstone.
Nearly all the inscribed stones show signs of having been purposely
smashed; possibly by "Christian" Britons, who thought later that by
that means they were doing God service.
It is so much easier to smash stones than to live the Christian life!
No doubt the smashing was sometimes a symbolic act, to indicate the
renunciation of the old pagan habits, and to remove temptation.
I was very sorry to take leave of the Wall; perhaps even more sorry
to take leave of the kindly friends I had made. I met with many
instances of the blunt outspokenness of the northern character, but
never with a spark of rudeness nor unpleasant familiarity.
As I travelled south in the train, I remembered what Hutton has said:
that the Wall "would exhibit its proud head many thousand years"; but
that the mounds of the Vallum, "being native earth, would continue to
the last trump."
{241}
Is this indeed so? Is it, for example, possible that the bunkers on
the golf-links I was then passing are the most enduring portion of
our civilization? Will pilgrims in the far distant future travel
hundreds and thousands of miles to see these, our only contemporary
"earth-works," as to a shrine, wondering what great chiefs are buried
under them? It might be so, if "native earth" were indeed the most
enduring form of construction. But I beg leave to doubt it.
Back in London, it seemed cold and dull at first. I missed the
freedom of the Wall, where every one I met had said, "It's a gran'
day, the day," as naturally as they had smiled as we passed each
other.
Ah! but London has a kind heart too, though circumstances prevent her
from wearing it on her sleeve. Many have testified to this in the
past, and will testify to it in the future. And therefore in London
also there is much that we may surely count amongst the "things that
endure."
Old Londinium, older than the Romans, who colonized and fortified but
did not found her, is dear to us, in spite of all her fog and smoke
and turmoil, for of her also it is true that
"Only the fashion of the soul remains."
[Illustration: Map of Hadrian's Wall]
{243}
INDEX
Æsica (Great Chesters), xix, 29, 142, 143-5.
Agricola, 2, 3, 9-13, 17, 18, 77, 107, 153, 154, 180, 227, 230.
Allectus, 16.
Allolee, 145.
AMBOGLANNA (Birdoswald), xviii, xix, 29, 30, 86, 166-9.
"Amphitheatre" at House-steads, 116, 122.
Antonine Wall, 15, 38, 230.
Antoninus Pius, 12, 14, 169.
Antoninus (son of Severus), 15.
Apple-tree turret, 169.
_Archæologia Æliana_, xvi.
Askerton Castle, 235.
Asturians, 29, 30, 92.
Augustus, 7.
Aulus Platorius Nepos, 14, 21.
Aulus Plautius, 7, 8.
Banks, village of, xviii, xix, 169, 171.
Barcombe Hill, 21, 111, 126, 227.
Bardon Mill, xix.
Barracks in forts, 92, 122, 141.
Basalt rock, 105, 112, 126, 127, 152.
Batavians, cohort of, 29, 107.
Bath-house at Chesters, 95.
Baths in forts, 93.
Beaumont, 204.
Beck, 186.
Bede, 22, 24, 68, 69.
Benwell Hill, 29, 43, 47.
Berm, or safety platform, 19, 34.
Bewcastle, 154, 234-8; Cross, 237.
Birdoswald, viii, xvi, xviii, 29, 30, 109, 154, 164.
Black Carts Farm, 102.
Blackgate Museum, Newcastle, 45, 158.
Black Pasture Quarry, 72, 77.
Blair, Mr. Robert, xvi.
Bleatarn, 190, 191.
Bloody Gap, 139.
Bogle Hole, 139.
BORCOVICIUM, xvi, xix, 28, 29, 116, 119-124.
Bosanquet, Professor, 117, 121.
Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni, 9.
Bowness, xix, 24, 181, 219-223.
Bradley, xviii, 226.
Brewis, Mr. Parker, vii.
Bridge, Roman, at Chesters, xvi, 72, 74-80, 97; at Corbridge, 78; at
Newcastle, 42; over Irthing, viii-x.
Brigantes, 9.
Britannicus, 8.
Broomlee Lough, 115, 124, 126.
Bruce, Dr. Collingwood, v, xi, xv, 25, 40, 56, 74, 80, 92, 117, 140,
151, 158, 180, 198, 204, 223, 237.
Brunstock Park, 192.
Brunton House, 73.
Burgh-by-sands, vi, 109, 204.
Burnhead, 142.
Burtholme family, 173; village, 179.
Busy Gap, 115, 125.
Byker Bridge, 39; Hill, 40, 42.
Caedwallon, 68.
Caligula, 7.
Cam Beck, 183, 185.
Cambeck Hill, 185.
Camden, the antiquary, 22, 25, 28, 111, 112, 115, 221.
Camp, Roman, 142.
Caracalla, 15.
Caratacus, or Caradoc, 8.
Carausius, 16.
Carlisle, xiv, xix, 12, 18, 154, 196-7.
Carlisle, Lord, quoted, 168.
Carraw, 107.
Carrawburgh 29, 30, 106.
Carr Hill, 63.
Carvoran, xviii, 25, 29, 30, 112, 114, 153.
Cassivelaunus, British king, 6.
Castle Nick, 127.
Castles: Askerton, 235; Haughton, 98; at Sewingshields, 115;
Thirlwall, xviii, xix, 155; Triermain, 235.
Castlesteads, 184, 185.
Cat Gate, 112, 113.
Cat Stairs, 124, 128.
Causeways of Vallum, 34-37, 62, 145.
Caw Burn, 141, 144.
Cawfields, 137, 139, 141.
Caw Gap, xviii, 136, 139.
Centurial Stones, 25, 55, 109, 158, 161, 187.
Chapel of the Standards, vii, 89.
Chapel House, 158.
Chariot-wheel marks, 94, 119.
Chesterholm, 29, 30, 126, 226.
Chesters, Great, 29; Halton, 29; Walwick, xviii, 29, 84.
Chives, 150.
Chollerford, xvii, 76, 82.
Chollerton, 44, 99.
CILURNUM (Walwick Chesters), xviii, xix, 29, 82, 84-97, 154.
Claudius, 7.
Clayton, Mr. John, v, xv, 76, 84, 140.
Cockmount Hill, 145.
Cogidumnus, King, 8.
Cold Knuckles, 131.
Collingwood, Mr. R. G., vi, xii.
Collingwood, Mr. W. G., vi, xvi.
Colonnades, 91, 119, 120.
Commodus, Emperor, 15.
CONDERCUM (Benwell Hill), 29, 44-47.
Constantine, Emperor, 16, 103.
Corbridge, xvii, 12, 18, 53, 61, 78, 229.
Cornovii, cohort of, 29.
CORSTOPITUM, 12, 95, 154, 229-232, 233.
Coventina, water-goddess, 106.
Crag Lough, 126.
Craggle Hill, 174.
Craster, Dr. H. H. E., 232.
Criffel, 147, 220.
Crosby, 188.
Cross Fell, 148.
Cuddy's Crag, 125.
Cumrenton, 184.
Cunobelin, British king, 7.
Curlews, 65, 106, 111.
Cymbeline, 7.
Dacians, cohort of, 29, 168.
Dalmatians, cohort of, 29.
Denton Burn, 47.
Denton, East, 47.
Denton Hall, 48.
Denton, Over, 161; West, 49.
Dere Street, 64, 230.
Diocletian, Emperor, 16.
Domitian, Emperor, 12, 13, 154.
Dooven Foot, 156.
Dovecote, 181.
Down Hill, 23, 63.
Draw-dykes Castle, 193.
Drumburgh, 30, 209-215.
Dykesfield, 24, 209.
East Denton, 47.
East Wallhouses, 59.
Eden, River, 25, 195-200, 221.
Edges Green, 136.
Edwin, King of Northumbria, 147.
Emperor-worship, 89-90.
Erdeswick, Samson, 25.
Erinus Alpinus, 94.
Errington Arms, 65.
Fairclough, H. Rushton, quoted, 17.
Fallowfield Fell, 70, 71.
Far-Glow, 156.
Faustinus, Consul, 170.
Flavius Carantinus, 70.
Flowers along the Wall, 61, 66, 67, 68, 73, 94, 103, 140, 179, 182.
Forts on the Wall, list of, xxv.
Foul Town, 158.
Fourstones, xix.
Forster, Mr. R. H., 232.
Frixagi (Frisii), cohort of, 29.
Furnaces, 93, 96.
Gap, 158.
Garthside, 179, 184.
Gateways of forts, 85-88, 120, 122, 143.
Gauls, cohort of, 29.
George Inn, Chollerford, xvii, 80-83, 98.
Geta, 15, 233.
Giant's Grave, 55.
Gibson, Mr. J. P., 141, 147, 160, 169.
Gilsland, x, xviii, xix, 111, 154, 158-162, 234, 238.
Glasson, 215.
Granaries, at Chesters, 91; at Housesteads, 120; at Corstopitum, 230;
at Birdoswald, 167.
Graupius, Mons, 12, 107, 180.
Great Chesters, 29, 143.
Greenhead, xix, 151.
Greenlee Lough, 126.
Green Slack, 138.
Grinsdale, 198-201.
Hadrian, builder of the Wall, 2, 14, 18-21, 76, 158, 169, 228;
constructor of the Vallum, 20, 33; Bridge over the Tyne at Newcastle,
42.
Hadrian Street, Wallsend, 40, 42.
Halton Chesters, 29, 63; Shields, 63; Tower, 63.
Haltwhistle, xix, 137, 148.
Haltwhistle Burn, xviii, 141; Fort, 141.
_Handbook_, Dr. Bruce's, see under Bruce.
Hare Hill, xviii, 29, 171.
Harlow Hill, 56, 57.
Harrow's Scar mile-castle, 164, 169.
Haughton Castle, 98.
Haverfield, Professor, 166, 184, 190, 232.
Haydon Bridge, xix, 44, 49, 111.
Hayton-gate, 174, 179.
Headswood, 186.
Heavenfield, 69.
Heddon-on-the-Wall, 52.
Hen Gap, 103.
Hexham, xix, 71, 101, 107, 232.
High House turret, 169.
Highshield, 226; Crag, 126.
High Wall Houses, 61.
Hodgson, Mr. and Mrs. T. H., xvi, 166, 184, 190, 192.
Holmhead, 155, 156.
Honorius, 17.
Hope-Alone, 137, 156.
Horsley, 53.
Hotbank, 126.
Housesteads, xviii, 29, 30, 116; Mile-castle, 124.
Howgill, 180, 181.
Humshaugh, xvii.
HUNNUM (Halton Chesters), 29, 63.
Hutton, William, xiii-xv, 46, 47, 50, 57, 63, 66, 72, 76, 100, 164,
171, 196, 219, 240.
Hypocausts, 63, 93, 96.
Hyssop Holme Well, 196.
Iron Sign, the, 56.
Irthing, River, viii-x, 162-165, 175.
Julius Cæsar in Britain, 6.
King Edward the First's Monument, 208, 209.
King Water, 182, 183, 238.
"King's Stables," the, 160.
King's Well, 147.
Kirkandrews, 199, 203, 204, 223.
Knag Burn, 118, 122.
Lanercost, 173, 175.
Lanercost Priory, xix, 174, 178.
Leahill, 170.
Leland, John, antiquary, 42.
Lewis-holes, 78.
Limestone Bank, 102, 103, 104.
Lingones, cohort of, 29.
Lodham Slack, 138.
Lollius Urbicus, 15.
Long Stone, 126, 227.
Low Wall, 180.
LUGUVALLIUM (Carlisle), 12.
MAGNAE (Carvoran), xviii, 29, 153.
Maiden Way, 154, 235.
Marcus Aurelius, 15.
Martin, painter, 49.
Matfen, 45, 59, 62.
Matfen Piers, 62.
Mile-castles, 18, 20, 30, 49, 50, 68, 72, 102, 105, 108, 115, 124,
125, 127, 139, 140, 141, 160, 169, 173, 179, 181.
Milestone, Roman, 227, 228.
Military roads, Roman, 12, 18, 20, 32, 76, 105, 154, 191, 193.
Milking Gap, xviii, 126.
Millbeck, 199.
Mona (Anglesey) subdued by Rome, 8, 10.
Montague, Mrs. Elizabeth, 48.
Mould's Close, 70.
Mucklebank, 147.
Naworth Castle, 175; Railway Station, xix.
Newcastle, xvi, xix, 24, 28, 29, 39-42.
Newtown of Irthington, 186.
Nine Nicks of Thirlwall, xviii, xix, 25, 139, 147.
_Notitia_, the, 29, 30, 168, 226.
Old Castle, vii.
Old Wall, 188.
Ordovices, 10.
Ostorius Scapula, 8.
Oswald, King of Bernicia, 68.
Ouseburn, 39.
"Out-by" Farms, 130, 137.
Over Denton, Saxon church, 161.
Peat-cutting, 130.
Peel, xviii.
Peel Crag, 124, 132, 133.
Peewits, 106.
Pendower, 44.
Pilgrims' Gap, xviii, 139, 141.
Plane-trees Farm, 72.
Poltross Burn, 159, 160.
Pomponia Græcina, 8.
PONS AELII (Newcastle), 29, 42.
Port Carlisle, 181, 209, 215, 216.
Portgate, 64.
Powburgh Beck, vii, 205.
Principia or Headquarters buildings, 88, 89, 91, 119, 166.
PROCOLITIA (Carrawburgh), 29, 106.
_Purpose and Date of the Vallum and its Crossings_, xvii.
Quarries on Barcombe, 227; Black Pasture, 72; Bleatarn, 190;
Cawfields, 141, 152; Coome Crag, 170; Greenhead, 151-153; at
Housesteads, 117.
Rabbits, 112-114.
Rampart-walk, 87.
Randelands, 179.
Rapishaw Gap, 124, 125.
Rattlingstones, 197, 199.
Ridley, Sir Christopher, 25.
Ridley, John, 148-150.
Roads, Roman, 12, 18, 20, 32, 64, 76, 105, 154, 191, 193, 230.
Robin Hood Inn, 57, 59.
Roofing, methods of, 89.
Rudchester, vii, 29, 53-56, 122.
Rufus, Consul, 170.
Runic Cross at Bewcastle, 237.
_Sacellum_ or Chapel of the Standards, 89, 90.
St. Nicholas' Church, Newcastle (the Cathedral), 40, 42.
St. Oswald's Church, 68, 70.
Sallyport gateway, Newcastle, 39, 42.
Sandysike, 183.
Savinian _ala_, 29.
Scott, Sir Walter, 140, 214, 234.
SEGEDUNUM (Wallsend), 29, 41.
Seldom Seen, 131, 156.
Severus, Septimius, x, 15, 16, 21, 27, 76, 78, 103, 125, 132, 169,
170, 233.
Sewingshields, xix, 107-116; Crags, 122.
Shaw, Dr. R. C., viii, x, xvii, 34.
"Shield," meaning of, 111; Shield on the Wall, 139.
Side Fell, 237.
Silures, subdued, 9.
Simpson, Mr. F. Gerald, xvi, xvii, 34, 77, 141, 160, 169.
"Slacks," 138.
Solway, 24, 41, 220, 221.
Spadeadam, 238.
Stanegate, 12, 18, 32, 131, 143, 153, 227, 230.
Stanwix, 195, 196.
Steel Rigg Gap, 127.
Strong room at Chesters, 90.
Stukeley, 76.
Suetonius Paulinus, 8, 9.
Tacitus' "Agricola" (Professor M. Button's translation), 3, 7-13, 180.
Tarraby, 193-195.
Thirlwall Castle, xviii, xix, 155; Nine Nicks of, xviii, xix, 139,
147.
"Thorngrafton Find," 21, 228.
Thorny Doors, 139.
Throckley, 50, 51.
Tindale Fell, 106, 111.
Tipalt Burn, 155, 156.
Tower Taye, 101.
Trajan, 13.
Trajan's Column, fortifications shown on, 86, 87.
_Transactions_ of the Cumberland and Westmorland Archæological
Society, xvi, xvii.
Triermain Castle, 235.
Tullie House Museum, Carlisle, 196, 197.
Tungrians, cohort of, 29, 107, 184.
Turf-wall, 37, 169.
Turrets on the Wall, 18, 20, 31, 32, 73, 86, 103, 132, 147, 151, 169.
Twice Brewed Inn, 133, 135.
Underheugh, 165, 167.
Vallum, xvii, 14, 18-24, 33-38; First seen, 46.
Vespasian, 7, 9, 107.
VINDOBALA (Rudchester), vii, 29, 53.
VINDOLANDA (Chesterholm), xix, 29, 126, 226-227.
Vitruvius, 141.
Wade's Road, xi, xviii, 28, 63, 104, 107, 108, 109, 116, 125, 133,
226.
Walbottle, 49.
Walbottle Dene, 50.
Walby, 191.
Wallbowers, 37, 38, 169.
Wallend, 158.
Wallfoot, 192.
Wallhead, 188, 191.
Wall Houses, 61.
Wall Knoll, 42.
Wallsend, xiv, 24, 29, 39-41.
Walltown, 147-150.
Walton, 183; Wood, 179.
Walwick Chesters, xviii, 29, 30, 100.
Ward, Mr. John, F.S.A., xvi, 86, 87, 88, 121.
"Wastes, The," 110, 111.
Water-mill, Roman, 141.
Watling Street, 64.
Well, at Chesters, 91; Coventina's, 106; King's, 147.
Welton, 57.
Wesley, John, 47, 53.
Whinstone, 27, 152.
White Flat, 186.
White Moss, 191.
Whittledene Reservoirs, 57.
Will of Welton, 58.
William of Malmesbury, 64.
Willowford, x, 162.
Window-glass, 96.
Windows, Roman, 96, 231.
Winshields, xix, 28, 127, 132, 136, 139.
Written Rocks, Fallowfield, 70; Coome Crag, 170.
Wylam, 54.
Zosimus, historian, 16.
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