\n(
![[A-Za-zæ ,\.–—-]+](images/i_[a-z0-9_]+.jpg)
)\n<\/div>\n
|\n\4|
.sr t | +||
//Begin quote
.dm start_quote
.fs 95%
.in 2
.dm-
//End Quote
.dm end_quote
.in
.fs 100%
.dm-
// Begin Poetry
.dm start_poem
.fs 95%
.nf b
.dm-
// End Poetry
.dm end_poem
.nf-
.fs 100%
.dm-
// inscription
.dm start_inscr $1
.fs 90%
.nf $1
.dm-
.dm end_inscr
.nf-
.fs 100%
.dm-
.dv class='tnotes'
.ce
Transcriber’s Note:
.if t
This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical
effects. Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_.
The frequent appearance of blackletter font is noted here by
enclosing the text in ‘~’ as ‘~blackletter text~’. Supercripted
characters are preceded by ‘^’.
.if-
Minor errors in punctuation and formatting have been silently
corrected. Please see the transcriber’s #note:endnote# at the end of this
text for details regarding the handling of any textual issues
encountered during its preparation.
Page headers signalled changes of topic, and have been retained
as paragraph descriptions (‘sidenotes’). Where the headers persist
across multiple pages, they were removed. On occasion, the headers
on facing pages are interleaved during an extended discussion of a
topic. Only the first of each were retained.
.if t
The position of illustrations may have been adjusted slightly. Those
which appeared within a paragraph are indicated in-line as
[Illustration: ]. Most were grayscale in the original,
and have been brightened to counteract the effects of age.
Those few which were colorized have been retained as they now appear.
.if-
.if h
The position of illustrations may have been adjusted slightly. The
page references to them in the Table of Contents are linked to the
actual position of each. Each plate is linked to a larger image
to facilitate inspection of the details.
.if-
Captions for the Plates which appear within the images have been
repeated as text to facilitate searches. Where no captions were given,
or the images are composites (e.g. #Plate III:p088b#), the
descriptions used in the Table of Contents were used.
The alphabetic footnotes in the original restarted with ‘a’ and
cycled through the alphabet multiple times. Several notes to tables
used the typical asterisk and dagger symbols. All footnotes have been
re-sequenced numerically for uniqueness.
.if t
Footnotes, some of which are quite lengthy digressions, have been
moved to the end of each chapter to facilitate reading.
.if-
.if h
Footnotes, some of which are quite lengthy digressions, have been
moved to the end of the text and linked to facilitate navigation.
.if-
.dv-
.bn f00.png
.il id=i_f00 fn=i_f00.jpg w=600px ew=90%
.ca
@span 40: G. Bouchier Richardson, Delt. @ John Storey, Lith.@
PONS-ÆLII, RESTORED.
.ca-
.bn f01.png
.pb
.h1
THE | ROMAN WALL
.nf c
A
HISTORICAL, TOPOGRAPHICAL, AND DESCRIPTIVE
ACCOUNT OF THE
Barrier of the Lower Isthmus,
EXTENDING FROM THE TYNE TO THE SOLWAY,
DEDUCED FROM NUMEROUS PERSONAL SURVEYS,
BY THE
REV. JOHN COLLINGWOOD BRUCE, M. A.
.nf-
.il id=f01 fn=i_f01.jpg w=450px ew=80%
.nf c
LONDON: JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 4, OLD-COMPTON-STREET, SOHO SQUARE.
NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE; WILLIAM SANG, 61, GREY STREET;
G. BOUCHIER RICHARDSON, 38, CLAYTON-STREET-WEST.
M.DCCC.LI.
.nf-
.bn f02.png
.pb
.nf c
NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE:
IMPRINTED BY GEORGE BOUCHIER RICHARDSON, CLAYTON-STREET-WEST; PRINTER
TO THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES, AND TO THE TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY,
BOTH OF NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE.
.nf-
.bn f03.png
.pb
.il fn=i_f03.jpg w=125px ew=20%
.nf c
TO
JOHN CLAYTON, Esquire,
THE PROPRIETOR
OF THE
MOST SPLENDID REMAINS OF THE ROMAN BARRIER
IN NORTHUMBERLAND
WHOSE
ANTIQUARIAN INTELLIGENCE AND CLASSICAL LEARNING
HAVE BEEN MOST PROFUSELY AND KINDLY
AFFORDED TO THE AUTHOR
THIS WORK
ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE MILITARY CHARACTER AND USAGES
OF A GREAT PEOPLE
IS MOST GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED.
.nf-
.bn f04.png
.bn f05.png
.pb
.pn v
.h2
PREFACE.
The famous Roman Wall, which, in former times,
protected southern Britain from the ravages of the
northern tribes, exhibits, at this day, remains more
entire, and forms a subject of study more interesting
than is generally supposed.
Two authors of great learning have treated of this
renowned structure—Horsley, in the Britannia
Romana, and Hodgson, in the last volume of his History
of Northumberland. Both are treatises of
considerable size, and both are, to a certain extent,
rare. The Britannia Romana, moreover, describes the
Wall, not as it is, but as it was more than a century
ago. Hodgson’s work is of recent date, and forms a
valuable storehouse of nearly all that is known upon
the subject. The mind, however, of that amiable
man and zealous antiquary was, at the time of its
preparation, bending under the weight of his ill-requited
labours, and he has failed to present his ample
materials to the reader in that condensed and well-arranged
form which distinguishes his previous volumes,
and without which a book on antiquities will
not arrest the attention of the general reader.
.bn f06.png
.pn +1
The following work may be regarded as introductory
to the elaborate productions of Horsley and
Hodgson. The reader is not assumed to be acquainted
with the technicalities of archæology; and,
at each advancing step the information is supplied
which may render his course easy. I have not attempted,
in the last part of the work, to enumerate
all the altars and inscribed stones which have been
found upon the line of the Wall, but have made a
selection of those which are most likely to interest
the general reader, and to give him a correct idea of
the nature and value of these remains.
In the body of the work I have endeavoured to
furnish a correct delineation of the present condition
of the Wall and its outworks. All my descriptions
are the result of personal observation. To secure
as great accuracy as possible, I have read over many
of my proof sheets on the spot which they describe.
The pictorial illustrations have been prepared
with care, and will give the reader, who is not disposed
to traverse the ground, a correct idea of the
state of the Barrier. The wood-cuts and plates,
illustrative of the antiquities found on the line, have,
with the exception of a few coins introduced into
the first Part of the volume, and copied from
the Monumenta Historica, been prepared from
original drawings, taken for this work from the objects
themselves. I am not without hope that the
well-read antiquary will value these delineations for
their beauty and accuracy.
.bn f07.png
.pn +1
The inhabitants of the isthmus are proud of the
Wall and its associations; and whatever may have
been the case with their forefathers, will not needlessly
destroy it. Most kind has been the reception
I have met with in my peregrinations, and
most valuable the assistance I have received from
the gentry and yeomen of the line, and others interested
in my labours! Gladly would I enumerate
all to whom I am indebted, had it been possible.
Some names, however, must be mentioned. His
Grace the Duke of Northumberland has not only
given me free access to all his antiquarian stores, but
directed me to prepare at his expense engravings on
wood of all that I thought suitable to my purpose.
Would that his Grace knew how much I have
been cheered in my course by his notice of my
humble labours! To John Clayton, esq., I am
obliged for the gift of the wood-cuts illustrative
of the numerous and interesting antiquities
preserved at Cilurnum, the produce of that station
and Borcovicus. To Albert Way, esq., the accomplished
and honorary secretary of the Archæological
Institute, with whom I had last year the
pleasure and advantage of spending a day upon
the Wall, I am indebted for the cuts representing
the altar and slab discovered at Tynemouth. The
suite of wood-cuts illustrative of the hoard of coins
found in the ancient quarry on Barcombe-hill,
have been engraved at the expense of my tried
.bn f08.png
.pn +1
and valued friend, John Fenwick, esq., of Newcastle-upon-Tyne;
and to William Kell, esq.,
town-clerk of Gateshead, with whom I have traversed
the Wall from sea to sea, and some portions
of it repeatedly, I am indebted for the
beautiful representation of the ancient Pons Ælii
fronting the title-page. My former school-fellow,
William Woodman, esq., town-clerk of Morpeth,
besides otherwise assisting me, has caused surveys
to be made for my use of not fewer than eighty of
the strongholds of the Britons still existing on the
heights north of the Wall. To trace the movements
of the brave people whom the Romans drove to the
more inaccessible portions of the island, would have
been an interesting sequel to the account of the
Roman Wall, but I found the undertaking too great
for me.
It is with no ordinary emotion that I write
the last lines of a work to the preparation of which
I have devoted the leisure of three years. The
Wall and I must now part company. Gladly
would I have withheld the publication of this
work for the Horatian period, and have spent the
interval in renewed investigations; though even
then I should have felt that I had fallen short of
.pm start_poem
‘The height of this great argument;’
.pm end_poem
other cares, however, now demand my attention.
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1 January, 1851.
.bn f09.png
.pn +1
.h2
LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS.
.ta h:50 rb:20
The Most Noble Algernon Duke of Northumberland,\
Patron of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. | Quarto and octavo.
The Right Honourable the Earl Grey, Lord Lieutenant of\
the County of Northumberland. |
The Right Honourable the Earl of Carlisle. |
The Right Honourable Lord Londesborough. | Quarto and Octavo.
The Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Durham. |
The Honourable Henry Thomas Liddell, Eslington, Northumberland. | Quarto and octavo.
The Right Honourable Sir George Grey, Bart. |
Sir John Edward Swinburne, Bart., Capheaton, Northumberland,\
President of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Sir John P. Boileau Bart., F.R.S., Ketteringham, Norfolk, and\
Upper Brook-street, London. |
Sir Walter Calverley Trevelyan, Bart., Wallington, High \
Sheriff of Northumberland. |
Sir William Lawson, Bart., Brough Hall. |
Sir Francis Palgrave, K.H., F.R.S. Deputy Keeper of the\
Public Records, London. |
William Armstrong, Esq., Mayor of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
The Rev. R. C. Coxe, M.A., Vicar of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
The University of Edinburgh. | Quarto.
The British Archæological Association. |
The Archæological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. |
The Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. |
The Society of Writers to her Majesty’s Signet, Edinburgh. |
.bn f10.png
.pn +1
The Literary and Philosophical Society, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
The Literary and Philosophical Society, North Shields. |
The Mechanics’ Institute, Gateshead. |
The Mechanics’ Institute, South Shields. |
The Scientific and Mechanical Institution, Alnwick. |
The Edinburgh Select Library. |
The Wansbeck Book Club. |
Richard Abbatt, esq., Stoke Newington, London. |
John Adamson, esq., one of the Secretaries of the Society of\
Antiquaries, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; and one of the Secretaries\
of the Literary and Philosophical Soc., of the same town. |
R. Addison, esq., The Friary, Appleby. |
Joshua Alder, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
John Anderson, esq., Coxlodge, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Thomas Annandale, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Arthur Ashpitel, esq., F.S.A., 5, Crown-court, City, London. |
George Clayton Atkinson, esq., Denton, Northumberland. |
Charles Austin, esq., Brandeston Hall, Suffolk. |
William Austin, esq., Egerton House, Berkhampstead. |
J. C. Backhouse, esq., Blackwell, Darlington. |
Charles Baily, esq., F.S.A., one of the Honorary Secretaries of the\
British Archæological Association, Gracechurch-street, London. |
J. Bailey, esq., Wood-street, Cheapside, London. |
The Rev. Thomas Baker, M.A., Rector of Whitburn, Durham. |
Thomas Baker, esq., Official Assignee of the Court of Bankruptcy,\
Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
The Rev. E. A. Barker, Ludlow. |
Thomas Barnes, esq., M.D., Bunker’s-hill, Carlisle. |
Thomas Bateman, esq., M.D., Yolgrave, Bakewell. |
Nathaniel Bates, esq., Milbourne Hall, Northumberland. |
William Beamont, esq., Warrington. |
William Beamont, junior, esq., Trin. Coll. Camb. |
Matthew Bell, esq., M.P., Wolsington, Northumberland. |
The Rev. Meyrick Beebee, Simonburn. |
George Bell, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
John Lee Bell, esq., Brampton. |
Robert Bell, esq., Nook, Irthington. |
.bn f11.png
.pn +1
Mr. Robert Bell, Dean-street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Thomas Bell, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
James Beman, esq., Cheltenham. |
William Bennett, esq., Newport, Salop. |
John Brodribb Bergne, esq., F.S.A., Treasurer of the Numismatic\
Society, London. |
The Rev. John Besly, D.C.L., Vicar of Long Benton, Northumberland,\
and Rector of Aston-sub-edge, Gloucestershire.|
The Rev. Frederick Betham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Charles William Bigge, esq., Linden, Northumberland. |
Matthew R. Bigge, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. | Quarto.
The Rev. John Frederic Bigge, Stamfordham, Northumberland. |
The Rev. H. J. Bigge, Rockingham, North Hants. |
John Cass Birkinshaw, esq., Whickham, Durham. |
William Bolam, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Whitburn. |
James Bogle, esq., Glasgow. | Quarto.
William Henry Brockett, esq., Gateshead. |
Stamp Brooksbank, esq., The Hermitage, Hexham. |
E. J. J. Browell, esq., East Boldon. |
Mrs. Bruce, senior, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. | Two copies.
Mrs. Bruce, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. | Quarto.
Miss Williamina Bennett Brace, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. | Quarto.
George Barclay Bruce, esq., M. Inst. C.E., Alston. |
Mr. Gainsford Bruce, University, Glasgow. | Quarto.
Mr. Thomas Bruce, Leghorn. |
John Buchanan, esq., Western Bank of Scotland, Glasgow. |
James Buckman, esq., F.L.S., F.G.S., Cirencester. |
Thomas Burnet, esq., Summerhill-terrace. | Quarto.
Robert Busby, esq., Alnwick. |
Richard Cail, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Duncan Campbell, esq., Lesmahago, Lanarkshire. |
Ralph Carr, esq., Dunston-hill, Durham. | Quarto.
John Lowry Carrick, esq., Sandysike, Cumberland. |
William Chaffers, jun., esq., F.S.A., London. |
Edward Charlton, esq., M.D., one of the Secretaries of the Society\
of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
William Henry Charlton, esq., Hesleyside. |
Mr. Emerson Charnley, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
.bn f12.png
.pn +1
William Chartres, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
The Rev. Henry Christopherson, Bowdon, near Manchester. |
Miss Anne Clayton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
John Clayton, esq., Town-clerk of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. | Six copies, Quarto.
Matthew Clayton, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. | Quarto.
Miss Clayton, Chesters, Northumberland. |
Nathaniel Clayton, esq., Chesters, Northumberland. | Quarto and octavo.
The Rev. Richard Clayton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
William Clayton Clayton, Esq., Lincoln’s Inn, London. | Quarto.
Mr. Thomas L. Colbeck, Denton, Northumberland. |
The Rev. John Collinson, Rector of Boldon, Durham.|
Ralph Compton, esq., Church-court, Old Jewry, London. |
John Coppin, esq., North Shields. |
Capt. Gustavus Hamilton Coulson, R.N., Newbrough, Northumberland.|
John Blenkinsop Coulson, esq., Ochtertyre, Crieff.|
John Ross Coulthart, esq., Croft House, Ashton-under-Lyne. |
Robert Cowen, esq., Carlisle. |
George Cowen, esq., Dalston, Carlisle. |
Joseph Crawhall, esq., Stagshaw. |
William Crighton, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
James Crosby, esq., Church Court, Old Jewry, London. |
William Daggett, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Mr. John Daglish, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Mrs. Daglish, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
The Rev. William Nicholas Darnell, Rector of Stanhope, Durham. |
Matthew Dawes, esq., F.G.S., Westbrooke, Bolton. |
James Dearden, esq., F.S.A., The Manor, Rochdale. |
Robert Richardson Dees, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
William Dickson, esq., F.S.A., Clerk of the Peace for Northumberland,\
Alnwick. |
Dixon Dixon, esq., Unthank, Northumberland. | Quarto.
J. P. Dodd, esq., LL.D., North Shields. |
Mrs. Dodd, Greenwood Manse, Wigton. |
The Rev. Isaac Dodgson, Incumbent of Lanercost. |
James Menteith Douglas, esq., Stonebyers, Lanarkshire. | Quarto.
.bn f13.png
.pn +1
The Rev. G. J. Duncan, North Shields, Northumberland. |
Alfred John Dunkin, esq., Dartford, Kent. |
Samuel Edgar, esq., M.D., Berwick.|
Robert Elliot, esq., M.D., Carlisle. |
Miss Ellis, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Nathaniel Ellison, esq., Commissioner of the Court of Bankruptcy,\
Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Mr. John Ellison, Manchester. |
Dennis Embleton, esq., M.D., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
John Errington, esq., High Warden. | Two copies.
The Very Rev. Monsignor Charles Eyre, Haggerston Castle.|
Joseph Walter King Eyton, esq., F.S.A., Lond. and Scot. | Quarto.
Frederick William Fairholt, esq., F.S.A., Brompton, London. |
John Brunton Falconar, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Thomas Faulkner, esq., Chelsea. |
R. M. Fawcett, esq., Cambridge. |
The Rev. John Fell, M.A., Huntingdon. |
John Fenwick, esq., Campville, North Shields. (deceased) |
John Fenwick, esq., one of the Secretaries of the Literary and\
Philosophical Society, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. | Quarto.
John Clerevaulx Fenwick, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Miss Fergus, Hereford-street, Park-lane, London. |
William Ferguson, esq., Hill-street, Glasgow. |
Robert Ferguson, esq., Shadwell Lodge, Carlisle. |
Mr. John Forrest, Ellison-terrace, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
William Finley, esq., Durham. |
William John Forster, esq., Tynemouth. | Quarto.
Messrs. Finlay and Charlton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Hugh Watson Friend, esq., Harbut Lodge, Alston. |
J. H. Fryer, esq., Whitley House. |
John Gainsford, esq., Brighton.|
Mrs. Gainsford, Cheltenham.|
Joseph Garnett, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne.|
Mr. Garrett, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.|
Benjamin Gilpin, esq.|
Robert Mortimer Glover, esq., M.D., F.R.S.E., Newcastle. |
.bn f14.png
.pn +1
William Glover, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
T. H. Graham, esq., Edmond Castle.|
John Graham, esq., M.D., Brampton.|
Richard Grainger, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne.|
Thomas Gray, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne.|
Benjamin Green, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne.|
John Grey, esq., Dilston, Northumberland. | Three copies.
Henry Guy, esq., Gateshead. |
M. E. Hadfield, esq., Sheffield. |
Charles Hall, esq., Ansty, Blandford, Dorset. |
Mr. William Hall, Milton Station, Cumberland. |
Mr. George Hardcastle, Sunderland. | Quarto.
Mr. Anthony Harrison, Hexham. |
Thomas Emerson Headlam, esq., M.P. |
Thomas Hedley, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne.|
Ions Hewison, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne.|
S. Heywood, esq., Walshaw-hall, Bury, Lancashire.|
William Hill, esq., Edinburgh.|
John Hodgson Hinde, esq., Acton House, Northumberland. | Quarto.
Robert Hodgson, esq., Salkeld Hall, near Penrith.|
Joseph Hope, esq., Carlisle.|
John Houseman, esq., M.D., M.R.C.S. L. and E., Newcastle. |
Richard Hoyle, esq., Denton Hall, Northumberland. |
The Rev. J. Hudson, Incumbent of Hexham. |
The Rev. Abraham Hume, LL.D., Liverpool. |
Henry Hunt, esq., Birtley, Durham. |
Mr. W. S. Irving, B.A., Blencow Grammar School, Cumberland.
Robert Ingham, esq., Westoe, Durham. |
Henry Ingledew, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Thomas Ions, esq., Mus. Bac., Oxon., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Henry Jackson, esq., Sheffield. | Quarto.
J. M. Jessop, esq., King’s College, London. | Quarto.
George Johnson, esq., Willington, Northumberland. | Quarto.
John Johnson, esq., Killingworth, Northumberland. |
Robert Johnson, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. | Quarto.
.bn f15.png
.pn +1
William Kell, esq., Town Clerk of Gateshead. | Quarto and octavo.
Miss Kemp, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Rev. John Kenrick, York. |
Miss Lamb, Kylesike Hill, Brampton.|
Richard Lambert, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Messrs. M. and M. W. Lambert, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.|
Richard Holland Law, esq., Brunswick-square, London. |
Robert Leadbitter, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. | Quarto.
John Leathead, esq., Gallowgate. |
Thomas Carr Lietch, esq., Town Clerk of North Shields. |
Charles J. Lamb, esq., Ryton, Durham. |
William Hylton Longstaffe, esq., Gateshead. | Quarto.
M. A. Lower, esq., Lewes. |
Nicholas Lowes, esq., Allansgreen, Northumberland. |
David Mackinlay, esq., North Shields. | Quarto and octavo.
John Mackinlay, esq., Comptroller of Customs, Whitehaven. |
Henry Mac Lauchlan, esq., Printing-house-square, Blackfriars. |
J. M'Intosh, esq., Milton Abbey, near Blandford, Dorsetshire.
John M'Intosh, esq., Lansdowne Crescent, Glasgow. |
Mr. Luke Mackey, 67, King-street, South Shields. |
The Rev. W. H. Massie, Rector of St. Mary-on-the-Hill, Chester. |
Joseph Mayer, esq., F.S.A., Liverpool. |
Michael Meredith, esq., Finsbury, London. |
Samuel Mitchell, esq., The Mount, near Sheffield. |
John Moore, esq., West Coker, Yeovil, Somerset. |
George Gill Mounsey, esq., Castletown, Carlisle. |
J. B. Musgrave, esq., London. |
The Rev. G. M. Nelson, Bodicot Grange, Banbury. |
Joseph Nelson, esq., Waterloo, Oldham. |
The Rev. Robert Nelson, Edinburgh. |
George Nelson, esq., Fernhill, Pendleton, Manchester. |
Charles H. Newmarch, esq., Cirencester. |
The Rev. William Nichol, Jedburgh. | Quarto.
M. O'Connor, esq., 4, Berners street, Oxford-street, London. |
Messrs. Ogle and Son, Glasgow. |
.bn f16.png
.pn +1
Mr. George A. Oliver, Rye-hill, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Mrs. W. H. Ord, Riding, Gateshead. |
Robert Ormston, esq., Saville-row, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
The Rev. Lewis Paige, M.A., Newcastle.|
Mr. Joseph Parker, Brampton. |
George Paton, esq., A.R.A., London. |
Hugh Lee Pattinson, esq., Scots House, near Boldon. |
William Pattinson, esq., Wigton. |
Mrs. Peart, North Shields. |
George Hare Philipson, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Robert Plummer, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
The Rev. James Pringle, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Mr. Edward Pruddah, Hexham. |
Mr. William Pruddah, Hexham. |
Henry Glasford Potter, esq., F.L.S., F.G.S., etc., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Jonathan Priestman, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
William Ramsay, esq., M,A., F.S.S., F.P.S., Professor of Humanity\
in the University of Glasgow; Corresponding Member of\
the Archæological Society of Athens. |
Thomas Ramshaw, esq., Brampton. |
Robert Rawlinson, esq., Superintending Inspector of the General\
Board of Health, Gwydyr House, Whitehall. | Quarto.
The Rev. Wm. Rees, M.A., Carlisle. |
Mr. C. F. Reid, Grey-street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Mr. Christian Bruce Reid, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Mr. Edw. Richardson, Summerhill Grove, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Thos. Riddell, esq., Felton Park. | Quarto.
Mr. George Bouchier Richardson, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Jonathan Richardson, esq., Benwell House. |
Thomas Richardson, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
George Rippon, esq., North Shields. |
Thomas Robertson, esq., Alnwick. |
Mr. Thomas Robinson, Collingwood-street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Mr. Robert Robinson, Pilgrim street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
William Robson, esq., Paradise, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
.bn f17.png
.pn +1
Mr. Robert Stephen Salmon, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Richard Burdon Sanderson, jun., esq., West Jesmond, Newcastle.|
Mr. William Sang, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.|
John Sang, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne.|
Master John Fenwick Schofield, 11, Ellison-place, Newcastle.|
Miss Agnes Percy Schofield, 11, Ellison-place, Newcastle.|
The Rev. T. H. Scott, Canon of Durham, Rector of Whitfield.|
Mr. Hudson Scott, Carlisle. |
J. S. Donaldson Selby, esq., Cheswick House, Northumberland. |
George Selby, esq., Belle Vue, Alnwick. |
Isaac Sheffield, esq., London.|
John Sheffield, esq., Carlisle.|
Thomas Sheffield, esq., Exeter.|
Mr. George Robertson Shield, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Charles Roach Smith, esq., F.S.A., Lond., and Scot., Honorary\
Secretary of the Numismatic Society, Liverpool-street, City. |
William George Smith, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne.|
The Rev. George Hunt Smyttan, Charlton Hall, Alnwick. |
S. Reynolds Solly, esq., M.A., F.R.S., F.S.A., Serge Hill, Herts. |
Thomas Sopwith, esq., F.R.S., F.L.S., Allenheads, Northd. | Quarto.
Philip Holmes Stanton, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Thomas Stephens, esq., North Shields.|
Robert Stephenson, esq., M.P., F.R.S., London. | Quarto.
James Cochrane Stevenson, esq., South Shields.|
George Waugh Stable, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. | Quarto.
John George Stoker, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Robert Stokoe, esq., Hexham. |
John Storey, esq., F.B.S.E., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. | Quarto.
Mr. John Storey, jun., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
R. W. Swan, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
George Tate, esq., F.G.S., Alnwick. |
John Taylor, esq., M.A., Edinburgh. |
Mr. John Thompson, Bloomfield-terrace, Gateshead.|
Thomas Thorp, esq., Alnwick, Northumberland.|
John Thurnam, esq., M.D., London.|
Mr. Charles Thurnam, Carlisle.|
Arthur Trollope, esq., Lincoln.|
Charles Tucker, esq., F.S.A., one of Honorary Secretaries of the\
Archæological Institute, 26, Suffolk-street, London. |
.bn f18.png
.pn +1
W. B. D. D. Turnbull, esq., Sec. Society of Antiquaries, Scotland.|
Mr. Robert Turner, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.|
Mr. John Ventress, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. | Quarto.
Mr. Robert Vint, Sunderland.|
John Waldie, esq., Hendersyde Park, Kelso.|
Ralph Walters, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne.|
Robert Walters, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne.|
James Wardell, esq., Leeds.|
Charles Warne, esq., Milbourne St. Andrews, Blandford, Dorset.|
Mr. Christopher Watson, Marsh House, Easton, Cumberland.|
Joseph Watson, esq., Gresham-place, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Albert Way, esq., M.A., F.S.A., one of the Hon. Secretaries of the\
Archæological Institute, 26, Suffolk-street, Pall-Mall-East. |
Captain James Dent Weatherley, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.|
Thomas Weddell, esq., F.R.A.S., Addiscombe.|
Robert M. Weeks, esq., Ryton, Durham.|
Matthew Wheatley, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne.|
Mr. Richard Cuthbertson Whinfield, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.|
Mr. G. H. Whinfield, Pilgrim-street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.|
Alfred White, esq., Curator and Registrar of the British Archæological\
Association, Tyndale-place, Islington. |
Robert White, esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
The Rev. Robt. Hopper Williamson, Rector of Hurworth. | Quarto.
John Williamson, esq., Glasgow. |
Mr. John Heron Wilson, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
Daniel Wilson, esq., Hon. Sec. Soc. of Antiquaries, Scotland. |
Mr. David Hamilton Wilson, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. | Quarto.
Charles Winn, esq., Nostell, Wakefield. | Quarto.
William Woodman, esq., Town-clerk, Morpeth. |
M. Wright, esq., Trinity House, London. |
Thomas Wright, esq., M.A., F.S.A., Corresponding Member of the\
National Institute of France, etc. 24, Sydney-street, Brompton. |
Edgar Garston, K.S., Liverpool. |
Mrs. Grey, Dilston House, Northumberland. |
George Patten, esq., A.R.A., London. |
Mr. William Richardson, 71, Percy-street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. |
.ta-
.bn f19.png
.pn +1
.h2
CONTENTS | AND | LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
.ta r:8 l:50 r:10
| |Page.
1.| #Frontispiece:i_f00#—Pons Ælii restored. |
| The site of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the Pons Ælii of the Romans, is here shewn.\
The ground on which it stands, rising abruptly from the bed of the river Tyne, to\
the height of about an hundred feet, is cut into three very remarkable tongues of\
land by four ravines, permeated by as many streams, which all disembogue in the\
Tyne. The easternmost and largest of these tongues of land is that formed by the\
Ouseburn and Pandon-dean; the smallest by Pandon-dean and the Lort-burn; and\
the westernmost, wheron stands the castle, and formerly the Roman station,\
by the Lort-burn and Skinner-burn. Extensive suburbs probably occupied all these\
eminences. |
2. | #Title:f01#—Modern Buildings on the site of Pons Ælii. |
| The Norman keep of the Castle of Newcastle-upon-Tyne; the Church of\
St. Nicholas; and the court-house for the county of Northumberland, built\
upon the site of the south-east corner of the station of Pons Ælii. |
3. | Plan of the course of the Roman Wall | facing #1:if26#
|PART I.—AN EPITOME OF THE HISTORY OF ROMAN \
OCCUPATION IN BRITAIN. | #1#
4. | Initial letter—altar from Corbridge | #1:p001b#
5. | Coin of Claudius—DE BRITANNIS | #4:p004#
6. | Coin of Vespasian—ROMA RESURGES | #6:p006#
7. | Coin of Hadrian—ADVENTUS BRITANNIÆ | #11:p011#
8. | Coin of Hadrian—BRITANNIA | #12:p012#
9. | Coin of Severus—VICTORIÆ BRITTANICÆ | #19:p019#
10.| Coin of Carausius—reverse, a galley | #22:p022#
11.| Coin of Carausius—reverse, a lion | #22:p022#
12.| Coin of Magnentius—reverse, Christian monogram|#24:p024#
13.| Base of column—Housesteads | #24:p042#
.bn f20.png
.pn +1
|PART II.—A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE LINE OF\
THE WALL. | #43#
14.| Initial Letter—Roman Nails | #43:p043b#
15.| Plan of Barrier between Cilurnum and Magna—Plan of Cilurnum[1]\
and contiguous Works—Plans of individual Stations | facing #45:p044b#
16.| Section of Works, near eighteenth mile-stone | #52:p052#
17.| Section of Works, west of Carraw | #52:p052#
18.| Mural Slab—Ala II. Asturum | #61:p061#
19.| Altar to Fortune—Coh. I. Batavorum | #62:p062#
20.| Altar to Jupiter—Coh. I. Tungrorum | #63:p063#
21.| Written-Rock, on the river Gelt | facing #81:p080b#
22.| Letters on the Written-Rock | #82:p082#
23.| Form of Wall-Stone | #83:p083#
24.| Junction of the west wall of Birdoswald with the Wall | #84:p084#
25-27.| Broaching of the Wall Stones | #85:p085a#
28-31. | Marks on the Stones | #86:p086#
32.| Sections and Elevations of the Masonry of the Wall | facing #89:p088b#
33.| Herring-bone Masonry | #91:p091#
34.| Written-Rock at Fallow-field-fell | #102:p102#
|PART III.-LOCAL DESCRIPTION OF THE WORKS. | #103#
35.| Initial Letters—Balusters from the Wall | #103:p103b#
36.| Altar to Jupiter—Coh. IV. Lingonum | #109:p109#
37.| Plan of Wallsend, Segedunum; Section of Mountain and Works at\
Bradley | facing #113:p112b#
38.| Wallsend, looking East | facing #115:p114#
39.| Plan of Pons Ælii | facing #126:p126a#
40.| Mercury, Pons Ælii | #129:p129#
41-44. |Coins of Hadrian found in the Bridge, Pons Ælii | #131:p131#
45.| Coin of Severus found in Bridge, Pons Ælii | #131:p131#
46.| Slab to the Campestral Mothers | #140:p140#
47.| Altar to Mars | #142:p142#
48.| Altar to Mars | #143:p143#
49.| Fragment of the Wall, near Denton | #145:p145#
50.| The Works at Heddon-on-the Wall | facing #149:p148b#
51.| The Works near Carr-hill | facing #156:p156a#
52.| Mural Slab—Leg. II. Aug. | #163:p163#
53.| Slab—Fulgur Divom | #164:p164#
54.| The Wall at Brunton | facing #169:p168b#
55.| Remains of Roman Bridge over North Tyne | facing #170:p170a#
.bn f21.png
.pn +1
56.| Miscellaneous Antiquities, Chesters, Cilurnum | facing #170:p170c#
57.| Vault at Cilurnum | #173:p173#
58.| Hypocausts at Cilurnum | #174:p174#
59.| Ground Plan of Hypocausts, Cilurnum | #175:p175#
60.| River God, Cilurnum | #178:p178#
61.| Hypocaust, Cilurnum | facing #178:p178a#
62.| Funereal Slab, Cilurnum | #184:p184#
63.| Funereal Slab of Horse Soldier, Cilurnum | #185:p185#
64.| Slab—Ala II. Asturum | #186:p186#
65.| Statue of Cybele, Cilurnum | #189:p189#
66.| Group of Carved Stones, Cilurnum | #190:p190#
67.| Miscellaneous Antiquities, Cilurnum | facing #191:p190b#
68.| Samian Ware | facing #192:p190d#
69.| Roman Spears, etc. | facing #192:p192a#
70.| The Works, Tepper-moor | facing #197:p196b#
71.| Slab—Coh. I. Batavorum | #198:p198#
72.| Approach to Sewingshields | facing #200:p200a#
73.| Busy Gap | #208:p208#
74.| Junction of West Wall of Housesteads, Borcovicus, with the Wall | #216:p216a#
75.| Ground Plan of Gateway, Housesteads | #216:p216b#
76.| Outside View of the West Portal, Housesteads | #217:p217a#
77.| Inside View of West Portal, Housesteads | #217:p217b#
78.| Housesteads, Borcovicus, from the East | facing #220:p220a#
79.| Broken Columns, Borcovicus | facing #225:p224b#
80.| Sculptured Figures, Borcovicus | facing #225:p224d#
81.| Sculptured Figures, etc. | facing #225:p224f#
82.| Figure of Victory | #226:p226#
83.| Sepulchral Slab to a young Physician | #227:p227#
84.| Slab to Hadrian, Bradley | #232:p232#
85.| Slab to Hadrian, Milking-gap | #234:p234#
86.| Altar to Fortune, Chesterholm | #237:p237#
87.| Hypocaust Pillar | #238:p238#
88.| Milestone at Chesterholm, Vindolana | facing #239:p238b#
89.| Altar to Genius of the Pretorium | #240:p240#
90.| Symbol, Leg. XX. | #241:p241a#
91.| Part of Slab to Hadrian | #241:p241b#
92.| Coping-stone, Roman ‘broaching’ | #242:p242#
93.| The Crags, West of Craglough | facing #243:p242b#
94.| The Wall at Steel-rig | facing #244:p244a#
95.| Mural Stone, Leg. XX. V.V. | #247:p247#
96.| Mile-castle at Cawfield | facing #248:p248a#
97.| Part of Slab to Hadrian | #251:p251#
98.| Tablet to Hadrian | #256:p256#
99.| Plan of ancient Water-course, Great Chesters, Æsica | facing #257:p256b#
100.| Nine-nicks of Thirlwall | #265:p265#
.bn f22.png
.pn +1
101.| Lamp, Fibula, Shears, and Compasses | facing #268:p268a#
102.| Stone Effigy | #272:p272#
103.| Section of Works near Wallend | #273:p273#
104.| Slab to Hadrian, by Leg. XX. V. V. | #274:p274#
105.| Altar to Jupiter, by Coh. I. Ael. Dac. | #278:p278#
106.| West Gateway, Birdoswald, Amboglanna | #280:p280#
107.| Mural Stone, Leg. VI. V. F. | #281:p281#
108.| Birdoswald, western Rampart | facing #282:p282a#
109.| Section of Works, Wallbours | #283:p283#
110.| Coin of Severus, Julia | #289:p289a#
111.| Coin of Caracalla | #289:p289b#
112.| Coin of Geta | #289:p289c#
113.| Altar to Jupiter, Coh. II. Tungr.| #290:p290#
114.| View of Pigeon Crag | #292:p292#
115.| Mural Stone, Leg. II. Aug. | #294:p294#
116.| Altar—ob res trans vallum prospere gestas | #302:p302#
117.| Bowness | facing #313:p312b#
118.| Monument to Edward I. | #314:p314#
|PART IV.—THE SUPPORTING STATIONS OF THE WALL. | #315#
119.| Initial A, and Mural Slab, Risingham | #315:p315b#
120.| Tablet, Gyrum Cumbas | #319:p319#
121.| Tablet found at Jarrow | #323:p323#
122.| Corbridge Lanx | #335:p335#
123.| Altar to Astarte | #338:p338#
124.| Crypt of Hexham Abbey Church | #339:p339#
125.| Slab to Severus at Hexham | #340:p340#
126.| Genius of the Wall | #353:p353#
127.| Altar to Jupiter for the safety of Severus | #360:p360#
128.| Altar to Jupiter, Maryport | #363:p363#
129.| Slab to Hadrian, Moresby | #367:p367#
130.| Symbol of Leg. XX. | #368:p368#
|PART V.—THE QUESTION—WHO BUILT THE WALL?—DISCUSSED. | #369#
131.| Initial O, bronze ornament found at Borcovicus | #369:p369a#
132.| Slab, Leg. II. and Leg. XX. | #392:p392#
|PART VI.—MISCELLANEOUS ANTIQUITIES FOUND ON THE LINE OF THE WALL. | #393:part06#
133.| Initial M, bronze ornament, an Eagle, found at Magna | #393:p393#
134.| Altar, Deo Vetri | #395:p395#
.bn f23.png
.pn +1
135.| Large Altar to Jupiter | #397:p397#
136.| Altar, Genio Loci, etc. | #399:p399#
137.| Altar, Deo Cocidio | #401:p401a#
138.| Altar, Deo Belatucadro | #401:p401b#
139.| Altar to Minerva | #402:p402#
140.| Altar to Fortune | #403:p403#
141.| Altar to Mithras | #404:p404#
142.| Altar to the Sun | #405:p405#
143.| Attendant of Mithras | #406:p406#
144.| Altar to Mithras | #407:p407#
145.| Zodiacal Tablet, Borcovicus | #409:p409#
146.| Pine-apple Ornament, etc., Cilurnum | #410:p410a#
147.| Presumed Mithraic Sculpture, Cilurnum | #410:p410b#
148.| Altar to Apollo, Cawfield mile-castle | #411:p411#
149.| Inscription to the Syrian Goddess, Magna | #412:p412#
150.| Altar to Silvanus, Amboglanna | #413:p413#
151.| Altar to the Nymphs, Habitancum | #414:p414#
152.| Altar to the Gods of the Mountains, Vindobala | #415:p415a#
153.| Altar to Epona, Magna | #415:p415b#
154.| Altar, sculptured with a Toad, Cilurnum | #416:p416a#
155.| Altar to Viteres, Thirlwall-castle | #416:p416b#
156.| Altar to Viteres, Condercum | #417:p417a#
157.| Altar to the Dea Hamia, Thirlwall-castle | #417:p417b#
158.| Altar to the Three Lamiæ, Condercum | #418:p418a#
159-60. |Egyptian Idols | #418:p418b#
161.| Altar to the Transmarine Mothers, Habitancum | #419:p419#
162.| Sculpture to the Deæ Matres, at Netherby | #420:p420a#
163.| Sculpture to the Deæ Matres, at Netherby | #420:p420b#
164.| Sculpture to the Deæ Matres, at Netherby | #420:p420c#
165.| Sculpture to the Deæ Matres, at Nether-hall | #421:p421#
166.| Sepulchral Altar to the Manes of Fabia Honorata, Cilurnum | #426:p426#
167.| Sepulchral Slab to the Manes of Aurelia Faia, Magna | #428:p428#
168.| Sepulchral Slab to the Memory of Cornelius Victor, Vindolana | #429:p429#
169.| Centurial Stone, Coh. V. Cæcilii Proculi, Cilurnum | #430:p430a#
170.| Centurial Stone, Cilurnum | #430:p430b#
171.| Vessel, in which the Thorngrafton Coins were found | #434:p434#
172-224.| The Thorngrafton Coins, imperial, consular, and others | #435:p435#-441
225.| Samian Ware, from Wallsend and Lanchester | facing #445:p444b#
226.| Bronze Vessels facing | #445:p444d#
227.| Iron Pot, Bronze Vessel, Tongs, etc. | facing #445:p444f#
228.| Soles of Sandals, etc. facing | #445:p444h#
229.| Tail piece—Romæ Æternæ Fortunæ Reduci | #450:p450#
.ta-
.fn 1
The Plan represents the position of each stone now remaining in the river.
It is the result of a series of observations made during the summer of 1850, by
Mr. Robert Elliot, of Wall. Most of the stones have luis-holes.
.fn-
.fm rend=t lz=t
.fm rend=t
.bn f24.png
.bn f25.png
.bn f26.png
.pb
.pn +1
.dv class='illo'
.rj
PLATE I
.il id=if26 fn=i_f26.jpg w=600px link=i_f26big.jpg ew=100%
.ca
A. Reid, Sc 117, Pilgrim S^t. Newcastle.
Plan
OF THE COURSE OF THE
ROMAN WALL
FROM THE
TYNE TO THE SOLWAY.
.ca-
.dv-
.bn p001.png
.pb
.pn 1
.il fn=i_p001a.jpg w=400px ew=80%
.ce 2
The Roman Barrier of the
Lower Isthmus.
.h2
PART I. | AN EPITOME OF THE HISTORY OF ROMAN OCCUPATION IN BRITAIN.
.di i_p001b.jpg 150 0.5
IN no country of the world are there
such evident traces of the march
of Roman legions as in Britain.
In the northern parts of England
especially, the footprints of
the Empire are very distinct.
Northumberland, as Wallis long
ago remarked, is Roman ground.
Every other monument in Britain
yields in importance to The
Wall. As this work, in grandeur
of conception, is worthy of the Mistress of Nations,
so, in durability of structure, is it the
becoming offspring of the Eternal City.
A dead wall may seem to most a very unpromising
subject. The stones are indeed inanimate,
but he who has a head to think, and a heart
.bn p002.png
.pn +1
to feel, will find them suggestive of bright ideas and
melting sympathies; though dead themselves, they
will be the cause of mental life in him. A large part
of the knowledge which we possess of the early history
of our country has been dug out of the ground.
The spade and the plough of the rustic have often
exposed documents, which have revealed the movements,
as well as the modes of thought and feeling,
of those who have slept in the dust for centuries.
The casual wanderer by the relics of the Vallum and
the Wall, may not succeed in culling facts that are
new to the Historian, but he will probably get those
vivid glances into Roman character, and acquire that
personal interest in Roman story, which will give to
the prosaic records of chroniclers, a reality, and a
charm, which they did not before possess.
As a natural introduction to the subject, and as a
means of preparing for some discussions which are
to follow, it may be well briefly to trace the progress
of the Roman arms in Britain, from the arrival of
Cæsar on our shores, to the eventual abandonment
of the island.
.sn EARLIEST NOTICES OF THE BRITISH ISLES.
It is curious to observe, that the curtain of British
history is raised by some of the earliest and
greatest of profane writers. Herodotus, who wrote
about the year B.C. 450, mentions the "Cassiterides,
from which tin is procured"; Aristotle, about
the year B.C. 340, expressly names the islands of
Albion and Ierne; and Polybius, about the year
B.C. 160, makes a distinct reference to the "Britannic
Isles." To Julius Cæsar, however, we are indebted,
.bn p003.png
.pn +1
for the first detailed account of Britain and its
inhabitants. On 26 Aug. B.C. 55, that renowned
conqueror landed in Britain, with a force of about ten
thousand men. Both on that occasion, and on a
second attempt, which, with a larger force, he made
the year following, he met with a warm reception
from the savage islanders. Tides and tempests
seconded the efforts of the natives, and great Julius
bade Britain a final farewell, without erecting any fortress
in it, or leaving any troops to secure his conquest.
Tacitus says, that he did not conquer Britain,
but only shewed it to the Romans. Horace, calling
upon Augustus to achieve the conquest, denominates
it 'untouched'—
.pm start_poem
Intactus aut Britannus ut descenderet
Sacra catenatus via.
.pm end_poem
and Propertius, in the same spirit, describes it as
‘unconquered,’ invictus. There is, therefore, little
exaggeration in the lines of Shakspere—
.pm start_poem
... A kind of conquest
Cæsar made here; but made not here his brag
Of, came, and saw, and overcame: with shame
(The first that ever touched him) he was carried
From off our coast, twice beaten; and his shipping
(Poor ignorant baubles!) on our terrible seas,
Like egg-shells moved upon their surges, cracked
As easily 'gainst our rocks.
.pm end_poem
.sn PLAUTIUS AND CLAUDIUS VISIT BRITAIN.
During the reigns of Augustus, Tiberius, and Caligula,
Britain was unmolested by foreign invasion.
.bn p004.png
.pn +1
At the invitation of a discontented Briton, Claudius
resolved to attempt the reduction of the island. In
the year of our Lord 43, he sent Aulus Plautius, with
four legions and their auxiliaries, amounting in all to
about fifty thousand men, into Britain. It was with
difficulty that the troops could be induced to engage
in the undertaking. They were unwilling, as
Dion Cassius informs us, "to engage in a war, as it
were, out of the world." The fears of the soldiery
were not without foundation. The Britons, though
their inferiors in discipline and arms, were not behind
them in valour and spirit, whilst, in a knowledge of
the country they had an important advantage.
.il id=p004 fn=i_p004.jpg w=200px ew=25% align=r
The year following, Claudius personally engaged
in the war. He advanced into the country, as far as
Camelodunum (Colchester), and after some sanguinary
contests, received the submission of the natives
in that vicinity. The estimation in which Britain,
even at this time, was held, was such, that the Senate,
on learning what he had achieved, surnamed him
Britannicus, granted him a triumph, and voted him
annual games. The event was of sufficient importance,
to be celebrated on the current coin of the
day. Several gold and silver
pieces have come down to
our times, bearing on the
reverse, a triumphal arch,
on which is inscribed the
words DE BRITANNis—Over the Britons. This
is the first occasion on which allusion is made to
Britain, on the coinage of Rome.
.bn p005.png
.pn +1
.sn ITS PARTIAL SUBJUGATION. BOADICEA.
On the return of Claudius, the supreme command
again devolved upon his lieutenant, Aulus Plautius,
who succeeded in bringing into complete subjection,
the tribes occupying the southern portion of the
island. In this expedition, Vespasian, afterwards
emperor, acted as second in command to Plautius.
Titus, the son of Vespasian, accompanied his father.
Thus was it, in Britain, that the destroyers of Jerusalem
were unconsciously trained for inflicting upon
God’s chosen, but sinful people, the chastisements of
His displeasure.
Ostorius Scapula, A.D. 50, succeeded to the command
in Britain. The brave Silures, headed by
Caractacus, rendered his progress slow and bloody.
Ostorius at length sank under the harassing nature
of his duties.
In the reign of Nero, Roman affairs in Britain
received a severe check. The Iceni, led on by their
enraged queen Boadicea, threw off the yoke and
attacked the principal stations of the enemy. London,
which was then an important commercial city,
fell, upon the first assault, and Verulam (near the
modern St. Albans) shared the same fate. The British
warrior-queen sullied the splendour of her exploits
by her cruelty; seventy thousand Romans, or adherents
of the government of Rome, fell under her
hands. Suetonius, the Roman governor, collecting
his forces, gave battle to the queen and routed her.
A frightful carnage ensued; of the amazing number
of two hundred and thirty thousand men of which
the British forces are said to have consisted, not less
than eighty thousand fell.
.bn p006.png
.pn +1
During the remainder of the reign of Nero, and
the short rule of his three successors, Galba, Otho,
and Vitellius, no advance was made in the conquest
of Britain. In the strifes of the rival emperors, it
was however destined to bear its part. Eight thousand
soldiers were drafted from it to fight under the
banners of Vitellius. Thus early, as Dr. Giles well
observes, was this island, whose position in the
bosom of the ocean indicates a peaceful policy, induced
to bear the brunt of continental quarrels.
.il id=p006 fn=i_p006.jpg w=400px ew=75%
.sn VESPASIAN ASSUMES THE PURPLE.
When Vespasian assumed the purple, a new era
dawned upon the empire. This fact is well indicated
upon a coin struck at this period. In the engraving,
taken from a specimen found on the Wall,
the emperor is observed raising a prostrate female
from the ground (doubtless Rome), whilst Mars
looks approvingly on; the inspiring motto “Roma
Resurges”—Rome thou shalt rise again,—encircles
the group.[2] Vespasian appointed Petilius Cerealis
his proprætor in Britain, who in five years succeeded
.bn p007.png
.pn +1
in adding the Brigantes, a powerful tribe, to the
subjects of the empire. Julius Frontinus was his
successor, who, in the three years of his government,
nearly subdued the warlike nation of the Silures.
.fn 2
This coin is in the possession of Mr. Bell, of the Nook,
Irthington, to whose cabinet of coins, chiefly procured from the
line of the wall, the author has kindly been allowed free access.
.fn-
.sn HIS PROPRÆTORS SUBJUGATE THE ISLAND.
One hundred and thirty-three years had now
elapsed since the first descent of Cæsar, and thirty-five
years, since Claudius had claimed the honour of
conquering Britain, and yet but a fraction of the
island was in subjection to Roman power. Nothing,
as Dr. Giles well remarks, can more strongly shew
the stubborn spirit of the natives, than their protracted
resistance to the invaders. Battle after battle
had been lost; but many of these tribes were still
unsubdued, and several even undiscovered.
.sn THE OPERATIONS OF AGRICOLA.
But the reputation of all preceding governors, was
obscured by a greater man than they. Cnæus Julius
Agricola had served in Britain under some preceding
commanders; so that when he landed as
governor in the year 78 he was prepared to act with
all the promptitude which a knowledge of the country
and the people could give him. During the eight
years of his rule, he subjugated the remaining tribes
of southern Britain, carried his arms into the northern
section of the island, and drove, in successive
campaigns, the natives before him, until at length,
in the battle of the Grampians, he paralyzed their
strength for a while. He circumnavigated the whole
island, and planted the Roman standard upon the
Orkneys. He built walls and fortresses in all places
where they were required, and softened the fierceness
of the barbarians, by fostering a taste for letters
.bn p008.png
.pn +1
and the luxuries of the Eternal City. But it is necessary
to trace the movements of Agricola, with some
of the detail with which they are given in the pages
of Tacitus.
.pm start_quote
The summer of A.D. 78 was far spent when he arrived; yet
before going into winter quarters, he attacked and subdued
the Ordovices, and brought the sacred isle of Anglesea a
second time to obedience. The respite from arms which the
following winter afforded, was employed by the general in the
most useful and necessary purposes. Being well acquainted with
the temper of the inhabitants of the province, and having learnt
from the conduct and experience of others, that what is gained
by force avails little, where oppressions and grievances follow,
he determined to put an immediate end to all the causes of the
war. He began by checking and regulating the affairs of his
own household, correcting the abuses that had crept into the
army, promoting impartially those who deserved it; while at
the same time he redressed the grievances of the inhabitants,
made an equitable distribution of the public burthens, and
abolished all hurtful monopolies. By the prosecution of measures
so salutary as these, six months had scarcely elapsed,
when affairs in Britain were entirely changed, and assumed a
bright and settled aspect.
.pm end_quote
His second campaign, that of the year 79, was
probably occupied in subduing the ancient tenants
of the Lower Isthmus of the island.
.pm start_quote
On the approach of summer, he re-assembled his army, and
in advancing, failed not to excite a proper spirit of emulation
among the troops, praising those who best observed their
several duties, and checking such as were remiss. He himself
chose the ground for encamping; the marshes, firths, and
difficult places, he always examined first; and, allowing the
enemy no respite, he continually harassed them with sudden
.bn p009.png
.pn +1
incursions and ravages. Having alarmed and terrified them
sufficiently, he next tried the effect of good usage and the
allurements of peace. By this wise and prudent conduct,
several communities, which till then had maintained their independence,
submitted to the Romans, gave hostages, and
suffered garrisons and fortresses to be placed among them.
These strongholds he established with such judgment, as
effectually secured all those parts of Britain which had then
been visited by the Romans.
The following winter was employed in civilizing and polishing
the rude inhabitants, who, living wild and dispersed over the
country, were thence ever restless and easily instigated to war.
At first, they were prevailed upon to associate more together,
and for this end were instructed in the art of building houses,
temples, and places of public resort. The sons of their chiefs
were taught the liberal sciences; hence it was no unusual
thing to see those who lately scorned the Roman language,
become admirers of its eloquence. By degrees, the customs,
manners, and dress of their conquerors, became familiar to
them, they acquired a taste for a life of inactivity and
ease, and at length were caught by the charms and incitements
of luxury and vice. By such as judged of things from
their external appearance only, all this was styled politeness
and humanity, while, in reality, Agricola was effectually enslaving
them, and imperceptibly rivetting their chains.
During the third year of his command, he pushed his
conquests northwards, and carried his devastations as far
as the mouth of the Tay (Taus.) Here, the enemy were
struck with so much terror, that they durst not attack
the Roman army, though it was greatly distressed by the
severities of the climate. Agricola, in order to secure
possession of these advanced conquests, again erected forts
in the most commodious situations; and so judiciously was
this done, that none of them were ever taken by force, abandoned
through fear, or given up on terms of capitulation.
Each fort defended itself, and, against any long siege, was constantly
supplied with provisions for a year. Thus the several
.bn p010.png
.pn +1
garrisons not only passed the winter in perfect security,
but were likewise enabled, from these strongholds, to make
frequent excursions against the enemy, who could not, as heretofore,
repair the losses they had sustained in summer, by the
successes usually attending their winter expeditions.
.pm end_quote
The forts here referred to, are probably those,
which were drawn along the Upper Isthmus of the
island, extending from the Firth of Forth to the
Firth of Clyde, and which were afterwards connected
by the wall of Antoninus Pius.
This is rendered apparent from what follows:—
.pm start_quote
Agricola employed the fourth summer (A.D. 81) in settling
and further securing the country he had subdued. Here, had
it been compatible with the bravery of the army, or if the
glory of the Roman name would have permitted it, there
had been found a boundary to their conquests in Britain;
for the tide, entering from opposite seas, and flowing far into
the country by the rivers Glotta and Bodotria, their heads
are only separated by a narrow neck of land, which was occupied
by garrisons. Of all on this side, the Romans were already
masters, the enemy being driven, as it were, into another
island.
.pm end_quote
.sn AGRICOLA IS RECALLED.
It is not necessary to pursue the operations of
Agricola further. In the seventh summer he defeated
Galgacus on the flanks of the Grampians.
The Roman power was now at its height. Agricola,
probably from motives of jealousy, was recalled by
the emperor Domitian, and as his successors were
not men of the same vigour as himself, the barbarians
were in a condition, at least to dispute the pretensions
of their conquerors.
.bn p011.png
.pn +1
.sn HADRIAN ARRIVES IN BRITAIN.
In the year 120—thirty-five years after the recall
of Agricola—affairs in Britain had fallen into such
confusion, as to require the presence of the emperor
Hadrian, who had assumed the imperial purple three
years before. He did not attempt to regain the conquests
which Agricola had made in Scotland, but
prudently sought to make the line of forts, which
that general had constructed in his second campaign,
the limit of his empire. With this object in view, he
drew a wall across the island—the Barrier of the
Lower Isthmus. The testimony of Spartian, the historian
of his reign, though brief, is decisive. Hadrian,
says he, visited Britain, when he corrected many
things, and first drew a wall (murus) eighty miles
in length, to divide the barbarians from the Romans.
The arrival in Britain, of Hadrian, one of Rome’s
greatest generals, was thought an event of sufficient
importance to be commemorated in the currency
of the empire. The large brass coin, here
represented, was struck by decree of the Senate in
the year 121.[3]
.il id=p011 fn=i_p011.jpg w=400px ew=80%
.fn 3
This interesting coin is thus described by Akerman:—Obverse—HADRIANUS
· AVGustus, COnsul III. [tertium] Pater
Patriæ. Laureated bust of Hadrian, with the chlamys buckled
over his right shoulder. Reverse—ADVENTVS AVGusti BRITANNIAE.
In the exergue—Senatus Consulto. An altar, with the fire kindled,
placed between the emperor in his toga, who holds a patera, and a
female figure, a victim lying at her feet.
.fn-
.bn p012.png
.pn +1
.sn THE BARRIER OF THE UPPER ISTHMUS.
The plans and the prowess of the emperor were
thought to have effectually secured those portions
of the island, which it was prudent to retain in
the grasp of Rome. This circumstance was announced
to the world in another coin, bearing, on the
reverse, a name destined to sound through regions
Hadrian never knew—Britannia—and representing
a female figure seated on a rock, having a spear in
her left hand, and a shield by her side.[4]
.il id=p012 fn=i_p012.jpg w=300px ew=70%
.fn 4
Numismatists differ as to the appropriation of the female. The
same figure in other coins of this reign being used to personify
Rome, it probably does so in this case; and represents the secure
possession obtained by the Eternal City, of Albion’s rocky shore.
However this may be, the same figure has been placed by many
successive generations of mint-masters on the reverse of the copper
coinage of Great Britain. Britain in this still bows to Rome!
.fn-
About twenty years after Hadrian’s expedition,
Lollius Urbicus took the command in Britain. He
was not satisfied with the limits which Hadrian had
prudently assigned to the empire in Britain. Forcing
back the Britons, he raised an earthen rampart
across the isthmus between the Forth and the Clyde.
.bn p013.png
.pn +1
Graham’s Dike, in Scotland, is the wall which was
built by Lollius Urbicus. This is proved by the numerous
sculptures which have, at different times,
been discovered among its ruins.
.sn DECLINE OF THE ROMAN POWER.
The remaining history of the Romans, on the
northern frontier of England, is fraught with disaster.
The tide of war sometimes broke upon the northern,
and sometimes on the southern boundary; but its roar
and its devastation ceased not, until the Roman intruder
had been driven altogether from the island—or,
rather, until the successive strifes of Romans and
Picts, Normans and Saxons, Border reavers and
Scottish troopers, had been hushed, under the vigorous
rule of the last of the Tudors. What Hadrian
could not do, for the inhabitants of the North of England;
what Severus failed to accomplish; what the
great Alfred—the Norman oppressor—the Plantagenets—the
despotic Henry VIII., attempted in vain,
was accomplished under what John Knox calls ‘the
monstrous regiment of a woman.’ Then, a ‘bright
occidental star’ beamed upon these Northern Parts,
and Law began to assert its supremacy.
Marcus Antoninus, who succeeded Antoninus
Pius, was far from enjoying the tranquillity which the
northern rampart was expected to give. He was
obliged to carry on very troublesome wars with the
Britons, and with much difficulty kept them in check.
.sn THE BRITONS PREVAIL.
In the reign of Commodus, who became sole
emperor A.D. 180, the Britons, as we are told by
Xiphiline, who abridged the history of Dion, broke
through the wall which separated them from the
.bn p014.png
.pn +1
Roman province, killed the general, ruined the army,
and, in their ravages, carried everything before them.
The wall referred to, was probably that of the Lower
Isthmus; for, as Horsley conjectures, "the Caledonians
had broken through the wall of Antoninus Pius
not long after it was erected," and certain it is, "that
we meet with no inscriptions on the wall of Antoninus
but what belong to his reign."
The circumstance, that the loathsome and ferocious
Commodus assumed the title of Britannicus, is no
proof that success attended his arms. He was the
first person who had ascribed to him the conjoined
titles of Pius and Felix; but, as Lampridius satirically
observes, "When he had appointed the
adulterer of his mother a consul, he was called Pius;
when he had slain Perennis, he was called Felix; and
when the Britons were ready to choose another emperor,
he was flattered with the title of Britannicus."
During the time that Septimius Severus, Pescennius
Niger, and Clodius Albinus contended with each
other for the empire, the northern Britons were
held feebly in check. At length, A.D. 197, Severus
prevailed, and became sole master of the world.
Virius Lupus became his proprætor in Britain.
Unable to resist the attacks of the Caledonians in
the field, and having in vain attempted to purchase
their submission with money, his lieutenant sent
hasty letters to the emperor, entreating succour,
and, if possible, his presence.
It is stated by Richard of Cirencester, that about
this time the Picts, a tribe to which reference will
.bn p015.png
.pn +1
presently be made, first landed in Scotland. The extraordinary
successes, as Dr. Giles remarks, which
the Caledonians gained, prior to the arrival of Severus,
confirm the supposition that they received considerable
reinforcements from abroad.
.sn THE ARRIVAL OF SEVERUS.
Severus came at the call of his lieutenant. Both
Herodian and Xiphiline give us an account of the
proceedings of this renowned emperor in Britain,
and as their narratives are not only interesting in
themselves, but important in the investigation of
some subsequent questions, it will be well to
avail ourselves of their statements. Herodian
says—
.pm start_quote
Whilst Severus was under a mighty concern about the
conduct of his two sons, he received letters from the governor
of Britain, informing him of the insurrections and inroads of
the barbarians, and the havoc they made far and near, and
begging, either a greater force, or that the emperor would
come over himself. Severus, for several reasons, was pleased
with the news, and, notwithstanding his age and infirmity,
resolved to go over in person. And though, by reason of the
gout upon him, he was forced to be carried in a litter, yet, he
entered upon the journey with a juvenile briskness and courage,
and performed it with great expedition. He quickly
crossed the sea, and as soon as he came upon the island, having
gathered a very great force together, he made ready for
war. The Britons, being alarmed and terrified, would fain
have excused themselves, and treated about peace. But
Severus, unwilling to lose his labour, or to miss the glory of
being called Britannicus, dismissed their ambassadors, and
carried on his military preparations. Particularly, he took
care to make bridges or causeys through the marshes,
that the soldiers might travel and fight upon dry
ground.
.pm end_quote
.bn p016.png
.pn +1
Herodian next gives a short description of the
inhabitants, and says that—
.pm start_quote
Many parts of Britain were become fenny, by the frequent
inundations of the sea. The natives swim through those
fens, or run through them up to the waist in mud; for,
the greatest part of their bodies being naked, they regard
not the dirt. They wear iron about their necks and
bellies, esteeming this as fine and rich an ornament as
others do gold. They make upon their bodies the figures
of divers animals, and use no clothing, that they may
be exposed to view. They are a very bloody and warlike
people, using a little shield or target, and a spear. Their
sword hangs on their naked bodies. They know not the use
of a breastplate and helmet, and imagine these would be an
impediment to them in passing the fens. The air is always
thick with the vapours that ascend from these marshes.
.pm end_quote
.sn THE OPERATIONS OF SEVERUS.
The historian proceeds with his story—
.pm start_quote
Severus provided everything which might be of service to his
own people, and distress the enemy. And when all things were
in sufficient readiness, he left Geta, in that part of the island
which was subject to the Romans, to administer justice and
manage civil affairs, appointing some elderly friends to be his
assistants. His son Antoninus, better known by the name
of Caracalla, he took with him when he marched against the
barbarians. The Roman army passing the rivers and
trenches, which were the boundaries of the empire, skirmished
often in a tumultuous manner with the barbarians,
and as often put them to flight. But it was easy for
them to escape and to hide themselves in the woods and fens,
being well acquainted with the country, whereas the Romans
laboured under the opposite disadvantages. By these means
the war was prolonged. Severus, being old and infirm, and
confined at home, would have committed the management of
the war to his son Antoninus. But he, neglecting the barbarians,
endeavoured to gain the Roman army, with a view to
the empire. During his father’s lingering sickness he endeavoured
.bn p017.png
.pn +1
to prevail with the physicians and servants to despatch
him. At last Severus died, worn out with sorrow, more than
disease.
.pm end_quote
It will be observed, that in this detailed account
of the proceedings of Severus in Britain, not the
least allusion is made to the construction of a wall.
.sn THE NARRATIVE OF DION CASSIUS.
Dion Cassius was contemporary with Severus.
That portion of his work which narrates the transactions
of this emperor in Britain, is unfortunately
lost, but an epitome of it, prepared by Xiphiline, remains.
From this abridgment the following extracts
are taken.
.pm start_quote
Severus, observing that his two sons were abandoned to
their pleasures, and that the soldiers neglected their exercises,
undertook an expedition against Britain, though he was persuaded,
from his horoscope, that he never should return from
thence to Italy. Nor did he ever return from this expedition,
but died three years after he first set out from Rome. He got
a prodigious mass of riches in Britain. The two most considerable
bodies of the people in that island, and to which almost
all the rest relate, are the Caledonians and the Mæatæ.
The latter dwell near the barrier wall which separates the
island into two parts; the others live beyond them. Both
of them inhabit barren uncultivated mountains, or desert
marshy plains, where they have neither walls nor towns, nor
manured lands, but feed upon the milk of their flocks, upon
what they get by hunting, and some wild fruits.
.pm end_quote
The mode in which he speaks of the Wall, in this
passage, implies its existence at the time of the arrival
of Severus. The historian, after giving an interesting
account of the manners of the inhabitants,
proceeds:—
.pm start_quote
We are masters of little less than half the island. Severus,
having undertaken to reduce the whole under his subjection,
.bn p018.png
.pn +1
entered into Caledonia, where he had endless fatigues to sustain,
forests to cut down, mountains to level, morasses to dry
up, and bridges to build. He had no battle to fight, and saw
no enemies in a body; instead of appearing, they exposed their
flocks of sheep and oxen, with design to surprise our soldiers
that should straggle from the army for the sake of plunder.
The waters, too, extremely incommoded our troops, insomuch
that some of our soldiers being able to march no farther, begged
of their companions to kill them, that they might not fall
alive into their enemies’ hands. In a word, Severus lost fifty
thousand men there, and yet quitted not his enterprise. He
went to the extremity of the island, where he observed very exactly
the course of the sun in those parts, and the length of
the days and nights both in summer and winter. He was
carried all over the island in a close chair, by reason of his infirmities,
and made a treaty with the inhabitants, by which he
obliged them to relinquish part of their country to him.
.pm end_quote
The peace thus purchased, by the cession of the
northern portion of the island, was badly observed.
The inhabitants having taken up arms, contrary to
the faith of treaties, Severus commanded his soldiers
to enter their country, and to put all they met to the
sword. He is said to have signified his savage intention,
by quoting, from Homer, the lines which
Cowper thus translates:
.pm start_poem
.... Die the race!
May none escape us! neither he who flies,
Nor even the infant in the mother’s womb
Unconscious.
.pm end_poem
.sn THE DEATH OF SEVERUS.
But in the midst of his enterprise he was taken off
by a distemper, to which, it was said, Antoninus, by
his undutiful conduct, had very much contributed.
He died at York, Feb. 4th, A.D. 211.
.bn p019.png
.pn +1
.sn THE RECORDS OF HIS VICTORIES.
.il id=p019 fn=i_p019.jpg w=300px ew=70%
The coins of Severus record his victories. One
of them is represented beneath. On the obverse
is the laureated head of the ferocious African—on
the reverse are two winged victories, attaching
a buckler to a palm tree, at the foot of which
two captives mournfully sit. The legend, VICTORIAE
BRITTANNICAE, declares who these captives
are. Times are changed! wide as ocean rolls,
the burden of Britannia’s song exultingly declares,
'Britons never will be slaves,'—and, better still,
Britain has long been actively engaged in rescuing
from chains the sable sons of that continent in which
Severus first drew breath.
Another curious record of the wars of Severus is
found in the poems of Ossian. The Caracul, son
of the ‘King of the World,’ in the dramatic piece
‘Comala,’ is supposed to be Caracalla.
.pm start_quote
Dersagrena. These are the signs of Fingal’s death. The
King of shields is fallen! and Caracul prevails.
Comala. Ruin overtake thee, THOU KING OF THE WORLD!
Few be thy steps to the grave; and let one virgin mourn thee!
Melicoma. What sound is that on Ardven? Who comes
like the strength of rivers, when their crowded waters glitter
to the moon?
.bn p020.png
.pn +1
Comala. Who is it but the foe of Comala, THE SON OF
THE KING OF THE WORLD! Ghost of Fingal! do thou from thy
cloud, direct Comala’s bow....
Fingal. Raise ye bards, the song! Caracul has fled
from our arms along the fields of his pride.
.pm end_quote
After the death of Severus, a long period elapsed,
in which the Roman historians observe a profound
silence respecting the affairs of Britain. Local records
and native historians supply but feebly the
deficiency. During the reign of Gallienus, which
extended from A.D. 260 to 268, a large number of
usurpers arose, who are commonly denominated the
Thirty Tyrants. Of these Lollianus, Victorianus,
Postumus, the two Tetrici, and Marius, are supposed
to have assumed the sovereignty in this island;
for their coins have been dug up more abundantly
here than elsewhere.
.sn BRITAIN REVOLTS.
Diocletian commenced his reign in the year 284.
Though he was a man of energy and ability, the
care of a crumbling empire was too much for him,
and he divided his honours and anxieties with Maximian.
Increasing perplexities a few years afterwards
induced the emperors to appoint two Cæsars.
Diocletian chose Galerius Maximianus, and Maximian
nominated Constantius Chlorus. To Constantius
was assigned the charge of Britain, where
he eventually found a grave. He was the father of
Constantine the Great.
.sn CARAUSIUS ATTAINS THE SOVEREIGNTY.
During a portion of the united reign of Diocletian
and Maximian, Britain assumed an independent position.
In order to repress, in the northern seas, the
.bn p021.png
.pn +1
ravages of the Franks and Saxons, who about this
period began to demand a place in the world’s history,
Carausius was appointed to the command of
‘the channel fleet.’ Gesoriacum, the modern Boulogne,
was his place of rendezvous. Carausius, who
was an expert seaman, exerted himself, at first, with
extraordinary success, against the pirates. Afterwards,
it was observed that he consulted his own
interest, rather than the public service. The emperors
resolved upon his destruction. Carausius,
stimulated by self-preservation, as well as ambition,
entered into an alliance with his former foes, the
Franks and Saxons, and declared himself emperor
of Britain. He was favourably received by the natives
of the island, and for seven years wielded the
sovereignty of his empire with vigour and ability.
He repelled the Mæatæ and the Caledonians, and
having subdued these tribes, attached them to his
interest. Nothing, observes Mr. Thackeray, can
more fully prove the maritime strength and resources
of Great Britain, under an able ruler, than
the fact, that Carausius for seven years bade defiance
to the Roman power; and at the end of that time
fell, not overcome by the imperial forces, but by
private treachery. Never before, nor until several
hundred years after this period, was the country
firmly united under the government of one sovereign.
Constantius was preparing to invade Britain with
a fleet of a thousand ships, when Carausius was
murdered by Allectus, whom he had trusted as his
.bn p022.png
.pn +1
dearest friend. For about three years the assassin
held, though with a less firm grasp, the power formerly
possessed by his victim.
.il id=p022 fn=i_p022.jpg w=500px ew=95%
.sn THE SUCCESSES OF CARAUSIUS.
A very numerous suite of coins commemorates
the successes of Carausius, and vindicates his claim
to a share in the empire of the world. Two coins
are represented here. On the reverse of one is
a galley, which indicates the chief source of his
strength, and on the reverse of the other is a lion
with a thunderbolt in its mouth, significative, not
only of the bold bearing which the ancient sea-king
assumed, but of that which his successors in modern
times have maintained.
Carausius, according to Macpherson, is the Caros
of Ossian. The following extract, upon this supposition,
contains a remarkable allusion to the Wall.
.pm start_quote
Who comes towards my son, with the murmur of a song!
His staff is in his hand, his grey hair loose on the wind.
Surly joy lightens his face. He often looks back to Caros.
It is Ryno of Songs, he that went to view the foe. "What
does Caros, King of ships?" said the son of the now mournful
Ossian; "spreads he the wings of his pride,[5] bard of the
times of old?"
.fn 5
The Roman Eagle.
.fn-
"He spreads them, Oscar," replied the bard, "but it is
behind his GATHERED HEAP. He looks over his STONES with
fear. He beholds thee terrible, as the ghost of night, that
rolls the wave to his ships!"
.pm end_quote
.bn p023.png
.pn +1
.sn BRITAIN UNDER DIOCLETIAN AND SUCCESSORS.
It would be improper to leave the reign of Diocletian
without remarking, that under it, the church
of Christ endured the last and most terrible of the
ten persecutions, which pagan Rome inflicted upon
the followers of the cross. Britain did not escape.
Alban and many others, as Gildas and Bede inform
us, were martyrs for the faith.
On the withdrawal, in the year 305, of Diocletian
and Maximian from the cares of empire, Galerius
and Constantius became the rulers of the world.
Constantine, afterwards surnamed the Great, was
proclaimed emperor, on the death of his father Constantius,
at York. After a protracted struggle with
several rivals, he became, A.D. 313, sole possessor
of the imperial power. He was the first Christian
Emperor, and, in token of his faith, inscribed the
monogram of the Redeemer upon his banner, and
his coin. The circumstances under which he adopted
this step are thus detailed—
.pm start_quote
Constantine was in Gaul, and having heard of the opposition
of his rival, who was in possession of Rome, he immediately
crossed the Alps, and proceeded against him. When
near Verona, on his march, and meditating the difficulties of
his situation, he was roused from deep thought by a bright
light, which suddenly illumined the sky, and, looking up, he saw
the sun, which was in its meridian, surmounted by a cross of
fire, and beneath it this inscription, [Greek: toutô| nika]—"IN THIS
CONQUER." He immediately adopted the cross as his ensign,
and formed on the spot the celebrated Labarum, or
Christian standard, which was ever after substituted for the
Roman eagle. This, as Eusebius describes it, was a spear
crossed by an arrow, on which was suspended a velum, having
inscribed on it the monogram, ☧ formed by the Greek letters
.bn p024.png
.pn +1
Chi and Rho, the initials of the name of Christ. Under this
he marched forward, and rapidly triumphed over all his
enemies; and, struck with the preternatural warning he had
received, and its consequences, he now publicly embraced the
doctrines of that religion under whose banner he had conquered.[6]
.pm end_quote
.fn 6
Walsh on Coins.
.fn-
.il id=p024 fn=i_p024.jpg w=300px ew=60%
The monogram is well displayed on the reverse of
a coin of Magnentius,[7] which is here represented. The
Alpha and Omega, which accompany the symbol, indicate
the faith of the emperor in the divinity of
Christ—‘the beginning and the ending, which is,
and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.’
.fn 7
In the collection of Geo. Rippon, Esq., North Shields.
.fn-
Constantine removed the imperial seat from Rome
to Constantinople.
.sn BRITAIN OVER-RUN BY THE PICTS.
During the life-time of Constantine, Britain partook
of the civil tranquillity of the rest of the world;
but in the reign of his immediate successors, the
Picts and Scots renewed their incursions into the
lower province. This was not the only evil which
Roman Britain had to endure. Magnentius, a
native of the isle, entered into a contest with Constantius
II. for the empire of the world, and in support
of his claims, collected an army, (chiefly drawn
from Britain) with which he three times met his
foe. On the death of Magnentius, by his own
hands, in the year 353, his successful rival inflicted
.bn p025.png
.pn +1
a bloody revenge upon the Britons for having supported
their countryman: meanwhile the Picts and
Scots harassed them, on the north, with redoubled fury.
.sn THEODOSIUS REPAIRS THE WALL.
Little is recorded of Britain in the reign of Julian
the Apostate. In the time of Jovian his successor,
the Picts, Saxons, and Scots, vexed it by increasing
calamities. Valentinian obtained the purple A.D.
364, when the state of the country was so alarming
as to require immediate attention. Even London
seems to have been menaced by the enemy, if it was
not actually in their hands. Theodosius, the ablest
general of his time, went to the assistance of the
Britons, drove the enemy before him, and recovered
the provincial cities and forts. He then repaired the
cities and prætenturæ and erected some new forts.
Horsley thinks that the Wall in the North of England,
and the stations upon it, are the prætenturæ referred to.
Valentinian, having, in 367, united with himself
in the government of the empire, Gratian his son,
died, A.D. 375. Six days afterwards, his second
son, Valentinian II. was proclaimed his successor.
The two brothers reigned together, Theodosius the
Great presiding at the same time in the Eastern
provinces, until Gratian was killed A.D. 383. Four
years afterwards, Valentinian was robbed of the
purple by Maximus, but applied for assistance to
his eastern colleague, Theodosius, and once more
entered Rome with imperial dignity. The sovereignty
of Britain, Gaul, and Spain was, however,
still conceded, for the present, to Maximus, who
adopted Treves as the seat of his government.
.bn p026.png
.pn +1
.sn THE ISLAND DRAINED OF ITS YOUTH.
In this struggle Britain suffered severely. Maximus,
having served in the island under the elder
Theodosius, was a favourite with the Romanized
Britons. They flocked to his standard in such
numbers that the island seemed drained of its youth.
More than a hundred thousand persons are said to
have accompanied him from Britain to the continent.
The loss of the native soldiery was severely felt
in the North of England, where the ruthless barbarians
renewed their ravages without molestation.
The whole island, in the querulous language of its
first historian, Gildas,[8] "Deprived of all her armed
soldiers and military bands, was left to her cruel tyrants,
deprived of the assistance of all her youth
who went with Maximus, and ignorant of the art of
war, she groaned in amazement for many years under
the cruelty of the Picts and Scots."
.fn 8
Historians differ as to the degree of credibility due to this author.
Mr. Wright, in his Biographia Britannica Literaria, says that his
is ‘a name of very doubtful authority.’ Sharon Turner thinks
that ‘as far as he can be supported, and made intelligible, by
others, he is an acceptable companion, but that he cannot be
trusted alone;’ and Mr. Stevenson, in the preface to his edition of
the original Latin of Gildas, writes ‘We are unable to speak with
certainty as to his parentage, his country, or even his name, the
period when he lived, or the works of which he was the author.’
Thus much, however, is certain, that he lived before the time of
Bede, and is quoted by him.
.fn-
Theodosius died A.D. 395. He left his dominions
to his sons Arcadius and Honorius, who permanently
divided them into the empires of the East and
West. In the early part of the reign of Honorius,
the province of Britain, by the prudence of the emperor’s
.bn p027.png
.pn +1
minister Stilicho, had comparative rest from
the incursions of the enemy. But when the Gothic
war diverted the attention of the government from
so remote a province, and the legions of Britain
were called away to defend the seat of the empire
from the attacks of Alaric, the troubles which before
distracted the province, were again called into
fearful operation. A spirit of disaffection and revolt
increased the evil. Marcus and Gratian were successively
declared emperors by the islanders, but
were both speedily murdered. Constantine was
next raised to the sovereignty, an honour for which
he was indebted to his name, not his rank or fitness
for the office. Instead of endeavouring to secure
the peace of Britain, he transported his army to
Gaul and made a successful stand against Honorius.
He was assassinated in the year 411.
.sn BRITAIN BECOMES INDEPENDENT.
Whilst Honorius was struggling with the usurper
Constantine, he wrote letters to the cities of Britain,
conceding the independence of the island, and urging
them to adopt measures for their own government
and protection. The gift of liberty was to
them a fatal boon. Their implacable enemies, finding
that the military science of the Romans no longer
protected the south, rushed forth to invade the undefended
province. The natives, in despair, turned
to the still powerful name of Rome, and dispatched
messengers to entreat help from the emperor.—But
let Gildas ‘the wise,’ depict the closing scene of
ancient Britain’s history—
.sn THE NARRATIVE OF GILDAS.
.pm start_quote
The Britons, impatient at the assaults of their enemies,
send ambassadors to Rome, entreating, in piteous terms, the
.bn p028.png
.pn +1
assistance of an armed band to protect them. A legion is
immediately sent, provided sufficiently with arms. When
they had crossed over the sea, and landed, they came at once
to close conflict with their enemies, and slew great numbers
of them. All of them were driven beyond the borders, and
the humiliated natives rescued from the bloody slavery which
awaited them. By the advice of their protectors, they now
built a wall across the island, from one sea to the other, which,
being manned with a proper force, might be a terror to the
foes whom it was intended to repel, and a protection to their
friends whom it covered. But this wall being made of turf,
instead of stone, was of no use to that foolish people, who had
no head to guide them.
The Roman legion had no sooner returned home in joy and
triumph, than their former foes, like hungry and ravening
wolves, rushing with greedy jaws upon the fold, which is left
without a shepherd, are wafted, both by the strength of oarsmen
and the blowing wind, break through the boundaries, and
spread slaughter on every side.
And now again they send suppliant ambassadors, with their
garments rent, and their heads covered with ashes, imploring
assistance from the Romans, like timorous chickens crowding
under the protecting wings of their parents. Upon this, the
Romans, moved with compassion, send forward, like eagles in
their flight, their bands of cavalry and mariners, and planting
their terrible swords upon the shoulders of their enemies,
mow them down like leaves which fall at their destined period.
Having driven their enemies beyond the sea, the Romans left
the country, giving them notice, that they could no longer be
harassed by such laborious expeditions, but that the islanders,
inuring themselves to warlike weapons, should valiantly protect
their country, their property, their wives, and children;
that they should not suffer their hands to be tied behind their
backs, by a nation, which, unless they were enervated by idleness
and sloth, was not more powerful than themselves, but
that they should arm those hands with buckler, sword, and
spear, ready for the field of battle; and, because they thought
this also of advantage to the people they were about to leave,
.bn p029.png
.pn +1
they, with the help of the miserable natives, built a wall,
different from the former, by public and private contributions,
and of the same structure as walls generally are, extending
in a straight line from sea to sea, between some cities, which,
from fear of their enemies, had then by chance been built.
.sn THE DISTRESSES OF THE BRITONS.
No sooner were they gone, than the Picts and Scots, like
worms, which in the heat of mid-day, come forth from their
holes, hastily land from their canoes, differing one from
another in manners, but inspired with the same avidity for
blood, and all, more eager to shroud their villainous faces in
bushy hair, than to cover with decent clothing those parts of
their body which required it. Moreover, having heard of the
departure of our friends, and their resolution never to return,
they seized, with greater boldness than before, on all the country
towards the extreme north, as far as the Wall. To oppose
them, there was placed on the heights, a garrison, equally
slow to fight, and ill adapted to run away, a useless and
panic-struck company, which slumbered away days and nights
on their unprofitable watch. Meanwhile the hooked weapons
of their enemies were not idle, and our wretched countrymen
were dragged from the Wall, and dashed against the ground.
Such premature death, however, painful as it was, saved them
from seeing the miserable sufferings of their brothers and
children. But why should I say more? They left their cities,
abandoned the protection of the Wall, and dispersed themselves
in flight more desperately than before.
.pm end_quote
Whilst the enemy butchered them like sheep, they
increased their own miseries by domestic feuds—
.pm start_quote
They turned their arms upon each other, and for the sake
of a little sustenance, imbrued their hands in the blood of
their fellow countrymen.
.pm end_quote
Again, in their distress, they applied to the Romans.
In the address, entitled ‘The Groans of the Britons,’
our author represents them as saying:—
.pm start_quote
The barbarians drive us to the sea, the sea throws us back
on the barbarians: thus two modes of death await us, we are
either slain or drowned.
.pm end_quote
.bn p030.png
.pn +1
The Romans could not assist them, and, unwilling
to assist themselves, they sought and obtained the
help of those ‘wolves’, as Gildas calls them, the
fierce and impious Saxons. The result is known
to all—Celtic Britain became Saxon England—and
England, with all its faults,—has it not been a blessing
to the world?
The picture drawn by Gildas of the misery of the
southern Britons, and of the ravages of the northern
barbarians, is doubtless correct; but, in ascribing
the erection of the earthen rampart, and the stone
wall of the Lower Barrier to the period of the departure
of the Romans, he probably leans upon the
erring traditions of his own times. His statement
is devoid of probability. A work so bold in its design,
so skilfully planned, and involving so much
labour in its execution, cannot have been the result
of the expiring energies of Rome in Britain. Its
very ruins bespeak the masculine vigour of Rome’s
maturity.
Besides, if we receive the testimony of Gildas
upon this point, we must either suppose that several
walls have been drawn across the island, or we
must reject the assertions of those classical writers
who ascribe the works to Hadrian or Severus. The
former supposition cannot be maintained, for we
meet with no traces of more than one earthen vallum,
and one stone wall, in the region in question;
and with reference to the latter alternative, it is more
likely that Gildas should err in his dates, than that
Dion Cassius, and Herodian, and Spartian, should
.bn p031.png
.pn +1
describe, as existing in their day, that which was not
to be for centuries.
.sn THE BRITONS SUPINE IN YIELDING TO THE PICTS.
Another question will arise in the mind of the
thoughtful reader;—how was it that the Britons suffered
themselves to become so easy a prey to the
Picts and Scots? Roman civilization could not,
greatly at least, have enervated them. The cultivation
of the liberal arts removes from the minds
and manners of men their unsightly asperities, but it
brings out in bolder relief their more valuable qualities.
The vices of the Romans, when grafted upon
the previously polluted life of the Britons, would
indeed have a tendency to unman them, but why
should it have sunk them beneath the level of the
Romans themselves? We do not find, moreover, that
the Britons who fought in foreign parts were deficient
in courage.
.sn THE BRITONS HAD BREATHING-TIME.
An acquaintance with Roman discipline, a knowledge
of the Roman art of war, ought to have given
them great advantages over their less civilized neighbours
on the north of the Wall, and enabled them
easily to have retained that great structure as a
boundary fence.[9] It is true that great numbers of
their youth had from time to time been drafted off
by successive emperors, to engage in foreign quarrels,
.bn p032.png
.pn +1
and that thus the land was deprived of its natural defenders.
This accounts for a part of their distress,
but not all. In a rude state of society, every man
is a soldier, and it was an essential part of the policy
of Rome to inure every citizen to the practice of arms.
There surely would be men enough left to defend their
homes, their liberties, and lives! Besides, half a century
elapsed between the time when the Romans began
to leave Britain to its own resources, and their final
refusal of all succour. There was thus time enough
to have nurtured a whole generation of veterans;
and there was time enough—if the energy had been
in them—to have shaken off those feelings of dependence
upon Rome, which the presence of their
conquerors had fostered. The opportunity, however,
was lost; they entreated, and wept, and groaned—and
passed off the stage of this world’s history. How
are we adequately to account for this circumstance?
THE GENEALOGY OF THE PICTS AND SCOTS.This is not the place to discuss the genealogy of the
Picts, but if we adopt the theory of their Germanic
origin,[10] the enigma, if not made quite plain, will appear
.bn p033.png
.pn +1
less difficult than before. However great the
valour, and however estimable the other qualities of
the Celtic race, they did not possess the patience, the
perseverance, the capacity for united action, and the
.bn p034.png
.pn +1
power of command, which characterized the Teutonic
tribes; hence they would fall before them in any
contest which required sustained exertion.
THE TEUTONES SUPPLANT THE CELTS.Gibbon’s
estimate of the character of the ancient Britons
is probably correct—‘The various tribes possessed
valour without conduct, and the love of freedom
without the spirit of union. They took up arms
with savage fierceness, they laid them down, or
turned them against each other with wild inconstancy;
and, while they fought singly, they were
successively subdued.’
.fn 9
This point is well put by Sir Francis Palgrave, in his History
of the Anglo-Saxons. ‘The walls of the cities fortified by the
Romans were yet strong and firm. The tactics of the legions
were not forgotten. Bright armour was piled in the storehouses,
and the serried line of spears might have been presented to the
half-naked Scots and Picts, who could never have prevailed against
their opponents.’
.fn-
.fn 10
The supposition is not destitute of support. The migratory
tendencies of the Gothic tribes have always been conspicuous.
From the earliest periods of our history, the inhabitants of Jutland
and its neighbouring provinces were in the habit of making
descents upon the coasts of Britain. After the departure of the
Romans, their attempts were probably more bold and frequent,
but they did not then, for the first time, commence. The Norfolk
and Suffolk coast was, from its position, peculiarly exposed to these
incursions, and as early as the close of the third century, was
placed under the command of a military Count called Comes litoris
Saxonici. This district was called ‘the Saxon shore,’ as Sir Francis
Palgrave observes, not merely because it was open to the incursion
of the Saxons, but, most probably, because they had succeeded in
fixing themselves in some portion of it. The weak hold which the
Romans, at all times, had of Scotland, would render it an easier
prey than England to the Franks and Saxons. Tacitus informs
us, that the ruddy hair and lusty limbs of the Caledonians indicate
a Germanic extraction. Richard of Cirencester tells us, that a
little before the coming of Severus, the Picts landed in Scotland;
from which we are at least entitled to infer, that the Picts were
not the original inhabitants of North Britain; and probably the
statement is substantially correct, inasmuch as large reinforcements
landed in Scotland at this period, as previously observed.
The Scots—the other branch of the people classed under the general
term Caledonians—are confessedly of Irish origin. When St.
Columba, whose mother tongue was Irish Gaelic, preached to the
Picts, he used an interpreter. Fordun, the Father of Scottish
History, tells us, ‘The manners of the Scots are various as to
their languages; for they use two tongues, the Scottish and the
Teutonic. The last is spoken by those on the sea-coasts and in
the low countries, while the Scottish is the speech of the mountaineers
and the remote islanders.’ The proper Scots, Camden
describes as those commonly called Highlandmen; ‘for the
rest,’ he adds, ‘more civilized, and inhabiting the eastern part,
though comprehended under the name of Scots, are the farthest
in the world from being Scots, but are of the same German
origin with us English.’ Dr. Jamieson, whose researches in
philology are well known, is decidedly of opinion that the Picts
and Saxons had a common origin. Upon what other theory,
he argues, can the prevalence of the Saxon tongue in the Lowlands
of Scotland be accounted for? William the Conqueror could
not change the language of South Britain—was it likely that a few
Saxon fugitives at the Scottish court could supplant that of their
benefactors?
The theory of the Germanic origin of the Picts removes another
difficulty. How is the disappearance of the Celtic tongue from
England to be accounted for? The Saxons, on seizing the soil,
would not exterminate the inhabitants, but retain them as bondsmen.
Had the majority of the occupants of England been the
original Britons or Romanized Celts, we should have found in our
daily speech, and in the names of our towns and villages, a large
intermixture of Gaelic and Latin; but such is not the case. Grant
that the Picts were a branch of the great Gothic family—and that
successive waves of them had, long before the time of Cerdic,
poured from the lowlands of Scotland over the plains of England,
and the almost entire extermination of the ancient British
is easily accounted for.
If the theory here advocated, cannot be sustained, it must at least
be allowed, that the population of North Britain was largely
leavened with individuals of the Saxon race. These strangers
would doubtless obtain that supremacy over the natives which the
Franks did in Gaul; so that, even upon this limited view of the
question, the influence of the Germanic race in fixing the destinies
of Britain, at this critical period, is apparent.
.fn-
.sn ANTAGONISM OF THE RACES.
The Picts, without the artificial advantages which
the Romanized Britons possessed, doubtless had
the usual characteristics of the Gothic tribes. By
these they were enabled, in defiance of the desultory
attempts of the previous occupants of the soil, to
ravage the land, until, through the efforts of Vortigern,
.bn p035.png
.pn +1
they were confronted with foes of their own
kith and kin. In our sister island, we unhappily witness,
though in a subdued form, much of that animosity
of race which led to the devastation and
bloodshed that Gildas deplores. When will Saxon
and Celt lay aside their differences, and unite
for the common weal of Britain! Why should they
regard each other with mutual suspicion? Why
should the one triumph, and the other sink into hopeless,
helpless despair? Creation groans—a prostrate
world looks to united Britain and its offshoots, for
that balm which may heal its woes—let it, strong
in the confidence and love of its various constituent
parts, faithfully fulfil its duty!
.sp 2
.sn THE ROMAN ESTIMATION OF BRITAIN.
On reviewing this sketch of the proceedings of
Rome, in relation to this distant portion of her great
empire, the reader will perhaps be struck with the
amount of attention which the Imperial City bestowed
upon it.
The classic authors speak most disparagingly of
the land, and its inhabitants—
.pm start_poem
Et penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos.
.rj
Virg. Ec. I.
Serves iturum Cæsarem in ultimos
Orbis Britannos.
.rj
Hor. Od. I. 35.
Visam Britannos, hospitibus feros.
.rj
Hor. Od. III. 4.
Te belluosus qui remotis
Obstrepit oceanus Britannis.
.rj
Hor. Od. IV. 14.
.pm end_poem
—and yet Britain, which, according to these authorities,
.bn p036.png
.pn +1
scarcely formed a portion of the habitable earth,
which was perpetually lashed by a stormy ocean,
and whose inhabitants, unlike many barbaric tribes,
were inhospitable to strangers, was the resort,
not only of numerous legionary and auxiliary
troops, but of very many of the emperors themselves.
Great Julius came. Claudius fought upon
our soil. Vespasian entered into conflict thirty-two
times with the southern Britons. Titus shared
in his toils and triumphs. Hadrian was here, and
left the impress of his mighty mind behind him.
Septimius Severus ended his days in Britain; his sons
Geta and Caracalla first assumed the purple in Britain.
The emperor Maximinus breathed, sixteen
centuries ago, the sea-borne gales of Tynemouth.
Britain, with its seas, was the chief scene of the exploits
of the emperor Carausius. Allectus reigned
three years over it. Constantius was long in the
island, and his son, Constantine the Great is said
to have first drawn breath upon our soil. Both Constans
and Magnentius were here. Theodosius the
Emperor fought under his father in Britain. Maximus,
who had previously married a British lady, was
invested by his soldiers with the purple at York—How
comes it that so many of those who boasted of
the mastery of this wide world, were induced personally
to visit this little isle?—how was it, but that
.pm start_poem
Coming events cast their shadows before.
.pm end_poem
.sn ROME FORESHADOWS BRITAIN’S DESTINY.
It seems as though there was an affinity between
England and Earth’s rulers—and that thus early it was
.bn p037.png
.pn +1
pointed out as the spot in which, of all others, save
one—Jerusalem—mankind had the greatest interest.
The importance of Britain, in the estimation of
the Romans, is further shewn by the fact, that, of the
different coins struck by the imperial government in
the short period extending from the reign of Claudius
to that of Caracalla, at least fifty-six relate to this
country. Of these, two were struck in the reign of
Claudius, five in that of Hadrian, seventeen bear the
impress of Antonine, ten of Severus, twelve of
Caracalla, and ten of his brother Geta.[11]
.fn 11
The whole of these are accurately figured and described in
the "Materials for the History of Britain," published by the
government. It is to be hoped that a work so auspiciously begun
will not be strangled in its birth, by a false application of the principles
of national economy.
.fn-
.sn CAUSE OF THE ROMAN OCCUPATION.
Whilst however we maintain that Rome was led
to Britain by the impulse of a power of which she
was not conscious, and whilst we willingly acknowledge
that the conquest of Britain by the
Romans was the first of that series of signal providential
arrangements, by which, from the dawn of
history to the present hour, ‘the Governor among
the nations’ has prepared this island for performing
that important part in the drama of history, which
she now sustains,—the enquiry yet remains, by what
motive were the conquerors more immediately impelled
to settle in so remote an island? Such toils
would not have been endured, such sacrifices would
not have been made, victories over tribes so savage
would not thus have been gloried in, except the
.bn p038.png
.pn +1
question ‘cui bono?’ could have been satisfactorily
answered. ‘I confess,’ says Horsley, 'that when I
view some part of the country in the north of England,
where the Romans had their military ways and stations,
that question naturally arises, which has been
often proposed: What could move them to march so
far to conquer such a country? It appears wild and
desolate enough at present, but must have been
more so at that time, from the accounts the Roman
historians have given us of it. I shall leave the
Caledonian Galgacus, or Tacitus for him, to return
the answer—If the enemy was rich, their covetousness
moved them; if poor, their ambition. And when
they added further desolation to a desolate country,
this was their peace.' Ambition was doubtless the
leading motive. From the earliest periods of Roman
history we find her bent upon conquest. Incessant
wars engendered a thirst for victory, and military
glory became the ruling passion of the people. The
wide grasp of their ambition gave to the features of
Roman character harder, but grander lineaments
than those which their more polished neighbours of
Greece possessed. Flattered, as the lords of the
world, by their favourite poets and historians, they
gloried in their proud pre-eminence, and thought that
they were but fulfilling their destiny in asserting a
claim to universal dominion. Candidates for public
favour knew well that to fan the popular passion was
the readiest way to succeed in their aims. None
understood this better than Julius Cæsar; and the
later emperors, who possessed not the power to strike
.bn p039.png
.pn +1
an energetic blow, found it necessary to maintain
the show at least of conquest and of triumph.
.sn WEALTH OF ANCIENT BRITAIN.
Less worthy inducements were, however, not
wanting. There are few evils in the fibres of
whose roots the love of money will not be found.
Gold was another secret but powerful cause of the
hardships which the Romans themselves underwent,
and of the countless ills which they mercilessly
inflicted upon the miserable islanders. The
British chiefs in general appear to have had considerable
riches among them. Cæsar, according to
Strabo, acquired a large booty in his two descents
upon our shore. Prasutagus, the king of the Iceni,
died possessed of very great wealth. To a few
states in the south, and within a few years after
their first subjection, the philosophical Seneca lent
more than four hundred and eighty thousand pounds
of our money upon good security, and at exorbitant
interest.[12] Severus got a prodigious mass of riches
in this land. Gold is not now an article of mineral
wealth in Britain. We are not from this to infer
that it was not so when it was first invaded. The
precious metal is not met with in veins or strata, but is
diffused over the alluvial soil, or mixed with the sand
of rivers in grains or lumps. When the commercial
value of the glittering dust is discovered, it is
speedily picked up, and a country, once rich in it,
becomes, in the course of ages, impoverished. The
number of massive golden torques and armillæ of the
.bn p040.png
.pn +1
ancient Britons, which even yet are from time to time
being brought to light, favours the idea that the metal
was, in ancient days, tolerably abundant. Whatever
the secret motives, Cæsar came and conquered—
.pm start_poem
The Roman taught thy stubborn knee to bow,
Though twice a Cæsar could not bend it now.
.pm end_poem
.fn 12
Whitaker’s History of Manchester, i. 228.
.fn-
.sn THE FATE OF ROME.
In passing from the contemplation of the Roman
occupation of Britain to our examination of the remains
of the chief monument of imperial power
which time has left us, the mind will experience a
great transition. In the Wall, we have evident
traces of the might of Rome, but it is the might of
a giant laid prostrate—
.pm start_poem
. . . . . Her haughty carcass spread,
Still awes in ruins, and commands when dead.
.pm end_poem
Centuries have elapsed since the vast fabric was
upreared, but they have been centuries rife with the
fate of empires.
The most ardent lover of the olden time cannot
but startle, as he treads the deserted streets, or enters
the unbarred portals of Borcovicus, and other
cities of the Wall, at the thought that the Mistress
of Nations is now no more,[13] and that the Eternal City
is buried in her own debris. The broken column,
the prostrate altar, ever and anon obtrude the fact
upon him. Another empire has sprung into being
of which Rome dreamt not. In a sense different
.bn p041.png
.pn +1
from that which Virgil intended, the words in his
third Georgic are peculiarly striking—
.pm start_poem
Vel scena ut versis discedat frontibus, utque
Purpurea intexti tollant aulæa Britanni.
Or see how on the stage the shifting scenes
In order pass, and pictured Britons rise
Out of the earth, and raise the purple curtain.
.pm end_poem
.fn 13
"Politically speaking, Rome is now the city of the dead."
.rj
Times, March 18th, 1850.
.fn-
.sn PROSPECTIVE FATE OF BRITAIN.
In that island, where, in Roman days, the painted
savage shared the forest with the beast of prey—a
lady sits upon her throne of state, wielding a sceptre
more potent than Julius or Hadrian ever grasped!
Her empire is threefold that of Rome in the hour of
its prime. But power is not her brightest diadem.
The holiness of the domestic circle irradiates her.
Literature, and all the arts of peace, flourish under
her sway. Her people bless her.
Will Britain always thus occupy so prominent a
position in the scene of this world’s history?
.pm start_poem
... Valet ima summis
Mutare, et insignem attenuat Deus
Obscura promens.
The power that did create, can change the scene
Of things; make mean of great, and great of mean.
.pm end_poem
.sn LESSON INCULCATED.
Is the fate of Persia, Macedon, and Rome, never to be
hers? ‘O Thou, that didst build up this Britannic
empire to a glorious and enviable height, with all
her daughter islands about her; stay us in this felicity!’
What would Britain at this moment be without
the Bible? Let the seven-hilled city say! If
.bn p042.png
.pn +1
Britain herself obey the inspired word, and give it
to the nations, then she needs not fear the shock of
empires. If not, at a future day the native of a distant
isle, or obscure nation, then newly risen into
greatness, moralizing over the reedy docks and grass-grown
streets of London, may exclaim—How true the
words of their own Milton! 'But if ... as you
have been valiant in war, you should grow debauched
in peace, you that have had such visible demonstrations
of the goodness of God to yourselves, and his
wrath against your enemies ... you will find that
God’s displeasure against you, will be greater than it
has been against your adversaries, greater than his
grace and favour has been to yourselves, which you
have had larger experience of than any other nation
under heaven.'
.il id=p042 fn=i_p042.jpg w=500px ew=95%
.ca Base of Column at Borcovicus.
.fm rend=t lz=t
.fm rend=t
.bn p043.png
.pb
.pn +1
.il fn=i_p043a.jpg w=400px ew=70%
.ce 2
The Roman Barrier of the
Lower Isthmus.
.h2
PART II. | A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE LINE OF THE WALL.
.di i_p043b.jpg 200 0.5
Numerous are the appellations
which the Great
Barrier of the Lower Isthmus
has obtained. 'It was
called by ancient writers
vallum barbaricum, prætentura
and clusura; by Dion
[Greek: diateichisma]; by Herodian
[Greek: chôma]; by Antoninus and
others vallum; by some of
the Latin historians murus;
by the English the Picts’-wall, or the WALL;
and by the Britons gual Sever, gal Sever, and
mur Sever. The names prætentura and clusura
are given to it upon account of its being
stretched out against, and excluding the enemy.'
To the names thus enumerated by Camden,
.bn p044.png
.pn +1
must be added, the Thirl Wall, the Kepe Wall,
and that by which it is best known at present, the
Roman Wall.
.sn GENERAL VIEW OF THE WORKS.
This great fortification consists of three parts.
I. A Stone Wall, strengthened by a ditch on its
northern side.
II. A Turf Wall or Vallum, to the south of the
stone wall.
III. Stations, Castles, Watch-towers, and Roads,
for the accommodation of the soldiery who manned
the Barrier, and for the transmission of military
stores. These lie, for the most part, between the
stone wall and the earthen rampart.
The whole of the works proceed from one side of
the island to the other in a nearly direct line, and in
comparatively close companionship. The stone wall
and earthen rampart are generally within sixty or
seventy yards of each other.[14] The distance between
them, however, varies according to the nature of
the country. Sometimes they are so close as barely
to admit of the passage of the military way between
them, whilst, in one or two instances, they are upwards
of half-a-mile apart. It is in the high grounds
of the central region that they are most widely separated.
Midway between the seas, the country attains
a considerable elevation; here the stone wall seeks
the highest ridges, but the vallum, forsaking for a
while its usual companion, runs along the adjacent
.bn p045.png
.pn +1
valley. Both works are, however, so arranged as
to afford each other the greatest amount of support
which the nature of the country allows.
.fn 14
Hodgson states the mean of nineteen measurements to be
one hundred and twenty six yards.—Northumberland, II. iii. 310.
This high number is obtained by its including the mountain districts,
where the works are widely separated.
.fn-
.dv class='illo'
.rj
PLATE II.
.il fn=i_p044btop.jpg w=600px ew=95% link=i_p044btopbig.jpg
.ca PLAN of the BARRIER between CILURNUM and MAGNA AFTER HORSLEY.
.il fn=i_p044bbot.jpg w=600px ew=95% link=i_p044bbotbig.jpg
.ca
A PLAN of CILURNUM after WARBURTON with part of the PLAN of the STONE WALL and VALLUM.
Shewing how they are connected at the Stations, and by their mutual relation to one another must have been one entire united Defence or Fortification.
.ca-
.rj
Reid Litho. 117 Pilgrim Street Newcastle
.dv-
The stone wall extends from Wall’s-end on the
Tyne, to Bowness on the Solway, a space which
Horsley estimates at sixty-eight miles and three furlongs—the
turf wall falls short of this distance by about
three miles at each end, terminating at Newcastle
on the east side, and at Drumburgh on the west.
.sn GENERAL VIEW OF THE WORKS.
The Map of the Wall, the more detailed Plans
of several parts of it in Plate II, and the Sections
given in a subsequent page, will afford a pretty correct
idea of the general arrangement of the works.
Most writers who have treated of the Roman
remains in Britain, have considered that the two lines
of fortification are the works of different periods.
The earth-wall, or Vallum, has generally been ascribed
to Hadrian, but the stone wall, or Murus, to
Septimius Severus. This is the opinion of Horsley,
whose judgment is always deserving of the highest
consideration. Deferring to a subsequent period the
discussion of this question, it will be convenient,
meanwhile, to speak of the works as being but different
parts of one great engineering scheme.
.sn THE COURSE OF THE WALL.
The most striking feature in the plan, both of the
Murus and the Vallum, is the determinate manner in
which they pursue their straight-forward course. The
Vallum makes fewer deviations from a right line than
the stone Wall; but as the Wall traverses higher
ground, this remarkable tendency is more easily detected
in it than in the other. Shooting over the country,
.bn p046.png
.pn +1
in its onward course, it only swerves from a
straight line to take in its route the boldest elevations.
So far from declining a hill, it uniformly
selects it. For nineteen miles out of Newcastle, the
road to Carlisle runs upon the foundation of the
Wall, and during the summer months its dusty surface
contrasts well with the surrounding verdure.
Often will the traveller, after attaining some of the
steep acclivities of his path, observe the road stretching
for miles in an undeviating course to the east
and the west of him, resembling, as Hutton expresses
it, a white ribbon on a green ground. But if it never
moves from a right line, except to occupy the highest
points, it never fails to seize them, as they occur,
no matter how often it is compelled, with this view,
to change its direction. It never bends in a curve,
but always at an angle. Hence, along the craggy precipices
between Sewingshields and Thirlwall, it is
obliged to pursue a remarkably zig-zag course; for
it takes in its range, with the utmost pertinacity,
every projecting rock.
This mode of proceeding involves another peculiarity.
It is compelled to accommodate itself to
the depressions of the mountainous region over
which it passes. Without flinching, it sinks into the
‘gap,’ or pass, which ever and anon occurs, and, having
crossed the narrow valley, ascends unfalteringly
the steep acclivity on the other side. The antiquary,
in following it into these ravines, is often compelled
to step with the utmost caution, and in clambering
up the opposite ascent, he is as frequently
.bn p047.png
.pn +1
constrained to pause for breath. After crossing the
river Irthing, in Cumberland, the Wall is opposed
in its course westward by a precipice of upwards of
one hundred feet in height. It cannot now be ascertained,
whether or not the Wall was taken up the edge
of this cliff, for the stratum is of a soft and yielding
nature, and is continually being removed by the
river below. Certain, however, it is, that the Wall,
accompanied by its ditch, is still to be seen on the very
brink of its summit. If it did not climb this steep,
it is the only one which, in the course of the line
from sea to sea, it refused—and if it did ascend it, it
would more nearly resemble a leaning tower than a
barrier wall.
.sn THE HEIGHT OF THE WALL.
In no part of its course is the Wall entirely perfect,
and therefore it is difficult to ascertain what its
original height has been. Bede, whose cherished
home was the monastery of Jarrow, anciently part
of the parish of Wall’s-end, is the earliest author who
gives its dimensions. He says—‘It is eight feet in
breadth, and twelve in height, in a straight line from
east to west, as is still visible to beholders.’ Subsequent
writers assign to it a greater elevation. It
is not unlikely that the venerable monk, who was
no traveller, describes it as it existed in his own
neighbourhood; and we can readily conceive that in
a flat country, and upon the border of a navigable
river, it would, even then, have suffered more from
the hand of the spoiler than in the wilder regions
of the West.
In a letter written by Sir Christopher Ridley, is
.bn p048.png
.pn +1
an account of the Wall as it stood about the year
1572. The writer says—
.pm start_quote
Rycht worschipfull, where as you spake unto me for a
certayn knowledge of one wall builded betwyxt the Brittons
and Pightes (which we call the Kepe Wall) builded by the
Pightes, sure theyr is one. The length whereof is about, I
think, almost a C myles, bilded alwayis whar they cold upon
the hyghtes, whereon about the greatest cragis was, and whare
theyr was no cragis or hy placis theyr was a great stank cast
of other syd, the bredth iij yardis, the hyght remanith in
sum placis yet vij yardis, it goith from Bowlness in Cu'berland
viij myles beyond Carlell upon the west sea cost till it comes
to a town called the Wallis end besyd Tynemouth on the est
sea.[15]
.pm end_quote
.fn 15
Harl. MSS. 374,—impr. Hodg. North’d. II. iii. 273.
.fn-
Samson Erdeswick, an English antiquary of some
celebrity, visited the Wall, in the year 1574.[16] His
account is here given—
.pm start_quote
As towching Hadrian’s[17] Wall, begyning abowt a town
called Bonus standing vppon the river Sulway now called
Eden. The sea ebbeth and floweth there. The forsaid
Wall begynning there, 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, they space of an eight myle by the
shew of the trench, as certayne ruynes of castills in that wall,
tyll a qwarter of a myle of Carlyole, and there passeth ower the
river of Eden; and then goeth straight estwards hard by a late
abbey called Lanvercost, and so crossing ower the mowntaynes
toward Newcastell.
.pm end_quote
.fn 16
Harl. MSS. 373,—impr. Richardson’s Reprints and Imprints,
divis. Miscell.
.fn-
.fn 17
It will be observed here that the erection of this structure has
not been always ascribed to Severus.
.fn-
.bn p049.png
.pn +1
.sn THE WIDTH OF THE WALL.
Camden, who visited the Wall in 1599, says—
.pm start_quote
Within two furlongs of Carvoran, on a pretty high hill the
Wall is still standing fifteen feet in height, and nine in
breadth.
.pm end_quote
These statements leave upon the mind an impression
that the estimate of Bede is too low.
In all probability, the Wall would be surmounted
by a battlement of not less than four feet in height,
and as this part of the structure would be the first to
fall into decay, Bede’s calculation was probably irrespective
of it. This, however, only gives us a total
elevation of sixteen feet. Unless we reject the
evidence of Ridley and Erdeswick, we must admit,
even after making due allowance for error and exaggeration,
that the Wall, when in its integrity, was
eighteen or nineteen feet high. This elevation
would be in keeping with its breadth.
The thickness of the Wall varies considerably; in
some places it is six feet, in others nine feet and a
half.[18] Probably the prevailing width is eight feet,
the measurement given by Bede.
.fn 18
Greater extremes are met with, but they are rare. Hodgson
in a note p. 276 says, The foundations in the turnpike-road, just
west of Portgate are scarcely seven feet broad; but opposite a
plantation a little further west, ten feet and a half. Hutton found
the Wall at Brunton only five feet and a half thick.
.fn-
The frequency with which the thickness of the
Wall varies, favours the idea that numerous gangs
of labourers were simultaneously employed upon the
work, and that each superintending centurion was allowed
to use his discretion as to its width. The northern
.bn p050.png
.pn +1
face of the Wall is continuous, but the southern
has numerous outsets and insets measuring from
four to twelve inches, at the points, doubtless, where
the sections of the different companies joined.
.sn THE NORTH FOSSE.
Throughout the whole of its length, the Wall is
accompanied on its northern margin by a broad and
deep Fosse, which, by increasing the comparative
height of the Wall, would add greatly to its strength.
This portion of the Barrier may yet be traced, with
trifling interruptions, from sea to sea. Even in places
where the Wall has quite disappeared, its more lowly
companion, the fosse, remains. In some fertile
districts the plough has been carried over it in
vain; owing to the moisture of the site, the corn
sown upon it springs up with undue luxuriance,
and is almost uniformly laid prostrate before it can
ripen. From this circumstance the ground is frequently
retained in grass, while the neighbouring
parts are under tillage.[19] The fosse thus more readily
catches the eye, and is likely longer to retain its
groove-like form than if subjected to the ordinary
process of cultivation.
.fn 19
This is particularly the case about Old Wall in Cumberland.
.fn-
When the ditch traverses a flat or exposed country,
a portion of the materials taken out of it has frequently
been thrown upon its northern margin, so as
to present to the enemy an additional rampart. In
those positions, on the other hand, where its assistance
could be of no avail, as along the edge of a
cliff, the fosse does not appear.
.bn p051.png
.pn +1
No small amount of labour has been expended in
the excavation of the ditch; it has been drawn indifferently
through alluvial soil, and rocks of sandstone,
limestone, and basalt. The patient exertion
which this involved is well seen on Tepper Moor,
where enormous blocks of whin lie just as they have
been lifted out of the fosse. The fosse never leaves
the Wall to avoid a mechanical difficulty.
The size of the ditch in several places is still considerable.
To the east of Heddon-on-the-Wall, it
measures thirty four feet across the top, and is nearly
nine feet deep; as it descends the hill from Carvoran
to Thirlwall, it measures forty feet across the top,
fourteen across the bottom, and is ten feet deep.
Westward of Tepper Moor is a portion which, reckoning
from the top of the mound on its northern
margin, has a depth of twenty feet.
The dimensions of the fosse were probably not
uniform throughout the line; but these examples prepare
us to receive, as tolerably correct, Hutton’s
estimate of its average size. ‘The ditch to the north,’
he says 'was as near as convenient, thirty-six feet
wide and fifteen feet deep.'[20]
.fn 20
Hutton’s Roman Wall, 139.
.fn-
The care with which the fosse was dressed, has
varied with the taste of the overseer and the forbearance
of the enemy. In some tracts, the work presents
as smooth and trim an aspect as a modern
railway cutting; in others, marks of haste, carelessness,
or sudden surprise, appear. The curious
circumstance which Hodgson describes in the following
.bn p052.png
.pn +1
paragraph may be seen in more than one
locality:—
.pm start_quote
'A little west of Portgate, the appearance of the fosse is
still, to the eye that loves and understands antiquity, very
imposing and grand. The earth taken out of it lies spread
abroad to the north, in lines just as the workmen wheeled it
out and left it. The tracks of their barrows, with a slight
mound on each side remain unaltered in form.'[21]
.pm end_quote
.fn 21
Hodg. North’d. II. iii. 276.
.fn-
.il id=p052 fn=i_p052a.jpg w=500px ew=95%
.ca The works near the 18th mile-stone West of Newcastle.
.il fn=i_p052b.jpg w=500px ew=95%
.ca The works half a mile west of Carraw.
.sn THE VALLUM.
The Vallum or Turf Wall, is uniformly to the
south of the stone Wall. It consists of three ramparts
and a fosse. One of these ramparts is placed
close upon the southern edge of the ditch, the two
others of larger dimensions[22] stand, one to the north,
and the other to the south of it, at the distance of
about twenty-four feet. The annexed sections of
the works exhibit their present condition. They
are drawn to the scale of seventy-five feet to the
inch. The Wall is in these parts, unhappily,
entirely removed.
.fn 22
Horsley, in the profiles of the barrier which he gives, represents
the marginal rampart or agger as being much larger than
the south one. The present aspect of the works does not warrant
such a delineation.
.fn-
.bn p053.png
.pn +1
The ramparts, in some parts of the line, stand, even
at present, six or seven feet above the level of the
neighbouring ground.[23] They are composed of earth,
mingled, not unfrequently, with masses of stone. Occasionally,
the stone preponderates to such an extent
as to yield to the hand of the modern spoiler, ready
materials for the formation of stone dikes. In several
places they are being quarried with this view.
.fn 23
When travelling along the road west of Birdoswald, I have
seen a ploughman and his team entirely disappear, on descending
into the fosse of the Vallum.
.fn-
The fosse of the Vallum is of a character similar to
the fosse of the stone Wall; but, judging from present
appearances, its dimensions have been rather
less. It, too, has been frequently cut through beds
of stone.
The question will occasionally occur to the wanderer
by the Wall, whence were the materials obtained
for constructing the mounds of the Vallum?
With the exception of the fosse, there are no marks
of excavation in the neighbourhood, and that the
fosse of the Vallum would not yield materials sufficient
for the purpose, is abundantly evident.[24]
.fn 24
An inspection of Horsley’s own sections will at once show
this.—Britan. Romana, 158.
.fn-
.sn USE OF THE VALLUM.
The contents of the ditch on the north of the
Wall have probably gone to assist in the formation
of these lines. This statement of course proceeds
upon the supposition that the Wall and the Vallum
were contemporaneous works. Upon the same assumption,
it may be added that the ramparts of the
Vallum are probably indebted for some portion of the
.bn p054.png
.pn +1
stone which they contain, to the chippings of the
Wall.
Although the distance between the stone Wall and
the Vallum is, as already observed, perpetually varying,
the lines of the Vallum maintain amongst themselves
nearly the same relative position throughout
their entire course.
No apparent paths of egress have been made
through these southern lines of fortification. The
only mode of communication with the country to
the south, originally contemplated, seems to have
been by the gateways of the stations.
If we adopt the theory that the Wall and the Vallum
exhibit unity of design, a question of some importance
arises—With what view was the Vallum
constructed? Hodgson, with much probability,
conceives that, whilst the Wall undertook the harder
duty of warding off the professedly hostile tribes
of Caledonia, the Vallum was intended as a protection
against sudden surprise from the south. The
natives of the country on the south side of the Wall,
though conquered, were not to be depended upon;
in the event of their kinsmen in the north gaining an
advantage, they would be ready to avail themselves
of it. The Romans knew this, and with characteristic
prudence made themselves secure on both sides.
.sn PECULIAR CONSTRUCTION OF THE VALLUM.
But, whatever we may conceive to have been the
design of the Vallum, the peculiarity of its form will
excite the attention of the enquirer, though probably
without his arriving at any satisfactory explanation.
Supposing, according to the common theory, that the
.bn p055.png
.pn +1
Vallum was an independent fortification, erected
long before the Wall, to resist a northern foe, why
was not the ditch, as in the case of the stone Wall,
drawn along the northern edge of the northern agger?
I cannot supply an answer. A similar difficulty meets
us on the supposition that it was meant to guard
against attack from the other side. Again, what part
did the smaller rampart on the south edge of the
fosse perform? Possibly it may have been intended
as a foot-hold for the soldiers when fighting on this
platform against the revolted Britons south of the
barrier.
The third, and perhaps the most important, part of
the barrier line consisted of the structures that were
formed for the accommodation of the soldiery, and for
the ready transmission of troops and stores. Neither
stone walls, nor ditches, nor earthen ramparts,
would alone have proved material impediments to
the incursions of the Caledonians—
.pm start_poem
An iron race, ...
Foes to the gentler genius of the plain.
.pm end_poem
It is reported that Agesilaus, when asked where
were the walls of Sparta, pointed to his soldiers
and said, ‘There.’ The Romans placed their chief reliance
on the valour and discipline of their armies,
though they did not despise the assistance of mural
lines. In a foreign country, to which it was difficult
to transmit relays of troops, it became a matter of
great importance to economize the lives of the soldiery.
Hence arose the Wall.
.bn p056.png
.pn +1
Those portions of the great barrier which yet
await our consideration, are the Stations, the Mile-castles,
the Turrets, and the Roads.
.sn THE STATIONS.
At distances along the line which average nearly
four miles, Stationary Camps (stationes or castra
stativa) were erected. These received their distinctive
appellation, in contradistinction from those
temporary ramparts, which were thrown up when
an army halted for a night or for some brief period.
The stations on the line of the Wall were military
cities, adapted for the residence of the chief
who commanded the district, and providing secure
lodgment for the powerful body of soldiery he had
under him. Here the commandant held his court;
hence issued decrees which none might gainsay;
here Roman arts, and literature, and luxury, struggled
for existence, when all around was ignorance
and barbarity.
Some of the stations, though connected with the
Wall, have evidently, as will afterwards be shewn,
been built before it: this does not prove that they
did not form part of the great design. To secure
a safe retreat for the soldiers employed upon the
work would necessarily be the first care of the
builder.
The stations are uniformly quadrangular in their
shape, though somewhat rounded at the corners, and
contain an area of from three to five acres. A stone
wall, five feet thick, encloses them, and has probably
in every instance been strengthened by a fosse,
and one or more earthen ramparts. They usually
.bn p057.png
.pn +1
stand upon ground which slopes to the south, and
are naturally defended upon one side at least.
.sn THE PLACE OF THE STATIONS.
The Wall, when it does not fall in with the
northern wall of a station, usually comes up to the
northern cheek of its eastern and western gateways.
The Vallum, in like manner, usually approaches
close to the southern wall of the station, or comes up
to the defence of the southern side of the eastern
and western portals. Examples of these arrangements
are given in #Plate II:p044b#. At least three of the
stations, it must, however, be observed, are quite
detached from both lines of fortification, being situated
to the south of them. They may have been
members of Agricola’s chain of forts.
Probably all the stations have, on their erection,
been provided, after the usual method of Roman castrametation,
with four gateways; in several instances
one or more of these portals have been walled up at
an early period, in consequence, probably, of some
natural weakness in the situation.
Narrow streets, intersecting each other at right
angles, occupy the interior of the stations, and
abundant ruins, outside the walls, indicate the fact that
extensive suburbs have, in every instance, been required
for the accommodation of the camp-followers.
.sn THE FERTILITY OF THE STATIONS.
In selecting a spot for a station, care has been
taken that an abundant supply of water should
be at hand. The springs, rivulets, wells, and
aqueducts, whence they procured the needful fluid,
are still, in many places, to be traced; and never did
water more limpid, more sparkling, more invigorating,
.bn p058.png
.pn +1
lave the lips of man, than that which flows from
these sources.
For the most part, the stations—cities which for
centuries were the abodes of busy men, and which
resounded with the hum of multitudes, and the clash
of arms,—now present a scene of utter desolation.
The wayfarer may pass through them without knowing
it; the streets are levelled, the temples are overthrown,
and the sons and daughters of Italy, Mauritania,
and Spain, whose adopted homes they were,
no longer encounter him. The sheep, depasturing
the grass-grown ruins, look listlessly upon
the passer-by, and the curlew, wheeling above
his head, screams as at the presence of an intruder.
Whether, or not, sites naturally fertile were chosen
for the stations does not appear; but certain it
is, that they are now for the most part coated with
a sward more green and more luxuriant than that
which covers the contiguous grounds. Centuries of
occupation have given them a degree of fertility
which, probably, they will never lose.[25] One can
scarcely turn up the soil without meeting, not only
with fragments of Roman pottery and other imperishable
articles, but with the bones of oxen, the tusks
of boars, the horns of deer, and other animal remains.
The debris of some of these cities is considered
.bn p059.png
.pn +1
to be more valuable for farm purposes, than the
recent produce of the fold-yard, and is used as such.
.fn 25
In corroboration of this statement, it may be mentioned that
an intelligent and substantial farmer offered to take, on a twenty-one
years’ lease, the Corchester field, in which the station of Corstopitum
stood, at the yearly rate of 6l. per acre. It contains
twelve acres.
.fn-
.sn THE NAMES OF THE STATIONS.
It is not a little remarkable that the names of the
stations, which must have been household words in
the days of Roman occupation, have for the most part
been obliterated from the local vocabulary; they are
now only to be recalled, and that with difficulty, by exhuming
the stony records of the past, and comparing
them with the notices of contemporaneous geographers.
The truth is, that military reasons dictated the
choice of the stations,—commercial facilities gave rise
to modern cities. Long may the mere military outpost
be consigned to the shepherd’s use, whilst the
wharf and the warehouse are beset by the busy
crowd!
According to Horsley, the stations on the line of
the Wall, were eighteen in number, besides some
that were placed in its immediate vicinity, and lent
to it important aid. Hodgson, conceiving that
Horsley has in one instance mistaken a mere summer
fortification for a stationary camp, reduces the
number of stations on the line itself to seventeen.
.sn THE STATIONS ACCORDING TO THE NOTITIA.
In ascertaining the number and the names of the
stations, a most valuable document has come down
to our times from the period of Roman occupation.
The ‘Notitia Imperii’ was probably written about the
end of the reign of Theodosius the younger, and was
certainly composed before the Romans abandoned
this island. It is a sort of list of the several military
and civil officers and magistrates both in the eastern
and western empires, with the places at which they
.bn p060.png
.pn +1
were stationed. It may, in fact, be regarded as the
roll-call of the Roman army. The sixty-ninth
section of the work contains a list of the prefects
and tribunes under the command of the Honourable
the Duke of Britain. The portion of the section in
which we are at present interested is headed, Item
per lineam valli—Also along the line of the Wall—and
contains the following list:—
.ul indent=4 style=none
.it The Tribune of the fourth cohort of the Lingones[26] at Segedunum.
.it The Tribune of the cohort of the Cornovii at Pons Ælii.
.it The Prefect of the first ala, or wing, of the Astures[27] at Condercum.
.it The Tribune of the first cohort of the Frixagi at Vindobala.
.it The Prefect of the Savinian ala at Hunnum.
.it The Prefect of the second ala of Astures at Cilurnum.
.it The Tribune of the first cohort of the Batavians at Procolitia.
.it The Tribune of the first cohort of the Tungri at Borcovicus.
.it The Tribune of the fourth cohort of the Gauls at Vindolana.
.it The Tribune of the first cohort of the Astures at Æsica.
.it The Tribune of the second cohort of the Dalmatians at Magna.
.it The Tribune of the first cohort of Dacians, styled Ælia, at Amboglanna.
.it The Prefect of the ala, called Petriana, at Petriana.
.it The Prefect of a detachment of Moors, styled Aureliani, at Aballaba.
.it The Tribune of the second cohort of the Lergi at Congavata.
.it The Tribune of the first cohort of the Spaniards at Axelodunum.
.it The Tribune of the second cohort of the Thracians at Gabrosentis.
.it The Tribune of the first marine cohort, styled Ælia, at Tunnocelum.
.it The Tribune of the first cohort of the Morini at Glannibanta.
.it The Tribune of the third cohort of the Nervii at Alionis.
.it The Cuneus of men in armour at Bremetenracum.
.it The Prefect of the first ala, styled Herculean, at Olenacum.
.it The Tribune of the sixth cohort of the Nervii at Virosidum.
.ul-
.fn 26
The Notitia has Lergorum, but it will be afterwards shewn that this is probably an error for
Lingonum.
.fn-
.fn 27
The Notitia has Astorum in this and the subsequent instances, but all the inscriptions
hitherto found have Asturum.
.fn-
.sn THE CORROBORATION OF LETTERED STONES.
It is not said, nor does it appear, that all these
twenty-three stations were exactly upon the line of
the Wall itself. It is very plain indeed, says
Horsley, that according to the Notitia, Segedunum
was the first, for that immediately follows the title
.bn p061.png
.pn +1
per lineam valli; but he has not told us expressly
at what place or station they end.[28] Those stations
which were not on the Wall were probably in its
vicinity, and were connected with it by military
ways. The stations in this list are manifestly, as
this writer also observes, set down in some order, and
those that were near to each other are placed together;[29]
so that if we ascertain the identity of some
of them, we may form a pretty correct estimate of the
position of the intermediate or neighbouring stations.
.fn 28
Brit. Rom. 102.
.fn-
.fn 29
Ibid. 473.
.fn-
.il id=p061 fn=i_p061.jpg w=250px ew=50% align=r
When, in the ruins of a station, inscribed stones are
found bearing the name of a cohort mentioned in the
Notitia, the inference is natural, that, in most cases
at least, the imperial Notitia will furnish us with
a key to the ancient designation of the station. The
argument becomes irresistible, when, in several successive
instances the designations thus obtained correspond
exactly with the order of the places as given
in the Notitia. Let us
take an example. At
the station of Chesters,
on the North Tyne,
several slabs have been
found, bearing the
name of the second ala,
or wing, of the Astures.
One of these is here represented.[30] It is a sepulchral
.bn p062.png
.pn +1
stone, and bears at the end of the third and the beginning
of the fourth lines the words—
.pm start_poem
· · · · · · ALAE
II ASTVR[UM]· · · ·
.pm end_poem
.fn 30
This slab is in the possession of his Grace the Duke of Northumberland,
and is preserved, along with several other interesting
reliques of the Wall, in that noble baronial residence, so worthy
of the chiefs of Percy, Alnwick Castle.
.fn-
.sn CILURNUM APPROPRIATED.
.il id=p062 fn=i_p062.jpg w=225px ew=40% align=l
Now, as the Notitia represents this ala, or troop of
cavalry, to have been stationed at Cilurnum, the probability
is, that the camp on the west bank of the
North Tyne is the Cilurnum of Roman Britain.
Immediately following
‘The second wing of the
Astures at Cilurnum,’ on
the Notitia list, is, ‘The
first cohort of the Batavians
at Procolitia.’ Now the
station immediately west of
Chesters is Carrawburgh,
and here a slab and an altar
have been found, inscribed
with the name of this very
cohort. The woodcut represents
one of them,[31] an altar to Fortune, which is
thus inscribed—
.dv class='column-container'
.dv class='column'
.pm start_inscr c
FORTVNAE
COH I BATAVOR[UM]
CVI PRÆEST
MELACCINIVS
MARCELLUS PRÆ[FECTUS]
.pm end_inscr
.dv-
.dv class='column'
.pm start_inscr c
To Fortune
The first cohort of the Batavians
Commanded by
Melaccinius
Marcellus, Prefect.
.pm end_inscr
.dv-
.dv-
.fn 31
Now in the Dean and Chapter Library at Durham.
.fn-
.il id=p063 fn=i_p063.jpg w=225px ew=40% align=r
The conclusion is natural,—Carrawburgh is the Procolitia
of the Notitia.
.bn p063.png
.pn +1
.sn BORCOVICUS ASCERTAINED.
Moving westward, the
next station we come to
is Housesteads; here numerous
inscribed stones
have been discovered,
which mention the first
cohort of the Tungri.
One of these, an altar to
Jupiter, which is now
in the possession of the
Society of Antiquaries of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
and is preserved in their
museum, is accurately
given in the accompanying
engraving.
.dv class='column-container'
.dv class='column'
.pm start_inscr c
I[OVI] O[PTIMO] M[AXIMO]
ET NVMINIBUS
AVG[USTI] COH[ORS] I TV-
NGRORVM
MIL[LIARIA] CVI PRÆE-
ST Q[UINTUS] VERIVS
SVPERSTIS
PRÆEFECTVS
.pm end_inscr
.dv-
.dv class='column'
.pm start_inscr c
To Jupiter, the greatest and best,
And the Deities
Of Augustus; the first cohort of the
Tungri,
A milliary one,[32] commanded by
Quintus Verius
Superstis,
Prefect.
.pm end_inscr
.dv-
.dv-
.fn 32
According both to Hyginus and Vegetius, the first cohort
of a legion, in the times of the lower empire, was called milliaria,
from its being stronger than any cohort of the legion, and from
its generally consisting of about a thousand men.
.rj
Arch. Æl. ii., 83.
.fn-
The correspondence between the Notitia and the
sculptures derived from this station, is again too
striking to admit a doubt, that the Housesteads of
.bn p064.png
.pn +1
the modern shepherd is the Borcovicus of the
Roman hosts.
.sn THE FATE OF LETTERED STONES.
In this way, the ancient designations of the stations
from Segedunum, Wall’s-end, to Amboglanna,
Birdoswald, have been accurately ascertained;
but no stony memorial of the past has arisen to confirm
the Notitia account of the stations westward
of this point. The peculiarly fertile nature of the
soil between the river Irthing and the Solway has
been inimical to the preservation of the Wall and
its antiquities. The wants of a numerous population
rendered stones of every kind valuable; and in an
ignorant age, when anything in the shape of a letter
was regarded as a thing of evil omen, those most
precious to the historian were the first to be sacrificed.[33]
THE STATIONS WEST OF AMBOGLANNA.Since the accuracy of the Notitia has been
confirmed in so many instances, it is but fair to
conclude, that it may be safely taken as a guide in
fixing the Roman designations of the remaining
stations along the line. Cambeck Fort is the station
next to Birdoswald; the Notitia places Petriana
next in order to Amboglanna, which has been
.bn p065.png
.pn +1
ascertained to be Birdoswald—doubtless, according
to this reasoning, Cambeck Fort is the ancient
Petriana. In this way, could it be certainly ascertained
which were the stations per lineam valli,
each station might have its Roman name restored,
though not a syllable of the ancient designation be
retained in the modern cognomen. We should have
but to read over the roll-call, and let each camp in
succession answer to its name. Unhappily, there is
some doubt as to which are the stations along the
line of the Wall. Horsley conceives that Watch
Cross is the station next in order to Cambeck Fort,
and, accordingly, calls it Aballaba; Stanwix, Burgh,
Drumburgh, and Bowness, he successively denominates,
after the Notitia, Congavata, Axelodunum,
Gabrosentis, and Tunnocelum. Subsequent inquirers,
and, in particular, the Rev. John Hodgson,
have seen reason to suspect that Watch Cross was
not a station per lineam valli. It probably was destitute
of stone walls, and was surrounded only by a
rampart of earth.[34] It seems to have been a mere
castra æstiva—a summer encampment, and consequently,
was not entitled to rank with those strongholds
that were intended to withstand all foes at all
seasons. Should Watch Cross be laid aside, the
whole of Horsley’s subsequent allocation of the
Notitia names is thrown out of course. It is much
to be desired that some ‘Witch Stone’ would start
.bn p066.png
.pn +1
from its hiding-place in the foundation of some cottage
or castle in the neighbourhood of any one of the
stations west of Cambeck Fort, and resolve the interesting
question. Until such an event does occur,
some doubt must hang upon the subject. The reader
will now understand how it is, that, according
to some authorities, the stations immediately dependent
upon the Wall are said to be eighteen in number,
and according to others only seventeen. For
the reason just referred to, the Notitia names of the
stations are not given on the Map of the Wall westward
of Petriana.
.fn 33
A correspondent of the author writes 'Even in my
own day it was the custom of the superstitious, on the line of
the Wall, especially between Birdoswald and Cambeck Fort to
pound the stones, bearing inscriptions, into sand for their kitchens,
or bury them in the foundations of houses or walls, for the simple
reason that they considered them unlucky—calling them 'witch
stones’. When one was found, the old wives fearing that the butter
might not form in the churn, took good care that it should
never again make its appearance. Thus down went many a
splendid Roman altar, a sacrifice to ignorance and superstition'!
.fn-
.fn 34
The plough has now passed over the station of Watch Cross.
The enquiries which I have made on the spot, and in the neighbourhood,
are, on the whole, confirmatory of Hodgson’s view.
.fn-
The remainder of the stations of the Notitia were
probably out-posts, intended to give support to the
whole structure. The difficulty of rightly appropriating
the Notitia appellations to such of these as
have not yielded inscribed stones, is even greater
than in the case of those which follow more closely
the line of the Wall.
.sn THE EXTINCTION OF ROMAN NAMES.
Before leaving this subject, the reader will do well
to compare the ancient with the modern names of the
stations, as far as they are ascertained; in doing
so, he will be struck with the almost total absence
of any similarity between them. So complete, it
would appear, has been the subversion by Pict, and
Saxon, and Dane, of the Roman domination in the
north of England, that the very names of the cities
which were occupied by the empire for centuries
have perished,
.pm start_poem
And, like this unsubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind.
.pm end_poem
.bn p067.png
.pn +1
.sn THE CASTELLA OR MILE-CASTLES.
In addition to the Stations, Castella or Mile-Castles
were provided for the use of the troops which
garrisoned the Wall. They derive their modern name
from the circumstance of their being usually placed at
the distance of a Roman mile from each other. They
were quadrangular buildings, differing somewhat in
size, but usually measuring from sixty to seventy feet
in each direction. With two exceptions, they have
been placed against the southern face of the Wall;
the castle at Portgate, every trace of which is now
obliterated, and another near Æsica, the foundations
of which may, with some difficulty, still be traced,
seem to have projected equally to the north and
south of the Wall. Though generally placed
about seven furlongs from each other, the nature of
the ground, independently of distance, has frequently
determined the spot of their location. Whenever
the Wall has had occasion to traverse a river or a
mountain pass, a mile-castle has uniformly been
placed on the one side or other to guard the defile.
The mile-towers have generally had but one gate of
entrance, which was of very substantial masonry, and
was uniformly placed in the centre of the south wall;
the most perfect specimen now remaining, however,
has a northern, as well as a southern gateway. It
is not easy to conjecture what were the internal
arrangements of these buildings; probably they
afforded little accommodation beyond what their four
strong walls and well-barred gates gave. Hodgson
states that when the foundations of the castle northeast
of Housesteads were removed in 1832, the remains
of an inner wall were seen, all round, parallel to the
.bn p068.png
.pn +1
outer walls. He hence infers that the space between
the walls has been roofed, and the centre uncovered.
Deferring the further discussion of this subject until,
in the course of our local description, we arrive at
the most perfect specimen remaining—the mile-castle
near Cawfields—the reader is meanwhile referred
to the lithograph which depicts this interesting remain.
.sn THE TURRETS OR WATCH TOWERS.
Between the mile-castles, four subsidiary buildings,
generally denominated Turrets or Watch
Towers, were placed. They were little more than
stone sentry-boxes. It is with much difficulty that
they can now be traced. Horsley, in his day, complained
that ‘scarce three of them could be made out
in succession.’ Would that the modern antiquary
could make the same lamentation! Scarcely one
along the whole line can with certainty be determined.
They contained an interior space of eight or ten
feet square. Horsley states the distance between
them to have been three hundred and eight yards—the
whole number would consequently be three
hundred and twenty. Though small buildings, they
were, like all the works of the Romans, built for perpetuity.
Hodgson found the walls of one near Birdoswald
to be nearly three feet thick. Such were the
buildings provided for the lodgement and security
of the cohorts, whose hard lot it was to guard this
frontier barrier. A plan of Cilurnum, and the works
in its vicinity, taken from Warburton’s Vallum
Romanum, in #Plate II:p044b#., exhibits these arrangements,
and shews, as he remarks, how the Wall and the
Vallum, the stations, turrets, and castles, yielded
mutual assistance to each other.
.bn p069.png
.pn +1
.sn THE MILITARY WAY.
But all these arrangements were not enough; without
Roads, one important element in the strength of
the Great Barrier would have been wanting. Nothing
economizes military force more effectually than the possession
of means for quickly concentrating all available
resources upon any point that the enemy may
select for attack. The advance of Roman armies, and
the formation of roads, were uniformly contemporaneous.
The Barrier had its Military Way. It is impossible
to over-estimate the importance of this part
of the works. Without it, all the rest would have been
useless. It would not, perhaps, be incorrect to say
that both Vallum and Wall were subsidiary to it,
and that the chief use of these structures was to
guard the road, and to protect and conceal from view,
both on the north and south, the troops that marched
along it. The modern history of the district traversed
by the Wall furnishes a singular corroboration
of this opinion. In the rebellion of 1715, the
operations of the royalist forces were greatly impeded
by the absence of a good road between Newcastle
and Carlisle. In the rebellion of 1745, a
similar inconvenience was experienced. Marshal
Wade was at Newcastle when the Pretender appeared
before the city of Carlisle. The commandant
of the city immediately sent an express to inform him
of his position. The general’s answer contained these
words:—
.pm start_quote
.rj
Newcastle, November 10th, 1745, 7 o’clock.
Gentlemen,
I have just now the favour of your letter by
express, with an account of the Rebels’ approach near your
.bn p070.png
.pn +1
city. The spirit and resolution with which you exert yourselves
is very commendable, and I hope will contribute to
disappoint the Rebels of any design they may have formed
against you. ..... I cannot follow them, the way they
may probably take being impassable for Artillery .....
but I hope to meet them in Lancashire, and make them repent
of their rashness. ... I wish you all imaginable success,
.nf b
And am, Gentlemen, your
Most obedient humble servant,
George Wade.[35]
.nf-
.pm end_quote
.fn 35
Mounsey’s Account of the occupation of Carlisle in 1745.
.fn-
.sn THE IMPORTANCE OF MILITARY ROADS.
Thus, for want of a military road across the Isthmus,
the importance of which had been perceived by the
Romans sixteen centuries previously, the safety of
the kingdom was perilled, and a hostile force permitted
to pour itself into the heart of England.
After such terrible warnings, government at last
interfered, and an act of Parliament was passed
which set forth in the preamble:—
.pm start_quote
Whereas the making and keeping a free and open communication
between the city of Carlisle and the town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
by a road for the passage of troops, horses,
and carriages, at all times of the year, would be of great use
and service to the public, and it hath been found by experience,
that the want of such road, passage, and communication, hath
been attended with great inconvenience and danger to this
kingdom. ....: Be it enacted, &c.
.pm end_quote
The road now known in the district by the name
of the Military Road was accordingly made at the
public expense. It is not a little remarkable that
it takes precisely the track which the engineers of
.bn p071.png
.pn +1
Rome had so many centuries before selected. In
the map of the Wall which accompanies this work,
the modern military road is delineated.
The importance of a good road, protected by
military posts at short intervals, in securing the
tranquillity of a turbulent district, is strikingly shewn
in another instance. That part of the great highway
between Madrid and Cadiz which crosses the
wild hills of the Sierra barrier, was formerly left to
the robber and the wolf, without roads or villages.
A road, admirably planned, was at length executed by
Charles Le Maur, an able engineer in the service of
Charles III. The task of guarding it was the difficulty
next to be overcome. For this purpose, Spain,
who had colonized the new world, and expelled her
rich Jews and industrious Moors, was compelled to
resort to foreign assistance. In 1768, a colony of
Germans and Swiss settled upon the line on condition
of maintaining a constant guard.[36] This is done
to the present day. Several consecutive towns, such
as Carolina, in Andalusia, are occupied by people
speaking nothing but the German language, and
regular patrols are constantly on the move from one
town to another. These Germans have their land in
better order and cultivation than the Spaniards.
This Spanish highway, with its stations at regular
intervals, with its foreign guards, who from generation
to generation maintain the tongue and the
habits of their fatherland, presents too many points
.bn p072.png
.pn +1
of resemblance to the manner in which the northern
frontier of Roman power in Britain was defended,
to be passed over without obtaining at least this
brief notice.
.fn 36
Ford’s Hand-book of Spain, 1st edition, p. 306.
.fn-
.sn MILITARY ROADS.
Gordon, in his Itinerarium Septentrionale, says,
that two military ways belonged to the Barrier; a
small Military Way a little to the south of the Wall,
and, beyond it, the Great Military Way. In addition
to these, Horsley enumerates a third, which he calls
the Old Military Way. Horsley conceives that the
north rampart of the Vallum constitutes the road
which was used by Agricola and Hadrian in transporting
their troops from station to station, and that when
Severus built the Wall, he formed a new road—the
great military way—which pursued an independent
course, sometimes coinciding with the old road,
but more frequently keeping nearer to the Wall.
That there may have been a path-way immediately
under the Wall which went from turret to turret, on
which the Roman sentries marched with slow and
measured pace, when they did not choose to expose
themselves upon the parapets of the Wall, is not
improbable; though we now look in vain for any
traces of it. But that the north agger of the Vallum
was thrown up either by Agricola or Hadrian to
serve the purposes of a road, is a proposition too
startling to be received even on the authority of the
learned Horsley. In some places, indeed, it is sufficiently
flattened to admit of the passage of traffic
along it, but in the greater part of the course where
the works of the Vallum are not under cultivation,
.bn p073.png
.pn +1
the rampart is too conical, too narrow, and too
ragged, to admit of such a use. Excepting in those
situations, where stones are mingled with the
whole mass of the agger, it exhibits no signs of
having been paved.[37] The manner in which all the
ramparts of the Vallum on Tepper Moor are encumbered
with blocks of basalt, clearly shews, that here
at least there has been no road. Besides, few who
trace the lines of the Vallum from sea to sea, and
observe their complete parallelism, will be able to
resist the conclusion, that the whole of the works
were contemporaneous; whereas, Horsley’s theory
ascribes part to Agricola, and part to Hadrian:
moreover, it may be added, that so much do the
northern and the southernmost aggers resemble each
other, that unbiassed observers will scarcely entertain
a doubt, that they have been thrown up to
serve a precisely similar purpose.
.fn 37
On putting the inquiry pointedly to a person who had ploughed
up some portions of the Vallum in the neighbourhood of Wallend,
Cumberland, and who was also acquainted with the mode
in which the Maiden-way (a Roman road) was formed, I was
told that there were no traces of pavement in the Vallum.
.fn-
.sn THE MILITARY WAY.
Happily, there is no room for doubt respecting
the other road, which Horsley calls Severus’ Greater
Military Way, as in the untilled districts of the
country it may be traced for several consecutive
miles; and if we receive the theory, that the Murus
and Vallum are one work, there is no need to seek
for any other.
.bn p074.png
.pn +1
.sn CONSTRUCTION OF THE ROAD.
The Military Way is usually about seventeen
feet wide, and is composed of rubble so arranged as
to present a rounded surface, elevated in its centre
a foot or eighteen inches above the adjoining
ground. When carried along the slope of a hill, the
hanging side is made up by large kerb-stones. In
most places where it still remains, it is completely
grass-grown, but may, notwithstanding, be easily distinguished
from the neighbouring ground by the colour
of its herbage, the dryness of its substratum allowing
the growth of a finer description of plant. For the
same reason, a sheep-track generally runs along it.
For the accommodation of the soldiery, the road went
from castle to castle, and so, from station to station.
In doing this, it did not always keep close to the
Wall, but took the easiest path between the required
points. In traversing the precipitous grounds between
Sewingshields and Thirlwall, the ingenuity of
the engineer has been severely tried; but most successfully
has he performed his task. Whilst, as
previously observed, the Wall shoots over the highest
and steepest summits, the road pursues its
tortuous course from one platform of the rock to
another, so as to bring the traveller from mile-castle
to mile-castle by the easiest possible gradients.
Often has it been my lot to notice how naturally, towards
the close of a fatiguing day’s march, the less
zealous of our exploring party, more anxious to select
an easy track than to keep close companionship
with the Wall, have, most unconsciously, pursued
the route of the Roman way. But, notwithstanding
all the art of the engineer, the steepness of the road
.bn p075.png
.pn +1
in some places is such, that most of our modern
carmen, with all their boasted skill, would be
greatly puzzled if required to traverse it with a
waggon laden with military stores.[38]
.fn 38
We must not, however, pronounce a road to be impracticable,
because now it would be thought so. A Northumberland farmer,
speaking to me upon this subject, said he had seen roads which,
in his neighbourhood, were regularly traversed only a century ago,
on which no one would venture now-a-days; ‘it was like
coming down a crag-side.’ He had driven through mosses in
which the horses were commonly enveloped, but had no misgivings
so long as he could see the heads of the animals.
.fn-
.sn ADDITIONAL ROAD.
Although the road now described has probably
been the only carriage-way between the two great
lines of fortification, another, situated to the south
of them, has afforded direct communication between
some of the inland stations. From Cilurnum to
Magna, the Wall forms a curved line, in order to
gain the highest hills of the district. For the accommodation
of those whose business did not require
them to call at any intermediate point, a road went,
like the string of a bow, direct from the one station
to the other. This road, which is shewn in #Plate II:p044b#.,
went near the modern village of Newburgh, where
Roman remains are occasionally found, and passed
by the north gate of Vindolana, Chesterholm, near
to which a Roman mile-stone still stands. Some
portions of the ancient pavement still remain near
Morwood. It is probable that this Roman Military
Way was further continued, south of the Wall, direct
to Stanwix.
.sn SPEAKING TUBES IN THE WALL.
If tradition is to be credited, the Romans were
not satisfied with roads as a means of rapidly communicating
.bn p076.png
.pn +1
information; speaking-trumpets or pipes,
we are told, ran along the whole length of the Wall.
Of this, Drayton, long ago, sang in his Polyolbion—
.pm start_quote
Townes stood upon my length, where garrisons were laid
Their limits to defend; and for my greater aid,
With turrets I was built, where sentinels were plac’d
To watch upon the Pict; so me my makers grac’d
With hollow pipes of brasse, along me still they went,
By which they in one fort still to another sent,
By speaking in the same, to tell them what to doe,
And soe from sea to sea could I be whispered through.
.pm end_quote
Sir Christopher Ridley, in his letter tells us, that—
.pm start_quote
In this Wall was theyr a trunck of brass, or whatever kynd
of mettal, which went from one place to another along the
Wall, and came into the Captaynes chamber, whereat they
had watchers for the same, and yf theyr had bene stryfe or
business betwyxt the enemies, and that the watchmen did
blow a horn in at the end of the truncke that came into the
chamber, and so from one to one; there was certayn money
payed yearly to the mantenance of this trunck by the inhabitants
theyrabout, and doith yet pay to some gentilmen in
Northymberland, the which money is called horn-geld money.[39]
.pm end_quote
.fn 39
Hodgson, however, distinctly proves, that the cornage, or
castle-guard rent of the North of England—originally a payment
in lieu of cattle, and called in English, horngeld and neatgeld,
cattle-tax, or ox-lay—has nothing whatever to do with sounding
the war-alarm by horns.
.fn-
.sn THE THEORY PROBABLY INCORRECT.
Camden also refers to this curious tradition.
Once, but only once, have I met with this story in
my own rambles. Such myths will not long outlive
the introduction of the electric telegraph. ‘There
are no old people upon the Wall now,’ as a man of
three-score lately said to me, when I was endeavouring
.bn p077.png
.pn +1
to persuade him to gather up from his still more
ancient neighbour the fire-side lore of by-gone times.
It is curious to observe that a similar statement
is made respecting the Barrier of the Upper Isthmus.
A correspondent writes—
.pm start_quote
One old man told me, that when he was young, on digging
through one of the wall stations—at Upper Croy—they came
upon stone pipes, laid horizontally in the soil, and joined at
the ends like those for water. From the elevation of the
place, it is quite obvious that they could not be water conduits.
This old person said that the idea he had heard
‘learned people’ give of these pipes, was, that they were for
speaking through. That the pipes were found, and made of
stone, not clay, is certain.
.pm end_quote
Pipes of lead are occasionally met with in the ruins
of the stations, and pipes of burnt clay are of very
frequent occurrence. To this circumstance the tradition
probably owes its rise. They are not, however,
found in the Wall, and when placed in the
stations, seem to have served a different purpose.
One use to which the tile-tubes have been put has
been the transmission of warm air throughout an
apartment. The walls of one of the chambers of the
‘baths’ at Hunnum were lined with them. Others
may have been used, especially in high situations, for
collecting rain-water from the roofs of the dwellings,
and conveying it to cisterns. Besides, the inutility of
the contrivance militates against the probability of its
adoption: the sentinels at their posts could easily
transmit hasty intelligence from end to end, by the
voice or by horns, without pipes imbedded in the
Wall, which, even if constructed, would probably be
useless for such a purpose.
.bn p078.png
.pn +1
This traditionary fiction is probably of more than
mediæval antiquity. Xiphiline, in his life of Severus,
tells some such marvellous tale about the towers of
Byzantium.
.tb
.sn THE MASONRY OF THE WALL.
A description of the Masonry of the erections
which have passed in review before us will conclude
this general examination of the Barrier.
The following extract of a letter with which I have
been favoured by Robert Rawlinson, esq., Inspector
of the Board of Health, will form an excellent introduction
to the subject.
.pm start_quote
I have several times thought over the subject of the Roman
Wall since I had the pleasure of seeing you. The Romans
constructed works with many different kinds of masonry;
no doubt all chosen to suit the material used, the place, and
the skill of the builders. In Rome, and Italy generally, works
of great magnificence were constructed, when the art displayed
was equal to the grandeur of the design. Such a work was
the famed Arch of Trajan, the Arch of Septimius Severus, the
Arch of Constantine, the Baths of Diocletian, and others. In
these works, construction of the highest order was used, and
the sculptor emulated the architect. The lettered altars and
sculptured figures found on the line of ‘the Wall’ must not
be compared with the best workmanship of Rome.
.sn NATIVE LABOURERS EMPLOYED.
I am quite satisfied, in my own mind, that the general
character of the work on the Wall was adapted to suit the
time, the country, and more especially, the labourers employed
on the work. The Wall, being a work of defence, had
to be constructed in haste; the country was wild, rude, and
without roads, excepting such as the Romans caused to be
made. This ‘caused to be made’ is I think, the key to the
character of the masonry chosen.... The form of
construction is the easiest and strongest which rude, uneducated
men could accomplish; and, with good mortar, such as
the Romans knew so well how to make, is the kind of work
.bn p079.png
.pn +1
calculated to endure for centuries, as we find it has done....
The works of the Wall I consider to have been chiefly constructed
by the natives, under the armed superintendence and
teaching of the soldier. The Roman knew no right but that
of the conqueror; his object was conquest for use; use of the
land, and the labour that was upon it. The Roman soldier
was a fighting animal, and was so far civilized as to know
how to make the comparative savage do his work upon his
plan, and this was shaped to suit the labour used. Consider
the length of the Wall, and the extent of the works upon it,
and it will be seen that for the army to have constructed
it, would have been to have kept them constantly working
instead of watching and fighting.
Some years ago I had a large quantity of heavy masonry to
construct on one of the railways. It was not unlike the Roman
Wall in character. I found a difficulty in dealing with
the regularly educated mason, and bought several scores of
trowels and hammers; these I placed in the hands of uneducated
labourers, set them to work under the superintendence
of educated foremen, looking after the whole myself.
This is a case similar to the one I have imagined for the
great Wall; only the work my labourers performed had
more difficulties about it than the Wall, and yet, these uneducated
men performed the work perfectly.[40]
Think of the Roman bringing in at the sword’s point, hundreds
of captive natives, placing for the first time tools in their
hands, indicating the work to be done, and compelling the
trembling slaves to do it![41]
.pm end_quote
.fn 40
It must, however, be borne in mind, that even the uneducated
labourer, in a highly civilized community, has unconsciously received
a considerable amount of mental training, which places him
in a situation much superior to that of the mere savage.
.fn-
.fn 41
The remainder of this valuable communication is, in order to
avoid repetition, embodied in the subsequent account of the Masonry
of the Wall.
.fn-
The stones employed in building the Wall and
stations were very carefully selected. When good
.bn p080.png
.pn +1
stones were to be had near at hand, they were taken;
but those of inferior quality were never used to avoid
the labour of bringing better from a distance. In some
parts of the line, in Cumberland especially, the stone
must have been brought from quarries seven or eight
miles off. A quartzose grit was generally selected
not only on account of its hardness, but because its
rough surface gave it a firmer adhesion to the mortar.
The stone which has been used in the works
at Wallsend is of a much coarser grit than any that
is found in the neighbourhood.
.sn THE QUARRIES USED.
The quarries from which the stone has been procured
can in many instances be precisely ascertained.
At Fallowfield, not far from Cilurnum, is an ancient
quarry on the face of which the words,
.pm start_poem
[P]ETRA FLAVI CARANTINI,
.pm end_poem
the rock of Flavius Carantinus—are still to be traced.
The vignette at the close of this part represents its
present condition. On opening out, in the year 1837,
some old quarries on the high, brown hill of Borcum,
near Thorngrafton, a small copper vessel was
found, containing a large number of coins, all of the
upper empire. Another Roman quarry existed on
Haltwhistle Fell. In a paper recently read before
the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
Mr. John Clayton says—
.pm start_quote
In riding over Haltwhistle Fell, before its enclosure, in
the summer of 1844, I came upon some workmen employed
in re-opening an old quarry. They told me they had met
with a ‘written stone’; I dismounted, and climbed the face
.bn p081.png
.pn +1
of the rock, when I found inscribed in letters clear and fresh
.ce
LEG. VI. V.
From its position on a wide waste, far removed from any
abode, but in the immediate vicinity of the Roman Wall, this
quarry could not possibly have been used for any other purpose
than to supply stones for the building of the Wall; and
from the freshness of the letters of the inscription, it must
have been filled up with earth soon after the soldiers ceased
to use it. The workmen promised to spare the ‘written
rock,’ but the next time I rode that way it had been shivered
to atoms.
.pm end_quote
.il id=p080b fn=i_p080b.jpg w=600px ew=95%
.ca
@span 50: Drawn & Lithographed @ by John Storey@
WRITTEN ROCK ON THE RIVER GELT.
.ca-
.sn INSCRIPTIONS ON THE QUARRIES.
In Cumberland, there are several Roman inscriptions
on the face of the ancient quarries. About a
mile west of Birdoswald, and little more than a
quarter of a mile south of the road, is Coome Crag,
which, besides other markings, presents the following
inscription—
.pm start_poem
SE · · RVS
AI · · · ·
· · · VSTUS
.pm end_poem
This perhaps may be read—Severus Alexander
Augustus. The most remarkable of this class of
Antiquities, however, is the ‘Written Rock of the
Gelt,’ near Brampton. The lithograph on the opposite
page is a very accurate representation of this
curious relic of antiquity. As the scar is nearly
perpendicular, and the river Gelt washes its base, it
is not without some difficulty that the inquiring
visitor can give it a satisfactory examination; it will,
however, well reward his exertions, and the beauty
of the surrounding scenery will give additional zest
to the ramble. INSCRIPTIONS ON THE QUARRIES.The inscribed part of the rock is fully
.bn p082.png
.pn +1
fifty feet above the water. The letters seem to have
been made by connecting with a chisel or pick a
.pm img_flow p082 300 60 r ‘Letters on the Written-Rock’
number of holes drilled in the rock in the required
order; at all events,
the terminations of
the strokes have been
thus formed. Some
doubt exists as to the precise reading of the inscription,
but the general purport of it is this:—The
vexillarii of the second legion under an optio called
Agricola, were, in the consulship of Flavius Aper
and Albinus Maximus (A.D. 207), employed to
hew stone here for the Romans.[42] It is piteous,
when surveying so interesting a relic of antiquity,
and one which has outlived the accidents of upwards
of sixteen centuries, to observe that it has
been approached by men who cannot sympathize
with the mighty dead, and who care not what violence
they do to the feelings of those who can. To the
defacement, as I believe, of some portion of the inscription,
the names of F. GRAHAM, W. HARDCASTLE,
T. THOMPSON, W. NELSON, have been carved upon the
rock. Notoriety is easily earned, but it is not always
of an enviable character.
.fn 42
Hodgson II. ii. 298.
.fn-
.fn 43
It would be described by a modern builder as a rough blocking
course.
.fn-
.il id=p083 fn=i_p083.jpg w=250px ew=50% align=r alt='Form of Wall-Stone'
.sn CHARACTER OF THE FACING-STONES.
The exterior masonry of the Wall consists, on
both sides, of carefully squared free-stone blocks[43];
the interior, of rubble of any description firmly imbedded
.bn p083.png
.pn +1
in mortar. The character of the facing-stones
is peculiar, yet pretty uniform. They are
eight or nine inches thick, and ten or eleven broad;
their length, which is perhaps their characteristic
feature, not unfrequently amounts to twenty inches.
The part of the stone exposed to the weather is cut
across ‘the bait,’ so as to avoid its scaling off by the
lines of stratification;
the stone tapers towards
the end which
is set into the Wall,
and has a form nearly
resembling that of a
wedge. The cut shews
its usual form. Owing
to the extent to which
the stones are set into the Wall, the necessity of
bonding tiles—so characteristic of Roman masonry
in the south of England—is altogether superseded.
There does not appear to have been a single tile
used in any part of the Wall. Stones of the shape
and size which have now been described were just
those which could be most easily wrought in the
quarry, most conveniently carried on the backs of
the poor enslaved Britons to the Wall, and most
easily fitted into their bed. The uniformity in their
appearance is such as to enable us, after a little
practice, at once to recognize them in the churches,
castles, farm-buildings, and fences of the district
through which the Wall runs.
.il id=p084 fn=i_p084.jpg w=400px ew=80% alt='Junction of the west wall of Birdoswald with the Wall'
.sn MASONRY OF THE STATIONS.
In Cumberland, the stones are rather larger than
.bn p084.png
.pn +1
in the eastern portion of the line, a thickness of
twelve inches not being uncommon, with a corresponding
breadth. The blocks in the north face of the
Wall, also, are not unfrequently larger than those in
the south. The stones of which the walls of the stations
are composed are smaller than those of the main
Wall. Their average thickness is from five to seven
inches, and their breadth from six to eight. The woodcut
which is here introduced, depicts the junction of
the west wall of the station of Amboglanna with the
Wall, and well displays the different character of
the stones used in two erections. As already
observed, the stations appear to have been built before
the Wall, and as the necessity of the case required
that they should be run up as quickly as
possible, a smaller class of stone was allowed to pass
muster here than was used in the Wall. The workmanship
also is of inferior quality.
.bn p085.png
.pn +1
.sn THE TOOLING OF THE STONES.
.pm img_flow p085a 150 20 r 'diamond broaching'
The front of the stones, both of the Wall and stations,
is roughly ‘scabbled’ with the pick. In some
parts of the line, this tooling takes a definite form;
when this is the case, the marking
called the diamond broaching
is most common. Sometimes the
.pm img_flow_noid p085b 150 20 l 'waved lines'
stone is scored with waved lines,
or with small squares, or with nearly
upright lines.
The woodcuts illustrative
of the
masonry at Chester Holm, and of
the Crypt at Hexham, to be introduced along with
.pm img_flow_noid p085c 150 20 r 'upright lines'
the account of these places, will exemplify some
of these kinds of broaching. It was not until I had
become tolerably familiar with the Wall, that my attention
was called to this peculiar kind of tooling. A
visit to Habitancum and Bremenium, where the
stones are nearly all broached in the diamond fashion,
induced me to inspect the Wall more narrowly in
this respect. I have since frequently detected it,
especially in Cumberland. It is rare in the Northumbrian
portion. Is this broaching peculiar to
a particular legion, or to a certain period? The
station of Habitancum is understood to have
been rebuilt by Caracalla—can the other stations,
and those parts of the Wall where this kind of
marking appears, have also undergone repair at the
same time, or is it the work of some particular
legion? The same kind of broaching may be noticed
in some of the stones at Chester, the Deva
.bn p086.png
.pn +1
Icenorum of the Romans, which was for a long
time the head quarters of the 20th legion. Though
unable to resolve the doubt, I think that the prosecution
of the inquiry may lead to some worthy result.
.sn MASONS' MARKS.
.il fn=i_p086a.jpg w=150px ew=20% alt='' align=l
.il fn=i_p086b.jpg w=150px ew=20% alt='' align=r
Cuttings resembling masons’ marks occasionally
occur. Sometimes they consist of a single or double
stroke; sometimes
of a diagonal
cross, sometimes
of a rectangular.
The other marks which are here represented are less
frequently met with.[44]
.fn 44
The cuts representing these markings are transferred from my
note book, without reference to scale.
.fn-
.il fn=i_p086c.jpg w=389px ew=80% alt=''
.sn ROMAN MORTAR.
The tenacity of the mortar which was used, forms
an important element in the strength of the whole
fabric. That which is in use now is generally spoiled,
from a variety of circumstances. The prevailing
practice is, first of all, to slack the lime by pouring
a quantity of water upon it when lying in a heap;
in most cases this does not sufficiently pulverize it:
it is then mixed with any earth bearing the least resemblance
to sand, and the two are worked together
very imperfectly with a shovel. The mortar thus
made often stands and hardens, so as to require to
to be once and again mixed with water, and worked
.bn p087.png
.pn +1
up before it is used. It thus becomes quite impoverished;
and, after all, for the convenience of
the mason, it is employed in so dry a state that the
stone soon takes all the moisture from it, and it becomes
little better than powder. The gigantic railway
operations of recent times have driven men out
of the beaten track, and compelled them afresh to
discover the Roman method of preparing mortar.
On the authority of engineers well acquainted with
the Roman Wall, I am enabled to state, that the
mortar of that structure is precisely similar to the
grout and concrete[45] of the railway mason of the
present day. Specimens of the ancient and modern
grout are before me, and there cannot be a doubt as
to the identity of their preparation.
.fn 45
Concrete contains less lime, and is mixed with a smaller proportion
of water than grout. It is chiefly used in large masses,
to form an artificial foundation for a building.
.fn-
The following is the mode in which the railway
engineer prepares his mortar. The lime, in the
state in which it comes from the kiln, is first ground
to powder, and is then mixed with sand and gravel,
and chippings of stone. The purposes for which
the mortar is required indicate the coarseness and
quantity of the intermingling gravel. When wanted
as concrete, to form, independently of other materials,
the foundation of some heavy structure, stony
fragments of larger size are mingled with the lime
than when the mortar is to be used to cement chiselled
stones, or even than when wanted to constitute
with rubble the interior of a wall. The mixture of
.bn p088.png
.pn +1
pounded lime and gravel, when made, is not mingled
with water, until the moment of its application to the
work for which it is required, but it is then intimately
united with an abundant quantity of it. When used
as concrete, the mass will, in three hours, have solidity
sufficient to bear the weight of a man, and in
about three days it will have acquired a rock-like
firmness.
Such, doubtless, is the way[46] in which the mortar of
the Roman Wall was prepared, and it would have
this very important advantage over that generally
used at present, that, in a very short time, the work
would acquire a massiveness and strength, sufficient
to resist the attacks of an enemy. The mortar of
the Saxon and Norman periods is of the same character.
.fn 46
The almost entire absence of those little white lumps of lime,
not properly mixed with sand, which are found in the imperfectly
prepared mortar of modern times, shews that the lime must in some
way have been crushed by rollers or beaters.
.fn-
Occasionally, but by no means frequently, small
pieces of charcoal are mixed with the mortar. These
have evidently been derived from the wood used in
burning the lime. Excepting in the buildings of
the stations, pounded tile, so characteristic of the
Roman mortar in the south of England, is by no
means a common constituent of the mortar of the
Wall. Limestone is abundant in most parts of the
district through which the Wall passes. The Romans
probably burnt it in ‘sow kilns.’ The limestone and
fuel being arranged in alternate layers, the whole was
.bn p089.png
.pn +1
carefully covered with turf and ignited. This simple
method is still much resorted to when the lime is
wanted for farm purposes.
.dv class='illo'
.rj
PLATE III
.il fn=i_p088b.jpg w=500px ew=90% link=i_p088bbig.jpg
.ca Sections and Elevations of the Masonry of the Wall
.dv-
.sn THE MODE OF BUILDING.
Supposing the stones to be now quarried and
squared, the lime burnt and mixed with sand and
gravel, the next point to be attended to is the method
of using them. The foundation has been prepared
by the removal of the natural soil to the width of
about nine feet. In the hill district, a very scanty
portion of earth covers the rocks; in the richer
regions an excavation of from fifteen to eighteen
inches has been made before the subsoil was reached.
On the outer and inner margins of the ground thus
bared, two rows of flags of from two to four inches in
thickness, and from eighteen to twenty in breadth,
were generally laid; no mortar was placed under
them.[47] On these lay the first course of facing-stones,
which were usually the largest stones used
in the structure. In higher courses the facing-stones
are uniformly of free-stone, on the ground course
a ‘whin-stone’ is occasionally introduced. The flagstones
of the foundation usually project from one to
five inches beyond the first course of facing-stones,
and these again usually stand out an inch or two beyond
the second course, after which, the wall is taken
.bn p090.png
.pn +1
straight up. In some parts of the line the flagstones
do not appear in the foundation—the first
course of facing-stones being laid directly upon the
ground. In the neighbourhood of Sewingshields,
where large tracts of the Wall have been recently removed,
a careful observer informs me, that the entire
foundation has for some distance been laid upon
a bed of clay of three or four inches thick.
.fn 47
Mr. Bell, of Irthington, tells me that in some places the foundation
flags of the north side point upwards, at an angle of about
twenty degrees, caused apparently by the settling of the ponderous
mass. In this circumstance, we have an interesting confirmation
of the supposition that the Wall was surmounted with a parapet on
its north side. The foundation would have settled equally if both
sides had been burdened alike.
.fn-
.sn THE RUBBLE OF THE WALL.
One or two courses of facing-stones having been
placed in their beds and carefully pointed, a mass of
mortar in a very fluid state was poured into the interior
of the wall, and stones of any kind or shape
that were of a convenient size were ‘puddled’ in
amongst it. Whin-stones, as being most abundant
in the district, are generally used for the filling.
Course after course was added, and one mass of concrete
imposed upon another, until the Wall reached
the required height. When the whole was finished
it formed a solid, compact mass, without any holes or
crevices in the interior, and in a short time became
as firm as the unhewn rock.
In some parts of the line the mortar has been
‘hand-laid.’ The rubble of the interior having been
first disposed in its place, the mortar has been laid
upon it with a trowel. In this case the mortar never
penetrates the interstices of the mass, and does not
make such solid masonry as the method generally
pursued. When, however, this plan is adopted, the
rubble stones are often laid upon their edges in a
slanting position; and when those of the next layer,
as occasionally occurs, are made to lean in the opposite
.bn p091.png
.pn +1
direction, we have the kind of
.pm img_flow p091 150 20 r 'herring-bone work'
//.il id=p091 fn=i_p091.jpg w=150px ew=20% align=r alt='Herring-bone Masonry'
masonry represented in the adjoining
diagram, which is appropriately called
herring-bone work. The nearest
approach to this that I have seen upon the line of
the Wall is at Steel-rig, and Hare-hill. In Hodgson’s
Northumberland[48] a section of the Wall on Walltown
crag is given, exhibiting herring-bone masonry. In
this instance the stones are disposed transversely to
the Wall, at Steel-rig and Hare-hill they are disposed
longitudinally; the latter method is the easier
of the two.[49]
.fn 48
Part II. v. iii. p. 294.
.fn-
.fn 49
In some parts of the line, the joints of the Wall are at present
filled with earthy matter instead of mortar, and it is the opinion of
some authorities, and amongst them, the eminent architect and
intelligent antiquary, Mr. Dobson, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, that
in these places, clay has been originally substituted for mortar.
Very loath to suppose that the original builders of the Wall
would leave any portion of it in so unsatisfactory a state, I
have been in the habit of accounting for the apparent absence of
mortar in the following way:—The upper part of the structure
having been overthrown by a ruthless enemy, and the lower
parts covered with the fallen rubbish, the whole heap would
speedily become coated with vegetation. Roman mortar, with all
its tenacity, would not be able to resist the powers of vitality; and
the constant demands of the ferns and the foxgloves would, in the
course of time, abstract the whole of the lime. The roots of the
plants, by whose agency the work of abstraction had proceeded,
yielding in due time to the process of decay, would themselves,
in the form of vegetable earth, supply the place of the lime which
they had withdrawn.
.fn-
On wavy ground the courses of the Wall follow the
undulations of the surface, but on steep inclines
.bn p092.png
.pn +1
the stones are laid parallel to the horizon. The
Wall, in this case, must have been built up from the
bottom of the defile, where also, in order the better
to resist the superincumbent mass, it not unfrequently
has a greater breadth than usual. As shewing
that different sections of the Wall have been erected
under distinct superintendents, it may occasionally
be observed that, whilst on one slope of a ‘gap’ the
stones are laid parallel to the horizon, on the other,
differing little perhaps in inclination, they are laid
even with the ground.
.sn DURABILITY OF THE STRUCTURE.
We must now take leave of this important part
of our subject, the masonry of the Wall. Judging
from those portions of it which remain, it may safely be
asserted, that no structure can be conceived to possess
greater strength and durability. The first time I
happened to visit Bowness (in the year 1831), some
portions of the Wall, seven feet high, were in the
course of being removed; it was found necessary to
resort to the force of gunpowder in order to effect
its destruction. In the substantial nature of their
works, the Romans have left the impress of their
own mighty minds. They built not for the day.
They did not conceive that their existence was bound
up in the fate of a single generation, but that it was
spread over the destinies of succeeding ages. Their
works contrast strongly with the efforts of some
modern builders. The editor of the pictorial volume,
styled ‘Old England,’ seems, in the following
passage, to speak from personal observation.
.pm start_quote
Passing by the fragments of which we have spoken, we are
under the north wall [of Richborough]—a wondrous work
.bn p093.png
.pn +1
calculated to impress us with a conviction that the people
who built it were not the petty labourers of an hour, who
were contented with temporary defences and frail resting
places. The outer works upon the southern cliff of Dover,
which were run up during the war with Napoleon, at prodigious
expense, are crumbling and perishing, through the
weakness of job and contract, which could not endure for
half a century. And here stand the walls of Richborough,
as they have stood for eighteen hundred years, from twenty
to thirty feet high, eleven or twelve feet thick at the base,
with their outer masonry in many parts as perfect as at the
hour when their courses of tiles and stones were first laid in
beautiful regularity.
.pm end_quote
.sn ITS EVENTUAL DECAY.
If the meddling hand of man had been withheld
from the Barrier of the Lower Isthmus, the Wall
might have stood, even to the present hour, in almost
its original integrity. It is necessary to say
‘almost,’ for nothing can be more correct than the
observation of Hodgson—
.pm start_quote
Though man has had the chief labour in effecting its destruction,
its whole line and all its stations, castles, and
towers, ever since it was deserted by the Romans, have
been incessantly suffering prostration by the hand of nature.
The feeble roots of grasses, ferns, and shrubs, have been assisted
by the more destructive wedges and levers of forest
trees in levelling it with the ground; and, in many places in
the west of this county, for considerable distances together,
the ruins that time has thrown from its brow, lie in a deep
green mound at its feet; and thorns, briars, hazel, and mountain
ash (entwined with relentless ivy), are still, in the parts
that remain above ground, at the labour of demolition in
which, for the last fourteen centuries, they have been unceasingly
engaged.
.pm end_quote
In this day, when the Arabic numerals assert an influence
quite as potent as that which the lictors’ rods
.bn p094.png
.pn +1
obtained in ancient Rome, the inquiries may not be
destitute of interest—What amount of labour was
involved in the construction of the Barrier, in what
time could it be accomplished, and what, at the present
value of labour and materials, would be the cost
of its construction?
.sn MONEY VALUE OF THE BARRIER.
.pm start_quote
The Wall is sixty-eight miles long; granting that it was
only sixteen feet high, but had a continuous thickness of
eight feet, we have 1,702,115 cubic yards of masonry, to say
nothing of stations, mile-castles, and turrets.
Twelve shillings per cubic yard is as near as may be the
present value of masonry, such as that of which the Roman
Wall consists—the cost of this part of the structure would
therefore be 1,021,269l.
Taking into account that the labour was forced, each cubic
yard of the Wall would, at the least, require, in quarrying
the stone, its carriage to the Wall, its setting, and other
operations, one entire day’s exertions of one man. In this
way we have 1,702,115 days’ labour in the stone Wall.
Taking the north fosse at the dimensions already given, its
excavation would involve the removal of 5,585,072 cubic
yards. A modern excavator, stimulated by pay proportioned
to his work, enjoying food, and raiment, and shelter, such as
the ancient Briton was a stranger to, and possessing the advantage
of good tools, and good organization, can remove the
enormous quantity of twenty cubic yards of earth per day.
The labourer, driven to his ungrateful task by a Roman task-master,
and compelled to support himself as best he might,
and to labour with tools of the rudest construction, would
not accomplish the half of this task; the removal of eight
yards per diem would probably be an average day’s work. The
excavation of the north fosse would thus, under these circumstances,
involve 698,134 days’ labour. At the present time,
when twenty cubic yards may be removed per man in a day,
and when a day’s wages may be set down at half-a-crown, the
whole cost of the excavation of the fosse would be 34,906l.
.bn p095.png
.pn +1
In this estimate no account has been taken of the increased
labour occasioned by cutting through the rocks that are sometimes
met with. The entire absence of the ditch, however, in
the hilly district, compensates for this omission.
The fosse of the Vallum is rather less than that of the
Wall. Making a deduction of one-third on this account, and
supposing that the distance which the Vallum falls short of
the Wall at each extremity, makes amends for the increased
labour of cutting through the rocky ground, we have 3,723,382
cubic yards to be removed, involving 465,422 days of forced
labour. The whole could now be done for the sum of
23,271l. No account is taken of the labour expended in
raising the earthen ramparts, or the cost of their construction,
for the reason, that the removal of the earth from the
fosse implied its being deposited somewhere; no place would
be more convenient for this purpose than the mounds of the
rampart.
.sn TIME REQUIRED FOR ITS CONSTRUCTION.
Adding together these results, we find that the cost of the
Wall and its north fosse would be 1,056,175l., and that the
cost of the Vallum, added to this would form a total of
1,079,446l. The number of days’ labour involved in the
Wall would be 2,400,249, and, adding to this, that of the
Vallum, we have for the whole 2,865,671 days’ labour.
The largest number of men that we can conceive to be
brought to bear at once upon the Wall, including such of the
Roman troops as could be spared from military operations,
is ten thousand. This body, at the rate already supposed,
would, by continuous labour, execute the Wall and its
ditch in 240 days, and, taking the Vallum also into account,
in 286 days. In the exposed district over which the Wall
runs, it is not probable that the weather would allow of the
work being pursued during more than two hundred days in
the year. If, in addition to this, we make deductions for
the chances of war, two years may be stated as the shortest
time in which the whole of the works could be executed.
.pm end_quote
A recent writer, who, in a work denominated ‘A
History of the Picts or Romano-British Wall,’ adopts
.bn p096.png
.pn +1
the notion of Gildas, that the stone wall was built,
not by Hadrian or Severus, but by the trembling
Britons on their abandonment by the Romans, supports
his opinion by denominating the work an un-Roman-like
defence, and argues that men who were
unaccustomed to fear, would not seek the assistance
of a wall and a ditch. However regardless of life
the Romans may, in the abstract, have been, they
knew how to economize their resources. In the battle
of the Grampians, Agricola withheld his legionary
soldiers, and made use only of his auxiliary
troops. He could better afford to expend the one
than the other. As well might a warrior despise
the protection of a helmet or a shield, as refuse the
defence of a stone wall.
.sn WALLS NOT UNWORTHY OF ROME.
The best refutation, however, of this theory, is the
fact, that in other places the Romans, about the same
period, raised similar barriers. At two of these we
shall glance, before beginning a detailed inspection
of the Barrier of the Lower Isthmus. The comparison
will probably afford valuable instruction.
.sn THE GERMAN BARRIER.
The Devil’s Wall, in Germany, bears many marks
of resemblance to the English Wall. It seems[50] to
consist of the Pfahl, a mound of stakes, or vallum,
ascribed to Hadrian, and a stone wall which is said to
.bn p097.png
.pn +1
have been executed by some of his successors. The
works extended westwards from Regensburg [Ratisbon]
on the Danube, towards the sources of that river,
a distance of nearly two hundred miles. They formed
the boundary of the Roman empire in those parts
where the Danube was not broad and deep enough
to be of itself a sufficient protection. A deep trench
ran along the Wall on its northern side, and along
its southern face roads and camps were formed. At
regular intervals of one mile, towers of observation
were placed of the same size, though, being circular,
not of the same form as the mile-castles on the
English Wall. It is not possible, from the present
remains, to determine with certainty the height or
breadth of the Wall. ‘I found it in many places,’
says Professor Buchner, ‘from four to six, in others
from ten to twelve, feet broad. We may therefore
perhaps conclude, that its medium breadth was from
six to seven feet, and that its height, as corresponding
to this breadth, may have been from eighteen
to twenty-four feet.’ The works have the same
tendency to advance in a straight line as those of
our own Barrier. ‘No mountain is so high, no abyss
so steep, no wood so thick, no morass so profound,
through which it does not penetrate.’ ‘The whole
line of the fortification has been laid down and executed
according to a well-digested plan.’
.fn 50
The only source of information which I have upon the subject
of this wall, is a translation of an extract from a pamphlet by
Professor Buchner, of Regensburg, in the first volume of the
‘Archæologia Æliana.’ The precise relation which the Pfahl bears
to the stone Wall does not very clearly appear from this paper;
to all appearance, however, the analogy between the German and
English barriers is very close.
.fn-
.sn THE ANTONINE WALL.
Graham’s Dike, so denominated probably from
the Celtic words grym, strength, and diog, a ditch,
is a barrier which fortified the Upper Isthmus of
Britain. It extended from Borrowstoness, on the
.bn p098.png
.pn +1
Firth of Forth, to West Kilpatrick, on the river
Clyde, a distance of about twenty-seven English
miles. It was constructed by Lollius Urbicus in the
reign of Antoninus Pius, the adopted son of Hadrian.
The following succinct account of this important
design is taken from the ‘Caledonia Romana,’ a work
of great ability, by the late lamented Mr. Robert
Stuart, of Glasgow:—
.pm start_quote
This great military work consisted, in the first place, of an
immense fosse or ditch—averaging about forty feet in width,
by some twenty in depth—which extended over hill and plain,
in one unbroken line, from sea to sea. Behind this ditch, on
its southern side, and within a few feet of its edge, was raised
a rampart of intermingled stone and earth, strengthened by
sods of turf, which measured, it is supposed, about twenty
feet in height, and twenty-four in thickness at the base. This
rampart, or agger, was surmounted by a parapet, behind
which ran a level platform, for the accommodation of its defenders.
To the southward of the whole was situated the
Military Way—a regular causewayed road, about twenty-feet
wide—which kept by the course of the Wall at irregular
distances, approaching, in some instances, to within a few
yards, and in others receding to a considerable extent. Along
the entire line there were established, it is believed, nineteen
principal stations or forts. The mean distance between each
may be stated at rather more than two English miles. Along
these intervals were placed many smaller castella, or watch-towers.
While the continuous rampart seems to have been
little more than a well-formed earthen mound, it is probable
that many, if not all, of the stations, were either rivetted
with stone or entirely built of that material. In some places,
it would even appear that the Vallum itself had been raised
upon a stone foundation—probably in situations where the
ground was low and marshy, and where it was found necessary
to form drains beneath the works, to prevent the
accumulation of water on their anterior side.
.pm end_quote
.bn p099.png
.pn +1
.sn MUTUAL SUPPORT OF THE BARRIERS.
The Barrier of the Upper Isthmus never consisted
of more than a single line of fortification. This
circumstance may seem to militate against the view
that we have taken of the double line of the Southern
Barrier. If in the one case the conquered tribes to
the south were disregarded, why should they not be so
in the other also? We shall not, however, greatly err
if we regard the Antonine Wall as but an advanced
work of Hadrian’s entrenchment. On this view of
the matter, the difficulty is at once removed, for the
Lower Barrier would be a sufficient security against
danger in the rear. Certain it is, that the southern line
was not abandoned when the other was constructed.
Several altars have been found on the Lower Barrier
inscribed with the name Antoninus Pius.[51] A slab
bearing the names of the consuls Sex. Sulpicius
Tertullus, and C. Tineius Sacerdos, elicits the following
remarks from judge Cay[52]:—
.pm start_quote
These were consuls in A.D. 158; consequently, we have
undeniable authority to assert, that Antoninus Pius repaired
Hadrian’s Vallum (or, at least, the stations per lineam
Valli), as well as built one between the Scottish Firths. This
stone is certainly most valuable, as it clearly proves, that
though Antoninus extended the boundary so far north, he
could not, or durst not, trust the Mæatæ, but thought himself
obliged to keep up the southern pretenturæ, lest they should,
on any disturbance, join the Caledonians.
.pm end_quote
.fn 51
Hodg. North’d. II. iii. 276.
.fn-
.fn 52
Ibid. 284.
.fn-
Such prudence is characteristic of good generalship.
Napoleon never made an important move
without first resolving what to do in case of failure.
.bn p100.png
.pn +1
Assuredly Hadrian did not act in a manner unbecoming
a Roman, when, at the same time that he
shewed a stony front to the Caledonians, he placed
an earthen rampart between himself and the doubtful
fidelity of his southern subjects.
.sn THE BARRIERS IN RELATION TO THE RIVERS.
The position of the Barriers of the Lower and of
the Upper Isthmus, and of the Devil’s Wall, in relation
to the rivers in their vicinity, requires some
remark. The Tyne in the eastern, and the Irthing
and the Eden in the western part of the island, are
uniformly to the south of the English Wall. A similar
remark applies to the Devil’s Wall, in Germany,
which is drawn along the northern shore of the Danube,
the side exposed to the enemy. The Clyde, and
its feeders, are to the south of the Antonine Wall.
Why did the Romans not avail themselves of the
natural trenches of these river-basins? The valley
of the Tyne is peculiarly broad and deep. A chain
of camps on its southern bank, where the mediæval
castles afterwards stood, would alone, we might suppose,
have bid defiance to the passage of any foe.
A similarity of practice in these cases favours the
belief that important objects were to be accomplished
by it. What are they?—
By erecting a chain of posts on the high grounds
to the north of the rivers, a better observation of the
movements of the enemy was obtained than would
otherwise have been practicable. In the days of
Roman occupation, large tracts of country, the banks
of rivers especially, would be covered with forests.
The conquerors, unless they had secured the enemy’s
.bn p101.png
.pn +1
side of the river-basins, would have been perpetually
subject to unexpected attacks. They could not be
so easily taken by surprise on the high grounds of
the northern slopes.
.sn IMPORTANCE OF RIVER BASINS.
Probably the value of the land on the margin of the
rivers, was an additional motive for the course pursued.
The alluvial soil by a river’s side is usually the
most fertile portion of a country. The banks of the
Tyne and the Eden are peculiarly productive.
Without a wall the enemy would have had undisputed
possession of the slopes which enjoyed the
finest aspect—that to the south—while those on the
other side would have been subject to frequent depredation.
This consideration is of the more importance,
as the lands of the district were given to the soldiers
who garrisoned the frontier, as a means of securing
their fidelity.
.sn PRUDENCE OF THE ROMANS.
So far from the importance of the natural boundary,
the river, being overlooked by the Romans,
I am disposed to regard the works on its northern
bank as a proof of the value which they set
upon it. The natural and the artificial barriers
were probably regarded by them as but separate
members of one complete fortification. In case of a
rush of invasion from the North, the Wall would arrest
the attack and the river entirely repel it. The stone
and earth works would impede the progress of a foe,
however formidable, and give time for the formation
of an army on the southern bank of the stream. It
was, moreover, ‘political in the Romans,’ as Stukely
remarks,[53] 'to leave on the north side of the Wall
.bn p102.png
.pn +1
that huge tract of waterless and dismal moor, a great
barren solitude, where in some places you may
walk sixty miles endwise, without meeting with a
house or tree; to ride is impracticable. Thus, as
much as in them lay, without the horror of barbarity,
did they remove the barbarians from their territories;
whilst within the Wall, either naturally or by their
industry, all things smiled like the garden of Eden.'
.fn 53
Iter Boreale, 67.
.fn-
The vast hosts which the Caledonians were able
to muster rendered all these precautions necessary;
and it was, moreover, becoming in the Romans—a
generation of warriors the mightiest the world has
ever seen—to plant the foot firmly on any land they
thought fit to occupy. Assuredly they did so in the
Lower Isthmus of Britain.
.il id=p102 fn=i_p102.jpg w=500px ew=90%
.ca Written Rock, at Fallow-field.
.bn p103.png
.fm rend=t lz=t
.fm rend=t
.pn +1
.pb
.il fn=i_p103a.jpg w=400px ew=75%
.ce 2
The Roman Barrier of the
Lower Isthmus.
.h2
PART III. | LOCAL DESCRIPTION OF THE WORKS.
.di i_p103b.jpg 200 0.5
Little did the Romans
dream, when they fixed
the eastern termination
of their Wall
at Segedunum, of the
world-wide celebrity
which its subsequent
cognomen—Wallsend—would
attain. Even
Horsley, writing in
1731, and in what he lovingly terms 'my own
county,'[54] did not foresee the extensive mining operations
which shortly after his day were to take place
.bn p104.png
.pn +1
in its immediate vicinity. In order to mark the site
of the station, he fixes upon Cousin’s House, which
is at some distance from the spot, whereas, the
principal shaft of the celebrated mine is close
beside its western rampart.
.fn 54
He who has the heart of a pilgrim ‘per lineam Valli,’ will not
fail to accompany the author, while he attempts, at the very commencement
of his local peregrination, to pay a tribute of respect
to three departed worthies who made the Wall their especial study.
John Horsley was the first and mightiest of the three—is it too
much to say that he was the father of the science of Archæology?
Born in an unknown locality of this county, receiving his elementary
education at Newcastle, his academical at Edinburgh, he
spent the greater portion of his life as the pastor of a Presbyterian
congregation in Morpeth. His tastes, and great familiarity with
the classics, induced him to devote his leisure hours to the study of
the antiquities of Northumberland. Had he conceived that the
Britannia Romana would have cost him one-third of the time
which its execution required, the world would never have seen it.
Having embarked in the undertaking, he felt it his duty to make
it as good as he could. How severe his toils, how great his pecuniary
sacrifices, how ardent his aspirations after emancipation from
his self-imposed task, in order that he might entirely devote himself
to his sacred calling, who shall tell? The thought that his flock might
eventually be no losers, that his family and his own fair fame might
gain by the enterprise, buoyed him up in his course. On 2 Jan.
1731-2, he put the finishing stroke to his labours, the dedication of
his work bearing that date. Now he might hope to reap the fruits
of his toils—the enjoyment of rest, such as the wearied only know,
the congratulations of friends, the approbation of the learned, the
replenishment of his exhausted means. None of these fruits he
enjoyed. He can scarcely have had the satisfaction of casting his
eyes upon a completed copy of his work. The ink of his dedication
was hardly dry when he was summoned to the unseen world.
Respecting him who recorded the mighty doings of the Romans in
Britain, the parish clerk of Morpeth made the following entry in
the church-yard calendar:—Buried,
.rj
‘1731-2, Jan. 15, Mr. John Horsley.’
‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.’ As regards the honours or
enjoyments of this world, he died an utterly unrequited man.
Even of that bubble, posthumous fame, an attempt was made to
rob him. Warburton, in his Vallum Romanum, transfers Horsley
‘in bulk’ to his pages—he even copies, without alteration, the
opinions which Horsley expresses in the first person. The honest
Hutton often quotes the ‘judicious Warburton,’ little knowing
whose the feathers are which he so justly admires. The precise spot
where his remains rest is unknown. He whose lot it was to interpret,
after the lapse of many centuries, the throbbings of natural
affection over departed relatives in the heathen breast, had no
one to erect over him, though a Christian minister, a memorial
that should outlive a single century. Even the parish clerk, in
his attachment to the altar and the throne, denies him, in the
sepulchral register, the title which courtesy, at least, would
have accorded him. Requiescat in pace!
.sp 2
The Rev. Anthony Hedley, was also a native of Northumberland;
he was a man of literary tastes, and considerable antiquarian
acquirements. He entered public life as curate of Hexham, where
his preaching was that of a Boanerges. He subsequently held
some temporary appointments at Whelpington, Newcastle, and
Whitfield. Having, however, actively espoused the cause of that
political body, who, until lord Grey became premier, had no
patronage to bestow, it was his lot to sigh in vain for a summons
to active occupation in the work which he loved. When the
party whom he had long and conscientiously served, came into office,
neglect was his portion. One of the original members of the
Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, he did much to
promote the study of primæval archæology in the fruitful region
traversed by the Wall. Biased by his taste for antiquities, he was
led to select, as his abode for life’s evening, the beautiful valley
of the Chineley Burn. The rural hall arose at his bidding, nearly
every stone of which was chiseled by Roman hands. The milliary
which told to Hadrian’s soldiers that another mile had been
traversed, stood by his barn. The station of Vindolana was in
his grounds—many beautiful altars and other important reliques
had he dug out of it—he could tell where the prætorium stood,
where the standards were deposited, where every soldier slept.
Scarcely were all the arrangements for his comfortable residence
at Chesterholm made, when death seized him as its victim. Imprudently
superintending, whilst somewhat indisposed, the exhumation
of an urn in the station, his mortal part was a few days
afterwards deposited in the church-yard at Beltingham. He died
in 1835, and his beautiful abode has since remained desolate.
.sp 2
Westmoreland has the honour of giving birth to the Rev. John
Hodgson, but Northumberland enjoyed the advantage of his
youthful and maturer labours. Successively curate of Sedgefield,
Lanchester, and Heworth, and afterwards vicar of Kirkwhelpington,
he was shortly before his death promoted to the living of Hartburn.
He was the chief founder of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
and the chief contributor to its transactions.
His tastes led him to contemplate, and an honourable desire to
make provision for the education and settlement of his family, induced
him to begin, a history of Northumberland. Seldom have
laudable designs been so signally defeated. He lived but to complete
a part of his task; his health failed, and his mind gave way
under his excessive labours. His fortunes were not bettered by
them; ‘I have lived,’ said he, 'to see that works of this kind are
not suited to the times I live in, perhaps to any time. It is not
profitable to me—it is not suited to my profession—I ought to do
my duty in my profession—to take up night and day to do it well.
Well? no; but as well as good intentions, holy zeal, every
thought and faculty of my mind fully exerted, could do it.' Hodgson
paid great attention to the Wall, and its antiquities. The last
published portion of his history contains a vast mass of learned
information upon the subject. It is perhaps enough for the present
author to say, that had not Horsley and Hodgson cleared the way
before him, he would never have adventured to write a book upon
the Barrier of the Lower Isthmus. Though he cannot be a Horsley
or a Hodgson, he hopes he will never prove a Warburton.
.fn-
.bn p105.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
SEGEDUNUM, Wallsend, is admirably selected
as the site of a Roman station, and as the eastern
terminus of the Wall. Without being so muchSEGEDUNUM.
elevated as to give it a painful exposure to the
blasts of the north and of the east, it commands a
.bn p106.png
.pn +1
view, in every direction, of the adjacent country.
The ground, in front of it, slopes rapidly down to
the river’s brink, and has a full exposure to the
mid-day sun. The beauty of its situation is considerable
now; what must it have been when aged
oaks crowned the contiguous heights, and the Tyne
rolled by in the brilliancy and exuberance of its
youth!
.sn WALLSEND.
Eastward of Wallsend, the river acquires a sufficient
magnitude to make it a barrier quite formidable
enough to prevent the ready passage of a foe, and
to render the erection of a wall unnecessary. Frequently,
however, would it be needful for the watchful
eye of the Roman prefect at Segedunum to
.bn p107.png
.pn +1
traverse the expanse which lay between him and
the sea. This he could easily do. The station
stands upon a bend of the river, formed by two of
the longest ‘reaches’ which it makes in the whole of
its course. The Long-reach extends downwards
as far as the high end of South Shields, and the
Bill-reach stretches nearly two miles up the water.
In both directions, therefore, any operations conducted
on the river would be easily discerned from
the station.
.sn SEGEDUNUM.
Although it was not thought requisite to extend
the Wall further along the northern bank of the
Tyne than Wallsend, special precautions were taken
to secure the mouth of the river from hostile occupation.
.bn p108.png
.pn +1
A camp at Tynemouth, and another at
North Shields, were garrisoned by troops from the
head quarters at Segedunum; these frowned over
the northern shore of the estuary. A subsidiary
station at Tyne Lawe, near South Shields, and another
at Jarrow, guarded its southern bank, whilst one at
Wardley, opposite Wallsend, would effectually support,
on that side of the river, the operations of the
garrison in the principal encampment. All of these
will be examined afterwards.
.il id=p109 fn=i_p109.jpg w=400px ew=80% alt='Altar to Jupiter-Coh. IV. Lingonum'
The evidence by which Wallsend is identified
with the Segedunum of the Notitia is not so direct
as could be desired. First in the list of officers
‘along the line of the Wall,’ the Notitia places the
Tribune of the fourth cohort of the Lergi at Segedunum.
Now, no inscription has been found in Britain
mentioning the Lergi, but inscriptions have been
found which mention the second and fourth cohorts
of the Lingones; on the other hand, the Lingones
never occur in the Notitia, but the cohorts of the
Lergi which are there recorded, are the second and the
fourth. This being the case, and the difference in the
form of the Latin words Lergorum and Lingonum
being very slight, the probability is, as Mr. Thomas
Hodgson, in an able paper in the Archæologia Æliana,
conjectures, that some early transcriber of the
Notitia has written the one in mistake for the
other. Within the precincts of Tynemouth Castle,
in the year 1783, an altar was found, which formed
part of the foundation of an ancient church. It is
now in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries
.bn p109.png
.pn +1
of London. The adjoining wood-cut accurately delineates
it. The inscription may be read as follows:
.dv class='column-container'
.dv class='column'
.pm start_inscr c
I[OVI] O[PTIMO] M[AXIMO]
AEL[IVS] RVFVS
PRAEF[ECTVS] COH[ORTIS]
IIII LINGO
NVM.
.pm end_inscr
.dv-
.dv class='column'
.pm start_inscr c
To Jupiter the best and greatest,
Ælius Rufus,
The Prefect of Cohort the
Fourth of the Lingo-
nes.
.pm end_inscr
.dv-
.dv-
On the supposition, which is a natural one, that
Tynemouth was a station subsidiary to Wallsend,
this altar gives satisfactory proof that the first of
the stations at the eastern extremity of the Wall is
the Segedunum of the Notitia. On some occasion,
when the prefect who commanded the estuary of the
Tyne, was on a visit to this out-post, he erected to
Jupiter, whom he ignorantly worshipped, the altar
which still remains.
.bn p110.png
.pn +1
.sn ORIGIN OF THE NOTITIA NAMES.
The etymology of the names of the stations is an
interesting, but intricate subject. The new occupants
of a country usually adopt the appellations bestowed by
their predecessors upon its more prominent features.
Thus, though in England the ancient Briton, Roman,
Saxon, Norman, and modern English, have successively
prevailed, many of our most familiar rivers, as
the Thames, the Isis, and the Avon, have borne, as
Whitaker shows, through each successive change,
their present names. The appellations of cities are
much more variable, but some even of these are indelible.
Strange as a painted Briton of the first century
would feel himself in the streets of modern London,
its name would fall on his ear as an accustomed sound.
The Romans were a minority in Britain; and, in
their intercourse with the natives, would be compelled
to adopt the nomenclature of the people. We may,
therefore, expect to find that the names of the stations
are essentially British, though somewhat altered
by the imperfect pronunciation of the strangers, and
by a ceaseless effort to recast the words in the mould of
their own tongue. The change most frequently introduced
consists in the addition of Latin terminations.
The names given by the aborigines of a
country are usually descriptive of the object to which
they are attached: they are epithets changed into proper
names. Accordingly, we find that the names of the
stations, so far as they have been deciphered by the
assistance of those modern representatives of the
ancient British tongue—the Gaelic and native Irish—are
descriptive of the locality.
.bn p111.png
.pn +1
.sn ETYMOLOGY OF SEGEDUNUM.
Segedunum is an unfortunate example to begin
with. There was a Segedunum in Aquitania, the modern
Rodez—a Segodunum in Northern Germany, the
modern Siegen. The camp at Wallsend may have
received its name from some resemblence to one of
these. Still the question remains, What was the
common origin of the term? Wallis thinks it is
derived from the Latin seges, corn, and the Celtic
dunum, a hill; but, excepting in extreme cases, an
etymology dependent upon two languages can scarcely
be admitted. A more consistent derivation is found
in the Celtic sech, (the root of the French sec) dry,
and dun, a hill. The final syllable is a Latin affix.
The elevation of the spot, and its rapid slope to the
river, would render it comparatively free from
moisture.[55]
.fn 55
Brand conceives that Segedunum may be derived from
the Saxon secg, a sedge or flag, and dun, which is an Anglo-Saxon,
as well as a Celtic word; this would give, as its meaning—the hill of
sedge. If we can suppose that any of the Germanic hordes had
obtained so complete a settlement here, as to give them the power
of forming a local vocabulary in accordance with their own language
prior to the Roman occupation of this post, the Saxon origin
of the term is by no means improbable. In no part of England
was an early settlement more likely to take place than on the
eastern coast of Northumberland, but, after all, we must probably
assign a later date to the first arrival of our Gothic forefathers.
If a Saxon derivation be at all admissible, another might be suggested:
sige is the Anglo-Saxon for victory, and tun is town—the
town of victory—an appropriate name for a station occupied either
by Roman or Saxon forces.
.fn-
.sn VILLAGE OF WALLSEND.
Whatever doubt may hang over the Roman name
of this station, none attaches to the modern—Wallsend
.pm start_poem
... Ab illo
Dicitur, æternumque tenet per sæcula nomen.
.pm end_poem
The number of places along the course of the Wall
which have derived their names from this great work,
is very striking, and proves the importance that has
.bn p112.png
.pn +1
been attached to it. Without examining a map, and
simply drawing upon the resources of my own memory
and note-book, the following examples occur: In
Northumberland, we have Wallsend, Walker, Wall-knoll
in Newcastle, Benwell, Wallbottle, Heddon-on-the-Wall,
Welton, Wall-houses, Wall, Walwick,
Shields-on-the-Wall, Wall-mill, Walltown, Thirlwall,
and Wall-end; in Cumberland, we have Walton,
Wallbours, Old-Wall, High Wallhead, Middle Wallhead,
Low Wallhead, Wallby, and Wallfoot.
The present village of Wallsend is about half a
mile distant from the station, a little to the north of
the turnpike road. It is, however, of modern erection.
Brand says that ‘an old woman, still living, remembers
when the site of the present Wallsend was an empty
field.’ The traditional account of its erection is,
that a plague having desolated the original town,
which stood upon the site of the camp, and was
built out of its ruins, the terrified inhabitants forsook
the spot, and sought shelter in the new locality.
.dv class='illo'
.rj
PLATE IV.
.il fn=i_p112b.jpg w=500px ew=95% link=i_p112bbig.jpg
.ca
SECTION, after Warburton, of the Mountains at Bradley,
shewing the relation, in the hill-district, between the Wall
and the Vallum.
REID. LITHO. NEWCASTLE.
.ca-
.dv-
.sn WALLSEND.
A person unaccustomed to examine the remains
of Roman forts, will probably be disappointed to find
the ramparts of Wallsend so feebly marked; but one
who brings to the task a practised eye, will give a
good account of the land, and express his surprise
.bn p113.png
.pn +1
that so much of the camp is left. The station, it
must be remembered, is situated on the edge of a
river the scene of an immense commerce, in the
vicinity of a large town, and in the centre of a great
mining district.
.sn SEGEDUNUM.
The station of Segedunum has occupied an area
of three acres and a half. The Wall, coming from
the west, has struck the north cheek of its western
gateway, and there terminated. The walls of the
station would be a sufficient protection to the garrison
against attack from the north or other quarters, but
to prevent the enemy getting within the barrier, by
passing between the station and the river, the eastern
wall of the station has been brought down to the
river, and continued into it to low-water mark.[56]
.fn 56
This statement I make on the authority of the late Mr. Buddle,
who said, as I remember, that in his youth he had seen the stones
extending far into the river.
.fn-
.dv class='illo'
.il id=p114 fn=i_p114b.jpg w=600px ew=95%
.ca
@span 50: Drawn & Lithographed @ by John Storey@
WALLSEND, LOOKING EAST.
.ca-
.dv-
.sn WALLSEND.
In tracing the outline of the station it will be well
to begin at Carville-hall, the 'Cousin’s-house,'[57] of
.bn p114.png
.pn +1
Horsley. Between it and the Gosforth ‘waggon-way,’
the north fosse of the Wall is very distinct, a
gravelled path, for some distance, occupies the site
of the Wall.[58] Behind the Methodist-chapel the
ditch may still be traced, but after that it disappears.
The row of houses between the chapel and the station
is manifestly very close upon the line of the
Wall. The old engine-house, which Brand tells us
was six yards north of the Wall, still remains.
The whole of the ramparts of the northern section of
the station are gone; the walls of the southern portion
of it may, however, be traced rising in the form
of a grassy mound above the general level of the
soil. The continuation of the eastern wall of the
station down the bank to the river’s edge, may also
be recognised, not only by the gentle mound which
it forms, but by the fragments of Roman mortar,
Roman tile, and coarse-grained sandstone, not proper
to the district, which may be picked up on it. This
river-wall joins the Tyne at the spot where a jetty
has recently been formed. Numerous swellings in
the ground to the south, and to the east of the station,
indicate the ruins of suburban buildings. These
seem to have been invariable concomitants of
.bn p115.png
.pn +1
stationary camps. Officers wishing to have more
space than the fort allowed, the families of the
soldiers, the camp followers, and others, who sought
the protection of a fortified post, would occupy such
dwellings. The sunny exposure of the streets on the
south of the camp, would render them peculiarly
acceptable to the Lingones who came from that part
of Gaul where the Meuse and Marne have their
source.[59] The fosse which protected the eastern
rampart, is still distinctly visible, and generally contains
a little water. The accompanying lithographic
view is given chiefly with the intention of showing
the extensive command which the station had of the
river below it; the south-east angle of the rampart
may be traced upon it, as well as the fosse beyond.
The altar, represented in the foreground, was found
in the vicinity of the station a few years ago, and is
still preserved upon the spot, it is without an inscription,
but has a hole drilled through its centre,
which it had when found. An extensive
natural valley protected the western side of the
camp, which some years ago was partially filled
up, in order to form the waggon-way. The house
occupied by the late Mr. John Buddle, the eminent
colliery viewer, is just within the western wall of the
station, and that, formerly occupied by Mr. John
Reay, is just within the eastern rampart. The
waggon-way leading from the Wallsend pit seems to
enter the station by its western portal, and to leave it
.bn p116.png
.pn +1
by its eastern, and thus exactly traverses the via
principalis of the camp. The only trace of the
northern division of the station that remains, consists
SEGEDUNUM.of the road which has apparently led from Segedunum
to the out-posts at Blake-chesters and Tyne-mouth.
This causeway extends from the station to
the north of the Shields railway; it is formed of a mass
of rubble, about two feet deep, and is eleven yards
wide. It cannot be ploughed, and nothing that
requires any depth of earth will grow upon it.
.fn 57
This place derived its earlier name from being the property,
and perhaps the suburban residence of John Cosyn, a worthy
alderman of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in the seventeenth century.
About 1740, sir Robert Carre, a London knight, and draper,
but also, it is thought, a burgess of the northern metropolis,
bought Cosyn’s house at Wallsend, and thenceforward designated
it Carre-ville. The present mansion is, with some little impropriety,
called Carville-hall.
When I began my inquiries at Wallsend, I had much difficulty
in ascertaining which was Cousin’s-house. One man told me he
had lived all his life in Wallsend—sixty years—and had never
heard of it. Our books still continue to copy from Horsley, and
to give us the out-of-date information that the Wall began at
Cousin’s-house.
.fn-
.fn 58
In districts where the Wall has been levelled with the earth, a
foot-path or bridle-road frequently indicates its course. When
land was of less value than it is now, the farmers, who appropriated
the stones of the Wall to their own use, were not at the trouble to
remove its foundation. The stony track, however, afforded a firm
road, and when the increased value of the ground rendered it worth
while to bring the whole into cultivation, a right of way had, in
many instances, been established.
.fn-
.fn 59
Hodgson, II. iii. 169.
.fn-
Numerous proofs of Roman occupation have been
discovered at various times in the station and its
vicinity. Brand says, ‘I found a fibula, some Roman
tegulæ, and coins, a ring, &c. Immense quantities
of bones and teeth of animals are continually turning
up. Stones with inscriptions were found, but the
incurious masons built them up again in the new
works of the colliery.’ Dr. Lingard was told, that in
digging a cellar under the dining room of Mr. Buddle’s
house, a deep well was found. I have been
informed by Mr. John Reay, that another was discovered
outside the station, at the spot shown on
the plan of the station, #Plate IV:p112b#. A structure, which
was conceived to be a bath, was struck upon about
the same time, near the river’s brink; it was immediately
removed, but its site is marked on the
plan. Many coins have been found, but most of
them in a very corroded state. A beautiful piece of
Samian ware was got in sinking the shaft of the
colliery, which is now in possession of the Society
of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne; it is figured
in a subsequent Plate.
.bn p117.png
.pn +1
.sn WALLSEND TO NEWCASTLE.
Leaving Wallsend, and proceeding westward, the
Wall is chiefly to be traced by the presence of its
north fosse. This is very distinctly marked nearly
all the way to Byker. In front of Stote’s-houses, the
Beehouses of Horsley, it forms a pond, which is used
for farm purposes. Some traces of the foundation
of the Wall may be seen, but they are faint. Thirty
years ago the Wall was standing, for a considerable
distance, three and four feet high, covered with
brushwood of hazel, oak, and alder. The tendency
of the half-ruined Wall to give lodgement to the
roots of these plants, is very remarkable; wherever
the Wall is undisturbed they are found, and in regions
where the hazel does not occur elsewhere, as
in the neighbourhood of Bowness, it is to be met
with abundantly upon the Wall.
A mound, a little more elevated than the neighbouring
ground, near to Stote’s-houses, points out the
site of the first mile-castle west of Wallsend. The
tenant of the farm told me that he had got a great
quantity of stones from it. In Horsley’s time, there
were ‘two distinct tumuli remaining near the Bee-houses’;
what I take to be the rudiments of them
may yet be traced; one of them is just behind the
stack-yard of the farm, the other, the least marked
of the two, a little to the west of it.
The road that is seen stretching in a straight line
up the hill to Byker indicates the direction of the
Wall, and though the first, it is by no means the most
remarkable instance that we shall meet with, of the
unflinching and straightforward tendencies of this
.bn p118.png
.pn +1
remarkable structure. The Wall stood on the south
side of the present road. The facing-stones having
already been removed, and it being desirable to
have the rocky remnant entirely cleared away, the
ground was let to parties without rent for a short
term of years, on condition of their clearing it, and
bringing it into cultivation. It is on this account
that the site of the Wall and fosse, even yet, is portioned
out in long narrow slips, which are, for the
most part, used as potato gardens.
From the top of Byker-hill, an interesting view
is obtained of the Tyne and the numerous hives of
busy men which bestud its banks. This would be
an important post for the Roman soldier, who could
easily see from it the stations on either hand—Segedunum
and Pons Ælii—and all that was going
on between them.
Between Byker and Newcastle, all traces of the
Wall are now nearly destroyed. In 1725, it was,
however, standing in a condition of imposing grandeur,
as appears from Stukeley’s ‘Prospect’ of it in
the Iter Boreale. He was induced to make this
drawing because ‘the country being entirely undermined’
by colliery excavations, it might ‘some time
or other sink, and so disorder the track of this stately
work.’ He dreaded an imaginary evil, and overlooked
a real one.
The north fosse was, till recently, very distinct
within the wall of Heaton-park; it is now filled
up; many of the stones in the park-wall, are to
all appearance, Roman. Before descending the hill,
.bn p119.png
.pn +1
a portion of it, boldly developed, may yet be seen at
the end of a small row of houses called Howard-street.
.sn COURSE THROUGH NEWCASTLE.
At the head of the bank overlooking the Ouse-burn
stood a mile-castle, as was usual in such situations,
to guard the pass. Two stones which, I am
persuaded, formed part of the entrance gateway of
this mile-tower, now stand upon the stairs leading to
the grand entrance of the keep of the Castle of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne. They measure two feet by
one, and are of the form usually employed in the
portals of mile castles. One of them bears a rude,
and almost unintelligible, inscription. These stones
were found built up in a structure on the west bank
of the Ouseburn, were thence taken to Busy Cottage,
afterwards removed to Heaton, and finally presented
to the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
The Wall crossed the Ouse-burn very near the ancient
bridge which is about a hundred and fifty yards south
of the railway viaduct. In preparing the foundations
of Mr. Beckinton’s steam-mill about the year 1800,
the workmen came upon the Wall, and, with great
good taste, built into the opposite quay three of the
largest stones they met with, in order to mark its
site; they may yet be seen at low water, and are
evidently mile-castle stones.
.sn COURSE THROUGH NEWCASTLE.
It is not possible to trace the Wall with minute
accuracy through Newcastle, a town which has been
the seat of a large and active population ever since
the days of Roman occupation. In endeavouring to
follow its route, I shall mainly depend upon the
.bn p120.png
.pn +1
investigations of Mr. George Bouchier Richardson,
who has for several years past made the antiquities
of ‘the Metropolis of the North’ his especial study,
and whose paper upon this subject, recently read
before the Society of Antiquaries of this town, will
doubtless speedily appear in the Archæologia Æliana.
.sn NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE.
Rising from the western bank of the Ouse-burn,
it traversed the north side of Stepney-bank, passed
through the gardens at the Red Barns, along the
site of the present Melbourne-street, and, proceeding
behind the Keelmen’s Hospital, came to the
Sallyport. This, which was one of the gates of the
town, is sometimes described as a Roman building,
but is of mediæval origin. Thence, the Wall went
over the crest of the hill still called the Wall-knoll,
where the foundations of it were turned up about
the middle of the last century. It crossed Pandon-dean
on the north side of the locality called the
Stock-bridge, and, in its western course, ascended
the steep hill, on the summit of which
stands All Saints’ church. Brand tells us that
the crypt of the old church had plainly been built
of stones plundered from the adjacent Wall. A well
of Roman masonry is said to have been discovered
near the church when the foundations of the new building
were prepared. Crossing Pilgrim-street a little
above Silver-street, the course of the Wall is indicated
by the present narrow street called the Low
bridge. Until a comparatively recent period, the
site of Dean-street formed the unenclosed bed of the
Lort-burn, and was spanned by an arch called the
.bn p121.png
.pn +1
Low-bridge. At the point where this mediæval viaduct
stood, its Roman predecessor carried the Wall,
with its attendant military way, across the gully.
The church of St. Nicholas, according to Leland,
whose statement is confirmed by subsequent writers,
‘stondithe on the very Picts Waulle.’ The Wall,
leaving the church, crosses Collingwood-street in an
oblique direction, and passing by St. John’s church,
the Vicarage-house, and the Assembly-rooms, makes
for the Town-wall somewhat to the north of the site
of the West-gate. There can be little doubt that in
its exit from the town, the Wall occupied the elevation
on which Cumberland-row now stands.
.sp 2
.sn PONS ÆLII.
PONS ÆLII.—Having tracked the Wall in its
passage through the modern town, the site of the
ancient station of Pons Ælii next demands attention.
Horsley is the only writer who has attempted to
define its limits, and he had but slender evidence to
guide him. He takes, as his data, the three following
facts:—1. The course of the Wall westward, which
he conceives, and no doubt correctly, would form
the northern boundary of the station; 2. The direction
of the Vallum, some portions of which remained,
in his day, just outside the West-gate; 3. 'A traditionary
account of the Wall having passed through
St. George’s porch, near the north-west corner of
St. Nicholas’-church.' As this porch stands a little
to the south of the line of the great Wall, as laid down
by him, he conceives that this traditionary wall must
have been the east wall of the station, and draws it upon
.bn p122.png
.pn +1
his plan accordingly.[60] The western wall now only
remained to be determined, and this point was easily
settled, by supposing the station to have been square.
According to the line assigned by him to the Vallum,
six chains is the distance which would intervene
between it and the Wall; he therefore places
the western rampart of the station at the corresponding
distance of six chains from the eastern, and
encloses altogether an area of little more than three
acres.
.fn 60
Horsley’s traditionary account was probably derived from the
same source as Leland’s; and therefore may indicate, not the station
wall, but the great Wall itself. If, as the excavations made
since Horsley’s day seem to prove, the Wall crossed obliquely from
the south to the north side of Collingwood-street, it must have
passed over the site of St. Nicholas’-church—not to the north of it.
.fn-
It may well be doubted whether the important
station of Pons Ælii would be subjected to the ordinary
rules of castrametation. I am strongly disposed
to think, that it would partake of the features
of a commercial as well as of a military capital, and
that its walls would not only embrace a wider range
than ordinary camps, but would be allowed to adapt
themselves more freely to the nature of the ground.
The wants of the immense body of troops required
to garrison the Wall, and man its out-posts, would
create a considerable amount of commerce. The
inhabitants of Italy, Gaul, and Spain, would be
unwilling all at once to forego the comforts and
luxuries of their sunny climes, and to be entirely
cut off from intercourse with the land of their nativity.
The fragments of amphoræ, which are so
.bn p123.png
.pn +1
abundantly met with on the line of the Wall, shew
that the soldiers sometimes gladdened their hearts
with the wine of their native hills; and the innumerable
sherds of Samian ware, which usually bestrew
the camps of Roman occupation, prove that a continual
intercourse was kept up with the continent.
To the sea, as a means of communication between
many of the stations of Roman Britain, frequent recourse
would be had.
The exports from this island to the continent were
considerable. Camden tells us, that every year not
less than eight hundred vessels laden with corn alone
were sent out of it. Certain it is, that the imperial
government would expect an adequate return for
the expenditure occasioned by the troops in this
country, and that the commodities of the continent
would not be transmitted to the occupants of the
Wall from motives of mere benevolence. Lead,
which is now so abundant in the three northern
counties, would probably form one article of export,
and corn another. Those who have noticed the fertility
of some portions of the region watered by the
Tyne, will be able to conceive how luxuriant were
the harvests which its alluvial soil produced when
first turned up by the plough. It is certain that coal
has been wrought to some extent in Roman times,
and some of it may have been exported.
No place in the north of England was so well fitted
as Newcastle to be the emporium of the commerce of
the North. Situated upon a noble river, at about ten
miles from its mouth, it combined the naval advantages
.bn p124.png
.pn +1
of the coast, with the security of an inland
situation. The wealth arising from the commerce
of the port would increase its importance, and the
facility with which foreign news and foreign luxuries
could be obtained, would render it the frequent resort
of those prefects and tribunes whose usual posts
were in bleaker and more inhospitable regions.
The fact that the river was at this part spanned by a
bridge of many arches, is a striking indication of
the importance of the place even in the days of
the emperor Hadrian.
No account has come down to us of the state of
Newcastle in the days of Roman occupation, but if,
after it had been deprived of the advantages which
the residence of the mural garrison conferred upon
it, the venerable Bede calls it 'an illustrious royal
city'—'vico regis illustri'—we must conclude that it
was a place of considerable importance. The natural
advantages of the situation struck the eye of Camden;
‘Now’, says he, ‘where the Wall and Tine almost
meet together, Newcastle sheweth itself gloriously
the very eye of all the townes in these parts.’
Under these circumstances, there seems to be no
reason why the walls of Pons Ælii should form the
usual military parallelogram any more than Roman
Rochester, or Pompeii, or Rome itself, much less
that the station should occupy an area of little more
than three acres.
The contour of the ground on which the modern
Newcastle stands, is peculiar. It consists of three
tongues of land, separated by natural valleys permeated
.bn p125.png
.pn +1
by rivulets. The westernmost of these presents
the boldest front to the river, and is that on
which the Castle stands; the Skinner-burn bounds it
on the west, and the valley of the Lort-burn, the present
Dean-street, on the east. The contiguous tongue
lies between the Lort-burn and Pandon-dean; and
that still further removed, has for its eastern boundary
the Ouse-burn. The same natural advantages which
recommended the heights of the most westerly of these
strips of ground to the Normans for the erection of their
stronghold, would no doubt previously induce the Romans
to select it as their chief position. They probably
enclosed nearly the whole of it within their walls.
Horsley, indeed, places his camp in this division, but
in the least advantageous part of it, whether considered
in a military or in a commercial point of view. The
Romans would surely not overlook the importance
of the ravine of Dean-street as a defence on the east,
especially at a time when the tide flowed up it as far
as the Painter-heugh, and of the cliff that descends
from the Castle to the river on the south. The necessity
of defending the bridge, and commanding the
Tyne would not be forgotten. Taking all these
things into account, we may fairly suppose the walls
of Pons Ælii to have been thus defined:—The
Wall, passing through the site of St. Nicholas’-church,
would, of course, be its northern boundary;
a line coming from the church, and adapting itself
to the crest of the hill that overhangs Dean-street,
crossing the Head-of-the-Side and stretching as far
as the elevated angle on which the County-courts
.bn p126.png
.pn +1
now stand, will probably mark its eastern boundary;
the southern rampart would run from this angle along
the edge of the cliff overhanging the Close, as far
as the site of the White-friar-tower, which stood
at the head of the present Hanover-street; the
western wall may have run in the line of the Town-wall
as far as Neville-tower, and then have struck
up in a straight line to meet the great Wall. Westward
of this boundary, the ground slopes down to
the Skinner-burn. If these lines are correctly
drawn, Roman Newcastle would contain upwards of
sixteen acres.
Although the camp of Pons Ælii occupied this
tongue of land, there is no reason to suppose that
suburban buildings were not erected on the other
two, both of which are well protected by their natural
situation. There is good ground to believe that
Pandon, which was formerly a separate town from
Newcastle, and is seated on the middle strip, was
of Roman origin. Villas and gardens probably extended
as far as the Ouse-burn.
In order to render the preceding description intelligible
to persons unacquainted with the topography
of Newcastle, a plan of the town (#Plate V:p126a#.)
and a lithographic view of Pons Ælii are appended.
In the plan of the town, Horsley’s demarkation of
the station, as well as the one here proposed, is laid
down. For the view of Pons Ælii, the frontispiece,
I am indebted to the pencil of Mr. G. Bouchier
Richardson; the contour of the ground is very accurately
delineated, and the probable outline of the
.bn p127.png
.pn +1
station marked; the details of the picture are of
course filled up according to the artist’s fancy—a
fancy regulated by his antiquarian knowledge.
.dv class='illo'
.rj
PLATE V.
.il fn=i_p126a.jpg w=600px ew=95% link=i_p126abig.jpg
.ca
Plan of PONS ÆLII AND OF THE COURSE OF THE WALL THROUGH NEWCASTLE ON TYNE.
And^w. Reid s.c.
.ca-
.dv-
.sn NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE.
Roman antiquities, which, when they abound, are
so serviceable in defining the seat of Roman occupation,
are unfortunately here rather scanty and unimportant.
This cannot be matter of surprise. In
the middle ages, Newcastle abounded in churches
and monastic buildings. To the erection of these
and of the Castle, the Town-wall, and Gates, every
stone whether lettered, sculptured, or plain, that
could easily be obtained, would be appropriated.
.sn PONS ÆLII.
The precincts of the Castle have afforded the most
important discoveries of this kind. The present
County-courts occupy the site of a building which
used to be called the Half-moon-battery. This was
probably the position of the south-east angle of the
station of Pons Ælii, and some of the lines of the
octagonal face of the battery presented no doubt the
actual curve of the station. To a certain extent the
Norman builders may have converted to their own
uses a portion of the labours of their imperial predecessors;
appearances seemed to shew that the Castle
wall between the Half-moon-battery and the Black-gate
had rested upon a Roman foundation. When
the County-courts were built, some important discoveries
were made. Mr. Hodgson, who watched the progress
of the excavations, has thus described them:—
.pm start_quote
In digging for the foundations for the Northumberland
County Court-house, in 1810, a well was found finely cased
with Roman masonry. It still remains below the centre part
.bn p128.png
.pn +1
of the present court-house. It had originally been a spring,
or sunk low down on the river bank, and its circular wall, raised
within another strong wall in the form of a trapezium to the
height of the area of the station, and the space between them
traversed with strong connecting beams of oak both horizontally
and perpendicularly, and then tightly packed up with
pure blue clay. Some beams of this timber were taken up and
formed into the judges’ seats, and chairs for the grand-jury
room, now in use. Two of the perpendicular beams had very
large stags’ horns at their lower end, apparently to assist in
steadying them till clay sufficient was put around them to
keep them upright. On the original slope of the bank next
the outer wall, there was a thick layer of ferns, grasses, brambles,
and twigs of birch and oak, closely matted together, and
evidently showing that before these works were constructed,
man had not tenanted the spot.[61] Here also were exposed
large remains of the foundations of other very thick and strong
walls, one of which rose into the eastern wall of the Old Moot-hall,
which was of exactly the same breadth, bearing, and
style of building, and doubtless of the same date as the Roman
foundations of which it was a continuance.
.fn 61
So inviting a post would not escape the notice of the ancient
British warrior—the appearances Mr. Hodgson describes, are not
inconsistent with its having been an Ancient-British strong-hold.
.fn-
.sn ANTIQUITIES OF PONS ÆLII.
The whole site of the Court-house, for several feet above the
original surface of the earth, was strewn with a chaos of Roman
ruins. I was frequently on the spot while the excavations
were carrying on, and saw dug up large quantities of Roman
pottery, two bronze coins of Antoninus Pius, parts of the
shaft of a Corinthian pillar, fluted, and of the finest workmanship;
besides many millstones, and two altars, one bearing
an illegible inscription, and the other quite plain. The
altars were found near the north-east corner of the Court-house,
and near them a small axe, and a concave stone, which
bore marks of fire, was split, and had thin flakes of lead in its
fissures. The broad foundation walls were firm and impenetrable
as the hardest rock. On Aug. 11, 1812, when the foundations
.bn p129.png
.pn +1
of the north portico were sinking, a Roman coin was
found (of what Emperor I have no minute,) and the original
surface of the ground was covered with a thick stratum of
small wood, some parts of which were wattled together in the
form of crates or the corfs of collieries, but in a decayed state,
and cut as easily with the workmen’s spades, as the brushwood
found in peat mosses does. As there was much horse or
mules’ dung near them, and some mules’ shoes amongst it, I
thought they had been fixed there as crates or racks to eat
fodder out of.
.pm end_quote
.il id=p129 fn=i_p129.jpg w=200px ew=30% align=r
Since that period, few important
discoveries have been
made. In cutting the crest
of the hill in front of the Castle
for one of the piers of the
Railway viaduct, a small stone
figure of Mercury, represented
in the adjoining wood-cut,[62]
was found. It is preserved,
among other antiquities, in
the Museum in the Castle.
.fn 62
Drawn to twice the usual size.
.fn-
Between the years 1840 and 1844, the White-friar-tower
and the contiguous portions of the Town-wall
of Newcastle were removed. Two Roman
altars were discovered, which are now in the possession
of the Society of Antiquaries, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
One of them is destitute of an inscription,
and the other seems to bear the word SILVANO.
Several coins of the Roman and mediæval age were
picked up in its immediate vicinity. The Roman
coins were of both the upper and the lower empire.
.bn p130.png
.pn +1
From the manner in which the pieces of the
middle and ancient periods were commingled, a
thing of rare occurrence, it may be inferred that the
tower was formed out of Roman materials, and that
the Roman coins were re-imbedded without being
noticed, whilst the workmen inadvertently added
Nuremberg tokens and other contemporary pieces
to the numismatic treasures of the spot.
But, perhaps, the structure which gave name to
Pons Ælii affords the most interesting foot-prints
of Roman occupation in Newcastle.
.sn THE BRIDGE OF ÆLIUS.
Horsley received sufficient evidence to convince
him, that a Roman road had gone from the south
bank of the Tyne to Chester-le-street, and thence
to the south of England. A bridge was necessary to
conduct the road across the river. In 1771, a flood
having carried away several of the arches of the
bridge which then existed, and materially damaged
the rest of the structure, it was found necessary to
erect a new one. In removing the old piers the distinguishing
characteristics of Roman masonry were
observed; and the workmen were led to believe that
the arches of the mediæval structure had been
placed upon the foundations which Hadrian laid.
Several piles of fine black oak, which had supported
the foundation, were drawn out of the bed of the river,
and found to be in a state of excellent preservation.[63]
.fn 63
The author, as the leader of the pilgrim-band who traversed
the Wall in the summer of 1849, used a staff made out of this
primeval oak. It is now in the Newcastle collection of antiquities.
.fn-
.bn p131.png
.pn +1
.sn COINS FOUND IN THE BRIDGE.
The coins that were found imbedded in the piers
give decided evidence of the Roman origin of the
structure. To some of these, in the possession of
George Rippon, esq., of Waterville, North Shields,
I have had access; they are here represented.
.dv class='column-container'
.dv class='column30'
.il id=p131 fn=i_p131a.jpg w=175px ew=30% align=l
.dv-
.dv class='column70'
Obv.—HADRIANUS AUGUSTUS, CONSUL
TERTIUM. PATER PATRIÆ. Bare
head of Hadrian.
Rev.—GERMANIA. The province
personified as a female standing. In her right she holds a lance;
her left hand rests upon a German-shaped shield.
.dv-
.dv-
.dv class='column-container'
.dv class='column20'
.il fn=i_p131b.jpg w=80px ew=20% align=l
.dv-
.dv class='column80'
Obv.—IMPERATOR CÆSAR TRAJANUS HADRIANUS
AUGUSTUS. Laureated head of Hadrian.
Rev.—PONTIFEX MAXIMUS TRIBUNITIA POTESTATE
CONSUL TERTIUM. A female figure, with helmet,
standing, holding a lance in her left hand, and in her
right a patera, under which is an object that appears to be an altar.
.dv-
.dv-
.dv class='column-container'
.dv class='column20'
.il fn=i_p131c.jpg w=80px ew=20% align=l
.dv-
.dv class='column80'
Obv.—Same as the former; but CONSUL SECUNDUM.
Rev.—Legend same as the former, but in the exergue
JUSTITIA. A female seated; in her right hand a
patera, in her left a spear.
.dv-
.dv-
.dv class='column-container'
.dv class='column20'
.il fn=i_p131d.jpg w=80px ew=20% align=l
.dv-
.dv class='column80'
Obv.—Same as the two former.
Rev.—Same as in the former, but in the exergue.
FEL PR (Felicitas Populi Romani). A female
seated; in her right hand a caduceus, in her left a
cornucopia.
.dv-
.dv-
.dv class='column-container'
.dv class='column30'
.il fn=i_p131e.jpg w=175px ew=30% align=l
.dv-
.dv class='column70'
Obv.—SEVERUS AUGUSTUS PARTHICUS
MAXIMUS. Laureated head
of the emperor.
Rev.—PROVIDENTIA AUGUSTORUM.
The figure of a female standing, with a globe at her feet.
.dv-
.dv-
.fs 100%
The coins of Hadrian are remarkably bold and sharp,
and cannot have been long in circulation before being
.bn p132.png
.pn +1
deposited in the bed where sixteen centuries of repose
awaited them; that of Severus is a good deal corroded.
Besides these, other coins have been found. Brand
had one of Trajan, and he engraves a copper
coin of Hadrian; he also had in his possession
one of Antoninus Pius. Pennant describes, amongst
others, a coin of Faustina the Elder, and one of
Lucius Verus. Hodgson saw coins of Gordian and
Magnentius, all of which had been obtained from the
same spot.
The coins posterior to the time of Hadrian were
probably deposited during the repairs and alterations
which the bridge received after its original construction
in A.D. 120.
.sn CHARACTER OF THE BRIDGE.
It is probable that the ancient bridge had no stone
arches, but was provided with a horizontal road-way
of timber. Pennant[64] who derived his information
from the workmen, says, that ‘the old piers seem
originally to have been formed without any springs
for arches. This was a manner of building used by the
Romans; witness the bridge built over the Danube by
Trajan, at Severin, whose piers, I believe, still exist.’
.fn 64
Tour, iii. 313, quoted by Brand, i. 37.
.fn-
The foundations of the piers of three Roman
bridges in the region of the Wall, still remain—one
across the Tyne, at Corstopitum, one across the
North Tyne, at Cilurnum, and another across the
Reed-water, at Habitancum; an examination of
these has induced me to believe that they, at least,
had no arches. The piers are of a size and strength
.bn p133.png
.pn +1
sufficient to withstand the thrust of the waters
without the aid of an arch; and in one at least
of these cases, the requisite spring of the arch
would have raised the road to an inconvenient
height. An experienced mason who examined
carefully the ruins of the bridge at Habitancum
told me that he observed that all the stones which encumbered
the spot were square, none of them having
the shape of stones used in building arches. It is
certain that in the mediæval period the Newcastle
bridge had a road-way of timber; for Matthew of
Paris tells us that, A.D. 1248, it, and the greater
part of the town were destroyed by fire.
.sn SUPPOSED MEDAL OF THE BRIDGE.
Brand, misled by the early numismatists, conceived
that the bridge across the Tyne had been honoured
by a commemorative medal. He says—
.pm start_quote
Two coins appear to have been struck upon the building of
two bridges by this emperor; one is doubtless to be referred
to that of Rome; may not the other have been intended to
commemorate the work we are now considering? One of the
bridges marked on these coins has seven, the other five arches.
The Tiber being a very inconsiderable river, when compared
with the Tyne, we must therefore claim that with seven
arches—especially as we find a view of the Pons Ælius at
Rome in Piranesi’s collection, without the modern ornaments,
where it is represented as consisting of exactly five arches.[65]
.pm end_quote
.fn 65
Brand’s Newcastle, i. 37.
.fn-
Alas! for a theory so beautiful and so grateful
to the feelings of Newcastle antiquaries! Mr.
Akerman, in his work on rare and inedited Roman
coins, has pronounced the relentless verdict—‘The
.bn p134.png
.pn +1
medallion with the Pont Ælius, quoted by
the early numismatic writers, is a modern fabrication.’
It is perhaps too much to suppose that all the
arches of the mediæval bridge rested upon Roman
foundations, but it is more than probable that the
piers of the original structure would be at least as
numerous as those of its successor. The mediæval
bridge had twelve arches.
.sn ORIGIN OF THE NAME PONS ÆLII.
No altar or other inscribed stone has been found
to confirm the opinion that Newcastle was the
ancient Pons Ælii. Brand was ‘of opinion that the
inscriptions belonging to the station of Pons Ælii
are all built up in the old keep of the Castle, and
that a rich treasure of this kind will some time or
other be discovered, lurking in its almost impregnable
walls, by future antiquaries.’ May the antiquary
never be born that shall behold this treasure!
Such evidence is, however, scarcely needed to lead
us to the ancient designation of the place. The fact
that Pons Ælii occurs in the Notitia between
Segedunum and Condercum, and that Newcastle
lies between the modern representatives of these
two stations, Wallsend and Benwell, is strong presumption
in favour of the theory, and the fact that
a Roman bridge here crossed the Tyne, renders
it almost indubitable. This structure took the name of
the Bridge of Ælius, after Hadrian,[66] who was of the
.bn p135.png
.pn +1
Ælian family, and the bridge gave name to the
station. The Notitia informs us that Pons Ælii
was governed by the tribune of the cohort of the
Cornovii, ‘a people,’ says Hodgson, ‘whose name is
unnoticed by all the ancient geographers I have
access to.’
.fn 66
Jerusalem was called after him Ælia Capitolina, and the
games at Pincum, in Mæsia, Ælia Pincensia.
.fn-
.sn THE CASTLE OF NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE.
Before leaving the station of Pons Ælii, a reference
to the mediæval structure—the Norman keep—which
gives the town its modern name, may be allowed.
It is the most perfect specimen of Norman
castrametation in the kingdom; and a careful examination
of its structure will yield a more correct
view of the mode of warfare adopted at the time of
its erection, and of the mournful condition of society
then existing, than the fullest verbal description could
give. Within a recent period its passages have
been cleared and its portals opened, so as to afford the
antiquary an opportunity of examining it thoroughly.
The Corporation of Newcastle, whose property it is,
have, in this respect, set an example which might
with advantage be followed by the national government.
To the student of the Wall, however, the collection
of Roman antiquities which the castle contains,
will be the object of greatest interest. In the
number and importance of its altars and inscribed
stones, it excels every other museum in Britain. As
the Castle contains so many of the spoils of the Wall,
it is much to be wished that it could be made the depository
of all that have been discovered on the line.
Numerous individual objects of interest are scattered
over the country, and he who would examine them all
.bn p136.png
.pn +1
must travel several hundred miles, and propitiate the
favour of many private gentlemen, as well as public
bodies. Documents illustrative of the history of a
country may be regarded as the property of the
country, so far at least, as to be made easily accessible
to all. Pons Ælii is the fitting place to deposit those
antiquities of the Wall which cannot be carefully
preserved on the spot where the Romans originally
placed them.
.sp 2
.sn ROAD TO BENWELL.
The reader will probably now be glad to disentangle
himself from the intricacies of Pons Ælii,
and to pursue with rapid steps the course of the
Wall westward.
Between Newcastle and Benwell-hill, the traces
of the works are faint but interesting. The turnpike
road runs upon the bed of the prostrate Wall, so
that, except occasionally in a neighbouring building,
not one stone of it is to be seen; its constant companion,
the north fosse, may, however, be recognized
in a kind of depression or slack, which runs nearly
all the way parallel with the road on the traveller’s
right hand. On his left, he will sometimes be able
to discern with tolerable certainty the course of the
Vallum. A small, but well defined portion of it, is
met with immediately after leaving the town, behind
a row of houses, appropriately termed Adrianople.
Though the stone wall has perished, this humble
earth-work has survived the accidents of seventeen
eventful centuries! Its days, however, are now
.bn p137.png
.pn +1
numbered; a contiguous quarry is making rapid
encroachments upon it.
.sp 2
.sn CONDERCUM.
CONDERCUM.—About two miles from Newcastle,
and near the modern village of Benwell,
stood the third station of the line, Condercum.
The present turnpike road runs through it, occupying,
in all probability, very nearly the site of its
ancient via principalis. So feeble, however, are the
traces of it which remain, that the wayfarer who
does not scrutinize the spot very narrowly, will pass
on his journey without knowing that he is treading
ground once jealously guarded by imperial power—the
scene, for centuries, of a crowded city’s joys and
fears.
The situation of the camp is good; without being
much exposed, it commands an extensive prospect
in every direction. Northwards, looking over the
grounds of Fenham, the Simonside hills appear in
the distance, and still more remote, is the lofty
range of Cheviot. To the south is the vale of
Ravensworth, which is exceeded by the vale of
Clwyd only in magnitude, not in beauty, and to
the south-west, the lordly Tyne threads its way
through the richest of landscapes.
The sunny slope, south of the station, was favourable
for the erection of the suburban buildings of
the occupants of the camp, the foundations of several
having been discovered.
In Horsley’s days, the ramparts were large and
distinct; now, their surface is chiefly marked by a
.bn p138.png
.pn +1
general elevation, occasioned probably by the accumulated
ruins of the ancient fort. It contains in
all a space of nearly five acres. Gordon conceived
that the Wall was continued right through the station.
This would have divided it into two distinct
parts. As Horsley and Brand prove, the Wall
came up to its eastern and western ramparts, but
did not pass through it. The northern wall of the
station itself was a sufficient defence in that quarter.
About a third of the station was to the north of the
line of the Wall, the remaining two-thirds were
within it. The Vallum, Horsley tells us, fell in with
the southern rampart.
The portion north of the turnpike road is at present
under tillage. In Brand’s days it was covered
with a plantation. The man who first ploughed it
told me that in doing so, his horse, on one occasion,
sank up to its middle in traversing some chambers
that had been insecurely covered. The quantity of
Roman pottery which is found in this portion of the
camp is remarkable. Fragments may be seen at
every step. The peculiar character of the Roman
earthenware, especially of the coral-coloured kind,
denominated Samian, renders this an interesting evidence
of Roman occupation.
The larger portion of the station, that to the south
of the road, is enclosed within the walls of Benwell-park.
The inequalities of its grassy surface indicate
the lines of its streets, and the position of some of
its principal buildings. Near its centre is a large
mound, which would probably reward examination.
.bn p139.png
.pn +1
The southern rampart, with its fosse, is very distinct.
.sn BENWELL.
Two hypocausts have been discovered in connexion
with this station; one within its walls, close
to the south side of the road, and between forty and
fifty yards from the eastern rampart, the other without
them, and about three hundred yards to the
south-west. Of the latter building a plan is given
by Brand. It contained eight or nine apartments,
five of which had floors supported upon pillars. The
floors consisted of ‘flags covered with a composition
of various hard ingredients, about eighteen inches
thick, such as small pieces of brick and blue and red
pots, mixed up with run lime.’ The pillars were all
of stone, and were so arranged as to allow hot air to
circulate beneath the apartments. The idea generally
entertained of these arrangements is, that they
were intended for hot baths and sudatories. In
pursuance of this opinion, Mr. Shafto, who discovered
this hypocaust, says: ‘Here were found
many square bricks with holes in the middle, which
were probably joined together by way of pipes, to
conduct the water from the top of the hill, where
there was also the appearance of other baths, and
where, probably, springs had been, but since drained
by the colliery.’ However much the Romans in their
own luxurious city may have been addicted to the indulgence
of the hot-bath and the sweating-room, it
may well be doubted, whether, in this cold climate,
they would have any great desire for it, or if they had,
whether the dread realities of war would allow them
to make, on an enemy’s frontier, erections so extensive
.bn p140.png
.pn +1
as this has been, for such a purpose. Next to
food, warmth would be their most urgent demand,
and a more effectual mode of maintaining a uniform
temperature in their dwellings could not be devised
than that which the hypocaust supplied.
.il id=p140 fn=i_p140.jpg w=300px ew=60% align=r
Brand tells us that great conduits or sewers, composed
of large wrought stones, were discovered in
the north part of the station at the depth of about a
yard and a half.
Several inscribed slabs and small altars have
been found in the
station. The most
important one of
these, which is preserved
in the parsonage
at Ryton, is
here represented.
By comparing it
with the Notitia,
we learn the ancient name of the station, and the locality
of its original occupants.
.pm start_inscr c
MATRIBVS CAMPEST[RIBVS]
ET GENIO ALÆ PRI[MÆ] HISPANORVM
ASTVRVM [OB VIRTVTEM]
[APPELLATÆ] GORDIANÆ TITVS]
AGRIPPA PRÆ[FECTVS] TEMPLVM A S[OLO]
[RES]TITVIT.
.pm end_inscr
.pm start_inscr c
To the Campestral Mothers,
and to the Genius of the first wing of Spanish
Astures, on account of their valour,
styled Gordiana, Titus
Agrippa, their prefect, this temple, from the ground,
rebuilt.
.pm end_inscr
.bn p141.png
.pn +1
The Notitia records that the præfect ‘alæ primæ
Astorum’ was stationed at Condercum. This slab,
reads Asturum, not Astorum. At two other stations
the same people resided; at Cilurnum, the Notitia
places the præfect ‘alæ secundæ Astorum,’ and at
Æsica, the tribune ‘cohortis primæ Astorum.’ At
both these forts, as well as in the case immediately
before us, inscriptions have been found which are
written Asturum; the probability, therefore, is, that
a clerical error has crept into the Notitia, and that it
was the Astures, not the Asti (a people of Liguria),
who garrisoned these posts. The Astures were
a people from the eastern part of the modern
Asturias, in Spain. 'Under the empire, the term
ala was applied to regiments of horse, raised,
it would seem, with very few exceptions, in the
provinces.'[67] This fractured slab, therefore, furnishes
us with the information that the camp at Benwell
was anciently named Condercum, and that it
was garrisoned by a Spanish cavalry regiment. It
supplies other facts. This regiment was styled,
probably on account of some illustrious achievement,
Gordiana. The emperor Gordian, from whom this
title is derived, began his reign in the year 238. We
have thus a proof of the continued occupation of the
camp until a date subsequent to this period. The
event recorded by the inscription is to the same
effect. A temple which had been erected, probably
at the first formation of the station, had through time
.bn p142.png
.pn +1
or the chances of war, become so entirely dilapidated,
as to require rebuilding, and Titus Agrippa accomplished
the work. The Romans, although they
had at this time been long in the occupation of the
isthmus, had then no thoughts of relinquishing it.
The woodland deities, to whom the temple was
dedicated, will require separate discussion afterwards.
.pm img_flow p142 100 20 r ‘altar to Mars’
To the same occasion will be referred a remarkable
altar inscribed to the three Lamiæ, which was discovered
at this station. Two
altars[68] of less importance, which
were found here, may at once be
disposed of. They are dedicated
to one of the favourite deities of
Rome—Mars. The focus, or place
for burning the offering, is deep
and well marked in each of them.
They are small domestic altars,
before which the soldier would
perform his private devotions. As such, they give
us a little insight into the heart and feelings of the
worshipper.
.fn 67
Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.
.fn-
.fn 68
In the possession of the Society of Antiquaries at Somerset-house.
The wood-cuts are drawn to twice the usual scale.
.fn-
.dv class='column-container'
.dv class='column'
.pm start_inscr c
DEO M
ARTI V
ICTOR[I]
VINDI[CI]
V[OTVM]
.pm end_inscr
.dv-
.dv class='column'
.pm start_inscr c
To the god
Mars
The Conqueror and
Avenger
In performance of a vow.
.pm end_inscr
.dv-
.dv-
Along with this altar, as Brand tells us, were found
two stones resembling pine-apples. This is by no
.bn p143.png
.pn +1
means an unusual ornament of the works along the
line. The pine-apple ornament is frequently introduced
in the stained-glass works of the middle ages.
.pm img_flow p143 100 20 r 'Altar to Mars'
As the fruit to which it bears a resemblance could not
be known in Europe until after the
discovery of America, the origin of
the figure is an interesting speculation.
I am disposed to think it is
of Mithraic origin, and that the prototype
of it was a mass of flame
proceeding from the torch usually
represented in the statues of that
deity. The other altar, here given, is inscribed—
.dv class='column-container'
.dv class='column'
.pm start_inscr c
ARTI
IENV
ANIV[S]
V[OTVM]
.pm end_inscr
.dv-
.dv class='column'
.pm start_inscr c
To the god
Mars
Jenu-
anius erected this
In performance of a vow.
.pm end_inscr
.dv-
.dv-
Besides these and some other inscribed stones, many
coins have been found here; amongst them, Brand
mentions denarii of Trajan, Hadrian, Faustina senior,
and Domitian; brass coins of Valentinian, Gratianus,
Diocletian, Faustina, and Maxentius, with many
others not legible. Obscene figures are frequently
found in Roman stations. They were worn by
females as a religious charm. Benwell has furnished
one such example of a very remarkable
kind. Before leaving the station, the inquiring
traveller will do well to examine the stones of the
park-wall. He will soon detect many of Roman
mould, whose faces have been scarred by the blasts
.bn p144.png
.pn +1
of many centuries. The larger ones have been derived
from the Wall—the smaller, from the curtain
wall of the station, or the dwellings erected within it.
.sn CONDERCUM.
The pleasant village of Benwell lies a little to the
south-west of the station. ‘The old tower of Benwell-hall,’
says Bourne, 'was the place where the
prior of Tynemouth resided some part of the summer,
and the chapel, which Mr. Shaftoe opens and
supplies for the good of the people of his village,
was the prior’s domestic chapel.' Who that visits
the spot will say that the prior who made the selection
was not a man of taste? Benwell, as Horsley
remarks, is not improbably thought to have its name
from the northern word ben, (Saxon binnan) signifying
within, and well for wall, as being seated
within, or on the south side of the Wall.[69] Whitaker
derives the Roman name of the station, Condercum,
from the Celtic Cond ar gui, the height upon the
water.[70] The river being near, the description is
apposite.
.fn 69
Baxter, in his glossary, derives it from the ancient British
words Pen ual, the head of the Wall. A comparatively modern
village would hardly take a Celtic name; besides, although the
Roman station has a commanding prospect in a military point of
view, it is scarcely so elevated as to be entitled to the epithet
of Pen or Ben; the village of Benwell is below it.
.fn-
.fn 70
History of Manchester, i. 224.
.fn-
.sp 2
Leaving Condercum, we again pursue our journey
westward. The road for several miles running upon
the base of the Wall, the facing stones may not unfrequently
.bn p145.png
.pn +1
be seen for some distance together, protruding
through the ‘metal.’ This used to be more
the case formerly than at present, for since the
diversion of the traffic from the road to the rail,
motives of economy have induced the road surveyors
to quarry, in some places, the last remnants of this
great work of antiquity, for materials with which to
repair the highway. The north fosse, as we pursue
our journey, becomes more distinct on the right of
the road.
.sn THE WALL AT DENTON.
Descending Benwell-hill, the village of East Denton
is reached. Here we meet for the first time with
a fragment of the Wall. The accompanying wood-cut
exhibits its present state. William Hutton describes
the interesting relic with becoming reverence.
.il id=p145 fn=i_p145.jpg w=500px ew=95% alt='The Wall at East Denton'
.pm start_quote
At Denton Dean, situated at the bottom of Benwell-hill,
the great road veers a few yards to the right, that is into
Severus’ ditch, and gives us for the first time a sight of that
most venerable piece of antiquity, The Wall, which is six
.bn p146.png
.pn +1
yards south of the road, and twenty short of the brook I am
going to pass. The fragment is thirty-six feet long, has three
courses of facing stones on one side, and four on the other,
and is exactly nine feet thick. An apple tree grows on the top.
.pm end_quote
It has lost a course of facing-stones since Hutton
saw it, and the apple tree is but the shadow of what
it was.
The turnpike road, which usually runs upon the
site of the Wall, uniformly swerves to the right when
passing a village. The truth is, nearly every house
and hamlet in the district has sprung out of the
Wall. In many instances a mile-castle, slightly
added to, has formed a mediæval dwelling of some
strength. The nucleus thus provided, became, in
the course of time, clustered round with contiguous
habitations, so that when, after the last season of
strife with which the borders were visited, the road
came to be constructed, motives of economy required
that these spots of increased value should be avoided.
Beyond the burn, the ground again rises, and
the Wall, stretching onwards in a line with the
road, forms a distinct, but turf-covered mound.
At the distance of a field to the south of it, the Vallum
is seen in greater distinctness than before.
Both of the aggers and the intervening fosse may
be clearly made out. Some young ash-trees grow
in the ditch.
.sn DENTON HALL.
Advancing a little further, we have Denton-hall,
formerly the seat of the literary Mrs. Montague, on
the right; attracted by her influence, many of the
great spirits of the age were occasionally found to
.bn p147.png
.pn +1
be assembled within its walls. Very nearly opposite
the hall, a larger mass of ruin than usual betokens
the site of a mile-castle.
Ascending the hill from West Denton, the fosse
of the Murus is very distinctly seen. The road is
elevated two or three feet above the natural level of the
ground, the Wall, probably some courses high,
forming its nucleus.
On the left hand, the lines of the Vallum are
feebly indicated, but by extending our glance some
distance backwards and forwards, we can, with
tolerable certainty, distinguish the artificial mounds
from the natural heavings of the surface.
.sn CHAPEL-HOUSE.
Passing the fourth mile-stone, we arrive at Chapel-houses.
This name is of sufficiently frequent occurrence
along the line to suggest a momentary inquiry
into its origin. In the early ages of Christianity, a
mile-castle may have occasionally been the resort of
the worshippers of the true God; or in the ‘troublesome
times’ of border warfare, when the church
not unfrequently shared in the general devastation,
it may have been set apart as a place for the confirmation
of matrimonial vows, and for the performance
of religious rites.
From the crown of this hill we have one of the
finest views which Northumberland can afford. The
Tyne, in all its glittering beauty, stretches far before
us. Its southern bank is crowned by the pretty
village of Ryton, its left is variegated with the once
beautiful, but now furnace-fuming, Wylam. An
.bn p148.png
.pn +1
amphitheatre of hills shuts in the distant scene.[71]
Horsley describes some ruined ramparts, called
the Castle-steads near Chapel-houses, to the south of
both Vallum and Wall. They were probably temporary
encampments and have now disappeared.
.sn WALBOTTLE-DEAN.
Before crossing Walbottle[72]-dean, the Vallum,
which is very distinct, and the Wall (i. e. the road)
approach each other, apparently for mutual support.
There are no traces of a bridge across the ravine.
As we ascend the next hill, and pass Throckley,[73]
we have, for the most part, the fosse on the right
hand, and the mounds of the Vallum on the left,
very boldly developed. By the time the traveller
has advanced thus far, he will have learnt the necessity
of bearing in mind that he is in a mining district.
If he overlook this circumstance, he will be
in danger of mistaking the track of some old ‘waggon
way’ for the terraced lines of Roman cultivation, or
an old ‘pit-heap’ for an indubitable British barrow.
.fn 71
The cottage is still standing in the neighbourhood of Wylam,
in which George Stephenson first saw the light. Aided, in due
time, by his son, worthy of such a father, he did more than any
other man to elaborate our present railway system. The antiquary
who has been revelling in the associations of the past will scarcely
fail, as he looks down from his Wall-traversed heights upon the
vale which gave birth to such a man, to give for a moment the
reins to his imagination, and suffering his mind to penetrate the
mists of futurity, ruminate upon the changes which the efforts
of the Stephensons are destined to produce, not only in the physical,
but in the moral aspect of society.
.fn-
.fn 72
Derived from wall and botle, the Saxon for an abode.
.fn-
.fn 73
Anciently written Throcklow. Low, or Law, is applied
either to a low, round-topped eminence, or an artificial mound.
.fn-
.il id=p148b fn=i_p148b.jpg w=600px ew=95%
.ca
@span 50: Cha^s Richardson, Delt. @ John Storey. Lith.@
THE WORKS AT HEDDON-ON-THE WALL
.ca-
.bn p149.png
.pn +1
After passing Throckley, just where a gate on the
left hand enters the field from the road, a mound
covered, in winter at least, with greener herbage
than the contiguous ground indicates the site of a
mile-castle. A little further on, a range of houses
of peculiar appearance, called the Frenchman’s-row,
attracts the eye. It was the residence, after the first
French revolution, of a number of refugees. The
dial which ornaments the Row is of their fabrication.
The building is now used as a poor-house.
.sn HEDDON-ON-THE-WALL.
On the top of the little eminence, at which we
arrive before reaching Heddon-on-the-Wall, the
north fosse is deeper and bolder than it has hitherto
appeared; it must be nearly in its original perfection.
The works of the Vallum, about fifty yards to the
south, are also finely developed. The ditch, in both
cases, is cut through the free-stone rock. Here,
also, if the traveller will forsake the turnpike, for the
road, as usual, diverges to the right in order to avoid
the village, he may see a fragment of the Wall much
longer and somewhat higher than the one at Denton.
Its north face is destroyed, but about five courses of
the southern face are perfect. The accompanying
lithograph shews the present state of the Barrier here.
The Wall is in the foreground, while in the distance
(looking eastward) the section of the north fosse,
and of the works of the Vallum, is distinctly seen.
About a mile north of the village is a striking
prominence called Heddon-law. Horsley remarks—‘Not
far from Heddon-on-the-Wall have been
some remarkable tumuli.’
.bn p150.png
.pn +1
The ditch of the Vallum cuts right through the
village, its lowest dip forming the village pond; it
is rather remarkable that in such a situation, it
should not long ago have been obliterated.
Descending the hill on which Heddon-on-the-Wall
stands, the lines of the Barrier keep close
together, and not without reason. The crag on the
south, now the scene of extensive quarrying operations,
completely commands them. Surely a post
must have been maintained on this eminence in the
days of Roman occupation, though it had only been
for the sake of a look-out.
Passing the eighth mile-stone, where the Vallum
is in good condition, we approach the fourth great
station of the Barrier. A road, crossing the turnpike
at right angles, is close to its east rampart.
.sp 2
.sn VINDOBALA.
VINDOBALA.—The station now called Rutchester,
stands on flat ground, but commands a considerable
prospect. The Notitia places here the
tribune of the first cohort of the Frixagi, a people
RUTCHESTER.
whose country does not seem to be mentioned by
any ancient geographer. The inside dimensions of
this station, from north to south, are 178 yards, and
from east to west, 135; it consequently contains
nearly five acres. The Wall started each way from
the north side of its east and west gates; so that a
a greater portion of the station lay on the north than
on the south side of it, as is shewn in the plan of it,
#Plate II:p044b#. At present, the turnpike road runs between
these portions; that on the north has been
.bn p151.png
.pn +1
all ploughed, and three of its sides sloped into the
ditch; its general outlines may, however, be distinguished;
the southern part is irregular in its surface,
with heaps of ruins, still covered with sward.[74]
In Horsley’s time, the northern part was sufficiently
perfect to enable him to discern six turrets in it,
'one at each corner, one at each side of the gate,
and one between each corner, and those adjoining
to the gate.'[75] The Vallum seems to have joined
the station in a line with its southern rampart. The
ditch on the western side is still tolerably distinct.
The suburbs have been to the south of the station,
but their site has recently been disturbed by the
opening of an extensive quarry which has supplied
large quantities of the stone used in carrying the
railway over the Tyne, and through Newcastle.
.fn 74
Hodgson, II. iii. 178.
.fn-
.fn 75
Britannia Romana, 139.
.fn-
On the brow of the hill, just west of the station,
there is still to be seen, hewn out of the solid rock,
what Wallis calls a coffin. It has more the appearance
of a cistern. It is twelve feet long, four broad,
and two deep, and has a hole close to the bottom at
one end. When discovered, it had a partition of
masonry across it, three feet from one end, and contained
many decayed bones, teeth and vertebræ,
and an iron implement resembling a three-footed
candlestick. In the immediate vicinity of this spot,
three fine Roman altars were discovered in 1844;
they are now in the possession of Mr. James, of
Otterburn, and are described in the Archæologia
Æliana, iv. 5.
.bn p152.png
.pn +1
.sn VINDOBALA.
The etymology of the name of this station seems
to be tolerably plain. ‘Vindobala,’ says Whitaker,
‘signifies merely the fort upon the heights. Bala
remains, to the present period, the Welsh and Irish
appellation of a town.’ I have received a similar
account of the word from those acquainted with
the Gaelic language. The station, however, though
possessing the advantage of a gentle elevation
above the contiguous ground, does not stand upon
a lofty eminence.
No inscriptions have been found here mentioning
the first cohort of the Frixagi, which, according to
the Notitia, was quartered in Vindobala. This is
of little consequence; the names of the contiguous
stations both east and west having been ascertained,
the order of the stations in the Notitia is sufficient
evidence as to the identity of this with the ancient
Vindobala.
The farm-house at Rutchester partly consists of
an ancient building, possessing great strength of
masonry. A gothic carving on the interior wall of
its principal apartment shews that it is not of Roman
construction. It was probably a mediæval stronghold,
made out of the ruins of the station. It contains
a well, now boarded over, which may be of
Roman date.
Most of the stones of the farm buildings and
adjacent fences are Roman, and one or two fragments
of Roman inscriptions built up in the stables,
besides some small altars preserved on the premises,
give interest to the place.
.bn p153.png
.pn +1
.sn MURAL HOSPITALITY.
Mr. Hutton is usually very particular in giving a
detail of the kind of entertainment he met with at
the various points of his journey. The recital of
his reception at Rutchester kindles into poetry:
.pm start_poem
I saw old Sir at dinner sit,
Who ne'er said, "Stranger, take a bit,"
Yet might, although a poet said it,
Have saved his beef, and raised his credit.
.pm end_poem
His own appearance, he tells us, was a little peculiar,
and archæological pursuits not being in vogue in
that day, the farmer probably had grave doubts as
to the propriety of tempting the enthusiastic old
man to prolong his stay.
It has frequently been my lot to receive the kindly
attentions of the inhabitants of the mural region.
Often have my eyes, bedimmed with fatigue, been
‘enlightened’ by partaking of the barley cake of the
cottager, (excellent food for a thirsty climb) as well
as the costlier viands of the farm tenant, or proprietor.
Never shall I forget visiting, on one
occasion, a frail tenement near Chesterholm. Its
only inmate, an old woman, in the spirit of regal
hospitality, asked me to join with her in partaking
of her only luxury—her pipe. I recently observed
with regret, that the cottage was tenantless.
.sn NORTHUMBRIAN YEOMEN.
The inhabitants of that part of the district which
is remote from towns, do not affect the dress, or the
speech, or the manners of polished citizens. They
like to know a person before they welcome him, and
make their approaches cautiously. But if slow in
.bn p154.png
.pn +1
grasping the hand, they do it heartily and sincerely.
There is scarcely a latch in the wilder regions of the
country, that I would not freely lift in the assurance
of a smiling welcome. Often as I have groaned
under the toils to which my present undertaking
has exposed me, I have reason to rejoice, that the
Barrier of the Lower Isthmus has been the means
of making me acquainted with many of the true-hearted
and intelligent yeomen, both of my own
county, and of Cumberland, whom I should not
otherwise have known. Although their dialect may
sound strangely to a southern ear, yet it is English
in its native purity and strength; a great authority,
Mr. Thorpe, having said, 'I believe the genuine
Anglian dialect to be that which is usually denominated
the Northumbrian.'[76]
.fn 76
Note in Lappenberg’s Anglo-Saxon Kings, i. 91.
.fn-
Proceeding, now, after this long digression, on
our journey, we pass, on the left hand side of the
road, an inn generally called the Iron-sign. Some
of the buildings are entirely composed of Roman
stones. In the erection nearest the road are three
centurial stones. One has on it COH VIII, another
has the word LVPI, probably to announce the fact,
that the portion of the Wall in which it was originally
inserted had been built by the troop under the
command of the centurion Lupus; the third is illegible.
.sn HARLOW-HILL.
Passing the ninth milestone, we stand upon the
top of an eminence from which there is a good view
of Harlow-hill, and of the adjacent country. The
Wall here slightly changes its course for the purpose
.bn p155.png
.pn +1
of ascending the summit before it. The
Vallum keeps company with the Wall for a short
distance, but eventually swerves to the south with the
design of passing along the base of the hill; it
rejoins the Wall on the other side. This is an
arrangement which we should not have encountered
had the Vallum been intended for an independent
barrier against a northern foe. The north
fosse is here very distinct, forming a deep groove on
the left of the road all the way to Harlow-hill.
Just before entering the village of Harlow-hill,
some portions of the heart of the Wall may be seen,
and a careful scrutiny will enable us to ascertain its
course through the village, a part of its foundation,
of the full width (nine feet), yet remaining.
As usual, in passing through the village, the turnpike
road leaves the Wall for a short distance. There
was a mile-castle at Harlow-hill, which, Horsley
says, had a high situation, and a large prospect; all
traces of it are now gone. A field, about half a mile
north of Harlow-hill, bears the ominous name of
Grave-riggs; the traditionary account of its origin
being, that after a bloody battle in ‘the troublesome
times,’ it became the resting-place of slaughtered
multitudes.
The village and ancient stronghold of Welton (a
corruption no doubt of Wall-town) is about half a
mile to the south of the road. The fortlet is
entirely built of Roman stones. The adjoining
mansion, at present occupied by the farm tenant,
bears the date of 1616. Its large hall, with ample
.bn p156.png
.pn +1
hearth and spacious bow-windows, is redolent of
ancient hospitality. In the memory of the villagers,
the freaks of a benevolent ghost, named Silky, which
frequented the old tower, and the feats of strength
performed by William of Welton, still survive the
weekly intrusion of the newspaper.
.sn WALL-HOUSES.
At Wall-houses, on the south side of the road,
traces of a mile-castle are obscurely visible; between
this point and the fourteenth mile-stone all the lines
of the Barrier are developed in a degree that is quite
inspiriting. The north fosse is, for a considerable
distance, planted with trees, which will for some time
save it from the envious plough.
.il id=p156a fn=i_p156a.jpg w=600px ew=95%
.ca
@span 40: H. Burdon Richardson, Delt. @ John Storey, Lith.@
THE WORKS NEAR CARR HILL.
.ca-
.sn THE VALLUM AT DOWN-HILL.
Immediately after passing the farm house of Carr-hill,
an appearance of great interest presents itself.
The works of the Vallum are coming boldly forward
in company with the Wall, when suddenly, and at
a decided angle, they change their course, evidently
to avoid mounting a small barrow-like elevation,
called Down-hill.[77] The Wall pursues its course
straightforward. The view, exhibited on the opposite
page, taken from the edge of the hill, looking
eastward, shews this arrangement. The road, with
the ditch on its north side, is the representative
of the Wall. The Vallum and Wall again converge
as they approach Hunnum. These appearances
strongly corroborate the opinion that all the
.bn p157.png
.pn +1
lines of the Barrier are but parts of one great engineering
scheme. If the Vallum had been constructed
as an independent defence against a northern
foe, and nearly a century before the Wall, we cannot
conceive that an elevation, which so entirely commands
the Vallum, would have been left open to the
enemy; especially as it would have been just as easy
to take the Vallum along the north flank of the
hill as along the south. Horsley, who advocates the
opinion that the north agger is Agricola’s Military
Way, that the southern aggers were the work of
Hadrian, and that the Wall was not erected till the
time of Severus, is rather at a loss to account for
these appearances. He says:—
.pm start_quote
Before we come to Halton-chesters, somewhat appears that
is pretty remarkable. Hadrian’s Vallum running full upon a
little hill, turns at once round about the skirt of it, leaving
the hill on the north, and thereby, one would think, rendering
the Vallum itself a weak defence at that part. The north
agger goes close to the south side of this hill; so that they
were also obliged to carry the Vallum round the hill in order
to preserve the parallelism. If the north agger was the Old
Military Way, and prior to the Vallum, there was nothing improper
in carrying it on the south skirts of the hill; and then
when the Vallum came afterwards to be built, (for a defence,
or place of retreat) they were under a kind of necessity to
form it after this manner.
.pm end_quote
.fn 77
The road leaves the Wall here, and keeps to the right of the
hill. The north side of the hill is planted with trees, and it is
interesting to notice in the summit of the plantation, a dip, corresponding
to the depression of the fosse of the Wall.
.fn-
Since so able a man as Horsley can devise no
better defence of his theory, it may well be abandoned
altogether. It cannot be conceived that,
under a rule so vigorous as Hadrian’s, the builders
of the Barrier would be allowed to give the enemy
.bn p158.png
.pn +1
a material advantage, in order to save themselves
the trouble of reconstructing the Military Way for
a short space.
Down-hill bears marks of having been quarried at
some distant period for its limestone. A little to
the south of the Vallum are some circular lines,
which an experienced observer tells me, are the
remains of ‘sow-kilns.’ It would, perhaps, be rash
to claim for them a primeval date, though in their
appearance there is nothing inconsistent with the
supposition.
.sn HALTON RED-HOUSE.
Halton Red-house is next passed on the right
hand. It is entirely built of stones taken from the
neighbouring station; they have, however, been
fresh dressed. In the farm-yard is a rectangular
stone trough, which was found in the station, and
which its owner describes as a ‘smiddy trow,’ and
shews upon the edge the place which had been worn
away by the attrition of the blacksmith’s irons. It
might, indeed, serve very well for such a purpose,
but troughs of this kind are of too frequent occurrence
in the buildings along the line to allow us to
suppose that this was their usual application. They
are generally very rudely carved both outside and
in, and not unfrequently are formed of an irregular
unsquared block of stone. I think that they were
used for domestic and culinary purposes. There is
a fragment of one lying in the hypocaust at Chesters,
the edge of which is worn down by the sharpening
of knives upon it.
We now approach the fifth station of the line,
.bn p159.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.sn Hunnum.
HUNNUM.—This ancient abode of Rome’s warriors,
with its walls, streets, temples, markets, and
aqueducts, is nearly one unbroken sweep of luxuriant
vegetation. The traveller may readily pass by it,
as Hutton did, without discerning symptoms of
Roman occupation. A small, half-ruined hut stands
within its area, a fitting emblem of the surrounding
desolation. It is almost needless to name a city,
which has no existence, but for convenience sake,HALTON-CHESTERS.
Horsley conferred upon it the style and title of Halton-chesters.
The castle of Halton is close by.
The form of the station is peculiar, as is shewn in
the plan of it, #Plate II:p044b#. The Wall joins the station
at about one-third the distance between its northern
and southern extremity. The portion of the station
which is to the north of the Wall is not so broad as
the part to the south of it. The only reason which
has been assigned for this is, that, as Horsley observes,
'there is a descent or hollow ground joining
to the west side of this part, so that the work could not
be carried on any farther that way without much
trouble and expense; though, it must be owned, the
Romans don't usually seem to have valued either the
one or the other'. It is remarkable that in adapting
the station to the ground, they have not given
to the wall, at the north east corner, a slanting
direction, as would have been most convenient, but
have, as usual, adhered to the rectangular form.
The turnpike road, keeping the line of the Wall,
crosses the station from the site of the eastern to
that of the western gateway. The section north of
.bn p160.png
.pn +1
the road was brought under cultivation about twenty
years ago, when immense quantities of stones were
removed. It is now called the ‘Brunt-ha’penny
field’ in consequence of the number of corroded
copper coins which were found in it. The portion
south of the road has a gentle slope and a fair exposure
to the sun. It has not recently been ploughed,
and consequently exhibits, with considerable distinctness,
the lines of the outer entrenchments and ditches,
as well as the contour of the ruined buildings and
streets of the interior. The suburbs have covered
a fine tract of pasture-ground to the south. The
valley on the west side of the station would materially
strengthen the position in this quarter.
The excavations made in the northern section, a
few years ago, revealed several points of interest.
The careful manner in which the stones, even of the
foundation, were squared and chiselled, struck beholders
with surprise. The thickness, of one part
at least, of the west wall of the station I have been
assured, by a person who superintended the work,
was nine feet.[78] In the angle of the north-west
.bn p161.png
.pn +1
portion of the station, just outside the Wall, was a
large heap, containing numerous fragments of Roman
pottery, the bones of animals, the horns of deer, and
other refuse matter—it must, in short, have been
the dung-hill of the camp. Even now, although the
plough has passed repeatedly over it, its position is
shewn by the darkness of the soil. On the same
occasion, there was laid open an aqueduct of about
three quarters of a mile in length, which seems to
have conducted water from a spring or burn in the
high ground north of the place where Stagshawbank
fair is held. My informant, who traced it for between
two and three hundred yards, says, that it was
formed of stone, and was covered with flags.[79] In
crossing the valley to the west of the fort, it must
have been supported on pillars, or a mound. The
most remarkable circumstance to be noticed respecting
this water-course is, that it was on the
north, or the enemy’s side of the Wall. It is
scarcely probable that the Romans would depend for
that portion of their daily supply, which was required
for drinking and culinary purposes, on so precarious
a source; but it is not unlikely that the water
so introduced was meant to fill the fosse to the north
of the station, and thus to give the additional security
of a wet ditch to a portion of the camp, which,
though much exposed, possessed no natural strength
.bn p162.png
.pn +1
of situation.[80] Crossing the station diagonally from
below the eastern gateway to the north-west angle,
a sewer or drain was found, of considerable dimensions.
My informant crept along it for about one
hundred yards. The bottom of it was filled with
hardened mud, imbedded in which, were found a lamp
and many bone pins, such as those with which the
Romans fastened their woollen garments.
.fn 78
Unable to resist the positive testimony of an intelligent eye-witness,
I was, at first, disposed to think that he had included in
his measurement some chamber on the inside of the station wall.
I am now prepared to receive the statement without deduction.
Some recent excavations at Risingham have laid bare a part of
the curtain wall which has been built double, the intervening space,
or chamber, being filled up with rubble and rubbish run together
with lime, so as to form a solid mass of masonry of considerable
thickness. The object of this arrangement may have been, to form
a solid, elevated platform, for the use of the soldiery.
.fn-
.fn 79
Both Horsley and Lingard had previously noticed it. Horsley
says he was told by a countryman that ‘it was what the speaking
trumpet was laid in.’
.fn-
.fn 80
The aqueduct was not traced on the Halton side of the valley,
so that the precise point where it joined the station is not known;
it is now entirely removed.
.fn-
The most interesting discovery made on this occasion,
however, was a suite of apartments, which
have been usually supposed to be ‘the Baths.’ The
building was one hundred and thirty-two feet in
length, and contained not fewer than eleven rooms.
The first of these was forty-three feet long, and twenty
wide, and was the place, it has been conjectured,
‘where the bathers waited, and employed themselves
in walking and talking, till their turn came to bathe.’
The others beyond are supposed to have been set
apart for the purposes of undressing, taking the cold,
the tepid, and the hot-bath, sweating, anointing, and
robing. If the Roman prefects allowed the most
important buildings of their frontier camps to be
devoted to the enjoyment of the bath in all its elaborate
details, they were more indulgent than some
modern generals would be. That one or two of the
smaller rooms have been devoted to ablution is not
unlikely, this range of buildings having contained two
carefully constructed cisterns which may have been
.bn p163.png
.pn +1
used as baths. Several of the rooms had hanging
floors, with flues beneath; pipes of burnt clay, fixed
to the walls by T-headed holdfasts, communicated
with the flues below, and conveyed the hot air up
the sides of the apartments. But no provision for
heating large quantities of water was discovered,
such as we might have expected to find, if the whole
building had been used for bathing.
The whole of this interesting structure was
removed as the process of exhumation proceeded.
Our only consolation is, that a minute and able
description of it has been left us by Mr. Hodgson.
.il id=p163 fn=i_p163.jpg w=350px ew=70% alt='The Works near Carr-hill'
Several inscribed and sculptured stones have been
discovered here. Camden, in 1600, found a monumental
slab, erected to the memory of a soldier of
the Ala Sabiniana; the regiment which the Notitia
represents as being quartered at Hunnum. A
stone, bearing
the inscription,
LEG. II.
AVG. F., Legio
secunda Augusta
fecit, is at
Alnwick castle,
and belongs, I
think, to this
station. Wallis says 'as some labourers were turning
up the foundations here, for the sake of the
stones to mend the road, they met with a centurial
stone with the above inscription, within a civic garland,
the crest of the imperial eagle at each end,
.bn p164.png
.pn +1
and that it was taken into the custody of Sir Edward
Blackett. The one here shewn, though not a centurial
stone, must be the one in question.[81] It is one
of the most elegantly carved stones that have been
found upon the line, and closely resembles the style
of those erected by the same legion in the Barrier of
the Upper Isthmus. The ornament in the upper
margin, and at the sides, has probably formed the
type of one that prevailed in the Transition Norman
and Early English styles.
.fn 81
Several of the sculptures at Matfen were sent to Alnwick
Castle. Wallis uses the term, ‘centurial stone,’ very loosely, applying
it even to the large Milking-gap slab.
.fn-
Several busts of emperors and empresses, preserved
about the house and grounds of Matfen,
shew the attention which the ancient inhabitants of
Hunnum have paid to the decoration of the camp.
.il id=p164 fn=i_p164.jpg w=250px ew=50% align=r alt='Slab—Fulgur Divom'
A little to the west of
the station, not far from
the gateway, was recently
found the slab which
is here figured. Although
the inscription is
not deeply cut, it is very
legible, and doubtless means—The lightning of the
gods. When any spot was struck with lightning, it
was immediately deemed sacred, and venerated as
such by the Romans, being surrounded by a breastwork
of masonry, similar to that put round the mouth
of a well. Conscious guilt makes cowards of the most
dauntless warriors! Perhaps some member of the
.bn p165.png
.pn +1
Sabinian ala, hastening for shelter, and beseeching
meanwhile the protection of Jupiter Tonans, was
here arrested on life’s journey, and summoned to his
great account.
Among the minor antiquities found at this station
was a particularly massive finger ring of pure gold,
set with an artificial stone, on which a full-length
figure was engraved. It was stolen from lady
Blackett, to whom it belonged, together with the
rest of her jewellery.
An intelligent observer informs me, that an ancient
road of Roman construction went direct north from
Hunnum. It, no doubt, soon joined the eastern
branch of the Watling-street which Horsley lays
down, part of whose course is represented in the
map accompanying this volume.
.sn HALTON-CHESTERS.
Halton-castle is to the south of the station. It is
entirely composed of stones taken from the Roman
Wall. In the farm-buildings attached to it, are some
Roman mouldings, and a weathered figure of primeval
aspect.
No probable etymological account of the word
Hunnum has yet been offered. If the word Halton
can be supposed to have any affinity with Hunnum,
besides the initial breathing, this is one of the few
instances in which there is any resemblance between
the ancient and modern name of the stations.
.sp 2
Leaving Hunnum, we soon reach Stagshawbank-gate,
where the ancient Watling-street crosses
the road at right-angles. This Roman Way was
.bn p166.png
.pn +1
probably first constructed by Agricola, as a means
of keeping up a communication with the garrisons
in South Britain, while he was forcing his way into
Scotland. A fort formerly stood here to guard the
passage through the Wall; no trace of it now
remains.
.sn VALLUM NEAR ST. OSWALD’S.
The earth-works between this point and the crown
of the hill descending to the North Tyne are remarkably
perfect. The description which Hutton
gives of them happily holds good at the present
moment—
.pm start_quote
I now travel over a large common, still upon the Wall,
with its trench nearly complete. But what was my surprise
when I beheld, thirty yards on my left, the united works of
Agricola and Hadrian, almost perfect! 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 of 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.
.pm end_quote
The first time I visited the spot, this passage,
through which there runs so fine a vein of youthful
enthusiasm, was fresh in my recollection.
The shades of evening were beginning to gather
round me, and the blackness of the furze which
covered the ground, gave additional solemnity to the
.bn p167.png
.pn +1
scene. I looked for the venerable old man, as if
expecting still to find him fixed in his enthusiastic
trance; but he was not there. After all, he had
moved on; and a few years more removed him
from this scene, to sleep in the church-yard under
a humbler and less durable mound than his favourite
general and emperor had here raised!
The section given in page 52, exhibits the state of
the works at this place. The north fosse is very
boldly developed between the sixteenth and
eighteenth milestone: the whole of its contents lie
strewed on its outer margin. Near the eighteenth
milestone, on the left of the road, is a mound, which
I take to be the remains of a mile-castle. In one
part near here, the Wall, as seen in the road,
measures ten feet wide, but it speedily becomes
narrower.
.sn ST. OSWALD’S CHAPEL.
Where the ground begins to dip strongly to the
North Tyne, St. Oswald’s chapel stands. On the
north side of the road, is a field called Mould’s-close,
in which a number of bones and implements of war
have from time to time been turned up, and which
is supposed to be the site of a battle. The tradition
runs, that from the fight which was won here,
England dates her advancing greatness, and that,
from the fatal results of a conflict to be lost on the
same ground, she will date her decline. BATTLE OF HEAVEN-FIELD.Hodgson
says, ‘Was this the site of part of the battle of
Heaven-field, which Bede says was fought just
north of the Roman Wall, and in memory of which
the chapel of St. Oswald was built?’ That it
.bn p168.png
.pn +1
was, the narrative of the venerable historian will
probably shew—
.pm start_quote
The place is shewn to this day, and held in much veneration,
where Oswald (A.D. 635), being about to engage (with
the ferocious British king Cadwalla), erected the sign of the
holy cross, and on his knees prayed to God that he would assist
his worshippers in their great distress. It is further reported,
that the cross being made in haste, and the hole dug
in which it was to be fixed, the king himself, full of faith, laid
hold of it, and held it with both his hands, till it was set fast
by throwing in the earth; and this done, raising his voice, he
cried to his army, ‘Let us all kneel, and jointly beseech the
true and living God Almighty, in his mercy, to defend us
from the haughty and fierce enemy; for He knows that we
have undertaken a just war for the safety of our nation.’ All
did as he had commanded, and accordingly advancing towards
the enemy with the first dawn of day, they obtained the victory,
as their faith deserved. In that place of prayer very
many miraculous cures are known to have been performed, as a
token and memorial of the king’s faith; for even to this day,
many are wont to cut off small chips of the wood of the holy
cross, which being put into water, men or cattle drinking of,
or sprinkled with that water, are immediately restored to
health. The place in the English tongue is called Hefenfeld,
or the Heavenly Field.... The same place is near the Wall
with which the Romans formerly enclosed the island from sea
to sea, to restrain the fury of the barbarous nations, as has
been said before. Hither, also, the brothers of the church of
Hagulstad (Hexham), which is not far from thence (it is in
the valley directly below), repair yearly on the day before that
on which king Oswald was afterwards slain, to watch there
for the health of his soul, and having sung many psalms, to
offer for him in the morning the sacrifice of the holy oblation.
And since that good custom has spread, they have lately
built and consecrated a church there, which has attached
additional sanctity and honour to that place.[82]
.pm end_quote
.fn 82
Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, b. III. ch. ii. Giles’s translation.
.fn-
.il id=p168b fn=i_p168b.jpg w=600px ew=95%
.ca
@span 40: H. Burdon Richardson, Delt. @ John Storey, Lith.@
THE WALL AT BRUNTON.
.ca-
.bn p169.png
.pn +1
A little to the south of the road, at St. Oswald’s-hill-head,
is Fallowfield-fell, where the Written-rock,
of which an engraving is given, page #102:p102#, may
yet be seen. The face of the rock occupied by the
inscription is four feet long; the letters are distinct.[83]
Continuing to descend the hill, we come to Plane-tree-field,
where on the left of the road, a conspicuous
piece of the Wall remains. It is about thirty-six
yards long, and has, in some places, five courses of
facing-stones entire; the grout of the interior which
rises still higher, gives root to some fine old thorns.
This sight may be rendered more interesting by the
antiquary’s carrying his eye forward, and tracing the
Wall in its onward course; in its modern representative,
the turnpike road, it is seen, (having crossed
the North Tyne, and passed the station of Cilurnum,)
bounding up the opposite hill in its usual unflinching
manner, and making for the wastes and mountains
which it is speedily to traverse.
.fn 83
Although a walk of a few minutes will bring the traveller,
who knows exactly whither to bend his steps, to this curious
relic, a stranger may fruitlessly spend much time in examining
the many low scars which diversify the surface of the fell. It is
a deeply interesting object.
.fn-
.sn THE WALL AT BRUNTON.
In the grounds of Brunton, a little below this, a
small piece of the Wall is to be seen in a state of
very great perfection. It is seven feet high, and
presents nine courses of facing-stones entire. The
mortar of the five lower courses is good; the face
of the south side is gone. The ditch also is here well
developed. The opposite lithograph gives an accurate
.bn p170.png
.pn +1
representation of what Hutton calls ‘this grand
exhibition.’ The altar which, at present, stands as
it is placed in the drawing, formerly discharged
the office of a gate-post at the entry of the yard of
St. Oswald’s chapel.
.sn BRIDGE OVER THE NORTH TYNE.
For some reason, which it is hard to divine, the
turnpike road now recedes from the Wall, and crosses
the river at Chollerford, nearly half-a-mile above the
spot where the Roman bridge spanned it.
.dv class='illo'
.rj
PLATE VI.
.il fn=i_p170a.jpg w=600px ew=95%
.ca
REMAINS OF ROMAN BRIDGE
OVER THE
NORTH TYNE.
Reid Lith.
.ca-
.dv-
.dv class='illo'
.rj
PLATE VII.
.il fn=i_p170c.jpg w=600px ew=95%
.ca Miscellaneous Antiquities, Chesters, Cilurnum
.dv-
The remains of this bridge may yet be seen when
the water is low, and the surface smooth. There
seem to have been three piers of considerable size and
solidity, set diagonally to the stream. The stones
composing them are large, regularly squared, and
fastened with metallic cramps.[84] Luis-holes, indicating
the mode in which they have been lowered into
their bed, appear in several of them. The firmness
with which these foundation courses still retain the
position assigned to them by the soldiers of Hadrian
is very remarkable; the rolling floods of sixteen
hundred winters seem to have spent their rage upon
them almost in vain. As the eastern side of the river
.bn p171.png
.pn +1
is frequently overflowed, the Vallum is here obliterated,
but probably both works approached the bridge
in close companionship. On the western side, appearances
still bear out Horsley’s statement, that the
'Wall falls upon the middle of the fort, and Hadrian’s
Vallum, as usual, falls in with the south side of it.'
.fn 84
The cramps seem to have been of various kinds. Some authors
speak of iron cramps. One antiquary, I know, spent a livelong
summer’s day knee-deep in the water, extracting one which
proved to be entirely of lead. A. cramp, of very curious form and
structure, taken from this bridge, is preserved in the museum at
Chesters, and is figured #Plate VII:p170c#. fig. 1.; it seems to have been triply
dove-tailed; the substance of it is iron, but it has been coated all
over to the thickness of one-eighth of an inch with lead. The
iron would give the instrument tenacity, and the lead protect the
more corrosive metal from oxidization; truly the Romans built
for perpetuity.
.fn-
A plan of Cilurnum, and adjoining works, as figured
by Warburton, is given in #Plate II:p044b#. Probably,
few who examine it attentively will question the justness
of the conclusion to which he has arrived, that
the Wall, Vallum, stations, castles, and turrets, ‘by
their mutual relation to one another, must have been
one entire, united defence, or fortification.’
We are now arrived at the station called in the
locality, Chesters, but by Horsley named, for the
sake of distinction, Walwick-chesters. An attentive
examination of it will well reward the antiquary.
.sp 2
.sn CILURNUM.
CILURNUM.—This station has, as usual, the
form of a parallelogram, the corners being slightly
rounded off. It contains an area of fully six acres.
In the latter part of the last century, when the mansion
and estate of Chesters came into the possession
of the family of Clayton, this area was covered with
the ruins of buildings which had apparently stood
in strait, narrow streets, and although the surface
of the station has since been levelled and made
smooth, in order to fit it for its use as part of
the park, yet its ramparts and fosse, the Wall
and Vallum as they approach and leave it, and
the road leading to the river, may all be distinctly
.bn p172.png
.pn +1
discerned; even the ruined dwellings of the interior
area, as if dissatisfied with their lowly condition,
struggle to rear themselves into notice. A
portion of the Wall, near the north-west angle, has
been freed from the encumbering soil; it is five
feet thick, and exhibits four courses of masonry in
excellent preservation.
Hutchinson was struck with the linear character
which the ruined streets of this fort had in his time,
and was reminded, by their appearance, of the
arrangements of the Polybian camp. This will be
observed in a greater or less degree in all the stations,
and there cannot be a doubt but that the dwellings
were arranged in rows parallel to the four sides
of the stations, and hence, intersecting each other at
right angles. It was necessary that the Roman camp,
whether of a temporary or permanent character,
should be nearly uniform in its plan. If the troops
rested but for a night, each man knew the part he
had to fill in preparing the fortification, and could
set about it at once; in the event of a sudden attack
in the darkness of the night, each knew his
position, though he may never have rested upon
the spot before.
Suburban buildings have occupied the space between
the station and the river, and ruins more
extensive than usual are spread over the ground to
the south. There is no appearance of any habitations
having been erected to the north of the Wall.
Whenever the surface of the contiguous ground is
broken, fragments of Samian ware and other marks
of Roman occupation appear.
.bn p173.png
.pn +1
.sn CHESTERS.
Two remains of great interest are found within the
station. One of these is an underground vault near
the middle. Its masonry is rough, and somewhat
peculiar; the sides incline slightly inwards, but the
roof, instead of being uniformly vaulted, is formed
of three ribs arched in the usual manner, and the
intervals between them are in technical language—‘stepped
over,’ that is, the stones of each course are
made to project inwards a little, until, at length, one
laid on the top completes the junction. The woodcut,
which is here introduced, together with the following
extract from Hodgson’s description of it, will
give a tolerably correct idea of this curious structure.
.il id=p173 fn=i_p173.jpg w=400px ew=80% alt='Vault at Cilurnum'
.pm start_quote
This vault, when it was first found, was supposed to have
been the Ærarium of the station. Between the joinings of
the floor, which were of thin free-stone flags, were found several
counterfeit denarii, both of copper and iron plated with silver.
.bn p174.png
.pn +1
The approach to it was by four steps downwards, the lowest of
which was a large centurial stone, which had borne an inscription,
but nearly all of it had been purposely erased. On the
outside of the threshold was found, in a sadly decayed state,
its original door of wood, strongly sheathed with plates of
iron, and the whole firmly rivetted together with large square
nails. Within the door, which had opened inwards, the end
wall was two feet thick, plastered and painted. Its internal
area is ten feet by nine, and its height to the crown of the
arch six feet four inches.[85]
.pm end_quote
.fn 85
History of Northumberland, II. iii. 180.
.fn-
.bn p175.png
.pn +1
.il id=p175 fn=i_p175.jpg w=428px ew=80% alt='Ground Plan of Hypocausts, Cilurnum'
.ca Ground-plan, Hypocaust, Cilurnum.
.il id=p174 fn=i_p174.jpg w=500px ew=95% alt='Hypocausts at Cilurnum'
Some buildings situated near to the spot where
the eastern gateway must be, and which have recently
been freed from the earth and rubbish that
have long enveloped them, are objects of still greater
interest. Their general appearance, as seen from a
slight elevation, is shewn in the adjoining wood-cut,
while, for a more minute knowledge of their size
and arrangements, reference may be made to the
plan on the opposite page. Eight apartments have
.bn p176.png
.bn p177.png
.pn +2
already been exposed, and a little more research
would doubtless display others.
.sn THE HYPOCAUSTS.
Descending a few steps (at L in the Plan), a
street three feet wide at one extremity, and four at
the other, is entered. Another, leading from it at
right-angles, and which is paved with flag-stones,
conducts to the grand entrance (D) of what appears
to be the principal section of the building.
The steps are very much worn down by the tread
of feet, and even some of the stones, which have
evidently been put in the place of others that
have been too much abraded to be serviceable,
exhibit partial wear. This saloon must have been
a place of general concourse—can it have been
the hall of justice, or the place where the commander
of the station transacted the business of the
district under his charge? The floor (E) is probably
supported on pillars, and has been warmed by
flues beneath; but this cannot be ascertained without
injuring it. The upper covering is of flags, the
fractured state of which induces the belief, that the
walls of the surrounding building have been forcibly
thrown down upon them. The northern enemies of
Rome, knowing the importance of these stations,
would not be slow in involving them in entire ruin,
when permitted, by the withdrawal of the troops, to
do so without molestation. Passages diverge from
this saloon, to the right and left, into other apartments.
In the room on the left was found, in
good preservation, a cistern or bath (C), lined with
red cement. A breach had been made in the street
.bn p178.png
.pn +1
wall of this chamber (at B), and in the rubbish which
.pm img_flow p178 300 60 r 'River-god'
encumbered the gap, was found the statue of a river-god,
of which a
correct sketch is
here given. It is
probably intended
to represent
the genius of the
neighbouring river—the
North
Tyne. Although
executed in coarse sand-stone, it is not without considerable
gracefulness of attitude and proportion. It is
preserved in the mansion at Chesters. Of the present
state of the apartments beyond, the wood-cut in the
previous page, and the lithograph here introduced, will
give an accurate conception. The floors have been
supported upon pillars, some of them being of stone,
others of square flat bricks. The stone pillars are,
for the most part, fragments of columns and balusters
which have been used in a prior structure.[86] The
student of mediæval architecture will probably recognise
in some of them types of the Saxon style.
The dilapidated state of the floor of this apartment
allows of an easy examination of its mode of construction.
Flags, about two inches thick, rest upon
the pillars; a layer of compost, five inches thick, and
formed of lime, sand, gravel, and burned clay or
pounded tile, succeeds, and above that, another covering
.bn p179.png
.pn +1
of thin flag-stones.[87] This apartment has been
provided with a semicircular recess at its eastern extremity
(G), and, at the angle next the street (A), has
been supported by a buttress. A similar alcoved
recess existed on the western side of one of the
principal rooms of the ‘baths’ at Hunnum, and the
same arrangement may yet be observed in the corresponding
building at Lanchester. All of these
buildings have been strengthened with buttresses,
but it is only in these and analogous cases, that the
use of the buttress is admitted among the erections
of the Barrier; it never occurs in the great Wall or
the curtain-walls of the stations. In the circular recessTHE HYPOCAUSTS.
of this apartment is an aperture (G), which
probably has served to regulate the current of air
circulating in the hypocausts. The furnace which
warmed the suite of apartments was situated near
the south-east extremity of the building (at F); the
pillars near the fire having been much acted upon
by the heat, the whole of this part of the floor was
reduced, on exposure to the frosts of winter, to the
confused heap represented in the drawing. The
soot in the flues was found as fresh as if it had
been produced by fires lighted the day before.[88]
The walls of this apartment were coated with plaster,
and coloured dark red; exposure to the weather
.bn p180.png
.pn +1
soon stripped them of this covering. An arched
passage curiously turned with Roman tile took the
heated air from the furnace through the party-wall
(at X) into the chamber to the west of it. The
rooms to the westward of the intersecting street
(HD), seem to form an independent building, and
have less of the aspect of a place of public concourse
than the other portions. They may have
been the private residence of the commander of the
station. They, too, are heated by hypocausts.
.il id=p178a fn=i_p178a.jpg w=600px ew=90%
.ca
@span 40: H. Burdon Richardson, Delt. @ John Storey, Lith.@
HYPOCAUST AT CHESTERS, (CILURNUM)
Printed by W. Monkhouse, York
.ca-
.fn 86
The initial L, page #103#, is formed of two of these Roman balusters.
The lower one is at Chesters, the upright one at Chesterholm.
.fn-
.fn 87
The section of the hypocaust wall on #Plate III:p088b# is taken from
this example, and shews the hanging floor.
.fn-
.fn 88
See an interesting ‘Account of an Excavation recently made
within the Roman Station at Cilurnum, by John Clayton, esq.’ in
the Archæologia Æliana, iii. 142.
.fn-
.sn CILURNUM.
In urging the conviction, that the hanging floors
of these Roman buildings were meant to produce a
comfortable warmth, rather than to generate steam,
by having water sprinkled upon them, attention
may be drawn to the thickness of their substance.
At present, the floor of the principal apartment
is nine inches thick, and when its upper surface
was overlaid, as it no doubt was, with a tasteful
concrete or mosaic pavement, it would be an inch
or two more. It would require a very powerful furnace
to raise this mass of matter to a considerable
temperature. On the other hand, if the production
of a genial and uniform warmth were the object in
view, no contrivance could be more suitable. The
heated air from a small furnace permeating the underground
flues and the walls of a suite of apartments,
and not passing off until, in its lengthened
passage, it had given out the larger part of the
warmth it had derived, would, in the lapse of some
hours, give to the whole building a comfortable temperature,
which it would not readily lose. Any inattention
.bn p181.png
.pn +1
to the furnace, either by causing it to burn
too fiercely or too feebly, would not be felt. The
thickness of the floors would prevent the air from
being scorched, and producing that disagreeable sensation
which is experienced in rooms that are heated
by the stoves in common use. It is not improbable
that we may return to this method of warming our
churches and public halls, even if we do not adopt it in
our private buildings.[89]
.sn METHOD OF WARMING BUILDINGS.
The door-ways of some of these apartments have
been provided with double doors, probably for more
effectually maintaining the warmth of the room.
The masonry of those portions of the walls which
are standing, is in an excellent state of preservation.
In the angle near the buttress (A), the action of
the trowel in giving the finishing touch to the
pointing may be perceived. The walls rest upon
two strong basement courses, the angle of the uppermost
being bevelled off with a neat moulding.
.fn 89
The improved method of making draining-tiles for agricultural
uses has suggested the formation of hollow bricks for building purposes.
A floor might be paved and side-walls formed of these, so
as readily to admit of the circulation of air throughout the whole
substance of the apartment, and a handful of coke or charcoal,
placed at the entrance of the flue, would effectually warm the whole.
Specimens of bricks of this kind, remarkably strong, and ingeniously
contrived for securely locking into one another, are before
me, for which I am indebted to Robert Rawlinson, esq., after
whose design they were formed. The Latin comedy represents the
miser begrudging the smoke that escaped from his chimney—well
may the benevolent man regret that whilst his poor neighbours are
bending under the chills of winter, three-fourths of the heat
generated in his parlour-grate is absolutely wasted.
.fn-
.bn p182.png
.pn +1
Some of the quoins of the door-ways consist of very
large stones; one is six feet long, and is probably a
ton in weight. This proves that it was not from
lack of mechanical means that the interior buildings
and walls of the stations were composed of small
stones. More than one of the thresholds have a
groove very roughly cut in them, apparently to allow of
the egress of water. This has probably been done
after the departure of the Romans and the general
demolition of the buildings, by some houseless wanderers,
who, having ‘camped’ in the ruin, were
incommoded by the lodgement of rain on the floor.
The hydraulic properties of the concrete used in
the floors of Roman hypocausts, has, I believe, escaped
the notice of previous writers, and is the only
other point which need longer detain us in this interesting
building. My attention was drawn to this
subject by my brother, Mr. George Barclay Bruce,
Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, in
the following communication:—
.pm start_quote
In many places on the line of the Wall, the mortar has had
mixed with it broken tiles or burned clay, to assist it in resisting
the moisture of the atmosphere.
The concrete at Chesters placed between the slabs of the
bath-room, has a very large proportion of this burned clay,
and would thus be better suited to resist the action of heat
below and water above than purer lime.
A portion of this concrete was taken, by way of experiment,
and burned in a crucible, as though it had been a piece of limestone;
it was then ground fine, and mixed with a proper
quantity of water; after being allowed to dry for three or
four hours, it was immersed in water, where it set in the same
manner as common mortar does in the open air, clearly proving
.bn p183.png
.pn +1
its hydraulic properties. The same experiment was tried
with the ordinary mortar of the Wall, but without the same
result, there not being a sufficiently large quantity of burned
clay to enable it to stand so severe a test. In the case of the
concrete, it did not set so readily as what is called Roman
cement, but sufficiently so to prove that it is a strong hydraulic
mortar, made by the mixture of burned clay with common
lime.
.pm end_quote
.sn THE CEMETERY.
Bidding farewell to these interesting structures, we
may now bend our steps a short way down the river,
on a visit to the cypress-grove—the burial ground of
the station. This, which in Horsley’s days formed
a separate field called the Ox-close, is now included
in the park of the domain. Never was spot more
appropriately chosen. The river here descends with
more than usual rapidity over its stony bed, and
bending at the same time to the left, exhibits to the
eye the lengthened vista of its well-wooded banks.
No earthly music could better soothe the chafed affections
of the hopeless heathen mourner than the
murmur of the stream which is ceaselessly heard in
this secluded nook. From this spot have been procured
several sepulchral slabs which will presently
afford us instruction; meantime, one is given on the
next page whose lesson is of a negative character. The
blank memorial shews how vain are the efforts which
even affection makes to render buoyant on the wave of
time the memory of those departed. Our very monuments
need memorials. But, passing this, the character
of the carving betokens a poor state of the arts,
and fixes its date in the lowest times of the empire: in
this we have a proof of the long-continued occupation
.bn p184.png
.pn +1
of the station. The fate of the stone has been
singular. When Horsley saw it, the inscription was
legible; but having since been used as the door-stone
of the cow-house at Walwick Grange, the
letters had, previous to its removal to Alnwick-castle
(its present resting place), been entirely obliterated.
.il id=p184 fn=i_p184.jpg w=400px ew=80% alt='Funereal Slab, Cilurnum'
Between the station and the cemetery is a well
enclosed with Roman masonry; it is now in a great
measure filled up.
.bn p185.png
.pn +1
.il id=p185 fn=i_p185.jpg w=350px ew=60% align=r alt='Funereal Slab of Horse Soldier, Cilurnum'
.sn ITS NAME ASCERTAINED.
The station of Cilurnum, which is the sixth on
the line of the Wall, was garrisoned by the second
wing of the Astures, (a regiment of Spanish cavalry)
commanded by a prefect. This fact has gradually
developed itself to the antiquary. Camden thought
it probable. Horsley concurred in the opinion,
and, in the absence of better evidence, sagaciously
referred to the tombstone of which a drawing is
here presented,
in proof of its having
been occupied
by a horse regiment.
‘That some
horse,’ says he,
'kept garrison
here in the lower
empire, seems to
be probable from
the inscription
and sculpture yet
remaining at Walwick-grange.'[90]
‘The letters D.
M.,’ he remarks
in another place,
‘prove this to be a sepulchral monument, and the
figure shews that the deceased belonged to the
horse, and therefore probably was one of the Ala secunda
Astorum, which in the lower empire kept garrison
at Cilurnum, as the Notitia informs us.’
.fn 90
Now at Alnwick-castle.
.fn-
.bn p186.png
.pn +1
.il id=p186 fn=i_p186.jpg w=350px ew=75% align=r alt='Slab–Ala II. Asturum'
More decisive evidence has since been procured.
The slab figured on page #61:p061#, is part of it. A still
more satisfactory
document
of stone was
discovered at
Chesters several
years ago,
where it is still
preserved: the
wood-cut accurately
portrays
it.
.pm start_inscr b
IMP[ERATORI] CAES[ARI] MARCO AVREL[IO]
AUG[VSTO] . . . . . . . . . . . . PONTIFICI MAXIMO
TRIB[VNITIA] P[OTESTATE] CO[N]S[VLI] IV P[ATRI] P[ATRIÆ] DIV[I] ANTONINI FILIO
DIVI SEVER[I] NEP[OTI]
CAESAR[I] IMPER[ATORI] . . . . . . . . . . . DUPLARES
ALÆ II ASTVRV[M] TEMPLUM VETVSTAT[E] CONLAPSUM RESTITU-
ERVNT PER MARIUM VALER[IANUM] LEGATUM AUGUSTALEM PROPRÆTOREM
INSTANTE SEPTIMIO NILO PRÆ[FECTO]
DEDICATVM III KAL[ENDAS] NOVEM[BRIS] GRATO ET SELE[VCO] CONSULIBUS.[91]
.pm end_inscr
.pm start_inscr b
To the emperor Marcus Aurelius
Augustus . . . . . . . . . . . Pontifex Maximus,
With tribunitian power, fourth time Consul, Father of his Country, of divine Antoninus the son,
Of the deified Severus the grandson,
To Cæsar our emperor . . . . . . . . the duplares[92]
Of the second wing of Astures, this temple, through age dilapidated, re-
stored by command of Marius Valerianus, Imperial Legate and Proprætor,
Under the superintendence of Septimius Nilus, Prefect.
Dedicated Oct. 30th, in the consulate of Gratus and Seleucus.
.pm end_inscr
.fn 91
The words printed in italics have been supplied from contemporaneous inscriptions; they
can scarcely be said to be conjectural readings.
.fn-
.fn 92
Soldiers who by their good conduct had earned a double allowance of corn or pay.
.fn-
.bn p187.png
.pn +1
Hutton, who has done such good service to the
Wall, under-rated the value of inscriptions. ‘When
the antiquary,’ says he, 'has laboured through a parcel
of miserable letters, what is he the wiser?'—Let
this fractured and defaced stone answer the question.[93]
1. This dedication was made by soldiers of the second
wing of the Astures;—we thus learn the name of the
people who garrisoned the fort, and by a reference
to the Notitia, ascertain with certainty that this wasCILURNUM.
Cilurnum. 2. We acquire the fact, that a temple,
which through age had become dilapidated, was restored;—learning
thereby, not only the attention
which the Romans paid to what they conceived to
be religious duties, but their long occupation of this
spot. It has been already observed, that some of
the pillars of the hypocaust have been portions of a
prior building;—the ruin and inscription thus corroborate
each other. 3. The date of the dedication is
given; the third of the calends of November falls
upon the thirtieth of October, and the year in which
Gratus and Seleucus were consuls corresponds to
A.D. 221;—the data on which antiquaries found
their conclusions, are not always so vague as some
imagine. 4. Even the erasures are instructive. By
a reference to the date, we find that Heliogabalus
was reigning at the time of the dedication of the temple;
we find that what remain of the names and
titles on the stone apply to him; he, consequently,
is the emperor referred to. The year following he
was slain by his own soldiers, his body dragged
.bn p188.png
.pn +1
through the streets and cast into the Tiber. The
soldiers in Britain seem to have sympathized
with their companions at Rome and to have erased
the name of the fallen emperor from the dedicatory
slab. Human nature is the same in every age. How
often have we, in modern times, seen a name cast
out with loathing which yesterday received the incense
of a world’s flattery!
.fn 93
Hodgson learnedly explains this inscription—Arch. Æl. i. 128.
.fn-
The above inscription gives us the station of the Ala
secunda Asturum, in the reign of Heliogabalus, A.D.
221. The Notitia Imperii gives us its station in the
reign of Theodosius the younger, ‘ultra tempus Arcadii
et Honorii,’ A.D. 430, and we find at both periods
the same force in the same station, which corresponds
with the understood practice of the Roman army with
regard to the permanency of the quarters of its auxiliary
forces. With reference to the difference between
the spelling of the inscription and the Notitia, ‘Asturum’
and ‘Astorum,’ it may be observed that as
the Notitia Imperii was preserved for a thousand
years in manuscript before the art of printing came
to its rescue, it is more likely that the error should
be in the book, than on the stone.
The ancient name of the station having been ascertained,
the etymology of it may be inquired into.
Whitaker says it means a creek. An authority acquainted
with the Gaelic language suggests the
following derivation;