t» j yp. 3 J> --*m >. "^F - .^- 1S> ~5> -"r» 3 >:> ,# 3 vv> :> ^ >£ 3F ■ 3~ ;m> 5> S*>:3 5 3)|X5S i : 2ittl);tutd (Eeoxra dJlajjtot. - »2» ►■£E> t>i» - ,5£> S^B« ^ j ^2> 3 :> 3t>»»2» > » T>0> I P | »ol 3> ^< ■ ■ 3is> •> _ ' 3l> I3> 3S> 73> >3 £> »"I>^» oo> :.>2P. 23PS> ^» 3> -:03s O^ 337335 2>^ » 3 >> x>3>, > ~2> 3^3 3»j>3> ;-"-'^H8 3> 2>X> 3§» 3 ^~3^ -% *r>XX3> » 03 35 >}5>)3y" f>»i 3l> 33 r> 3>33 3>:3> 33 >3> 33 :0 :aT 5T> 3 >o 3 3~>3 3^o3_^ ^V ^*l*- : 33 33 33 • 3) » £1 > o o - 3 3> ^ 3> 3 ^ j> 3S 3D x> , 3D t3 od 3 >3 33^ ^ ^ ^333 3*0 j j: 3>23, 3)33 3 D J>33J>^ £> a3 & 32> 35> 3_ >0333f* Sxqg 33: J >7>: 10£)g$i d» ::> ►33 3XD 3> >^ J>5> ^$> ..^S.~ 3>SO 3> i> > m ►IB d^> » *T 3> 4P >:^> ^> *)3 r» i> > ■: ►i'r 3>^"d > 3s> a; > i r fe> "3 3 .-5 33R> . J»333> 3ae3f>3 3>S " Di>333 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2009 with funding from Research Library, The Getty Research Institute http://www.archive.org/details/romanwalldescripOObruc : < - , ■■■■:-;- O 5> cn 3C THE ROMAN WALL A DESCRIPTION OF THE MURAL BARRIER OP THE NORTH OF ENGLAND. BY THE REV. J. COLLINGWOOD BRUCE, LL.D, F.S.A., SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND, OF THE IMPERIAL SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF FRANCE, AND OF THE ROYAL ABCH.E0LOGICAL INSTITUTE AT ROME, &C., &C. " I do love these ancient ruins. We never tread upon them, but we set Our foot upon some reverend hist. iry." THIRD EDITIO N LONDON : LONGMANS, GREEN, READER, AND DYER. NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE : ANDREW REID. 1807. NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE : ANDREW REIU, PRINTING COURT BUILDINGS, 4 KENS IDE HILL. TO JOHN CLAYTON, ESQ., F.S.A., VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF XXWOASTLE-rp .N-TYXE, COBRB3P027DIXG MEMBES OF THE ROYAL ASCH-EOLOGICAL INSTITUTE AT ROME, &C, &C, ON WHOSE ESTATES THE .MOST EXTENSIVE AXD THE MOST INTERESTING REMAINS OF THE R O M A N W A L L ARE TO BE FOUND, AND WHO. BY THE CARE WHICH HE HAS EXERCISED IN PRESERVING THEM, AXD THE SKILL AXD LIBERALITY WITH WHICH HE HAS COXDUCTED THOSE EXPLORATIONS WHICH WERE NECESSARY TO THEIR DUE DEVELOPMENT, HAS LAID THE LOVERS OF HIS COUNTRY'S HISTORY UNDER THE GREATEST O B L I G A T I O X S, THIS WORK IS MOST GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED BY HIS OBLIGED AXD OBEDIEXT SERVANT, THE AUTHOR. PKEFACE. IN responding to the call for a third edition of " The Roman Wall," the author has endeavoured to bring the work up to the present state of our knowledge upon the subject. Since the appearance of the last edition, the Survey of the Wall, executed by Mr. McLauchlan, under the auspices of the late Duke of Northumberland, has been completed, and extensive excavations have been carried on at High Rochester, Housesteads, and Carlisle. The information derived from these and similar sources has been so abundant as to render it necessary, notwith- standing the increased size of the book, to condense the old material to make room for new. Thus, the present edition of " The Roman Wall " appears before the public as almost a new work. The plan adopted in its preparation has been to make the Romans tell their own story. Scarcely a single statement is brought forward which is not directly deduced from inscriptions found upon the "Wall. The legions and auxiliary cohorts are themselves required to describe their movements, to name the camps which they garrisoned, and to specify the works on which they were employed. To enable the reader to have, as it were, direct intercourse with the men who acted a chief part in the drama of our country's early history, the documents which they carved are, in an extensive series of engravings, laid before him. The task of the writer has chiefly consisted in making a proper selection of these and in assisting his readers, who may be new to the subject, to decipher them. Although there can be no doubt as to the general meaning of most of the inscriptions which occur, a diversity of opinion upon minute points will arise. In these cases the reader has before him the means of forming his own judgment, and of correcting the views of the writer should he have erred. In a few instances the letter-press and the woodcut illustrations b VI PREFACE. slightly differ. When an inscription is nearly obliterated, independent onlookers will come to different conclusions as to particular characters. The writer has expressed in type such letters as he himself saw, leaving the engraving to represent the views of the skilful and conscientious artist, Mr. Mossman, who prepared most of the original sketches. The first edition of this book was intended as a popular intro- duction to the works of Horsley and Hodgson ; the additions which have been made to it during a second and third revision have necessarily changed, in some respects, its character. Still, it is believed that, with the aid of the explanations which arc given, persons unacquainted with antiquarian phraseology will encounter no difficulty in its perusal. But for the abundant assistance afforded by some earnest patrons of antiquarian science, this book would have appeared in a very much less complete state than it does. The late Duke of Northumberland not only allowed the author to make a free use of the Survey of the Roman Wall, but gave him woodcut illustrations of all the Eoman stones in his museum at Alnwick Castle. In addition to this, his Grace contributed largely towards the prepara- tion of a series of illustrations for a work which is intended to embrace all the Roman Monuments of the North of England, and from these the writer has been allowed to select such as suited his present purpose. By the kindness of his Grace the present Duke of Northumberland, the plates of the Survey of the Roman Wall are bound up with the folio copies of this edition. To Mr. Clayton the author is under the greatest obligations. To him he is indebted for the numerous woodcuts representing the antiquarian relics in his possession, for the lithograph plates which depict various fragments of the Wall in different parts of his estate, and for the plans of the camps copied from Mr. McLauchlan's Survey. At all times he has been ready to give the writer the benefit of his learning and sound judgment, and not unfrequently has he submitted to the drudgery of aiding him in the correction of his " proofs." The Dean and Chapter of Durham have kindly contributed to the work engravings of the altars in their possession. The cuts descriptive of the " Thorngrafton Find " were prepared at the expense of his friend. Mr. Fenwick, Steward of the Barony of W ark. for the first edition ; most of them reappear on this occasion. PREFACE. vii Mr. Albert Way. in addition to other acts of friendship, has furnished some of the woodcuts used in the volume. Mr. C. Roach Smith has allowed the writer to draw freely upon his extensive stores of antiquarian lore. He has also kindly assisted him in correcting the press. During the greater part of his professional life the author has had the pleasure of daily intercourse with his friend. Mr. John Garven, of Newcastle. Every antiquarian incident that came to the knowledge of cither was freely discussed at the time of its occurrence. Verv gladly the writer acknowledges that he has been much indebted on many occasions to Mr. Garven's ingenuity of interpretation and accurate scholarship, and that he has derived much assistance from him in the preparation of this edition. To Mr. Alderman Hodgson the writer is indebted for access to the valuable papers of his late brother, Mr. Thomas Hodgson, on the Roman Wall and its remains; from these, occasional extracts are made, which are acknowledged as they occur. Even in an archaeological point of view, the Geologv of the district traversed 1 ly the Wall is a subject of interest, the Roman engineers havin<>- skilfully availed themselves of the military advantages derived from the varied disposition of the rocks encountered in their course. At the request of the author. Mr. Tate, of Alnwick, who has long made the mountain limestone formation of Northumberland his peculiar study, and as an antiquary is well known, has prepared the memoir which appears at the close of the volume. With these acknowledgments, which the author gratefully makes, he once more commits -'The Roman Wall" into the hands of the reader. Whatever defects may be found in his work, lie is conscious that he has done his best to make it as full and accurate as possible. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Jan. Z\st, 1807. SUBSCRIBERS. The Royal Library, Windsor Castle. His Grace the Duke of Northumberland, Alnwick Castle, Northumberland. Her Grace the Duchess Eleanor of Northumberland, Stanwick. His Grace the Duke of Cleveland, Raby Castle, Durham. His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, Devonshire House, Piccadilly, London. The Most Hon. the Marquis of Bute, Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute- The Right Hon. the Earl of Durham, Lambton Castle, Durham. The Right Hon. Earl Grey, Howick, Northumberland. The Right Hon. the Earl of Lonsdale, Lowther Castle, Westmoreland. The Right Hon. Earl Stanhope, Chevening, Sevenoaks, Kent. The Right Hon. Earl Vane, Wynyard Park, Durham. The Right Hon. Lord Ravensworth, President of the Society of Antiquaries, Newcastle- upon-Tyne, Ravensworth Castle, Durham. The Right Hon. Lord Talbot de Malahide, Malahide Castle, Co. Dublin. The Right Hon. Lord Leigh, Stoneleigh Abbey, Kenilworth. The Right Hon. Lady Leigh, Stoneleigh Abbey, Kenilworth. The Dowager Lady Cooke, Swansfield House, Alnwick. The Right Hon. Lord Chief Justice Erie, 12, Princes' Gardens, Kensington, \X . The Right Rev. the Bishop of Carlisle, Rose Castle, Carlisle. The Right Rev. the Bishop of Durham, Auckland Castle, Durham. The Right Hon. W. Chambers, Lord Provost of Edinburgh. The Dean and Chapter of Durham, Durham. The Venerable Archdeacon Bland, Northumberland. The Venerable Archdeacon Prest, Gateshead Rectory. Sir Edward Blackett, Bart., Matfen, Northumberland. Sir Walter C. James, Bart., Betteshanger, Sandwich, Kent. Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, Bart., K.C.B., 16, Belgrave Square, Loudon. Sir George Musgrave, Bart., Eden Hall, Penrith, Cumberland. Sir M. W. Ridley, Bart., M.P., Blagdon, Northumberland. Sir W. C. Trevelyan, Bart., Wallington, Northumberland. Sir R. Shafto Adair, Bart., Flixton Hall, Bungay, Suffolk. Sir W. G. Armstrong, C.B., Jesmond, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. W. B. Beaumont. Esq., M.P., Bywell Hall, Northumberland. Joseph Cowen, Esq.. M.P., Stella Hall, Blaydon-on-Tyne. Robert Ingham, Esq., M.P., Westoe, Durham. John Addison, Esq., C.E., Castle Hill. Maryport. R. Addison, Esq.. Friary. Appleby. Thomas Anderson, Esq., Little Harle Tower, Northumberland. London Society of Antiquaries, Somerset House, London. Hugh Clayton Armstrong, Esq.. Newcastle-upon-Tyne. X SUBSCRIBERS. John Gr. Armstrong, Esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. John Armstrong, Esq., South Shields. George Clayton Atkinson, Esq., Wylam Hall, Northumberland. Thomas Avison, Esq., F.S.A., 18, Cook Street, Liverpool. Charles Cardales Babington, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., F.S.A., &c, Professor of Botany in the University of Cambridge, Cambridge. Miss Barras, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. C. D. Barker, Esq., Beda Lodge, County of Durham. Charles Bass, Esq., 20, West Parade, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Thomas Ilolden Bates, Esq., Mayfield, Wolsingham. William Beaumont, Esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Matthew Bell, Esq., Wolsington, Northumberland. John Brodribb Bergne, Esq.. F.S.A., 21, Thurloe Square, London. Rev. John Besley, LL.D., Benton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Tlios. J. Bewick, Esq., C.E., F.G.S., Neville Chambers, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. John Booth, jun., Esq., Shotley Bridge. Edward Bruce, Esq., Graham's Town, South Africa. Gainsford Bruce, Esq., 2, Harcourt Buildings, Temple, London. John Bruce, discipulus, 2, Framlington Place, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. George B. Bruce, Esq., M. Inst., C.E., Westminster Chambers, London. Thomas H. Bruce, Esq., Leghorn. James Brunlecs, Esq., M. Ins., C.E., Westminster. Anton Leone Buletti, Esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. John Burgess, Esq., Brighouse, Yorkshire. Mr. John Burnet, Bookseller, Glasgow. Captain Burnup, 1, Wardle Terrace, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. William Burns, Esq., Belmont, Glasgow. Richard Cail, Esq., Sheriff of Newcastle, Fell Cottage, Gateshead. M. J. Callow, Esq., 69, Castle Road, Kentish Town, London. Messrs. Callander and Dixon, Whitehaven. Jacob Caro, Esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. William Carrick, Esq., Carlisle. William Chartres, Esq., Fenham Terrace, Newcastle-upon-Tyne Edward Charlton, Esq., M.D., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. John Clayton, Esq., F.S.A., Chesters. Matthew Clayton, Esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Miss Clayton, Chesters. The Rev. J. Dixon Clark, The Hall, Belford. Thomas Clutterbuck, Esq., Warkworth. Michael Connal, Esq., Virginia Buildings, Glasgow. Joseph Cowen, jun., Esq., Stella House, Blaydon-on-Tyne. S. B. Coxon, Esq., Usworth, Durham. Joseph Crawhall, Esq., Morpeth. William Cuthbert, Esq., Beaufront Castle, Northumberland. Middleton II. Dand, Esq., Hauxley, Aeklington, Northumberland. J. P. Dalton, Esq., Stella, Blaydon-on-Tyne. Robert Richardson Dees, Esq., Wallsend, Northumberland. James Dees, Esq., C.E., Whitehaven. George Thompson Dickinson, Esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Joseph Dickinson, Esq., Love-Lady-Shield, Alston. William Dickson, Esq., F.S.A., Clerk of the Peace, Alnwick. SUBSCRIBERS. xi Mr. William Dodd, Bookseller, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. "William Dobinson, Esq., Cavendish Terrace. Stanwix, Carlisle. Herbert Duckworth, Esq., 38. Bryanston Square, London. Thos. Eckersley, Esq., Wigan, Lancashire. Lieut.-Col. Cuthbert G. Ellison, Hebburn Hall, Durham. W. P. Elsted, Esq., 13, Snargate Street, Dover. D. Embleton, Esq., M.D., 39, Northumberland Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. John Errington, Esq., High Warden. Hexham. John Evans, Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A., Xash Mills, Hemel Hempstead. William Euing, Esq., F.S.A. Scot., 209. West George Street, Glasgow. J. B. Falconar, Esq., Solicitor, 75, Clayton Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. John Fenwick, Esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. William A. Fiddler, Esq., Wigton, Cumberland. W. Forster, Esq., Stanwix, Carlisle. G. B. Forster, Esq., Backworth House, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Augustus W. Franks, Esq.. Director of the Society of Antiquaries of London. George Freeman, Esq., Claremont Place, Xewcastle-upon-Tyne. William Garthwaite. Esq., 5, Walton Lane, Liverpool. Rev. John Glen, Minister of Morebattle, near Kelso. Rev. William Greenwell, M.A.. Durham. G. C. Greenwell, Esq.. Poynton and Worth Collieries. Stockport. R. H. Haggie, Esq., Xewcastle-upon-Tyne. Leonard Laurie Hartley, Esq., Middleton Lodge, Yorkshire. Thomas Hood Henderson, Esq., Xewcastle-upon-Tyne. Alex. Staveley Hill, Esq., D.C.L.. 16, Wilton Street, Grosvenor Place, London. John Hodgson Hinde, Esq., Stelling Hall. Xorthumberland. Thomas Hodgkin, Esq., Benwell Dene, Xewcastle-upon-Tyne. Richard Hoyle, Esq., Denton Hall, Northumberland. Mrs. Howe, 11, Caledonia Place, Clifton, Bristol. William J. Howard, Esq., Xeweastle-upou-Tyne. Richard Howse, Esq., Xewcastle-upon-Tyne. Dr. Emil Hiibner, University of Berlin. Henry Ingledew, Esq., Alderman of Xewcastle-upon-T\ no. F. Jackson, Esq., Woodland House, Macclesfield. W. Jackson, Esq., Fleatham House, St. Bees, Cumberland. George John Johnson, Esq., Walton House, Brampton, Cumberland. John Kenrick, Esq., Sec. Yorkshire Philosophical Society, York. Cuthbert Umfreville Laws, Esq., Prudhoe Castle. Northumberland. Edward Lee, Esq., F.S.A. , Caerleon. Literary and Philosophical Society, Xewcastle-upon-Tyne. James A. Longridge, Esq., 31. Inst. C.E., Westminster. Joseph Love, Esq., Mount Beulah, Durham. Rev. Samuel Lysons, M.A., F.S.A.. Hampstead Court. Gloucester. Joseph Mather. Esq., West Parade. Newcastle-upon-Tyne. John Mawson, Esq., Saltwell, Gateshead-on-Tyne. XU SUBSCRIBERS. David Mackinlay, Esq., Polkshields, Glasgow. Charles Wykeham Martin, Esq., M.P., F.S.A., Leeds Castle, near Maidstone, Kent. Joseph Mayer, Esq., F.S.A., F.E.S.A., Bebington, Birkenhead. Rev. C. Merivale, Rector of Lawford, Chaplain to the House of Commons. Henry Milvain, Esq., North Elswick Hall, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Mrs. Miles, Firbeck Hall, Rotherham, Yorkshire. C. Mitchell, Esq., Low Walker, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. George Gill Mounsey, Esq., Carlisle. James Barclay Murdoch, Esq., Lynedoch Street, Glasgow. R. S. Newall, Esq., Ferndene, Gateshead-on-Tyne. Henry Norman, Esq., 11, Henrietta Street, Cavendish Square, London. Professor Owen, 12, Queen Ann Street, Cavendish Square, London. Robert Ormston, Esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Charles M. Palmer, Esq., Grinkle Park, Yorkshire. Messrs. J. H. and J. Parker, Oxford. John W. Pease, Esq., Pendower, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Joseph W. Pease, Esq., M.P., Woodlands, Darlington. G. H. Philipson, Esq., Pilgrim Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. John Philipson, Esq., Eldon Square, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Edward Potter, Esq., Cramlington House, Northumberland. James Pulleine, Esq., Clifton Castle, Bedale, Yorkshire. Edward Quaile, Esq., Claughton, near Liverpool. Thomas Ramsay, Esq., Derwenthaugh, Durham. Christian J. Reid, Esq., Oakfield Cottage, Benwell, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. James Richardson, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. John Matthew Ridley, Esq., Walwick Hall, Hexham. John Ridley, Esq., Priestpopple House, Hexham. Rev. Gilbert Robertson, M.A., Percy Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Rev. Henry T. Robjohns, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Thomas W. U. Robinson, Esq., Houghton-le- Spring, Durham. Robert Robson, Esq., 7, Walworth Street, Sunderland. Mr. George Rutland, Bookseller, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Isaac Scott, Esq., Workington, Cumberland. John Shield, Esq., Ashbuon, Isle of Bute. Rev. T. Trafford Shipman, M.A., Rector of Nether Denton, Carlisle. J. B. Simpson, Esq., F.G.S., Hedgefield House, Blaydon-on-Tyne. Rev. James Simpson, Vicarage, Kirkby Stephen. C. Roach Smith, Esq., Hon. Mem. R.S.L., etc., Strood, Rochester, Kent. J. Macdougall Smith, Esq., C.E., 1, Chapel Place, Duke Street, Westminster. Thomas Sopwith, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., 103, Victoria Street, Westminster. Charles James Spence, Esq., North Shields. Robert Spence, Esq., North Shields. Thomas Spencer, Esq., The Grove, Ryton, near Blaydon-on-Tyne. Thomas Story, Esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Alexander Strathern, Esq., Sheriff Substitute of Lanarkshire. George Edwin Swithinbank, Esq., LL.D., Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Hugh Taylor, Esq., Earsdon, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Joseph Thompson, Esq., Pin Mill, Manchester. SUBSCRIBERS. Xlll Charles Tucker, Esq., F.S.A.. Marlands, Exeter. R. B. Utting, Esq., 47, Camden Road, London. George X. Vince, Esq., Cape Northumberland, Victoria, Australia. Major Waddilove, Brunton House, Hexham. Henry Watson. Esq., Millfield House. Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Joseph Watson, Esq.. Bensham Grove. Gateshead. Robert Spence Watson, Esq., Moss Croft, Gateshead. Albert Way, Esq., F.S.A., Hon. See. Archaeological Institute. 1. Burlington Gardens, London. Percy Westmacott, Esq., Whickham, Durham. Robert White, Esq., Claremont Place, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Charles Wilkinson. Esq.. Kendal. Cumberland. John Williamson, Esq., 3, Park Circus Place, Glasgow. Mr. I). II. Wilson, Bookseller, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Lindsay Wood, Esq., Hetton Hall, Durham. C. L. Wood. Esq., Howlish Hall, Bishop Auckland. Durham. Yorkshire Philosophical Society. M. M. Youll, Esq., l!S, Lovaine Terrace. Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Thomas Young, Esq., Surgeon. 4, Chapel Row. South Shields. PLANS AND LITHOGRAPHIC VIEWS OCCURRING IN THE COURSE OF THE VOLUME. The Western Gateway. BORCOVICUS Map of the Roman Wall The Vallum, Cawfields Housesteads Mile-castle The Northumberland Survey of the Wall. Sheet Station at Wallsend Wallsend, looking East The Wall at Byker Station at Benwell Hill The Works at Heddon-on-the-Wall Station at Rutchester Survey, Sheet II. The Vallum at Down Hill Station at Halton The Wall at Brunton Plan of the Roman Bridge, North Tyne Abutment of Bridge Station at Chesters Hypocaust at Chesters View from the Roman Burial Ground, Cilurxu The Fosse of the Vallum, Limestone Bank survey, Sheet III. Station at Carrawburgh Approach to Sewingshields Station of Housesteads The Approach to Housesteads South Gateway, BoRCovn us Interior of Housesteads Mile-castle Station at Chesterholm Milestone at Chesterholrn The Wall at Steel-Rig Castle-Nick llile-castle The Crags west of Crag Lough The Wall on VV'inshields Mile-castle, near Cawfields ... Station at Great Chesters The Wall on Cockmount Hill Station at Carvoran Survey, Sheet IV. Birdoswald, froni the East Station at Birdoswald Birdoswald Watch Tower on the Maiden-way station at Walton House Survey, Sheet V. Station at Bowness Bo wness Plan of Bremenium High Rochester Roman Tombs Bewcastle, from the South Maryport, from the South Geological Map of the Roman Wall Frontispiece. I 46 ... 09 71 72 70 84 98 100 102 104 105 11:; 114 115 117 118 123 132 13d 134 137 111 142 145 15!) 166 176 177 178 170 180 184 183 188 U.HI 107 199 200 202 209 210 2 tl 240 241 250 260 261 270 200 353 SJj The Getty fofdbut/map not digitized TvtlrWiUti THE ROMAN WALL. CHAPTER I. AN EPITOME OF THE HISTORY OF ROMAN OCCUPATION IN BRITAIN. \ few parts of the world are there such evident traces of the march of Roman legions as in Britain. In the northern counties 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, however, yields in importance to The Roman Wall. " Certes," says Camden, speaking of the Roman remains in Britain, " they are works of exceeding great admiration, and sumptuous magnificence, but especially the Picts Wall." 1 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. " They dreamt not of a perishable home Who thus could build." A dead Wall may seem to many persons a very unpromising subject. The stones are indeed inanimate, but he who has a head to think, and a heart to feel, will find them suggestive of bright ideas and inciting 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 not only revealed the movements, but given us an insight into the modes of thought and feelings of those who have slept in the dust for centuries. The casual wanderer along the relics of the Wall may not succeed in culling facts that arc new to the historian, but he will 1 Camden's Britannia, translated by Philemon Holland, p. (i:i, ed. lfi;ir 2 ARRIVAL OF C.ESAB. probably get those vivid glances into the 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 Caesar on our shores, to the eventual abandonment of the island. 1 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 Caesar, however, Ave are indebted for the first detailed account of Britain and its inhabitants. The woodcut, taken from a coin struck, it is believed, in his lifetime, supplies us with a representation of the care-worn coun- tenance of the renowned conqueror. On 26th August, B.C. 55, Julius Caesar 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 sturdy 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 showed it to the Romans — "potest videri ostendisse posteris, non tradidisse." Horace, calling upon Augustus to achieve the conquest, denominates it "untouched'' — •• Intactus aut Britannus ut descenderet Sacra catenatus \ ia." 'In the preparation of tins epitome the Author has made a free use of the first book of Horsley's Britannia Romana. 2 The idea has been generally entertained that the Britons with whom Caesar came in contact were rude and uncultivated savages. That this was not the case is proved by the fact that they had among' them a gold currency prior to the Roman invasion. Mr. Evans, in his exhaustive work on The Coins of the Ancient Britons, p. 31, says, "We may regard it as, to say the least of it, highly probable that there was a native coinage in some parts of Britain as early as 150 B.C., if not earlier." He also observes, p. 42, "The use of money at so early a period in this country will, no doubt, appear almost incredible to those who have been accustomed to regard the Ancient Britons as the merest barbarians; but I think that such persons will find that their impressions as to the character of the Britons, have been derived from the descriptions of the tribes of the interior, rather than of those along- the seaboard, who weir mainly of Belgic origin, and to whom, for at all events a considerable period, the use of money was confined." ^"o native British coinage seems to have existed in the counties north of Yorkshire or in Lancashire. — Evans, p. 407. A system of roads, throughout the country, of an earlier date than the Roman occupation of the island, seems to indicate a considerable amount of commerce ami civilization. See Merivale's Hist. Rom., vol. VI., p. lli. n. INVASION OF CLAUDIUS. 3 And Propertras, in the same spirit, describes it as " nneonquered — invic- tus." There is, therefore, little exaggeration in the lines of Shakspere — " A kiud of conquest Caesar made lure : 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." During the reigns of Augustus. Tiberius, and Caligula. Britain was unmolested by foreign invasion. At the invitation of a discontented Briton, Claudius resolved to attempt the reduction of the island. In the year of our Lord 43, lie sent Aulus Plautius. with four legions and their auxiliaries, amounting in all to about fifty thousand men, into Britain. The legions were the second, the ninth, the fourteenth, and the twentieth. 1 It was with difficulty that the troops could be induced to engage in the undertaking. They were unwilling, as Dion Cassias 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. The year following, Claudius personally engaged in the war. He advanced into the country as far as Camulodunum (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 hini annual uames. 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 tri- umphal arch, on which is inscribed the words de britann[is]. This is the first occasion on which allusion is made to Britain in the coinage of Borne." 'The second and twentieth legions remained in Britain to the close of the Roman occupation. The ninth suffered severely from the onslaught of Boadicea, and was nearlv cut to pieces by the ( laledonians in the time of Agricola. The last record that we have of this legion is on a slab found in York, of the reign of Trajan. After this, it was probably, as ETorsley conjectures, incorporated with the sixth leg-ion. The fourteenth legion was recalled from Britain by .Vein, sent bark by Vitellius, and finally withdrawn by order of Vespasian. '- The fragment of an inscribed stone, still preserved at Rome, contains an interesting- memorial of the victories of Claudius in Britain. Tt has probably heen attached to the arch of Claudius. 4 VESPASIAN IN BRITAIN. 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. At the close of the war, Plautius was highly commended by Claudius for his skilful generalship, and obtained a triumph. We learn from Dion Cassius that, amongst the other rejoicings which took place at Rome in honour of the exploit, numbers of British captives were slaughtered in gladiatorial combat. 3 It is also to be observed, that in this expedition Vespasian, afterwards emperor, acted as second in com- mand to Plautius. Titus, the son of Vespasian, accompanied his father. Thus was it, in Britain, that the destroyers of Jerusalem were uncon- sciously trained for inflicting upon God's chosen, but sinful people, the chastisements of His displeasure ; and thus were the words of Holy Writ, uttered fifteen centuries before, remarkably fulfilled : — " The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth."* 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, and was succeeded by Avitus Didius Gallus. 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. Seventy thousand Romans, or adherents of the government of Rome, fell under the hands of the British warrior-queen, but she sullied The slab has been split down the middle, and the halt' of it is lost. The inscription is as follows; the right hand portion of it having been conjecturally supplied: — TI. CLAVDIO CAES. AVGVSTO PONTIFICI MAX. TR.P. IX. ( 'os. v. IMP. XVI. P.P. SENATVS POPVL. Q.R. QVOD REGES BKITANNIS ABSQ. VLLA IACTVRA DOMVEHIT GENTESQVE BARBARAS PRIMVS INDICIO SVBEGERIT — The senate and people of Home dedicate this triumphal arch] to Tiberius Claudius ' itesar Augustus, Pontifex Maximus, possessed of the trilmnitian power for the 9th time, consul Cor the 5th time, imperator for the Kith, the father of his country; because that, without any loss, lie subdued the kings of Britain, and first brought into subjection (in ditionem?) these barbarous people. — Sec a paper by Mr. Fairholt, with an engraving of this slab, in the Collectanea Antiqua, vol. V., p. 92; Hobler's Records of Rom. Hist., p. 98 : Eiorsley's Britannia Romana, p. ~1 ; Beal Poste's Britannic Researches, p. 345. s "And in the gladiatorial combat many freedmen as well as the British captives fought, numbers of whom he destroyed in this kind of spectacle, and gloried in it." 1 Deut. xxviii., 49. VESPASIAN CALLED TO THE EMPIRE. the splendour of her exploits by her cruelty.' Suetonius Paulinus, 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. 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 dratted from it to fight under the banners of Vitellius. Thus early, as Dr. Giles observes, was this island, whose position in the bosom of the ocean indicates a peaceful policy, induced to bear the brunt of continental quarrels. When Vespasian assumed the purple, a new era dawned upon the empire. This fact is well indicated in a coin struck at the 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 Minerva looks approvingly on ; the inspiring motto, " Roma Resurges" — Bomv. thou shalt rise again — encircles the group. Vespasian appointed Petilius Cercalis his propraetor in Britain, who, during the five years of his administration, made considerable impression upon the Brigantes, a powerful tribe, in the northern district of England. Julius Frontinus was his successor, who, in the three years of his government, nearly subdued the warlike nation of the Silures. One hundred and thirty-three years had now elapsed since the first descent of Caesar, and thirty-five years since Claudius had claimed the honour of conquering Britain, and yet but a fraction of the island had been brought into subjection to Roman power. Nothing can more 1 Some deduction must probably be made from the statements of Dion Cassius upon this subject, as handed down to us in the abridgment of him by Xiphiline. According to this writer, "Boadicea overthrew and plundered two Roman cities, and there wrought indescribable slaughter : as to the male captives, there was nothing of the most dreadful kind which was not inflicted upon them. They practised, indeed, whatever was most revolting and savage ; for tihey hung up their noblest and most beautiful women naked, cut off their breasts . . . and afterwards transfixed them at full length on sharp stakes. And all this was done in mockery, while they were sacrificing' and banqueting in their several sacred places, but more especially in the grove of Andate, for so they denominated Victory, whom they venerated supremely." In accordance with these statements, Paulinus, in addressing his soldiers, is represented as saying — " It is better to die fighting like men than to he captured and impaled, to see your own entrails torn out and transfixed on burning stakes, to be wasted away in boiling water, as if we had fallen among certain savage, lawless, unfeeling beasts." — Monuments Historica, p. 58. 8 History of the Ancient Britons, vol. I., p. 144. 8 This coin was in the cabinet of the late Mr. Bell, of Irthington. b THE CAMPAIGNS OF AGRICOLA. strongly show the stubborn spirit of the natives, than their protracted resistance to the invaders. Battle after battle had been lost ; but many of their tribes were still unsubdued, and several even undiscovered. But the reputation of all preceding governors was obscured by a greater man than they. Cnaeus Julius Agricola had served in Britain under that able officer, Suetonius Paulinus ; 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 paralysed their strength for a while. His fleet sailed to the extremity of the island. 1 and he planted the Roman standard upon the Orkneys. He built walls and fortresses in all places where they were required, and softened the fierce- ness of the barbarians, by fostering a taste for letters and the luxuries of the Eternal City. But it is necessary to trace the movements of Aericola somewhat in detail. Tacitus, his son-in-law. supplies us with the means of doing so. The summer of a.d. 78 was far spent when he arrived ; yet, before going into winter quarters, he attacked and subdued the Ordovices, who occupied North Wales, and brought the sacred isle of Anglesea a second time to obedience. The respite from arms which the following winter afforded, enabled him to correct many abuses in the administration of the affairs of the province, which he found were giving needless offence to the native population. " He knew by the experience of past events that conquest, when it loads the vanquished with injury and oppression, can never be secure and permanent. He deter- mined, therefore, to suppress the seeds of future hostility. He began a reform in his own household; a necessary work, but attended often with no less difficulty than the administration of a province. He removed his slaves and freedmen from every department of public business. Promotions in the army no longer went by favour or the partiality of the centurions; merit decided. . . . The exigences of the army called for large contributions of corn and other supplies, and yet he lightened the burden by just and equal assessments ; providing, at the same time, against the extortion of the tax-gatherer, more odious and intolerable than even the tax itself." His second campaign, that of the year 79, was probably occupied in subduing the territory of the Brigantes, which extended as far north as the Lower Isthmus of the Island. 1 He is generally supposed to have circumnavigated the whole island. Mr. Merivale, in his appear that the point had not been absolutely settled previously. It was supposed to he an island long before, even, As'ricola's time. AC I! KOI. A S POLICY. i "As soon as the summer opened he assembled his army and marched in quest of the enemy. Ever present at the head of the lines, he encouraged the strenuous by com- mendation : he relinked the sluggard who fell from his rank; he went in person to mark out the station for encampments ; he sounded the estuaries, and explored the woods and forests. The Britons, in the meantime were, by sudden incursions, kept in a constant alarm. Having spread a general terror through the country, he then suspended his operations ; that, in the interval of repose, the barbarians might taste the sweets of peace. In consequence of these measures several states, which till then had breathed a spirit of independence, were induced to lay aside their hostile intentions, and to give hostages for their pacific behaviour. Along the frontier of the several districts which had submitted, a chain of posts was established, with so much care and judgment, that no part of the countrv, even where the Roman arms had never penetrated, could think itself secure from the vigour of the conqueror. 1 To introduce a system of new and wise regulations was the business of the following winter. A fierce and savage people, running wild in woods, would be ever addicted to a life of warfare. To wean them from those habits Agricola held forth the habits of pleasure; encouraging the natives, as well by public assistance as by warm exhortations, to build temples, courts of justice, and commodious dwelling- houses. He bestowed enconiums on such as cheerfully obeyed: the slow and uncomplying were branded with reproach : and thus a spirit of emulation diffused itself, operating as a sense of duty. To establish a plan of education, and give the sons of the leading chiefs a tincture of letters, was part of his policy. By way of encouragement he praised their talents, and already saw them, by the force of their natural genius, rising superior to the attainments of the (raids. The consequence was that they who had always disdained the Roman language, began to cultivate its beauties. The Roman apparel was seen without prejudice, and the toga became a fashionable part of dress. By degrees the charms of vice gained admission to their hearts : baths and porticos, and elegant banquets, grew into vogue ; and the new manners which in fact served only to sweeten slavery, were by the unsuspecting Britons called the arts of polished humanity. " In the course of the third year [a.d. 80] the progress of the Roman arms discovered new nations, whose territories were laid waste as far as the estuary called the Firth of Tav. The legions had to struggle with all the difficulties of a tempestuous season; and vet the barbarians, struck with a general panic, never dared to hazard an engagement. The country, as far as the Romans advanced was secured by forts and garrisons." Men of skill and military science observed that no officer knew better than Agricola how to seize, on a sudden view, the most advantageous situation ; and accordingly not one of the stations fortified by his direction was taken by storm ; not one was reduced to capitulate ; not one was surrendered or abandoned to the enemy. At every post, to enable the garrison to stand a siege, a year's provision was provided ; and each place having strength sufficient, frequent sallies were made : the besiegers were repulsed, and the Romans passed the winter secure from danger. The consequence of these precautions was that the enemy, who had been accustomed to retrieve in the winter what they lost in the 'As this passage is of considerable importance the original is here introduced, and a more literal translation than that given in the text. "Quibus rebus multse civitates, quae in ilium diem ex aequo egerant, datis obsidibus, iram posuere, et praesidiis castellisque circumdatae, tanta ratione curaque, ut nulla ante Britannia nova pars inlacessita transient." — By these measures many states, which till that day had acted on the defensive, gave hostages, laid their hostility aside and were environed with stations and castles with so much calculation and care, that no part of Britain, though hitherto unnoticed, could think itself secure. — Hodgson, Hist. Nor., pt. II., v. iii., p. 157. Some writers have inferred from this passage that AgTicola built all the stations between the Tvne and the Solwav, and that they were afterwards connected by a wall. All that we are entitled to infer is, that he planted garrisons in those parts of the territory of the Brigantes, Ottadini, and Gadeni, where thev would he most effectual in repressing' revolt. He would doubtless make sure of the Lower Isthmus, but that he drew' entirely across it "a chain of forts'' at all resembling in completeness the stations of the Wall, is more than the passage warrants. 2U Poneudisque insuper castellis spatium tint." 8 AURICULA RECALLED. antecedent summer, saw no difference of seasons : they were defeated everywhere, and reduced to the last despair." The forts here referred to were probably some of those occupying the more commanding positions of the Upper Isthmus of the Island, along which the wall of Antoninus Pius was afterwards drawn. This is rendered apparent from what follows : — "The business of the fourth campaign [a.d. 81] was to secure the country which had been overrun, not conquered, in the preceding summer ; and if the spirit of the troops, and the glory of the Roman name, had been capable of suffering any limits, there was in Britain itself a convenient spot, where the boundary of the empire might have been fixed. The place for that purpose was where the waters of the Glota and Bodotria [Firths of Clyde and Forth], driven up the country by the influx of two opposite seas, are hindered from joining by a narrow neck of land, which was then guarded by a chain of forts. 1 On the south side of the isthmus the whole country was bridled by the Romans, and evacuated by the enemy, who was driven as it were into another island. " J It is not necessary to pursue the operations of Agricola farther. In the seventh summer he defeated Galgacus, on the flanks of the Grampians. The Roman power was now at its height. Agricola, when in the full tide of conquest, was recalled by the Emperor Domitian, a.d. 84. However galling to his enterprising spirit, he obeyed the summons with the promptitude and grace of a true soldier. A career so splendid as Agricola's must have been felt by Domitian to be a living protest against his own ignoble course. The recall of Agricola may have been in accordance with sound policy, but there can be little doubt that envy prompted it. 3 Agricola was not again employed in the public service. He died a.d. 93, at the early age of 55. Little is known of Britain from the withdrawal of Agricola to the advent of Hadrian. Nerva, during his short reign, was too much engaged in measures of internal administration, rendered necessary by the terrible misgovernment of Domitian. to pay much attention to the 1 " Quod turn praesidiis firmabatur." 8 Tacitus Vita Agricolse, c. ID, Ac. Murphy's Translation. Mr. Merivale's remarks upon this subject are, however, worthy of attention : — "The bitter charges Tacitus makes against Domitian, the envv and dissimulation lie imputes to him in the matter of Agricola's recall, are such as from the tvrant's known character we may readily believe. Yet a better and abler man than the degenerate son of Vespasian might now have hastened, not from jealousy, but with a wise discretion, to bring- the British campaigns to a close. It was hardly consistent with prudent policy, nor would it have been permitted in the sounder ages of the Republic any more than of the Empire, that the governor of a distant dependency should remain for many years in command of all its resources, with the entire disposal of its places and emoluments, with a "Teat public taction growing around him, and threatening to force him into a hostile attitude. No proconsul since Caesar had waged seven vears of warfare in any province, and the memory of Caesar's proconsulate was not reassuring- either to the senate or the emperor. . . . Nor were the results, calmly considered, worth the hazard. The victories of Agricola were barren; his conquests were merely disappointments. Never before were such efforts made for so trifling an object. The reduction of the whole of Caledonia would hardly have broug-ht one gold piece into the imperial treasury. But the expense was enormous. . . . The lung career which had already been vouchsafed to Agricola was owing, perhaps, to the premature death of his first patron, Vespasian, the easy indolence of Titus, and the timidity of Domitian on his first accession to a position which he had earned by no merits of his own. — Merivale's Roman Empire, vol. vii., p. 91. ARRIVAL OF HADRIAN IX BRITAIN. 9 extremities of the empire. The Dacian wars drew the attention of Trajan from the western to the eastern portion of his dominions. After the manner of conquerors he passed from the subjugation of one people to the attempted overthrow of their more distant sympathisers. He forced his way as far as Parthia, and. but for his advanced age, would have attempted the subjugatioD of India. On the death of Trajan, a.d. 117, Hadrian was proclaimed Emperor. He at once renounced the sovereignty of the countries east of the Euphrates. This did not altogether relieve him from the difficulties of his position. The Jews, not only in Palestine but throughout the world, were in a state of revolt; Egypt was agitated by seditions, and the Moors manifested a rebellious spirit. Britain, too, soon began to exhibit symptoms of disaffection. Julius Severus, who had previously held with firmness the reins of government in Britain, was withdrawn from the island in order to subdue the revolt of the Jews. He pro- bably took with him such native troops as had been inured to Roman discipline. To this cause, as Salmasius suggests, the rising in Britain was probably to he attributed. The pressure of a heavy hand having been withdrawn, the national discontent rose to the surface. Towards the close of the year 119, Hadrian came himself to Britain, bringing with him, there is reason to suppose, the Empress Sabina. 2 He was led to this step not only by the necessity of using the most vigorous measures in order to crush the rebellion in Britain, but by the impulse of his own active habits, and a desire to examine personally every part of his wide dominions. An emperor, he used to say, ought to imitate the sun. which illuminates not one place but all the corners and regions of the earth. Hadrian's visit to this distant part of his empire was com- memorated in the imperial currency of the day. The large brass coin here represented was struck by decree of the senate, in the year 121. On the obverse we have the laurelled head of the emperor, with the legend hadrianvs avg. cos. in. r.p. On the reverse the emperor is represented in 'In a note on this part of Spartian's Life of Hadrian, p. 25, ed. Lug-. Bat., 1601. '-'Tlie authority for the supposition that Sabina accompanied Hadrian is a passage in Spartian's Life of Hadrian. Immediately after statingthat Hadrian came to Britain where he corrected many things, and first built a wall eighty miles long to divide the barbarians from the Romans, this author add-, "he removed from office Septicius Clarus, the praefect of the praetorium, Suetonius Tranquillus, his secretary, and many others, because, at that time, they had conducted themselves towards his wife Sabina, without his orders, more familiarly than the respect due to the imperial family permitted — quia apud Sabinam uxorem, iujussu ejus, familiariiis se tunc egerant quam reverentia domus aulicw postulabat" This pas-age. as Mr. Merivale remarks, is very enigmatical. Hist. Rom. v. vii., p. -438. The explanation offered byannotators of the phrase "injussu ejus" is. that though he used the empress ill himself he did not allow other persons to do so without his express permission. c 10 hadriax'ss progress. his priestly robes, sacrificing at an altar : opposite to him is a female figure with a victim at her feet. The legend states the occasion on which the coin was struck — adventvs ayg[vsti] Britannia — the arrival of the emperor in Britain. 1 Historians tell us almost nothing of Hadrian's exploits in Britain. iElius Spartianus, who flourished towards the end of the third century and the beginning of the fourth, and is one of the authors of the col- lection commonly classed together under the title " Historian Augusta? Scriptores sex" is the chief authority on the subject. His narrative, which, unfortunately, is exceedingly brief, is as folloAvs : — "Ergo conversis regio more militibus, Britanniam petiit : in qua multa correxit, mnrumqne per octoginta millia passuuni primus duxit. qui barbaros Romanosque divideret. . . . Compositis in Britannia rebus, trans- gressus in Galliam, &c." — Therefore, having withdrawn his soldiers by his own example from luxurious habits, 8 he went to Britain, where he corrected many things, and there first drew a wall eighty miles in length, in order to divide the barbarians from the Romans. When he had put the affairs of the province into order, he passed into Gaul. A few additional fragments of knowledge may be gathered from the lapidary inscriptions which have come down to our day. It seems certain that he brought to England with him the sixth legion, which took the epithet of Victrix. and occasionally also of Pia Fidelis, and had its head-quarters at York. The authority for this statement is an inscription reared to the honour of Marcus Pontius, giving him the following titles amongst others : — imperatoris mvi HADRIANI AB ACTIS, TRIBVNO MILITVM LEGIONIS SEXT/E VICTRICIS. CVM QVA ex germania i\ britanniam transiit — the notary of the deified Emperor Hadrian, military tribune of the Sixth Legion the Victorius, with which lie came from Germany to Briton. See Britan. Rom., p. 79. On his arrival on the southern coast he seems to have organized a fleet, for securing the safe passage of the troops, and for the better protection of the island. Certain it is, that the first mention of the British navy occurs in connection with his name. On a slab, found in Umbria, an inscription is engraved in honour of M. Mamius Agrippa, of whom (amongst other things.) the following statements are made : — " ELECTO A DIVO HADRIANO ET MISSO IX EXPEDITI0NEM BRITANNICAM TRIB. 1 It will lie observed that in this coin the title of Pater Patrhe is given to Hadrian. It has been conceived that he did not take the title until a much later period. Spartian says "that he oner and again declined it because Augustus had not assumed it until a late period of his reig'n; — Patris Patriae nomen sihi delatum statim et iteruin postea, distulit: quod hoc nomen Augustus sero meruisset." Eckhel, vol. vi., p. 515, tells us that Hadrian did not assume the title until a.d. 128. This coin and several others, together with some lapidary inscriptions, must he regarded as exceptional examples, if Eckhel's opinion he correct. See .Smyth's Roman Medals, p. 98; Holder's Records, p. .'JOH; Gruter, p. 248. 2 The translation of this clause is difficult. Its most probable signification is that attempted in the text, though, of necessity, somewhat paraphrastically. Hadrian's progress. 1 1 coii. i. hispan. eqvit. . . . pk.ef. classis in; i'1'ANxic.E. &c." — Selected by the divine Hadrian and sent on the Britannic expedition ; [he was] tribune of the first cavalry cohort of Spaniards . . . prsefect of the British fleet, &c. See Orellins, No. 804. It is worthy of notice, in con- nection with this subject, that a marine cohort stationed at one of the ports connected with the Wall, took its name from Hadrian's family — ( Johors JElia Classica. When Hadrian accompanied Trajan in his Dacian campaign, and on other occasions. lie would necessarily be rendered familiar with the boldest engineering schemes. When military expediency required it, Trajan threw massive bridges across the most rapid streams, drew his roads over interminable tracts of country, and erected frontier walls between one region and another. Hadrian in these matters was not an inapt scholar, as avc shall immediately see. We are not informed on what part of the English shore Hadrian landed, but there can belittle doubt it was on the south-east coast. On his way to the disturbed regions of the north, he would necessarily attend to the state of the roads by which his military communications were to be kept up. Near to Leicester, a Roman milestone has been found, inscribed with the name of Hadrian. This milestone, which, though not the only one left to us in England, is one of very few. warrants the opinion, that Hadrian struck out new lines of road, or put the existing roads into a state of efficient repair. The bridge with which Hadrian spanned the river Tyne, at Newcastle, is an indication of the decisive measures which he adopted when approaching the focus of revolt, Agricola had passed the river sixteen miles higher up, and probably crossed it by a ford. This bridge was thought a work of sufficient importance to be dignified by the Emperor's own family name, and it in turn gave name to the fortified town at its northern extremity — Pons iEui, the modern Newcastle. Having now made all secure in his rear, he was in a position to take those other measures which his experience and military genius showed him were necessary for rendering permanent the Roman dominion in the Upper Isthmus of England, and the region beyond. The chief of these was the construction of that chain of fortresses — linked by roads and covered by a wall — which it is the object of tin's work to describe. The senate of Rome were not unob- servant spectators of the progress of the emperor. The bronze coinage of the day was under their control, and on it they put upon imperishable record the triumphs of the imperial conqueror. The woodcut here introduced exhibits a second brass coin, having a bust 12 hadrian's departure. of Hadrian on the obverse, and a female figure on the reverse, which is sufficiently explained by the legend which surrounds it — Britannia. The following woodcut shows the reverse of a large brass coin 1 which was struck at the same period. The Britannia on these coins has evidently formed the design after which the Britannia of the copper coinage of England has been modelled from the days of Charles II. until now. Knowing as we do the subsequent history of the island of Great Britain, and the extensive influence which she possesses at the present hour, it is not a little interesting to look upon these impersonations of her early condition. In both the instances before us she is represented by a female seated upon a rock. Her head is bare, and no wreath or emblem of victory is in her hand. In these respects she forms a contrast to the impersonations of the Imperial City, usually given by the Roman medallists. Besides wearing a defiant aspect, Roma is almost uniformly represented with a helmet on her head, and an image of victory, or the victor's garland, in her right hand. Britannia, though not jubilant, is not despondent, neither is she unarmed. She sits secure but watchful. Her spear is in her hand, and her shield by her side. 2 Her general aspect is very different from that which the Roman mintmasters have given us of the unhappy and down-trodden ivdea upon the coins of Vespasian and Titus, some of which will be introduced afterwards. It is perhaps indicative of the modesty of Hadrian, that on the gold and silver coinage of the period there is no reference to his exploits in Britain, though these issues of the mint were under his own imme- diate command. It is otherwise with the Emperor Claudian. " the gold and silver coins only of this emperor commemorate his victories in Britain." s No record informs us how long Hadrian remained in Britain. One complete summer would enable him to form his plans and give the necessary orders ; he probably withdrew at the approach of the second winter. On retiring he gave the command of the Province to his friend Aulus Platorius Nepos, a man of senatorial and consular dignity. Numerous inscriptions found upon the Wall mention his name, and lead us to conclude that to him the chief charge of its construction was entrusted. The fine slab, shown in the woodcut on the opposite page, was found in the Castle-Nick Mile-Tower, on the Roman Wall about mid- way between the two seas, and fragmentary duplicates have been found 1 Formerly in the cabinet of Mr. Hobler, unci fully described in his Records of Roman History, No. oris, j>. 326. - See, upon the subject of this contrast, Hobler's Records of Rom. Hist., p. 328. 3 Akerman's Coins relating' to Britain, p. 13. THE ANTONINE WALL 13 in three other mile castles on the wall. The inscription is to the effect that the second legion, styled the August, erected the building in honour of the Emperor Caesar Trajanus Hadriamis Augustus, Aulus Platorius Nepos being his legate and propraetor. Antoninus Pius, the successor of Hadrian, was a man of peace. Notwithstanding, at an early period of his reign, he was involved in a series of wars. His biographer, Julius Capitolinus, in enumerating the Size— 3 feet 2 inches by 2 feet. nations which rose in rebellion, mentions the Britons, the Moors, the Germans, the Dacians, the Jews, the people of Achaia, and the Egyptians. All of them he subdued by the instrumentality of his legates. Against the Britons he sent, as his lieutenant, Quintus Lollius Urbicus, who, as Capitoline tells us, routed them, and dammed back the tide of disaffection by building another wall [not of stone but] of turf. 1 The wall built by Urbicus is that which is now known as Graham's Dike, in Scotland. It extends from the Firth of Forth to the Firth of Clyde. It is a huge earthen rampart, the lower part of it being in some places supported by a few courses of stone. Many inscriptions have been found on it mentioning Antoninus Pius ; none mention any other emperor. One solitary fragment, which has been described by Gordon, 2 Horsley, 3 and Stuart, 4 and is now in the Museum of Glasgow College, bears the name of Lollius Urbicus, the emperor's efficient representative. A more important inscription than this, but belonging rather to the fortifications of the Lower than the Upper 1 The words of Capitolinus are, " Nam et Britannos per Lollium I rbicum vicit, alio miiro cespititio submotis barbaris ducto." 2 Itinerarium Septentrionale, p. 03. s Britannia Romana, Scut. VI I L 1 Caledonia Romana, p. -318. 14 OPERATIONS OF LOLLIUS URBICUS. Isthmus, has recently been discovered, and is figured in the margin. It was found at the station of Bremenium, which stands on the Watling Street, a few miles within the English border. It gives the names both of Antoninus and his legate. 1 As Capitolinus is the only Roman author who has informed us that Antoninus Pius sent Lollius Urbieus to Britain, to repress the tumults there, it is inter- esting to meet with these confirmations of his authority. Gordon knew the value of such testimonies. Speaking of the unadorned and fractured stone, already referred to. on which he discerned the letters ... p. leg. ii. a. q. lollio vr. leg. avg. pp. pr., he says — "It is the most invaluable jewel of antiquity that ever was found in the island of Britain since the time of the Romans,"' and then goes on to remark — "If one were to comment on this stone, as the subject would well admit of it. a whole treatise might very well be written on this head; and if the inscriptions found on Hadrian's and Severus's Walls in England had given as great light by whom they were originally built, it would have saved a great deal of trouble and contention among writers." If Gordon had seen the slab from Bremenium, his enthusiasm would have risen to a still higher pitch ; and if he had seen the inscrip- tions, bearing the name of Hadrian, which have been found upon the Northumbrian Wall, one of which has already been shown (p. 1,")). he would not have written the latter part of this sentence. On the Wall of the Lower Isthmus there are several memorials of the age of Antoninus Pius, besides the one already mentioned. From the occurrence of these, and from the abundance of the coins of the period which are found when excavations are made upon the line, we may infer that the Roman Legate marshalled his forces there, saw that its stations and outworks were put into an efficient state of repair, and then marched by the Watling Street to the Scottish frontier. Most of the coins found upon the Antonine Wall belong to the reigns of Vespasian and Antoninus Pius. Those of the earlier emperor would lie brought by the troops of Agricola ; those of the later by the followers of Lollius. The comparative absence of coins and inscriptions of a date subsequent to the time of the first of the Antonines, warrants 1 This inscription is now in the Museum of British Antiquities in Alnwick Castle. It may be read — The first cohort of the Lingones, a cavalry regiment, erected this building] in honour of the Emperor Caesar Titus iElius Hadrianus Antoninus, Augustus, J'ius, father of his country, under the direction of Quintus Lollius Urbieus, imperial legate ami propraetor. NUMISMATIC MEMORIALS OF ANTONINUS. L5 the opinion that the Wall of the Upper Isthmus was not held with the pertinacity with which that of the Lower was. The mintmasters at Rome were not inattentive to the progress of events in Britain. On many of their issues there is direct reference to the affairs of the island. One of the most interesting is that which is here represented, taken from a specimen in the British Museum. On the obverse is the laureated head of Anto- ninus. On the reverse Bri- tannia is seen seated upon a globe, which floats upon the waves. She is provided with shield and spear, and has a standard in her right hand. The position of the globe upon the water is no doubt intended to indicate the insular character of Great Britain; or, if we choose to give wings to the imagination, to show that even in Roman days Britannia was destined to be mistress of the seas. 1 This coin was struck in the 3rd consulship of Antonine, corresponding with the year 141 of the Christian era. The reverse of another line coin is here in- troduced. Britannia is seated upon a rock, a military standard is in her right hand, a spear in her left. Her shield is at her left side, resting upon a helmet. Every thing here is indicative of strength and security. This coin also belongs to the year 141. The specimen is much defaced. The next coin belongs to a later date, and is of a character too remarkable to be omitted. " In this representation of Britannia she is deprived of her spear, and appears to be in an attitude of grief and dejec- tion. One might imagine that some insurrection had been made by the Britons, which had been suppressed, and their arms taken from them ; but we have no historic notice of such an occurrence in a.d. 155, the date of this coin." 5 It is of second brass. Mr. Akerman informs us, that " of all the coins relating to Britain this is the most frequently discovered in England. Some time since," he continues, " one of them was dug up in St. Saviour's churchyard, near London Bridge. They are generally met with in very ordinary condition, and are scarcely ever met with in tine preservation." 3 One was recently found in the station of Condercum, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne ; it was much corroded. On meeting with specimens of coins like this, the mind 1 Holder's Records of Roman Hist., p. 41(1 2 Hobler's Records of Roman Hist, on Coins, p. 459. 3 Akerman's Coins of the Romans relating- to Britain, p. 35. 16 THE REIGN OP AURELIUS. is startled at the change which has taken place in the relative positions of Rome and Britain since first they were buried in the earth. With such experience before us, it becomes the most prosperous nations to bear their honours meekly. Antoninus Pius died in the year 161, and was succeeded by Marcus Aurelius. He at once associated with himself in the government of the empire Lucius Verus, and the Roman world for the first time acknowledged two masters. Lucius Verus died a.d. 169, leaving Marcus Aurelius once more sole emperor. In the year 177, Commodus became colleague with Ins father, and Rome again had two emperors. Marcus Aurelius died a.d. 180, leaving the government to Commodus. Some inscriptions, found upon the Wall, mentioning a plurality of emperors, probably belong to the earlier or later period of the reign of Am-elius. Julius Capitolinus is the only Roman historian who refers to Britain during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. His notices are brief, but important. After enumerating, at the very commencement of the reign, the wars in which the twin emperors were engaged, he says — ''Immi- nebat etiam Britannicum bellum et Catti in Gemianiam ac Rhaetiam irruperant. Et adversus Britannos quidem Calphurnius Agricola missus est, contra Cattos Aufidius Victorinus." 1 — A Britannic war was imminent, and the Catti had made an irruption into Germany and Rhwtia. Against the Britons was sent Calphurnius Agricola, and against the Catti. Aufidius Victorinus. — This passage has been confirmed by the discovery on the Wall not only of inscriptions containing the names of the two emperors, but of some expressly naming Calpurnius Agricola in his capacity of Legate and Propraetor. The fragment of one found at Magna, the modern ( 'arvoran, is here introduced. Peace, if procured at tin's time, was not of long duration. Capitolinus. in describing the events which took place after the death of Verus, says, " All the nations had conspired together from the Illyrican boundary even to Gaul ;" and then, after enumerating many others which were in a state of revolt, he adds, " War was imminent also in Britain and in Parthia. — With great difficulty he overcame these fierce nations." 3 But the most serious reverse which the Roman arms sustained in Britain seems to have occurred in the reign of Commodus. We are indebted to Xiphiline's Abridgment of Dion Cassius for an account of it, 3 1 Historic Aug-. Scriptores VI., p. 109. 2 Historic Aug-ustte, p. 201. 3 A great part of the History of Dion Cassius is lost. "From book (il to 80 we have only the abridgment made by Xiphiline in the 11th century." — Smith's Diet. Dion Cassius. Xiphiline, as well as Dion Cassius, writes in Greek. ) iCT Nl VSCF THE ONSLAUGHT IN THE REIGN OF COMMODUS. 17 " Commodus was also engaged in several wars with the barbarians who dwell beyond Dacia; in which Albinos and Niger, who afterwards fought against the emperor Severus, both gained great reputation: the Britannic war, however, was the greatest of these. For some of the nations within that island having passed over the Wall which divided them from the Roman stations, and, besides killing a certain commander with his soldiers, having committed much other devastation, Commodus became alarmed, and sent Marcellus Ulpius 1 against them. This man was moderate and sparing, and though living always like a common soldier, as well in his food as in every other respect, when on service he was both high-minded and courageous; it was manifest that he was not to be corrupted by gifts; neither, indeed, was he affable nor kind in his manners. He was the most wakeful of all generals. . . . Such was Marcellus, who grievously worsted the barbarians in Britain."- The Wall of Hadrian bears marks throughout its whole length of having undergone some terrible disaster, long before the period of its final abandonment, The signs of ruin, which in every mile castle and station meet the view of the explorer, bear silent testimony to the state- ments of the historian. Most of the troops had probably been temporarily withdrawn from the garrisons of the Antonine Wall in the previous reign, and now the barbarians, flushed with success, not only routed the troops which guarded the stronger line of Hadrian, but overturned the barracks of the soldiery, and burnt everything that was capable of com- bustion. Their triumphing was short. Ulpius Marcellus drove them back to their former haunts, and hastily repaired the Wall. He did not, however, restore it to its former state of strength and efficiency. Such, at least, is the conclusion to which an examination of the structure itself would lead us. In consequence of the success of the expedition of Ulpius Marcellus. Commodus was saluted Imperatok for the seventh time, and received from the senate the title of Britaxxicts. This took place a.d. 184. Several of the eoins of the emperor commemorate the victories of his lieu- tenant. The engra- ving represents an exceeding fine me- dallion,' 1 now in the British Museum.* On the obverse we have the laureated head of the 1 Other authorities give Ulpius Marcellus, not Marcellus Ulpius. Xiphiline has probably through error inverted the name. 2 Monumenta Historica Britannica, p. lix. 3 Medallions are larger than the ordinary first brass coins, in higher relief, and without the S.C. They may have been struck for distribution on special occasions. They were probably not intended for general circulation. — See Admiral Smyth's Catalogue, p. xiii. 4 "This medallion was brought to England by Mr. Millingen, who sold it to the well-known collector, Mr. Thomas, for £100, and at the sale of his coins it was bought by the British Museum for £75; now it would be £175." — Hobler's Records, p. 587. E 18 SEVERUS AND HIS RIVALS. emperor. Who, on looking at the comely portrait, does not regret that such a man should have allowed himself to descend to the deepest abyss of mean- ness and brutality ? The legend concludes with the ill-fitting epithets of Pivs and Brit[axxicys]. The reverse shows Britannia seated upon a rock. She has a standard in her right hand — the attribute of a garrisoned province ; a spear is in her left, and a shield, resting upon a helmet, is by her side — betokening her strength and warlike spirit. In the legend, the word Brittaxia assumes a peculiar form. Here, also, we have as the date, the emperor's tenth tribunitiate, tr[ibvnitia] p[otestate] x, which corresponds with the year extending from April, 184, to April, 185. When Horsley wrote, no memorial of Ulpius Mar- (Cellus had been found in Britain. He says, " I do not [QijJ remember his name in any Roman inscriptions in Britain. so that all we know of him is from this historian [Xiphi- line]." Brit. Rom., p. 54. We are more fortunate now. On the fragment of a stone found at Chesters, on the North Tyne, and preserved in the museum there, Ave have letters, which, without effort, may be filled in thus : — VLPIO [MARCELLO] [LEC4.] r[r.] [?R.] and on a fine altar, discovered at Benwell, which will presently lie des- cribed, we have, without dispute, the words — svb vlpio marcello cos. Little more is known of Britain during the reign of Commodus. P. Helvius Pertinax, who obtained the purple on the death of Commodus, was for some time its governor, and on his withdrawal, the command was obtained by Clodius Albinus. who, for a brief space, was the colleague of Septimius Severus, and subsequently his rival. On the death of Pertinax, a.d. 193, and the murder of his immediate successor, Didius Julianus, there were three rivals in the field. Pescen- nius Niger was proclaimed emperor by the legions in Syria ; L. Septimius Severus by the troops in Illyricum and Pannonia ; and Clodius Albinus by the armies in Britain and Gaul. Severus lulled the suspicions of Albinus, until he had overcome Niger, and then marched against him. Albinus seeing at length the danger of his position, hastened into Gaul. The denarius, shown on the margin, was pro- bably struck by him at this time. On the obverse he claims the titles Imperator and Avgvstvs, and on the reverse he shows by the emblem employed — two hands joined, with a military standard between them — his confidence in the troops which accom- panied him. 1 The battle, on the fate of which the mastery of the world depended, took place near Lyons, on the 19th of February, 197. Each combatant brought into the field an army 150,000 strong, that of Albinus 1 Hobler's Records of Roman History, p. G17. THE BATTLE OF LYONS. 19 consisting chiefly of British troops. We learn from Herodian some particulars of the engagement. " When, therefore, the army of Severus had arrived in Gaul, there was some skirmishing in different places ; but the decisive battle was near Lugdunum, a great and opulent city, in which, having shut himself up, Albinus remained, but sent forth his forces to the fight. A severe conflict ensuing, the fate of victory on either side for a long time continued dubious, for the Britons yield nothing either in courage or sanguinary spirit to the Illyrians. Such noble armies, therefore, encountering, the overthrow of neither was easy : and as sunn' of the historians of that time, who write for truth's sake and not for favour, relate, that division of Albinus's army to which Severus with his army was opposed, had greatly the advantage, insomuch that he was put to flight, fell from his horse, and threw off his imperial robe to conceal himself. "But at this time, Laetus, one of Severus's commanders, coming in sight with fresh forces, Severus's party took courage, placed him on his horse, and again clad him in his imperial robe. Albinus's troops supposing themselves already victorious, and, in con- sequence, having their ranks somewhat disordered when this nohle and fresh army fell suddenly upon them, gave way after but little resistance. A desperate rout ensuing, the soldiers of Severus pursued and slew them until they threw themselves into the city. . . . . Severus's army having plundered and burnt the city, Lugdunumi and captured Albinus, they cut off his head and brought it to Severus." ' Severus having made arrangements for the government of Britain, and having sent Virius Lupus as his legate there, went to Rome to enjoy the fruits of his hard-earned victories over his two rivals. The name of Virius Lupus occurs on inscriptions found at Ilkley and at Bowes. After a visit to the East, and a somewhat lengthened sojourn at Rome, Severus bent his steps towards Britain. His legate had great difficulty in repressing the attacks of the Caledonians. Xiphiline tells us — " Moreover, in Britain, about this time, on account of the Caledonians, having made preparation to assist the Micatas, not abiding by their promises ; and because at this period, also, Severus was engaged in a war near home, Lupus was compelled to purchase peace from the Mreata? at a great price, after having made a few prisoners." The emperor's presence was obviously necessary to maintain the supremacy of Rome, He had other motives, however, for visiting the island. His own bounding ambition impelled him ; his soldiery were sinking into listlessness and inactivity ; and some means must be provided for withdrawing his sons from the abandoned pleasures of the city. He gladly listened, therefore, to the call of his legate, and took his departure for Britain, not without some sad misgivings that he would never return. He was accompanied by both his sons, and the empress, Julia Domna. " It would," Horsley remarks, 2 " be a great satisfaction to deter- mine the time of this emperor's coming to Britain." This may be done with some degree of exactness. It is certain that Severus's expedition against the Caledonians was the last he ever undertook ; it is known Herodiani Hist. Lib. iii., c. CI. Monumenta Hist. Brit., p. lxiii. Britannia Romana, p. 56. 20 THE ARRIVAL OF SEVERUS IN BRITAIN. that he died at York on the 4th of February, a.d. 211 ; and Xiphiline informs us, that " he returned not from the British expedition, but died there, three years after he undertook it." This gives us the year 208 as that of his arrival in Britain. He probably came sufficiently early in the season to enable him to form his plans, to concentrate his troops, and to put in order the bridges and stations on the line of road by which he intended to proceed into Scotland. The next two summers, with the intermediate winter, were, doubtless, spent upon his Caledonian expedition. Returning to his head quarters at York, in the autumn of 210, he died, as we have seen, early in the following year. Horsley thinks that Xiphiline's reckoning "must be understood with some latitude, so as to take in part of the fourth year," and says that the landing of Severus in Britain cannot have been later than a.d. 207. It would not, however, be easy to account, in accordance with the narratives of Herodian and Xiphiline, for the manner in which the additional winter, which this supposition gives us, was spent. 1 Both Herodian and Xiphiline give us an account of the expedition of Severus, 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: — "While Severus thus grieved at the dissolute life of his sons, and their unbecoming attachment to public spectacles, he received letters from the prefect of Britain relating that the barbarians there were in a state of insurrection, over-running the country, driving off booty, and laying everything waste; so that for the defence of the island there was need either of greater force, or of the pi-esence of the emperor himself. Severus heard this with pleasure, by nature a lover of glory, and anxious after his victories in the East and North, and his eonsecpuent titles, to obtain a trophy from the Britons: moreover, willing to withdraw his suns from Borne, he orders an expedition against Britain, although now old and labouring under an arthritic affection ; but as to his mind, he was vigorous beyond any youth. For the most part he performed the march carried in a litter, nor did he ever continue long in one place. Having completed the journey with his sons, and crossed over the sea more quickly than could be described or expected, he advanced against the Britons, and having drawn together his soldiers from all skies, and concentrated a vast force, he prepared for war. " The Britons, much struck with the sudden arrival of the emperor, and learning that such a mighty force was collected against them, sent ambassadors, sued for peace, and were willing to excuse their past transgressions. But Severus, purposely seeking 1 The evidence of coins is satisfactory so far as it goes. In Birago's ^N umismata, placed undei the date a.d. COS, are a gold and also a silver coin, hearing on the reverse the legend protect. avgg. fel. That the date given to these is correct, is rendered evident by a brass coin, of similar import, struck in the 16th tribuneship of the emperor, a.d. 208. The Legend on it is prof. avg. p. m. tr. p. xvi. s.C. These coins, no doubt, refer to the departure for Britain of the emperor and his sons. In the same work (see also Hohler, p. 630), and ranged under the same year, i- a brass coin, having on the reverse a bridge, defended at each end by a tower tilled with soldiery, and the legend p.m. tr. p. xvi. cos. in. p.p. s.c. This coin is supposed to refer to the bridges built by Severus, in the north of England, in anticipation of his Caledonian campaign. — " Ls • the 19th trihunitian year of Severus and the 14th of Caracalla are current upon coins before Feb. 4th, 211. the day on which Severus died" it is justly inferred that their trihunitian years were computed from Jan. 1." — Clinton's Fasti. 2 Herodiani Historiarum, lib. III., Stephen's edition, p. 82. The translation here adopted is that given in the Moriumenta Historica. THE CAMPAIGNS OF SEVERUS. 21 delay that he might not again return to Rome without his object, and, moreover, desirous to obtain from Britain a victory and a title, sent away their ambassadors without effecting their purpose, and prepared all things for the contest. He more especially endeavoured to render the marshy places stable by means of causeways, that his soldiers, treading with safety, might easily pass them, and, having firm footing, fight to advantage." Herodian next gives a short description of the inhabitants, and says : — "For many parts of the British country, being constantly flooded by the tides of the ocean, became marshy. In these the natives are accustomed to swim and traverse about, being immersed as high as their waists: for going naked, as to the greater part of their bodies, they contemn the mud. Indeed they know not the use of clothing, but encircle their loins and necks with iron; deeming this an ornament and an evidence of opulence, in like manner as other barbarians esteem gold. But they puncture their bodies with pictured forms of every sort of animals ; on which account they wear no clothing, lest they should hide the figures on their body. They are a most warlike and sanguinary race, carrying only a small shield and a spear, and a sword girded to their naked bodies. Of a breast-plate or an helmet they know not the use, esteeming them an impediment to their progress through the marshes; from the vapours and exhalations of which, the atmosphere in that country always appears dense." The historian proceeds with his story : — " Against such things, therefore, Severus prepared whatever could be serviceable to the Roman army, but hurtful and detrimental to the designs of the barbarians. And when everything appeared to him sufficiently arranged for the war, leaving his younger son named Geta. in that part of the island which was subjugated to the Romans, for the purpose of administering justice and directing other civil matters of the government, giving him as assessors the more aged of his friends; and taking Antoninus [Caracalla] with himself, he led the way against the barbarians. His army having passed beyond the rivers and fortresses which defended the Roman territory, there were frequent attacks and skirmishes, and retreats on the side of the barbarians. To these, indeed, flight was an easy matter, and they lay hidden in the thickets and marshes through their local know- ledge; all which things being adverse to the Romans, served to protract the war." Such was the unsatisfactory nature of Severus's expedition. The annoyances to which he was exposed, no doubt, hastened his end. " But a sickness of longer continuance than usual now seized Severus in his advanced age, so that he himself was compelled to remain inactive, and purposed to send Antoninus to direct military matters. Antoninus, however, cared little about the barbarians, but endeavoured to conciliate the soldiery. He persuaded all to look up to him alone, grasped at the empire by every possible method, and heaped up accusations against his brother. That his father for so long a time should thus linger and make but slow advances towards death, appeared to him tedious and vexatious; he, therefore, persuaded the physicians and attendants to treat him in such manner as might rid him of the old man as soon as possible. At length, however, and even then chiefly worn out by vexation, Severus expired; having lived more gloriously as to military matters than any of the emperors Having reigned eighteen years, he died, and was succeeded by his sons, to whom he left treasure to such an amount as no one before had done, and an army which none could resist." On the death of Severus, the imperial family made immediate arrangements for a return to Rome. " Antoninus, therefore, when his attempt with the military failed, making a truce with the barbarians, and granting them peace, and receiving pledges of fidelity, left the F 22 MANNERS OF THE CALEDONIANS. hostile country, and proceeded to his mother and his brother. ... In this manner both directing the affairs of government, they resolved, with equal dignity, to loose from Britain : and they proceeded to Rome, carrying with them the remains of their father. For, having committed his body to the flames, and cast the ashes, together with spices, into an urn of alabaster, they conveyed them to Rome, that they might deposit these sacred reliques in the imperial sepulchre. 1 Transporting their army, therefore, and now become the conquerors of the Britons, they crossed the ocean, and arrived in the opposite coast of Gaul." Dion Cassius was contemporary with Severus. That portion of his work, which treats of the reign of this emperor, is, as has been already stated, known to us only through the epitome of Xiphiline. After des- cribing the evil omens which betokened the death of the emperor, and telling us that he never returned from the expedition, but died three years after first setting out from Rome, he gives the following description of the country and its inhabitants. It will be observed, he speaks of the Wall as already existing. " Among the Britons the two greatest tribes are the Caledonians and the Mjeatee ; for even the names of the others, as may be said, have merged in these. The Majata; dwell close to the Wall, which divides the island into two parts, the Caledonians beyond them. Each of these people inhabit mountains wild and waterless, and plains desert and marshy, having neither walls nor cities nor tilth ; but living by pasturage, by the chace, and on certain berries. For of their fish, though abundant and inexhaustible, they never taste. They live in tents, naked and barefooted, having wives in common, and rearing the whole of their progeny. Their state is chiefly democratical, and they are above all things delighted by pillage ; they fight from chariots, having small swift horses ; they fight also on foot, are very fleet when running, and most resolute when compelled to stand : their arms consist of a shield and a short spear, having a brazen knob at the extremity of the shaft, that when shaken it may terrify the enemy by its noise : they use daggers als< > ; and are capable of enduring hunger, thirst, and hardships of every description : for when plunged in the marshes they abide there many days, with their heads only out of water : and in the woods they subsist on bark and roots: they prepare for all emergencies a certain kind of food, of which if they eat only so much as the size of a bean, they neither hunger nor thirst. Such then is the island of Britannia, and such the inhabitants of that part of it which is hostile to us ; for it is an island, and so, as I have said, at that time it was clearly ascertained to be." His account of the Caledonian campaign is important. " Of this island, very little more than one half is ours. Severus, therefore, being anxious to subjugate the whole, advanced into Caledonia: and, in traversing the country, underwent indescribable labour in cutting down woods, levelling hills, making marshes passable, and constructing bridges over rivers; for he fought not a single battle, nor did he see any army in array. The enemy, moreover, threw sheep and oxen in our track, on purpose that the soldiers might seize them, and thus, being enticed further onward, might 'Not only has the name of Severus been attached to Hadrian's Wall, hut to three hills, the result of diluvial action, in the immediate vicinity of York. Drake, in his Ehoracum, tells us — "That the memory of the Emperor might last in Britain as long as the world, his grateful army with infinite labour, raised three large hills, in the very place where his funeral rites were performed, which hills, after so many ages, being washed with rains, and often ploughed, are still very apparent, but must have been much higher than they are at present." As Mr. Wellbeloved remarks, the hills are clearly natural. The decision of the character of Severus, and the severity of his discipline, caused his name to be remembered in the North of England long after the smoke of his funeral pyre had passed away. Tradition naturally seeks a local habitation. THE DEATH OF SEVERUS. 23 be worn out by their sufferings. From the waters, too, they suffered dreadfully, and ambuscades were laid for them when dispersed. And if no longer able to proceed, they were dispatched by their very comrades, lest they should be taken: so that by these means to the amount of fifty thousand of them perished. Still, however, Severus desisted not until he had nearly reached the extremity of the island, and most carefully examined the parallax of the sun, and the length of the days and nights, both in summer and winter. And so, borne as one may say, throughout the whole hostile district, for truly he was for the greater part carried in a covered litter on account of his weakness, he came again into the friendly part of it, having compelled the Britons to a treaty on the condition that they should yield up no small portion of their territory." 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 then country, and to put all they met to the sword. He is said to have signified his savage intention, by quoting from Homer, 1 the lines which Cowper thus translates : " Die the race ! May none escape us ! neither he who Hies. Nor even the infant in the mother's womb Unconscious." 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. The coins of Severus record his victories. One of them is repre- sented beneath. On the obverse is the laureated head of the imperious 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 the occasion on which the coin has been struck. 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. Several inscribed stones, recording the dedication of buildings of importance, to the emperors Elagabalus and Severus Alexander, which have been dug up, not only in the stations on the Wall but in those to the north of it, show that the Caledonians had been well kept in check at this time. 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 Victorinus, Postumus, the two Tetrici, and Marius, are supposed to have 1 Iliad, vi, 57. 24 DIOCLETIAN AND MAXIMIAN. assumed the sovereignty in this island, or the west of Europe ; then- coins being dug up more abundantly here and in France than elsewhere. 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 induced the emperors, a few years afterwards, to appoint two Caesars. 1 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 Constantino the Great. 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 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 the motive of self-preservation, as well as ambition, entered into an alliance with hisformer foes, the Franks and Saxons, and declared himself emperor of Britain. He was favoural >ly received by the natives of the island, and for seven years wielded the sovereignty of his empire with vigour and ability. He repelled the Mseatse and the Caledonians, and, having subdued these tribes, attached them to his interest. Nothing, observes Mr. Thackeray, 2 can more rally 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 Koman 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 thou- sand ships, when Carausius was murdered by Allectus, whom he had trusted as his dearest friend. For about three years the assassin held, though with a less firm grasp, the power formerly possessed by his victim. On the withdrawal, in the year 305, of Diocletian and Maximian from the cares of the empire, Galerius and Constantius became the rulers of the world. Constantine, afterwards surnamed the Great, was proclaimed 1 The title of Csesar was intended to signify an associate in the empire, with power subordinate to that of the Aug-ustus, or emperor, but with a right to succeed him. 2 Thackeray's Ecclesiastical and Political State of Ancient Britain, Vol. I., p. Colt. THE USURPATION OF MAGNENTIUS. 25 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. During the life-time of Constantine, Britain partook of the civil tranquillity of the rest of the world ; but in the reign of his sons — Constantine II., Constantius. and Constans — amongst whom, shortly before his death, he had divided the empire, 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 Frank, usurped the dignity of Augustus, and after murdering Constans. entered into a contest with Constantius, the only survivor of the three brothers, for the empire of the world. In support of his claims, he collected a large army, deriving his forces chiefly 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 a bloody revenge upon the Britons for having supported him. Meanwhile the Picts and Scots harassed them, on the north, with increased energy. Magnentius had assumed the Christian profession ; it cannot he said he adorned it. The coin which is here represented exhibits on the obverse the ungainly profile of the emperor, and on the reverse the Christian emblem con- sisting of the first two letters (Chi and Rho) of the sacred name — Christ; and the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet — Alpha and Omega, indicative of his eternal existence. 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, and the father of the first emperor of that name, was sent to the assistance of the Britons. Relying chiefly on the legionary and other forces in the island, he took with him but a small number of troops — one corps of Batavians, another of Heruli. a third called the Jovii, and a fourth styled the Victores. Embarking at Boulogne he landed at Richborough. He soon restored confidence to the inhabitants of London. By the skilful management of the forces at his disposal. he dispersed the marauders. He avoided a general engagement, but destroyed the enemy in detail. In the course of two campaigns he restored peace to the country, and forced the Picts and Scots to retire 1 leyond the Antonine Wall. These events occurred a.d. 368. 369 ; it 26 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THEODOSIUS. is to Ammianus Marcellinus, a writer of good credit, 1 that we are indebted for the account of them. The following narrative seems to be intended for a summary of the first campaign of Theodosius : — " In this way, discharging the duties both of an able general and a brave soldier, he routed the various tribes, whose insolence, prompted by security, had led them to attack the Roman government and completely restored the cities and camps — "in integrum restitituit civitates et castra' — which, though they had suffered from manifold calamities, had originally been well contrived for maintaining a lasting peace." 2 There can be little doubt that the " castra" here restored were those on the line of Hadrian's Wall and in its vicinity, as we afterwards have a reference to the Antonine Wall. A conspiracy now broke out, which at one time threatened serious consequences; Theodosius, however, suppressed it, and then went on with those ulterior measures which he thought necessary for the security of the province. Marcellinus proceeds to observe : — " He restored, as we have said, the cities and garrison fortresses [Hadrian's Wall], and secured the frontiers [Antonine's Wall], by guards and advanced posts — ' instaurabat urbes et prsesidiaria, ut diximus, castra limitesque vigiliis tuebatur et pratenturis — ;' and so the province which had before been wholly in possession of the enemy was so completely restored to its original state that the lawful authority of its former governor was perfectly re-established, and it assumed the name of Valentia, in honour of the emperor under whose administration such a successful accomplishment had been attained." In this latter passage, the historian, after glancing at the fact, stated in the passage previously quoted, that Theodosius, before he was inter- rupted in his career by an attempted conspiracy, had strengthened the garrisons on Hadrian's Wall, goes on to tell us, that as soon as this new source of danger was removed, he again turned his arms against the common foe, and pursued them to the frontiers of the empire, where he made all secure by posting troops in the camps there, which had been for some time deserted. That the frontiers here referred to are the Antonine Wall and its stations, is rendered evident (as Mr. Hodgson Hinde, in his General History of the County of Northumberland, 3 ably argues), not only from the general tenor of the paragraph, but by the fact that the province thus cleared of invaders was named Valentia, in honour of the reigning emperor. If we take, as some have done, the Wall of Hadrian to be the frontier line referred to, then, Ave are reduced to the necessity of looking for Valentia to the south of that structure, instead of to the north of it, where we know, from other sources, that it was situated. 1 Gibbon denominates him "an impartial historian" — (Decline and Fall, Vol. IV., p. 380) — and Professor Ramsay says that "nearly all his statements appear to be founded upon his own observations, or upon the information derived from trustworthy eve-witnesses." — Smith's Diet. Biog. Vol. I., p. 143. 5 Giles' Hist. Anc. Britons, Vol. I., p. 321. 3 Forming the 1st volume of Hodgson's History of Northumberland, p. 13. THE WARS OF MAXIMUS. 27 Although the Antoniue Wall was not kept continually garrisoned, it seems evident from this historian, that the Romans, up to this time at least, regarded the province between the Walls as beloneins; to the empire. Other facts confirm this view. The station of Bremen ium, which is twenty-two miles to the north of the Wall, on the line of the Watling Street, has evidently been kept in a state of repair to a period considerably subsequent to the time of Severus. The same may be said of the camp at Netherby, and others on the northern side of Hadrian's Wall. There is, however, reason to believe that the garrisons had been temporarily withdrawn from these advanced forts, some time before the arrival of Theodosius. 1 In 367 Valcntinian associated with himself in the government of the empire his son Gratian. On the death of Yalentinian, a.d. 37"). Gratian and his brother Yalentinian II. became joint emperors. In the year 379, Theodosius was also raised to the rank of Augustus in order that he might repress the Goths in the eastern part of the empire. The year 383 is memorable for the usurpation of Maximus, who was proclaimed emperor by the legions stationed in Britain. Passing into Gaul, he was favourably received by the legions there. Gratian was betrayed and slain by the soldiery, and Maximus was admitted by the surviving emperors to a share of the government. Not being content with the provinces which were assigned him, Maximus, shortly after his elevation to the purple, attempted to take forcible possession of Italy, when he in his turn was betrayed by his soldiers and put to death. In the struggles of Maximus for empire, Britain suffered severely. Having seiwed in the island under the elder Theodosius, he was a favourite with the native troops, great numbers of whom either accompanied him to the Continent or followed him afterwards, so that the island was drained of its youth. When, a few years subsequently, the legionary forces were also withdrawn, the military power of Britain was con- siderably diminished. Yalentinian was murdered a.d. 392 ; Theo- dosius thus became sole emperor, and continued to be so till his death in 395. The time now drew niffh when the dominion of Rome in Britain was to cease. Theodosius was succeeded by his two sons, Arcadius and Honorius. The Roman empire, which from the days of Julius Caesar had formed one great government was now divided into two, Arcadius taking the Eastern and Honorius the Western portion. As Honorius, at the time of his accession, was but eleven years of age, Stilicho, his father's minister, was appointed guardian of the state. The condition of the world at this period was peculiarly unhappy. 1 See Account of Excavations at Bremen itm. 1855, in the Arch. iEliana, New Series, Vol. I., p. 69. 28 THE ADMINISTRATION OF STILICHO. The barbarians that had hitherto, though with difficulty, been kept beyond the limits of the empire, now boldly devastated the plains and assaulted the cities of the interior. The division of the empire into two separate governments not only produced a proportionate amount of weakness but led to rivalries between the ministers of the emperors, which greatly lessened the power of each to repel the common foe. On assuming the reins of government, Stilicho acted with great vigour. He crossed the Alps in the depth of winter, and effectually humbled all who resisted his authority in Gaul and Germany. The leader of the Franks fell into his hands, and he severely chastised the Saxon pirates. Claudian, using, perhaps, more than a poet's license, says of him, in the first book of his Panegyrics : — " Should we feel wonder, foes are overthrown. By war's dread rage, who bend to fright alone ? Without the trumpet's clangour, Franks give way: Suevi soon, our laws, were made obey ; No force was used: 'twill scarcely credit find: Fierce Germany at once the neck resigned. Your high exploits, O Drusus ! — Trajan ! yield, Renown acquired by struggles in the field ; Whate'er, 'mid perils great your arms assured, The presence e'en of Stilicho procured." ' It is to this period that those who take Gildas and Beda as their guide refer the sending over to Britain of a legion, on two several occa- sions, in answer to the cries of the people, and the building of the Wall from sea to sea. This view is supposed to derive authority from the muse of Claudian. The poet in imagination represents the various nations of the earth as pressing, in solemn conclave, upon Stilicho, the propriety of his assuming the office of consul. Britain is thus introduced upon the stage : — •' Inde Caledonio velata Britannia monstro. Ferro picta genas, cujus vestigia verrit Caerulus, Oeeanique sestum mentitur, amictus: Me quoque vicinis pereuntem gentilms, inqnit. Munivit Stilicho, totam quum Scotus Iernen Movit, et infesto spumavit remige Tethvs. Illius effectum curis, ne tela timerem Scotica, ne Pictum tremerem, ne litore toto Prospicerem dnbiis venturmn Saxona ventis." — lines which Mr. Hawkins thus translates : — " Britannia then, with cheeks that wounds displayed. In Caledonian monster's spoils, arrayed, 1 Hawkins' Translation, Vol. II., p. 7'2. Claudian is a writer that cannot lie dispensed with, though he has some marked failings. Gibbon says of him: — "As Claudian appears to have indulged the most ample privilege of ;i poet and a courtier, some criticism will he requisite to translate the language of fiction or exaggeration into the truth and simplicity of historic prose." — Decline and Fall, vol. V., p. 146 n. THE INFLUENCE OF STILICHO's RENOWN. 29 And azure dress that, o'er her footsteps, waved, Like rolling billows, thus attention craved: On me has Stilicho oft aid bestowed When neighboring nations hostile movements showed, The Scotch allured the Irish in their train, And Tethys foamed with foes that ploughed the main. By him assisted, I, their darts, could dare ; Devoid of fear, the Picts' incursions, bear; And Saxons, who their dubious course pursue In spite of winds, upon my borders, -view." ' As Stilicho was consul a.d. 400, these verses belong to a period prior to that date. Admitting the propriety of the remark that s " We can hardly consent to regard Claudian's vigorous lines as mere rhetoric," the truth of them may, probably, be found to consist in the following statement: — " Such was the terror caused by the rapid and crushing advance of Stilicho, that the Picts made a sudden retreat from Britain into their native mountains, from mere fear that Stilicho would effect a landing on the British coast, although he never did so." 3 Armies may retreat and nations may lay down their arms under the influence of panic, but extensive lines of fortification cannot be reared under any momentary impulse. Neither Hadrian nor Severus found the power of their name sufficient to repress the attacks of the Caledonians; it seems scarcely credible that the mere orders of Stilicho, supported by such aid as he could afford in the disastrous time in which he lived, should have had the effect, not only of carrying terror into the hearts of the Picts and Scots, but of inspiring the Britons with such energy and courage, as to enable them successfully to carry out the construction of the barrier of the Lower Isthmus." 1 De Laudilms Stihchonis, lib. II., v. 247. — Hawkins's Claudian, Vol. II., p. 01. 2 Quarterly Review, Vol. CVIL, p. 145 n. 3 Smith's Dictionary, Art. Stilicho, Vol. III., p. 912. 1 It is necessary to observe that the latest and ablest supporter of the views of Gildas uses considerable latitude in his interpretation of that author. He conceives that the Wall was not built :it nine, and by a single person, but was the work of a series of years. His account of its erection is as follows: — "Early in the fourth century the island was overrun by the barbarians of Caledonia, whom we now first hear of under the name of Picts and Scots, and their predatory hordes were encountered by Theodosius, the general of the Emperor Valens, in the neighbourhood of London, in the year 368. The invaders were routed and driven back beyond both the limitary ramparts, and Theodosius restored, a- we are expressly informed by a reputable historian, the camps, castles, and prsetenturae, or chains of forts in the north, and reconstituted the province beyond the Solway under the designation of Valentin. As, however, no prudent general could hope to retain the permanent occupation of this exposed district, it might be judged expedient to take this opportunity of securing the lower and more important line of defences by the strongest fortifications. If. hitherto, the bulwarks of the Lower Isthmus hail been confined to the camps and mounds of Hadrian and Severus. it was now, we may suppose, that the stations were fenced with masonry, and the V\ all designed and at least partly executed, witli broad openings at every mile for the temporary shelter of the exposed provin- cials beyond it. After the retirement of Theodosius the frontiers were again assailed by the restless savages. Stilicho. about 400, issued orders from Gaul for putting the island in a state of defence against the Saxons, the Picts, and the Scots, and if we may rely on the evidence of the poet Claudian, his designs were carried fullv into execution. We may at least admit that his engineers continued and extended the plan of Theodosius. Finally, after the withdrawal of the Roman garrison by Maximus, the Picts ami Scots repeated their attacks, and the single legion which was sent from H 30 THE TWENTIETH LEGION WITHDRAWN. In the year 403, Alaric, at the head of the Gothic army, pressed on to Milan, compelling- the emperor Honorins to take refuge in Ravenna, In order to provide an army sufficiently strong for the emergency, Stilicho withdrew most of the Roman troops from Gaul and Germany, and even recalled a legion from Britain. Claudian says : — " Venit et extremis legio praetenta Britannia. Qua? Scoto clat fraena truci, ferroque notatas Perlesit exsangues Picto moriente figuras." " The legions came, on British confines placed, "Where they, fierce Scots restrained by lofty bars, And viewed the dying Pict with frightful scars." 5 With his army thus reinforced, Stilicho fought and won the battle of Pollentia. There is little doubt, that the legion which was thus withdrawn was the twentieth, which had come to Britain in the time of Claudius, three hundred and sixty years before. This legion is not mentioned in the Notitia, which is believed to have been compiled at the beginning of the fifth century. Mr. Hodgson Hinde cleverly conjectures, that it had been withdrawn from Britain at the time the Notitia was compiled ; but had not as yet obtained other fixed quarters." When the heart of the empire was a prey to enemies so rapacious as the Vandals, little attention could be paid to the extremities. In self-defence, as Zosimus 7 informs us, Britain now assumed an independent position. Lest the Vandals should attack them, the armies [the two legions], which still remained in the island, proceeded to the election of an emperor. Marcus and Gratian were successively chosen and speedily afterwards murdered. Constantine, a common soldier, whose chief quali- fication was his name, was next invested with the purple ; and wishing to avoid the fate of his predecessors, resolved to keep his soldiers in active operation. He crossed the Channel and engaged in continental quarrels. It is on this occasion that we lose sight of the 2nd and the 6th Legions which had for nearly four centuries taken an active part in all the affairs of the island. They, no doubt, accompanied Constantine to the continent and never returned. These events occurred when Arcadius, for the sixth time, and Probus, were consuls, corresponding to Rome in 414, inn! again ;i i'm- years Inter, may have assisted or at least advised the natives in putting tin- finishing stroke to their defensive works, and thus the Wall, the remains of which we now see, may have occupied, from first to last, fifty years in building." ■ De helln Getico, v. 41(i. — Hawkins's Claudian, Vol. II., p. 14ii. 6 Hist. Nor., Pt. I., Roman Period, p. 19. 7 Zosimus was a Greek historian who lived in the time of the younger Theodosius. His history of the Roman empire must have been written after a.d. 425, as he mentions an event which took place that year. He was a pagan, and ilicl not spare the faults anil crimes of the Christian emperors; on this account he has been fiercely assailed by what has l>een called the Christian party. He does not seem, however, to have heen guilty of any williil misrepresentation.— See Smith's Biog. Diet., Art. Zosimus. THE USURPATION OF CONSTANTINE. 31 the year 406. The revolution which was commenced by the legions was completed by the people. Forsaken by the armies of Home and the newly elected emperor, they felt the necessity of exerting themselves for their own safety. According to Zosimus : — " The people, therefore, of Britain taking up arms, and braving every danger, freed their cities from the invading barbarians. And the whole Armorie and other provinces of Gaul, imitating the Britons, liberated themselves in like manner, expelling the Roman praefects and setting up a civil polity according to their own inclination. " This defection of Britain and the Celtic nations took place during the time of Constantine's usurpation [a.d. 407 — 411]; the barbarians rising up in consequence of his neglect of the government." ' According to Gildas, Britain never recovered the drain of its forces, occasioned by the continental wars of Maximus, but " groaned in amaze- ment for many years, under the cruelty of the Picts and Scots." By this time, however, as Mr. Hodgson Hinde well remarks, 5 "a genera- tion had grown up. Those who were too young for the conscription of Maximus were now adult ; and this is the population, which, although unused to war, took up arms, and, braving every danger, freed their cities from the barbarians." True policy, as well as the natural indolence of Honorius, dictated the propriety of renouncing all controul over provinces so distant as Britain. When, therefore, a.d. 409, " the usurper Constantine sent eunuchs to Honorius, entreating forgiveness for having allowed himself to accept the empire," he made a virtue of necessity, and, as Zosimus tells us, " acceded to his request, and also sent him an imperial robe." In the following year, in answer probably to appeals for help from the municipalities of the island, he formally renounced all claim upon its allegiance. Zosimus says : — " Honorius, moreover, having written letters to the cities in Britain, urging them to look to their own safety, and giving largesses to the soldiers out of the money sent to him by Heraclean, indulged in all indolence, having procured the goodwill of the soldiery on every side." 3 This occurred in the year 410, the year in which Alaric entered Rome. The boon of British liberty could not have been much longer deferred. "Thus," says Milton, "expired this great empire of the Romans ; first in Britain, soon after in Italy itself. . . . And with the empire fell also what before in this western world was chiefly Roman ; learning, valour, eloquence, history, civility, and even language itself, all these together, as it were, with equal pace, diminishing and decaying." Gildas "the Wise," the earliest of British historians, paints, in gloomy colours, the closing scene of ancient British history. His state- 1 Monumenta Historica, p. lxxviii. 2 History of Northumberland, Pt. I., p. 1G. 3 Mon. Hist., p. lxxix. 32 THE NARRATIVE OF GILDAS. merits are of sufficient importance to demand careful consideration ; but it may well be doubted if after the withdrawal of the troops in the early part of the reign of Honorius, any Roman legion again visited the island, and few who have made the Wall and its inscriptions their study, will accept of Gildas' account of their origin. " After this, Britain is left deprived of all her soldiery and armed bands, of her cruel governors, and of the flower of her youth, who went with Maximus, but never returned ; and utterly ignorant as she was of the art of war, groaned in amazement for many years under the cruelty of two foreign nations — the Scots from the north-west, and the Picts from the north. " The Britons, impatient at the assaults of the Scots and Picts, their hostilities and dreadful oppressions, send ambassadors to Rome with letters, entreating, in piteous terms, the assistance of an armed band to protect them, and offering loyal and ready submission to the authority of Rome, if they only would expel the then invading foes. A legion is immediately sent, forgetting their past rebellion, and 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 build 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 binning wind, break through the boundaries, and spread slaughter on every side, and like mowers cutting down the ripe corn, they cut up, tread under foot, and overrun the whole country. "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, that their wretched country mio-ht not be altogether destroyed, and that the Roman name, which now was but an empty sound to fill the ear, might not become a reproach even to distant nations. Upon this the Romans, moved with compassion, as far as human nature can be, at the relation of such horrors, send forward, like eagles in their flight, their unexpected bands of cavalry by land, and mariners by sea, and planting their terrible swords upon the shoulders of their enemies, they mow them down like leave- which fall at the destined period; and as a mountain torrent, swelled with numerous streams, and bursting its banks with roaring noise, with foaming crest and yeasty wave, rising to the stars, by whose eddying currents our eves are, as it were, dazzled, does with one of its billows overwhelm every obstacle in its way, so did our illustrious defenders vigorously drive our enemies' band beyond the sea, if any could so escape them; for it was beyond those same seas that they transported, year after year, the plunder which they had gained, no one daring to resist them. " The Romans, therefore, left the country, giving notice that they could no longer be harassed by such laborious expeditions, nor sutler the Roman standards, with so large and brave an army, to be worn out by sea and land by fighting against these unwarlike plun- dering vagabonds ; but that the islanders, inuring themselves to warlike weapons, and bravely fighting, should valiantly protect their country, their property, wives and children, and, what is dearer than these, their liberty and lives ; that they shoidd 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 THE NARRATIVE OF GILDAS. 33 hands with buckler, sword, and spear, ready for the field of Imttle; and, because they thought this also of advantage to the people they were about to lease, they, with the help of the miserable natives, built a wall, different from the former, by public and private contributions, and of the same structure as walls generally, extending in a straight line from sea to sea, between some cities, which, from fear of their enemies, had then by chance been built. They then give energetic counsel to the timorous natives, and leave them patterns by which to manufacture arms. Moreover, on the south coast, when' their vessels lay, as there was some apprehension lest the barbarians might land, they erected towers at stated intervals, commanding a prospect of the sea: and then left the island, never to return." When the Roman legion had gone, the Piets and Scots of course fame hack again. " To oppose them," says Gildas, " 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 Theylefttheirciti.es, abandoned the protection of the wall, and dispersed themselves in flight more desperately than before." The islanders send a third embassy to Home : — •■ Again, therefore, the wretched remnant, sending to .ZBtius, a powerful Roman citizen, address him as follows: — 'To ^Etius. now consul for the third time: the groans of the Britons!' And, again, a little farther, thus: — '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.' The Romans could not assist them." iEtius was consul for the third time a.d. -i4(». The Britons disappointed of aid in this quarter, look elsewhere. " Then all the councillors, together with that proud tyrant Gurthrigern, the. British king, were so blinded, that as a protection to their country, they sealed its doom by inviting in among them (like wolves into the sheep-fold) the fierce and impious Saxons, a race hateful both to God and man, to repel the invasions of the Northern nations. Nothing was ever so pernicious to our country, nothing was ever so unlucky ! " ' Such is the account given us by Gildas of the building of the Avails, the departure of the Romans, and the arrival of the Saxons. Several difficulties attend it. How was it. that Rome, when in the very throes of dissolution, was able to send, on two different occasions, a well-disciplined army to so distant a region as Britain? It seems exceedingly strange, too. that this great sacrifice should have been made on behalf of a pro- vince that not long before had thrown off its allegiance. We are at a loss, also, to know where the walls are to which Gildas refers. We know that Hadrian drew a wall from sea to sea, in the Lower Isthmus, and that Antoninus Pius constructed an earthen rampart in the Upper. Severus, too, has left the impress of his energies in the Xorth of England. 1 The Works of Gildas and Xennius, by Dr. Giles. London, 1S41, page 19. i 34 GILDAs's NARRATIVE QUESTIONABLE. But when the claims of these emperors are satisfied, no rampart or wall remains that can be ascribed to the legions of which Gildas speaks. Nor is this all. The statements of the Augustine writers, respecting the building of the Walls of Antonine and Hadrian, are confirmed by numerous inscriptions. No inscriptions give countenance to the state- ments of Gildas. The testimony of coins, though not so express as that of inscriptions, is yet valuable ; it, too, is against Gildas. The series of coins, found in the stations of the North of England, and in the camps and Roman cities of the South, extends from the earlier reigns of the empire down to the time of Arcadius and Honorius, and then ceases. 1 If a legion came to Britain in the time of Valentinian III., it was destitute of treasure. Gildas refers to the building of some forts on the south coast of Britain. Are these the strongly fortified camps of Reculver, Rich- borough, Lymne, Pevensey, and others ? Is it possible that these lofty and massive walls can have been reared by a legion exhausted with the building of the Wall in Northumberland, and in haste to take its departure from a land that had for more than a quarter of a century been the prey of savage foes ? The coins found in these camps come down in regular series from the time of Augustus to that of Honorius, and there stop. 1 During the excavations carried on in 1858 in the northern section of the station of Conder- cum, the author had the opportunity of seeing many of the coins that were discovered. The latest of those which fell under his notice was one of the reign of Constans. A parcel of coins, found near Ileddon-on-the-Wall, was presented, in 1856, by the Rev. James Raine to the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle. These coins chiefly belong to the reigns of < lonstantine the Great and his immediate successors; the latest belongs to the time of Arcadius. A list of the several varieties of the coins found in excavating the Baths at Ciltjrnum, in 184:!, is given by Mr. Clayton in his paper upon the subject, in the Archaeologia /Eliana, Vol. III., p. 14?, U.S. The series begins with Hadrian and ends with Gratian. During the extensive excavations undertaken by Mr. ( Slayton in the station of Borcovicus, in several of the mile-castles, and along large tracts of the Wall, great care has been taken to preserve such coins as might he turned up. The latest of these are the coins of Valentinian the younger and Gratian. The late Mr. Hell, of Irthington, was long an assiduous collector of the Roman ( loins found upon the Wall in his vicinity, and in the neighbouring station of Walton House. His catalogue, a copy of which was communicated to the writer, begins with Julius Caesar and ends with Arcadius. A large mass of coins, about 5,000 in number, was found near Brampton, in Cumberland, in 1826. In the account of this find, given in the Archaeologia JElinna, Vol. II., p. '211, O.S., the only coins specially named are some of the emperors Valerianus and Gallienus. Extensive excavations were carried on at Bremenium, in Redesdale, in lS.VJnnd 1855, and the coins very carefully collected. From the time of Otho to the days of Carausius there was a tolerably complete representation of the Roman emperors; but with Carausius the series ended. — Archaeologia /Eliana, Vol. I., p. 79, N.S. Turning to the south of the Wall, we find the same results. In Drake's "Eboracum" a catalogue of coins found in York is given, which ranges from Augustus to Gratian: and recent discoveries, in the opinion of the late Rev. ( '. Wellbeloved (Eburacum, p. 144), have added little of importance to this record. In Mr. Lee's " [sea Silurian" is a copious catalogue of coins found at Caerleon and the surrounding district. It begins with Claudius and ends with Honorius and Arcadius. The Rev. II. M. Scarth, speaking of the existing collections of Roman coins found in Bath and the neighbourhood, says, that the earliest specimen in them is one of Claudius, and the latest one of the emperor Gratian. — " Isca Silurum," p. 131. The copious list of Roman coins found at Cirencester, given in the Remains of Roman Art, in Cirencester, begins with Augustus and ends with Honorius. The catalogue given in Mr. C. Roach Smith's Remains of Roman London, p. 150, ends with Honorius. In the summary of coins found at Richborough, which Mr. C. Roach Smith inserts in his account of that important station, there are twenty-seven coins of Arcadius, six of Honorius, and one of Constantine III., with whom the series ends. In the catalogue of Roman coins found at Pevensey, given in Mr. Roach Smith's Report of the Excavations there, none come lower than the time of Gratian. It would thus appear that intercourse with Rome ceased in the reign of Honorius. THE ARRIVAL OF THE SAXONS. 35 Antiquaries have no difficulty in naming the legions which were employed in executing the commands of Hadrian, Antonine, and Severus — Gildas does not inform us by what legions his walls were built. The terms in which the British historian speaks of the Saxons would lead us to suppose, that they made their first appearance in England after the final departure of the Romans. There cannot be a doubt, that though they came over in greater numbers at this period than before, they already formed a considerable part of the popnlation of the eastern coast of England. Mr. Merivale is of opinion, that Frisians, Saxons, and Danes had settled on the eastern coast of Britain even before the Roman invasion. 1 This, at least, is certain, that towards the close of the Roman period the Germanic tribes were so numerous, on the southern and eastern shores of England, that the Roman com- mander of the district was called the Count of the Saxon Shore." Altogether, it seems probable that Gildas, in writing upon these subjects, was guided by the distorted traditions of his own times, 3 rather than by an accurate knowledge of the facts he professes to narrate. He seems to have been quite unacquainted with the Roman historians, there not being any allusion to them in his writings ; his quotations are entirely confined to the Sacred Scriptures. On reviewing this sketch of the proceedings of Rome, in relation to so distant a 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 — " Et penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos."' ■■ Serves iturum Ciesarem in ulrimoe Orbis Britannos." 5 " Yisain Britannos hospitibus feros." 1 " Te bellnosns qui remotis Obstrepit oceanus Britannis." 7 — and yet Britain, which, according to these authorities, scarcely formed a portion of the habitable earth, and 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. 1 History of the Romans, Vol. VI., p. 29 n. ~ "Conies Litoris Saxonici per Britanniam."" — Booking's Xotitia, Cap. XXV., p. 80*. 8 Great uncertainty exists as to the period when Gildas lived. He probably flourished about the middle of the sixth' century, an era in the history of Britain sufficiently disastrous to account for his falling- into serious chronological errors. 4 Virg\ Ec. i. 5 Hor. Od. i., 35. 6 Hor. Od. hi., 4. 7 Hor. Gd. iv., 14. 36 ROMAN EMPERORS IN BRITAIN. 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. Pertinax, who was afterwards emperor, acted for three years as the legate of Commodus in the island. Septimius Severus ended his days in Britain ; his sons, Geta and Caracalla, first assumed the purple in it. The emperor Maximums, if an inscription found at the place has been rightly read, 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 Chlorus was long in the island, and his son, Constantine the Great, accompanied his father on his last expedition against the Picts, and soothed his last hours in the vice-regal palace at York. Both Constans and Magnentius were here. Theodosius the emperor fought under his father in Britain. Maximus, who is reported to have married a British lady, 1 was invested by his soldiers with the purple in the land. It would almost seem as if there was an affinity between earth's rulers and the small sea-girt isle of Britain. But still the questions remain, why was it that the Romans invaded Britain, and what motives could have induced them to retain their grasp of it for the long period of four hundred years. No conclusive answers can, at the present day, be given to these questions, but the subject is open to conjecture. Ambition was probably the leading motive of Julius Caesar. There was something grand in the idea of bringing into obedience to Rome a, people which had hitherto escaped subjection to any foreign power. Besides, the mystery which shrouded an island so far removed from the seat of empire would enhance the glory of the conquest. The renown obtained by such a victory would materially increase his political influence with the senate and people of Pome. It is not improbable also that the state of affairs in Gaul rendered it highly desirable that the attempt should be made. Considerable intercourse existed between the tribes of southern Britain and those of the Continent ; so long as the islanders were free from the yoke, their kinsmen beyond the Channel would wear it restlessly, but if Britain were brought under the power of Caesar the Gauls might be expected to yield complacently to their fate. Cresar himself assigns as his reason for his invasion that the Britons assisted the Gauls. 8 The successors of Ca?sar were as desirous of renown as he was, especially when it could be obtained without personal risk ; and lu Helena the daughter of Euilda. Her chapel may still be seen at Caer-seg'ont, now ( laernarvon. The prudent reader may not perhaps lie satisfied with such Welsh evidence." — Gibbon's Decline and Fall, Vol. V., p. 7 n. 2 See Merivale's History of the Romans under the Empire, Vol. I., p. 400. WHY ROMK [XVADED BRITAIN. 31 the neglect of the Britons to pay the tribute exacted of them and the unpatriotic appeals to Rome of disappointed princes gave them ample opportunities for interference. When the island had become affixed to the empire, the disgrace of suffering it to regain its independence would have been considerable. Still it might have been expected that, after a few vears. the conquest would have been relinquished if it were found to yield no material advantages. What requital could Britain make for the maintenance of a large army within it? The hopes that were at first entertained that it would yield a rich booty were not realized. Cicero, whose brother, Quintus, served in Britain under Caesar, complains that there was nothing to be obtained, from the poverty of the natives — no gold nor silver — nothing but slaves, and those of the roughest cast. The pearls of the Sussex coast were supposed to be both abundant and splendid ; but experience showed, as both Pliny and Tacitus confess, that they were poor, and of a bad colour. 1 When the interior of the country was reached, some individuals seem to have acquired considerable booty. Dion Cassius tells us. for example, that Septimius Severus got a pro- digious mass of riches in Britain. The country, however, when once stripped of any valuables it contained — gold torques and other personal ornaments of the chiefs — would be permanently imp< >verished. Supplies of grain seem to have been obtained from the island ; but these could 1 letter have been procured by the operations of commerce than by conquest. " 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, fi-om 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 farther desolation to a desolate country, this was their peace." Perhaps we ought not to overlook the terrible tenacity of purpose which characterized the Roman people. However great the opposition they encountered — however much their calculations failed them — they were loth to beat a retreat. For four-hundred years they maintained their hold of Britain, though sound policy would have justified their withdrawal from it at the close of the first century. There is something noble in this determined perseverance — a perseverance which, though it fail in particular instances, is generally successful. 'See Merivale, Vol. I., p.p. 468, 477, where the authorities are quoted. K 38 BENEFITS OF THE INVASION. Whatever motive may have influenced the Romans, there cannot be a doubt that they were the source of incalculable advantage to Britain. They introduced civilization, letters, and systematic govern- ment, and they brought the island into intimate relationship with those parts of the empire where Christianity was doing battle with the ancient superstitions of mankind. They were the first of those severe task- masters who were necessary to educate Britain for the part she has since had to maintain among the nations. " The Roman taught thy stubborn knee to bow, Though twice a Cajsar could not bend thee now.*' CHAPTER 11. \ GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE LINK OF THE WALL LTMEROUS are the appellations which theGreal Barrier of the Lower Isthmus lias obtained. Camden, in the following sentence, enumerates them : — " Through the high part of ( lumberland shooteth that most famous Wall (in no case to be passed over in silence) the limit of the Roman Province, 'the Barbarian Rampier,' 'the Fore- fence,' and 'Enclosure.' for so the ancient writers termed it. being called in Dion Aiarsix^fia, that is. a crosse Wall ; in Herodian Xoj/ik. thai is. a trench or fosse cast up; by Antonine, Cassiodore and others • Vallum.' that is the rampier; by Beda 'Murus,' that is. the Wall: by the Britons ' Gual-Sever,' ' Gal-Sever,' ' Bah' ' Val,' and ' Mur-Sever :' by the Scottish ' Scottishwaith ;' by the Enghsh, and those that dwell thereabout, 'the Piets Wall; or 'the Pehits Wall.' 1 -the Keepe Wall,' and simply, by way of excelleneie, "The Wall.'" This great fortification, which was intended to act not only as ,i fence against a northern enemy, but to be used as the basis of operation against a foe on either side of it, consists of three parts. I. A Stone Wall, strengthened by a ditch on its northern side. II. An Earth Wall or Vallum, to the south of the stone wall. III. Stations. Castles. Watch-towers, and Roads, for the accom- modation of the soldiery who manned the Wall, and for the transmission of military stores. These lie. for the most part, between the stone wall and earthen rampart. The whole of the works proceed from one side of the island to the other in a nearly direct line, and for the most part in close companionship. The stone wall and earthen rampart are generaUy within sixty or eighty yards of each other. The distance between them, however, varies according to the nature of the country. Sometimes they are so close 1 .Stukelev says, "the Roman Wall is railed by the people ; Pights Wall.' with a guttural pronunciation which we of the south cannot imitate." — Iter Boreale, p 56. Holland's Camden, p. 789. 40 MUTUAL RELATION OF THE WORKS. 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 valley. Both works are, however, so arranged as to afford each other the greatest amount of support which the nature of the country allows. The Wall usually seizes those positions which give it the greatest advan- tage on its northern margin; the Vallum, on the other hand, has been drawn with the view of occupying ground that is strongest towards tin' south. The stone wall extends from Wallsend on the Tync to Bowness on the Solway. a distance of seventy-three and a half English miles. Tin' earth wall falls short of this distance by about three miles at each end. not extending beyond Newcastle on the east, and terminating at 1 )ykes- tield on the west. 1 The Map of the Wall, given at the commencement of the volume, affords a correct view 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 Avail, 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 dis- cussion of the question, whether the Vallum be the work of Hadrian, and the Wall of Severus, or whether Hadrian was the original con- structor of both Vallum and Wall, and Severus only their restorer, it will be convenient, meanwhile, to speak of the works as being but different parts of one great engineering scheme. The most striking feature in the plan, both of the Murus and the Vallum, is the determinate manner in which they pursue their straight- forward course. The Vallum makes fewer deviations from a right line than the stone Wall ; but as the Wall traverses higher ground, its tendency to adhere to a direct line is more conspicuous. Shooting over the country, in its onward course, it only swerves from a straight line to take in its route the boldest elevations. So far from declininu a hill, it uniformly selects one. For nineteen miles out of Newcastle, the road to Carlisle runs upon the foundation of the Wall, and during the summer months its dusty surface contrasts well with the surrounding verdure. Often will the traveller, after attaining some of Memoir written durina: a Survey of the Roman Wall, by Henry MacLauchlan, DETERMINATE COURSE OF THE WALL. 41 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 the Murus never moves froni 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 com'se ; for it takes in its range, with the utmost pertinacity, every projecting rock. This mode of proceeding involves another peculiarity. The Wall is compelled to accommodate itself to the depressions of the mountainous region over which it passes. Without flinching, it sinks into the " gap," or pass, which ever and anon occurs, and, having crossed the narrow valley, ascends unfalteringly the steep acclivity on the other side. We meet with a good example of this in the Steel-rig grounds, which is represented on the opposite lithograph. The antiquary, in following the Wall into these ravines, is often compelled to step with the utmost caution, and in clambering up the opposite ascent, he is as frequently 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 face 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 the cliff at its summit. If the Wall did not chmb 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. I.— THE WALL. In no part of its course is the Wall, at the present day, entirely perfect, and therefore it is difficult to ascertain what its original height has been. Beda, whose cherished home was the monastery of Jarrow, anciently part of the parish of Wallsend, is the earliest author who gives its dimensions. He says " 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. 42 EARLY ACCOUNTS OF THE WALL. The earliest writer, of more modern times, who mentions the Wall, is Leland, in his Itinerary. Although he does not give its dimensions as it stood in his day, his description possesses sufficient interest to be inserted entire. " Doctor Davel told me that S. Nicolas Chirch, in Newcastel, stondith on the Picth Waulle thens yt goith withyn a myle and lesse of Newcastel, and so croketh upward toward Tinemuth. " Bytwyxt Thyrwal and North Tyne, yn the wast ground, stondeth yet notahle Peaces of the Wall, the which was made ex lapide quadrato, as yt there appereth yet. Looke wher as the Growud ys best enhabited thorowg the Walle, so there yt lest appereth by reason of Buildinges made of the Stones of the Waule. The Walle on the farther side toward the Pictes was strongly dichyd. Beside the Stone "Wall, ther appere yet yn very many places vestigia muri cespititii, that was an Arow Shot a this side the Stone Wal ; but that it was thoroughly made as the Stone Wal was yt doth not wel appere there. " Fro Bolnes to Burgh about a iiii. Myles, fro thens yt goeth within half a myle of Cairluel, and lesse on the North side, and crosseth over Edon a iii. Quarters of a myle benethe Cairluel, and so to Terreby a litel Villag a Myle fro Cairluel, then thorowgh the barony of Linstok, and thorowgh Gillcsland, on the north side of the River of Arding, a Quarter of a Myle of the Abbay of Lenarcost, and then a iii. Myles above Lenarcost yt crosseth over Arding, then over the litle brooke of Polt rosse, the which devideth Gillesland, in Cumberland, from Sowth Tyndale, yn Northumbreland, then to a Castel caulled Thirlewal, stondyng on the same, thens directly est thorowgh Sowth Tyndale, not far fro the great Ruines of the Castel of Cairvorein, the which be nere Thyrlewal, and so over North Tyne, then directly est thorowgh the Hedd of Northumbrela?id." (Leland, Vol. vii, p. 61.) In a letter written by Sir Christopher Ridley is an account of the Wall as it stood about the year 1572. The writer says — " Rycht worschipfull, where as you spake unto me for a certayn knowledge of one wall builded betwyst the Brittons and the 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 "VVallis end besyd Tynemouth on the est sea." ' Samson Erdeswick, an English antiquary of some celebrity, visited the Wall in the year 1574. 2 His account is here given : — " As towching Hadrian's Wall, 3 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, the space of an eight myle by the shew of the trench, as certayne ruynes of castills in that wall, tyll a qwarter 1 Harl. MSS. 374 ; quoted in Hodgson's North'd., Part II., Vol. III., p. -273. 2 Harl. MSS. 373 ; given in Richardson's Reprints and Imprints, divis. Miscell. 3 It will be observed that the erection of the Wall has not been always ascribed to Severus. THE BEIGHT OF THE WALL. 43 of a rayle of Carlyole, and there passeth ower the river of Eden ; and then soetb. straio-ht estwards hard by a late abbey called Lanvercost, and so crossing ower the mowntaynes toward Newcastell." Camden visited the Wall in 1599. Speaking of the station that is now known to he the Magna of the Notitia, he says — " This place is now named Caer-Vorran, what it was in old time it passeth my wit to find out, seeing that among all the stations mentioned alongst the range of the Wall there is not one cometh near to it in name ; neither have we any light out of inscriptions to lead us thereunto. "Whatever it was, sure the Wall thereby was both strongest and highest by far; for scarce a furlong or two from hence, upon a good high hill, there remaineth as yet some of it to be seen fifteen foot high, and nine foot thick, built on both sides with four-square ashler stone, although Beda reporteth it was not above twelve foot in heisrht." 1 These statements leave upon the mind an impression that the estimate of Beda 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 Beda'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. 2 The thickness of the Wall varies considerably. In some places it is six feet, in others nine feet and a half. Probably the prevailing width is eight feet, the measurement given by Beda. 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 face of the Wall is con- tinuous : 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. 1 Holland's Camden, page 800. 2 In connection with the height of the Wall the following anecdote, as related by Sir Walter Scott, may interest the reader: — Mr. Ritson (author of Annals of the < 'aledonians, &c.) was very literal and precise in his own statements, and, expecting others to he the same, was much disgusted with any loose or inaccurate averment. I remember rather a ludicrous instance. He made me a visit of two days at my cottage, near Laswade. In the course of conversation we talked of the Roman Wall, and I was surprised to find that he had adopted, on the authority of some person at Hexham, a strong persuasion that its remains were nowhere visible, or at least not above a foot or two in height. I hastily assured him, that this was so far from being true that I had myself seen a portion of it standing high enough for the fall to break a man's neck. Of this lie took a formal memorandum, and having visited the place (Glenwhelt, near Gilsland), he wrote to me, or I think rather to John Leyden, to say that he really thought ' that a fall from it would break a man's neck, at least it was so high as to render the experiment dangerous.' I immediately saw what a risk I had been in, for you may believe I had no idea of being taken quite so literally." — Scott to Surtees, in Surtees' Durham, Vol. III., p. 194. 44 THE FOSSE. Throughout the whole of its length the Wall was accompanied on its northern margin by a broad and deep Fosse, which, by increasing the comparative height of the Wall, added greatly to its strength. This portion of the barrier may yet be traced, with trifling interruptions, from sea to sea. Even in places where the Wall has quite disappeared its more lowly companion, the fosse, remains. In some fertile districts the plough has been carried over it in vain. Owing to the moisture of the site the corn sown in 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. 1 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. 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 ranq:>art. 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. 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 strikingly evidenced on the summit of Limestone Bank, west of Walwick, where enormous blocks of whinstone He 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 Limestone Corner 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." 2 The care with which the fosse was dressed has varied with the taste of the overseer and the attitude 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 interruption 1 This is particularly the case about Old-Wall in Cumberland. - Hutton's History of the Roman Wall, p. 139. THE MOUNDS OF THE VALLUM. 45 appear. The curious circumstance, which Hodgson describes in the following paragraph, may be seen in more than one locality :— " 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." 1 II.-THE VALLUM. The Vallum or Earth Wall is uniformly to the south of the stone wall. It consists of three ramparts and a fosse. One of these ramparts is placed close upon the southern edge of the ditch ; the two others, of larger dimensions, 2 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 stone wall, though represented in the drawing, is, unhappily, removed. ':, X""'. :::!::-;- "(.;j. The Works near the ISth Milestone west of Newcastle. *"*:•">?'■■■"'■■?■■■•: ' . '- -. The Works half a mile west of Carraw. The mounds or aggers of the Vallum, in some parts of the line. stand, even at present, six or seven feet above the level of the adja- cent ground.' They are composed of earth, mingled not unfrequently with masses of stone. Occasionally the stone preponderates to such an extent as to yield to the hand of the modern spoiler ready materials for the formation of stone dikes. In several places they are being- quarried with this view. 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. Its usual depth is about seven feet below the 'Hodgson's Hist. Northumberland, Pt. II., Vol. III., p. 276. 2 Horsley, in the profiles of the barrier which be gives, represents the marginal rampart or agger as being much larger than the soutli one. The present aspect of the works does not. except in a very few places, warrant such a delineation, bat the very reverse. 3 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. M 46 THE OBJECT OF THE VALLUM. natural level of the ground. 1 It too has been frequently cut through beds of stone. The lithograph, on the opposite page, shows the lines of the Vallum as they appear at the present day, in the vicinity of Caw-Gap. The question will naturally 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. 2 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 sirpposition, that the Wall and the Vallum were con- temporaneous works. Upon the same assumption it may be added that the ramparts of the Vallum are probably indebted for some portion of the stone which they contain to the chippings of the stone used in building the Wall. Although the distance between the stone wall and the Vallum is perpetually varying, the lines of the Vallum maintain amongst them- selves 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 ? There can be little doubt, that it was intended to prevent a sudden attack from behind. Agricola is represented by Tacitus as saying to his troops, before the battle of the Grampians — " With me it has long been a settled opinion, that the back of a general or his army is never safe." This probably was the fixed policy of the Romans ; and in accordance with that policy it was that Hadrian drew the double line of fortification. This opinion has long been entertained by antiquaries. Though Horsley does not adopt it, he refers to it. Speaking of the relative position of the Wall and Vallum, he says — " Such con- siderations as these have induced some to believe that what now goes by the name of Hadrian's work was originally designed for a fence against any sudden insurrection of the provincial Britons, and particu- 1 This is the opinion of Anthony Place, an intelligent workman in the employment of Mr. Clayton, of Chesters. In cutting- drains along- and across the fosse of the Vallum, lie has had abundant opportunities of observing- the relative proportions and arrangement of the disturbed and natural soil. To Anthony Place the antiquary is under g-reat obligations, for the zealous and judicious manner in which he has conducted the extensive explorations undertaken by Mr. Clayton in the camps, castles, and long- tracts of Wall, of which that g-entlemen happily is the owner. "An inspection of Ilorsley's own Sections will at once show this. — Britan. Romans, p. 158. ■' i t fM^- ! - w C/2 ] >- STATIONARY CAMPS. 47 larly of the Brigantes." ' A careful examination of the country over which the Wall runs, almost necessarily leads to the conclusion that whilst the Wall undertook the harder duty of warding off the openly 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 he 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. III. — STATIONS, CASTLES AND ROADS. 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 — " An iron race, ... Foes to the gentler genius of the plain." It is reported that Agesilaus, when asked where were the walls of Sparta, pointed to his soldiers and said, " There." The Romans placed their chief reliance on the valour and discipline of their armies, though they did not despise the assistance of mural lines. In a foreign country, to which it was difficult to transmit relays of troops, it became a matter of great importance to economise the lives of the soldiery. Hence arose the Wall. Stukeley rightly appreciated its design ; he says — " The Romans intended no more by their walls and forts, around their castles, than to prevent a sudden surprise — their strength lay in a living arm and head. In the open field they. never refused fighting, without much regard to opposing numbers : the additional security of a little wall was all they asked against emergencies. Therefore, the beauty and contrivance of this Wall consisted mostly in the admirable dispositions of the garri- sons upon it, at such proper stations, distance, strength, and method, that even in times of profound peace, as well as war, a few hands were sufficient to defend it against a most bold and daring people, redundant in numbers, strong and hardy in body, fierce in manners as were the old North Britons, who refused subjection and a polite life." a Those portions of the great barrier which yet await our considera- tion are the Stations, Mile-castles, Turrets, and Roads. At distances along the line which average nearly four miles, Sta- tionary Camps ("stationes" or "castra stativa") were erected. These received their distinctive appellation, in contradistinction to temporary ramparts, which were thrown up when an army halted for a night or for some brief period. 1 Britannia Romana, p. 125. 2 It6r Boreale, p. 55. 48 STATIONARY CAMPS. 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, literature, and luxury struggled for existence, whilst all around was ignorance and barbarism. Some of the stations, though connected with the Wall, have evidently, as will afterwards be shown, 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 builders. The stations are quadrangular in their form, though rounded at the corners, and contain an area of from three to nearly six acres. A stone wall, about five feet thick, incloses them, and has probably in every instance been strengthened by a fosse, and one or more earthen ramparts. They usually stand upon ground which slopes to the south, and is naturally defended upon one side at least. The Wall, when it does not fall in with the northern wall of a station, usually comes up to the northern cheek of its eastern and western gateways. The Vallum, in like manner, usually approaches close to the southern wall of the station, or comes up to the defence of the southern side of the eastern and Avestern portals. Examples of these arrangements are seen in the plans which accompany the account of each station. 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. These probably have been originally constructed by Agricola to defend the defiles near which they stand. All the stations have, on their erection, been provided, after the usual method of Roman castrametation, with at least four gateways. In several instances one or more of these portals have been walled up at some period, prior to the eventual abandonment of the fortification. In some of the best preserved stations the main streets proceeding from the four gateways, and crossing each other at right angles, may be traced. The minor streets, which communicated with these, were very narrow, but parallel to the main ones. The remains of suburbs, for the accommodation, probably, of the camp followers, have been found outside the walls of most of the great camps. In selecting a spot for a station, care has been taken that an abun- dant 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 lave the lips of man, than that which to this day flows from these sources. The stations, as we might expect on an enemy's frontier, have NAMES OF THE STATIONS NEARLY LOST. 49 been constructed with a view to security, not luxury or display. No traces of a tesselated pavement have been found in the mural region. 1 One well qualified to make the comparison observes — " The ' castra' and the subsidiary forts are guarded by strong walls, void of decoration or ornament. The domestic villas, spacious and well constructed for coun- teracting the rigours of long winters, present none of the refinements of luxury to be noticed in those of the middle and southern parts of Britain." s 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 some of them without knowing it ; the streets are levelled, the temples are overthrown, and the sons and daugh- ters of Italy, Mauritania, and Spain, no longer people their adopted homes. 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. 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 to be more valuable for farm purposes than the recent produce of the fold-yard, and is used as such. 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 contem- poraneous geographers. The truth is that military reasons dictated the choice of the stations — commercial facilities give rise to modern cities. In ascertaining the number and the Roman designation of the stationary camps on the line of the Wall, a document which has come down to our times from the period of the Roman occupation of Britain is of the utmost value. It is denominated "Notitia Dignitatum et Administrationuin omnium tarn civilium quam militarium in partibus Orientis et Occidentis." 3 It is admitted on all hands that the Notitia 1 In the camp of Aldborough, the ancient Isurium, some very fine specimens of tesselated pavement occur ; and at Newburgh Park, near Easingwold, some g'ood examples were found in the summer of 1854. None have been found to the north of these localities. 2 Mr. C. Roach Smith, in Gent. Mag-., Oct., 1851. 3 The latest edition is that by Booking. It is very copiously annotated, and was published at Bonn in 1839. 50 ACCOUNT OP THE NOTITIA. was written before the Romans abandoned Britain ; and Mr. Hodgson Hinde has recently produced reasons from which we may " infer with some degree of confidence that the Notitia was compiled in or about the year 403, the date of the battle of Pollentia." 1 It is a register of the several military and civil officers and magistrates, both in the eastern and western empires, with the names of the places at which they were stationed. It may, in fact, be regarded as the army list of the Roman empire. The thirty-eighth chapter of the work contains a list of the pre- fects and tribunes under the command of the Honourable the Duke of Britain — " Sub dispositione viri spectabilis Ducis Britanniarum." 2 The portion of the British 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 : — The Tribune of the fourth cohort of the Lingonos : at Segodununi. The Tribune of the cohort of the Cornovii at Pons _5Clii. The Prefect of the first ala [or wing] of the Astures 4 at Condercum. The Tribune of the first cohort of the Frixagi at Vindobala. The Prefect of the Savinian ala at Hunnurn. The Prefect of the second ala of Astures at ('illinium. The Tribune of the first cohort of the Batavians at Procolitia. The Tribune of the first cohort of the Tungri at Borcovicus. The Tribune of the fourth cohort of the Gauls at Vindolana. The Tribune of the first 5 cohort of the Astures at ^Esica. The Tribune of the second cohort of the Dalmatians at Magna. The Tribune of the first cohort of Dacians, styled " .ZElia," at Amboglanna. The Prefect of the ala, called " Petriana," at Petriana. The Prefect of a detachment of Moors, styled " Aureliani," at Aballaba. The Tribune of the second cohort of the Lergi 1 ' at Conga vata. The Tribune of the first cohort of the Spaniards at Axelodunum. The Tribune of the second cohort of the Thracians at Gabrosentum. The Tribune of the first marine cohort, styled " JE\m," at Tunnocehnn. The Tribune of the first cohort of the Morini at Glannibanta. The Tribune of the third cohort of the Nervii at Alionis. The " Cuneus armaturarum," that is, " horse completely armed," 7 at Breme- tenracum. The Prefect of the first ala, styled " Herculea," at Olenacum. The Tribune of the sixth cohort of the Nervii at Virosidum. 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 some examples. At the station of Chesters, on the North Tyne, several slabs have been found, bearing the name of 1 Hodgson's History of Northumberland : Introductory Volume, by Mr. Hinde, p. 19. 2 Booking's Notitia, p. 112*. 3 The Notitia lias Lergorum, hut it will he afterwards shown that this is probably an error for Lingonum. 4 The Notitia has Astorwm in this and the subsequent instances, but all the inscriptions hitherto found have Asturum. 6 The inscriptions found at this place name the second cohort, not the first. e This should probably be the second cohort of the Lingones. 7 Horslev, Britannia Romana, p. 112. IIUW THE NAMES OF THE STATIONS ARE ASCERTAINED. 51 the second ala, or wing, of the Astures. One of these— a monumental stone 1 — is represented in the woodcut. d[iis h anibvs] aventixo (.') cvratori ai.ae ii astvr[vm] stip[kxdiorvm \\ AELIOMENVS(?) DEffVRIo]. J'u the divine manes — tn Aventums the curator of the second ala i it' Astures, having served fifteen years, -lOliomenus(') the decurion erected this monument I. feet 2 inches ~ niches. This inscription has been so much injured by long exposure to the weather that some portions of the reading here given may be open to question; but the name f of the second ala of As- £ (/ tures is quite distinct. /\'/i Now, as the Xotitia represents this ala, or body of cavalry. to have been stationed at ClLURNUM, \m fCKt%\ 5\ r B< GCIAIJO/CL:. TW/ORW [iMPERATORI CAESAHI [CAIO IVLIO VERO MAX IM- [ixo] . . . [SARMATICO] MAX- [imo] . . . [p]h[o] co[n]s[vli] [et caio ivlio vero maximo] [SJARM- [atico maximo] . . caes[ari] nTobilissimo] svb l "'lCIASO(!) v[lR0] c[0NSVLARl] LEG- A1H AVUVSTALl] COh[oRS] I. BATAVORVM [ixstJaxte bvrrio [axti]stio(?) prae[fecto] [PERPETVO ET COJRNELIANO [cONSVLIBVs] fCQl r \KT£& mm ■ Size, 3 feet by 1 foot 3 inches. To the Emperor Caesar Caius Julius Verus Max- imums . . . Sarmaticus max- imus . . . proconsul and to Caius Julius Verus Maximus . . . . Sarm- aticus maximus . . . the most noble Cresar — under Coccianus a man of consular rank and imperial leg-ate the 1st cohort of Batavians [dedicate this building- which was] superintended by Burrius Antistius the prefect in the consulship of Perpetuus and Cornelianus. 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 Cilur- num," on the Notitia list, is "The first cohort of the Batavians at 'This stone is in the possession of His Grace the Duke of Northumberland, and is preserved, along- with many other most interesting- reliques of the Wall, in one of the mural towers of the nohle baronial residence of bis house, Alnwick Castle. 52 PEOCOLITIA AXD BORCOVICUS IDENTIFIED, Procolitia." In the station immediately west of Chesters, now called Carrawburgh, a slab and an altar have been found, inscribed with the name of this very cohort. The woodcut, shown at the foot of the previous page, represents the slab, which is so much mutilated that it might at first sight seem to be useless. The first and fifth lines of the inscrip- tion have been purposely obliterated. This was probably done after Maximums and his son had been murdered, a.d. 238, by a party of Preetorian guards. P. Titius Perpetuus and L. Ovinius Rusticus Cor- nelius were consuls in the year 237 of our era, and this was, no doubt, the period when this inscription was carved. Whatever difficulty may attend the reading of some portions of it the words con. i. batavorvm are plain ; the conclusion, therefore, is natural, that Carraw- burgh is the Procolitia of the Notitia. 1 Moving westward the next station we come to is Housesteads. Here numerous inscribed stones have been discovered, which men- tion the first cohort of the Tun- grians. One of these, an altar to Jupiter, which is now in the possession of the Society of Anti- quaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, is accurately given in the accom- panying engraving. It reads — l[0Vl] 0[PTIM0] m[aXIM0] ET NVM1NIBVS AVG[vSTl] coh[ohs] i. tvngror[vm] cvi praeest q. ivlivs [maxim]vs praef[ectvs] To Jupiter, the best and greatest, and to the deities of the Emperor, 2 the first cohort of Tungrians commanded by Quintals Julius Maximus, the Prefect, [dedicate this altar]. The correspondence between the Notitia and the sculptures derived from this station, is again too striking to admit a doubt that the Housesteads of the modern shepherd is the Borcovicus of the Roman host. Size, 3 feet. 3 inches by 1 foot 3 inches. 1 This slab finds a fitting- place amongst the mural sculptures and other important Eoman remains preserved by Mr. Clayton in his museum at Chesters. 2 The words " Numinibus Augusti" may refer to the emperor himself— in which case they are equivalent to " His divine majesty ■" or they may refer to the tutelar gods of the em] icror— those to whom he was peculiarly devoted. An opportunity will afterwards occur of considering the question. VINDOLANA IDENTIFIED. 53 The next entry in the Xotitia Imperii is " The tribune of the fourth cohort of the Gauls at Vixdolaxa.'' At Chesterholm, about three miles to the west of Housesteads. and next in order to that station, is a Roman camp which has yielded several inscriptions that mention the fourth GENIO PRAETOB1 [l SACRVM ri- TVANIVS SE- CVNDVS PR^- FECTVS C0H[0RTIS] IIII GALLOR YM To the genius of the praetorium sacred, Pi- tuanius Se- cundus pre- fect of the fourth cohort of the fiatils [erect* it . cohort of the Gauls. One of them is the fine altar, preserved in the museum at Chesters. which is figured on the woodcut. Chesterholm is, therefore, the Yindolana of the Romans. On the sides of the altar the victim and sacrificing implements are carved. In some of its ornaments 54 .ESICA AND MACXA ASCERTAINED. the student of architecture will notice mouldings of the Norman and Early English styles. The tribune of a cohort of Astures was stationed at JEsica, when the Notitia was compiled. At Great Chesters, the next stationary camp to the west of Vindolana, memorials of the second cohort of the Astures have been found. The woodcut represents one of these, the fragment of a roofing-tile, to which this body of troops have affixed their stamp. It is now in Mr. Clayton's museum at Chesters. The station following iEsiCA in the Notitia is Magna, where the second cohort of Dalmatians was stationed. In the Roman cam}) of Carvoran, westward of Great Chesters, the small altar here shown was found, and is now in possession of the Society of Antiquaries of London, at Somerset House. The altar is one of a numerous class dedicated, as is generally supposed, to a local god, Vitiris, Veteris, or Vetiris. 1 The JFfljjtofCI J lVL'PAStOR M deo sanct[o] VETERI ivl[ivs] pastor imao[inifer] coh[ortis] II delma[tarvm] v[otvm] s[olvit] l[ibens] m[erito] To the holy god Veteris Julius Pastor tlie image-bearer of the 2nd cohort of Dalmatians [dedicates this] in discharge of a vow willingly and [to a most worthy object. altar was dedicated by an officer, probably the standard bearer, of the second cohort of Dalmatians. There can be no doubt, therefore, that Carvoran is the Magna of the Romans. In this way, the ancient designations of the stations from Sege- dunum (Wallsend) to Amboglanxa (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 lias 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 1 The phrase, deo veteri bears the translation of " To the ancient god," and the kindred phrase on other altars, dibvs veteribvs " To the ancient deities." The subject will be referred to afterwards. UNAPPROPRIATED STATIONS. 55 were the first to be sacrificed. 1 Since the accuracy of the Xotitia has been confirmed in so many instances, it is but fair to conclude that it might safely be taken as a guide in fixing the Roman names of the remaining stations along the fine. This we might do, if only we knew which are the stations that are entitled to the designations ; but this, unfortunately, is not the case. Lanercost, for example, which lies between the stations of Birdoswald and Walton House, bears some marks of having been a mural encampment ; but it has not hitherto been ranked as such by antiquaries. There is a station at Brampton Old Church, which Hodgson and others consider to be a station of the Xotitia, but which Horsley hesitates to receive as such. Again, there is a camp at "Watch Cross, between Brampton and Carlisle, which Horsley takes to be a Xotitia station, but which Hodgson considers has .only been a summer encampment. Until an inscribed stone has been found in one of the stations, near the western extremity of the Wall. t( > rectify or confirm our conjectures upon the point referred to, it is obviously unsafe to appropriate the remainder of the names given in the Xotitia. An error in a single case vitiates the subsequent alloca- tions. Another difficulty attends the subject. We naturally expect that all the stations given in the Xotitia, under the head of " Per lineam Valli, : ' should be found upon the Wall, or in its immediate vicinity. This, according to our present knowledge, is not the case. Horsley, after having told off eighteen of the Xotitia stations, finds himself at the western extremity of the Wall, with five stations to spare. These he endeavours to identity with the same nmnber of camps south of the Wall, but which are situated at a distance from it of from ten to twenty miles. This is not satisfactory. At present, therefore, whilst the Xotitia stations between Segedunum and Amboglanna may be regarded as iden- tified with existing camps, the remaining names upon the list are open to conjecture. The fist of troops employed to garrison the Wall reveals some of the peculiar features of Roman policy. It will be observed that all the soldiery engaged in this arduous duty were foreigners, not native Italians. These were drawn from the most distant parts. There were Batavians from the north of Europe. Spaniards from the south, and Dacians froni the east. Africa yielded a detachment of floors, and Asia gave a contingent of Syrians/ Whilst these auxiliary troops were exposed to 'The late Mr. Bell of Irthington informed me — " 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 bray 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 I" 2 From inscriptions we learn that the first cohort of Hamians, a people who dwelt on the banks of the Orontes, were resident at Magna. They seem to have removed from it, however, before the Notitia was compiled. 5() FEATURES OF ROMAN POLICY. the first assault of the foe, the sixth legion, composed, it is thought, chiefly of native Italians, reposed in comparative security at York. Not only was the strength of the legionary forces economised by this arrange- ment, but an element of mischief turned into a benefit, Had the foreign cohorts been left in their native land, their energies would pro- bably have been directed against their conquerors ; but, removed to a distance, they were an element of strength. The Dacians, for example, had been subdued with great difficulty. At the time when the Wall was built they were unaccustomed to the yoke, for Hadrian had himself accompanied Trajan on his Dacian campaign. But, though restless of subjection themselves, they seem to have engaged zealously in the slaughter of the Caledonians, and whilst engaged in this work were proud to wear the emperor's name, as the distinguishing epithet of their cohort ; down to the time when the Notitia was compiled the troops in garrison at Amboglanna bore the name of cohors i. ,elia dacorvm. Another principle of Roman policy is apparent from the catalogue of mural garrisons which lies before us. Troops belonging to the same nation were never placed in contiguous stations. There are three corps of Asturians upon the Wall, but they are widely separated from each other. Thus, between the first ala at Condercum and the second at Cilurnum there are placed a cohort of Frisians, and another troop of cavalry whose nationality is not mentioned ; and between the second ala of Asturians at Cilurnum and the second cohort at iEsicA there occur a cohort of Dutchmen, a cohort of Germans, and another of Frenchmen. Mutiny was thus impossible. It must also be remembered that the legionary forces at York could be brought to bear upon the Wall at any time, either to support the garrison, if overpowered by the enemy, or to suppress revolt, if disaffection existed amongst themselves. The question naturally arises — what number of men were required to garrison the Wall? A definite answer cannot be given to the inquiry, because the precise nature of the corps located in some of the stations is not known. An approximate estimate may, however, be made. There are in all twenty-three stations " per lineam Valli." Fifteen of these were garrisoned by a cohort. A legionary cohort consisted of about six hundred men, and there is no reason to suppose that the ordinary auxiliary cohort differed from it in size. A milliary cohort, however, consisted of a thousand men, and the first cohort of the Tun- grians at Borcovicus, and probably one or two others upon the Wall, were of this character. 1 An ala, or detachment of cavalry, was probably three hundred strong. The cohort of marines, and the other miscel- laneous troops, may, perhaps, be set down at the same number. Thirteen 1 The second cohort of Tungrians, which, though nut mentioned in the list of the Notitia, has left several altars at Walton House, was a milliary cohort. MILE-CASTLES. .), ordinary cohorts, two milliary cohorts, five alse, with three other bodies of troops which we are supposing to be of the same size as the alas, give us in all twelve thousand two hundred men. The sixth legion, whose head quarters was York, had an important part to perform in the main- tenance of order in the Upper Isthmus and the parts beyond. The complement of a legion, from the time of Augustus to Hadrian, was six thousand. Making every allowance, therefore, for the occasional reduc- tion of numbers below the proper standard, it may be presumed that the garrison of the Wall usually consisted of from ten to fifteen thousand men. Mr. Hodgson makes the following remarks upon this subject: — " Assuming that each of the 1G cohorts on the "Wall had GOO men, and the other seven corps each 400, the whole 23 contained an army of 12,400 men — a force, one would think, quite sufficient, not only to keep their fortifications from insult and in good repair, but to overawe the country to the north of them. The assistance derived from legionary soldiers is omitted in this calculation, though, as will be seen, they were frequently and largely employed both in the stations and Wall." 1 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 build- ings, differing somewhat in size, but usually measu- ring about sixty feet in eaeli direction. The wood- cut, representing the Cas- tle-Nick castellum, shows their general form. Their southern angles are rounded oft on the outside. They have evidently been built at the same time as the Wall, their walls being of the same kind of masonry as the Wall, and of the same thickness. They are built up against the southern face of the Wall, that structure forming their north wall. 2 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 the other to guard the 1 Hist. Northumberland, Pt. II., Vol. III., p. 1G8. 2 Horsley informs us that the castellum at Portgate, which is now almost entirely obliterated, projected as much without the Wall as within it. This, with another questionable example near /Esica, are the onlv instances of this mode of construction. 58 GATEWAYS THROUGH THE WALL. defile.' The mile-towers have been provided, both on their northern and southern sides, with bold and massive portals, at least ten feet wide. These were closed by two-leaved gates, and were crowned by a circular arch. In the dee-line of the empire, the gateways, both of the castella and stations, were contracted in size, as is well seen in the Honsesteads mile-castle, which is shown on the opposite plate. In Horsley's day the existence of a pass through the Wall, at each of these military " castella," had not been ascertained. 2 The facts revealed by the excavation, within the last few years, of the Honsesteads, the Castle-nick, and CaAvfields mile-castles, may safely 1 >e regarded as putting us in possession of the plan of the whole. In each of these the northern portal appears. The bearing of this fact upon the views entertained by the builders of the Wall is very evident. Horsley estimates the number of the castella at eighty-one, and the number of stations on the Wall (each having a gateway on the north as well as on the other sides) at eighteen. If the Wall had been intended to form the boundary of the empire, it would not have been provided with nearly a hundred gateways leading through it. The fact of such an arrangement shows that the territory north of the Wall was not given up to the enemy ; and that the Wall itself was not a mere fence, but a line of military operation, intended to overawe a foe, whose assaults were chiefly to be expected from the north. The internal arrangements of the mile-towers were of a very simple description. Against their massive stone walls buildings of a compara- tively slight structure were placed, each with a sloping roof, whilst a considerable space in the centre was left unoccupied and uncovered. The chief object of the castella evidently being to protect the party of soldiers who guarded for the day the contiguous mile of Wall against any sudden surprise, the erection of any barracks or huts, needed for their temporary shelter, may have been left to their own diligence and discretion. Between the mile-castles, four subsidiary buildings, generally denomi- nated Turrets or Watch-towers, were placed. They were little more than stone sentiy -boxes. As they are now almost entirely obliterated, we must have recourse for our information respecting them to the writings of those who lived before the work of destruction was complete. Horsley gives us the following account : — " The smaller turrets have been more generally and entirely ruined than the 'castella;' so that 'tis hard to find three of them anywhere together with certainty. The distance 1 " The mile-castles are never exactly the same distance from each other, but are placed so as to take advantage of the ground, and particularly of a stream or the summit of a hill. Where no natural cause occurs to shorten or prolong the distance between them, the distance of 1,01 8 yards seems to have been the mean distance, which is that of a Roman mile, as given by Dr. Smith in his Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities." — McLauchlan's Memoir, p. 8. 2 Britannia Romana, Preface ix.. and p. 121. 5- •< 1 CD CD E— 52 THE IMPORTANCE OF ROADS. 59 between two where it was thought surest was measured and found to be near fourteen chains, or three hundred and eight yards. It, therefore, seems most probable that there have been four of these between every two 'castella,' at equal distances from the c castella' and one another; for thus five intervals will be found between every two 'castella,' each con- sisting of fourteen chains, which five intervals will just amount to seven furlongs, 1 lie usual or mean distance between the 'castella.' And this scheme answers with a good deal of exactness to the situation of all the turrets that have yet been discovered. These exploratory turrets or watch-towers seem to have been only about four yards square at the bottom. And by placing centinels at each of these, who must have been within call of one another, the communication quite along the Wall might be kept up, without having recourse to the fiction of a sounding trumpet, or pipes laid underground, from one end of the Wall to the other." 1 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 contem- poraneous. The Barrier, therefore, 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 perl nips not 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 illustration of the importance of roads for military purposes. In the rebellion of 17-15, General Wade assembled the forces in Newcastle with which he was to resist the Pretender. The insurgent troops, however, chose to enter England by the western side of the island. The Mayor of Carlisle seeing the danger to which he was exposed sent an express to Newcastle urging the immediate advance of the Royalist troops. General Wade was obliged to reply that he could not give the requisite support to Carlisle, because the roads between Newcastle and that city were " impassable for artillery." Carlisle, in consequence, fell into the hands of the enemy, and a hostile force was suffered to penetrate the very heart of England. After the suppression of the rebellion, government turned its attention to the necessity of having a good road across the Isthmus, and that which is now known in the country as the Military Road was constructed at the public expense. It is a remarkable fact that before the formation of this road the carriers between Newcastle and Carlisle, in the central part of their journey, were obliged to resort to the old Roman Military Way. It may be added that they used pack-horses, and not wheeled carriages. 1 Horsley, Britannia Romana, p. 120. 60 THE ROMAN MILITARY WAY. The Roman Military Way accompanies the Wall throughout its entire course, and uniformly lies between the Mums and the Vallum. It 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. Each side is bounded by kerb stones. When carried along the slope of a hill, the hanging side is made up by the use of kerb stones of larger size than usual. 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 the writer's lot to notice how naturally, towards the close of a fatiguing day's march, the less zealous of an exploring party — more anxious to select an easy path than to keep close com- panionship with the Wall — have, most unconsciously, chosen the route of the Roman way. But, notwithstanding all the art of the engineer, the steepness of the road in some places is such that most of our modern charioteers would lie greatly puzzled if required to drive along ita "biga" laden with military stores. The road which has now been described would present several dis- advantages to those who wished to travel from one extremity of the line to another. Besides the mountainous nature of the ground in the central district, the Wall in this part bends to the north, in order to gain the edge of the crags. These disadvantages were overcome by means of another road, which pursued a direct course, on comparatively level ground, from Ciluenum to Magna. Traces of this way yet remain, and its course is laid down with but few intermissions in the Northumberland '• Survey of the Roman Wall." where it is called the Stanegate. a It lies to the south both of the Vallum and the Mums. Passing the modern villages 'According' to our modern notions this seems to be a very narrow road. The author, when in Rome, applied an English tape-line to a portion of the Appian Way, a few miles out of the city, which had just before been divested of all modern incumbrances, and found that, exclusive of the footpaths on each side, it was only thirteen-and-a-half feet wide. • That is the paved way. OTHER MILITARY ROADS. X — M -. > fe z *3 cc ■ , iv. x « « X QQ r-H w ~ X o n ~ -5 . ci ,ir J. > 3 o w o o 3 g E* 03 o<- ^ 6, - , t! ,_ ■. w O I - >■ 6. >-5 o C3 c3 ;> ^ Z r- o C ■^ 1 J"" fe — •— ' "* 2: 00 a. cq H i. - < -c c ~~? __ a in ~ — > :l Zl_ o a a - c (5(3 COMPOSITION OF THE MORTAR. Examples of some of the varieties of tooling are here introduced. Stones dressed in this manner are larger than the usual Wall stones, and are more elongated. They probably belong to a period later than the original construction of the Wall, and have been used in the reparation or reconstruction of some of the stations and other buildings. The facing stones of the bridge over the North Tyne, and of the walls of Habitancum, 1 are of this character. The stones composing the walls of some of the stations are smaller than those of the great Wall. This is the cast' with Cilurnum, which, there is reason to believe, was one of Agricola's stations. The stones of which the walls of the station of Bokcovici's are formed do not differ in character from those of the great Wall. The same is probably the case with the stations, which owe their existence to the main Wall, though some of them are so dilapidated as not to admit of accurate comparison. The strength of the Wall has in a large measure depended upon the nature of the mortar made use of. It has evidently been similar to the grout and concrete used by the railway engineers of the present day. The lime has been ground when in an unslacked state, and then carefully mixed with sand, gravel, and stone chippings. When about to be used the mass has been freely mixed with water. Mortar thus pre- pared sets in a few hours, and soon becomes as hard as stone. 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. Except in the stations, pounded tile, so characteristic of the Roman mortar in the south of England, is not a common constituent of the mortar of the Wall. Limestone is abundant in most parts of the district through which the Wall passes. 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 these materials. But little care was expended in preparing the foundation. The structure was sufficiently broad and solid to stand by its own tenacity. For the most part- no excavation seems to have been made. On removing a long strip of the Wall at Walbottle Dean in 1864, the remains of vegetation were found imme- diately beneath it ; and below what had evidently been the surface of the ground, at the time the Wall was built, the soil was blackened for 1 See a drawing' of a part of these walls in the Archseolog-ia iEliana, O.S., Vol. IV., p. 20. THE FOUNDATION OF THE WALL. eighteen inches seems to have been made. In boggy ground the foundation has been laid upon timber. Stukely informs us that Mr. Gilpin, of Scaleby Castle, told him that "in taking up the foundation of the Wall at a boggy place, they found a frame of oak timber underneath, very firm." 1 The lowest stones of the foundation were usually broad flags, three or four inches in thickness, and these in many places are laid upon a lied of well-puddled clay. Upon these hat stones was laid the first course of facing stones, which were usually the largest stones used in tin' structure. In the higher courses the facing stones are uniformly of freestone ; but in 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 bevond the second course, after which the wall is taken straight up. One or two courses of facing-stones having been placed in their beds and carefully pointed, a mass of mortar in a very fluid state was poured into the interior of the Wall, and stones of any kind or shape that were of a convenient size were "puddled" in amongst it. Whin- stones, as being most abundant in the district, were 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. \\ lien the whole was finished it formed a solid, compact mass, without crevice in the interior, and soon became as firm as unhewn rock. In some parts of the line the mortar has been "hand-laid." The rubble of the interior having heen first disposed in its place, the mortar has been laid upon it with a trowel. In this case the mortar does not completely penetrate the interstices of the mass, and the result does not yield such solid masonry as the method generally pursued. When, however, this plan is adopted, the rubble stones are often laid upon their edges in the form usually called herring-bone masonry- The very fine remains of the Wall at Steel-rig may be examined with a view to this mode of construction. On wavy ground the courses of the Wall follow the undulations of the surface, but on steep inclines 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 showing 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 1 Iter Borcale, p. 57. 68 THE PROCESS OF DESTRUCTION. horizon, on the other, differing little perhaps in inclination, they are laid even with the ground. Such is the strength of the Wall that if the meddling hand of man had been withheld from it, it might have stood to the present hour in almost all its original integrity. It is necessary to say " almost," for as Hods-son beautifully observes : — " 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 o-reen 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." For a long time an uprooted ash lay outside the east Wall of Amboglanna. It held many of the stones of the station-wall within the folds of its root as with an iron grasp. Some of the stones had been crushed by the expansion of the fibrils. The tail-piece depicts its appearance. All things have an end — " The hills are shadows, and they flow From form to form, and nothing stands ; They melt like mist, the solid lands. Like clouds they shape themselves and go." — TENNYSON. IN MEMORIAM. [Uj -me Getty foCcfout/map not digitized CHAPTER III. LOCAL DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK? EAVING for the present these general statements, we now proceed to ex- amine the Wall in detail from end to end. Most writers begin with its cistern extremity, and pursue it to its western. Gordon, Horsley, and Hodgson have done so. This is the most convenient method of proceed- ing, for the list of stations, given in the Notitia Dignitatum, to which constant reference must be made, pursues this order. It might have been supposed that the Wall would have commenced its course close upon the sea-coast, and that its eastern extremity would be found upon the promontory on which the ruins of Tynemouth Priory now stand. This, however, is not the case ; and it is not until we reach Wallsend. which is distant about four miles from the sea, that we meet with any portion of the great structure. Camden, who in 1699 visited such parts of the Wall as could be visited with safety in the then lawless state of the Border, tells us distinctly, that between Tynemouth and Wallsend there are " no tokens" of the Wall. The earliest writer who gives us an account, from personal examination of the whole structure, is one whose narra- tive appears anonymously in the fourth edition of Gibson's Camden. His journeys were made in the years 1708 and 1709. Upon this point he says — •• I spoke with several old people who had lived hereabouts for thirty and forty and fifty year- and upwards, and who had likewise spoken witli others that were long since dead, of eighty and a hundred years of age, who all unanimously agreed that neither the Wall nor the ditch went any further than this place; nor could they ever meet with the vestigia of them in the roads to Shields or Tynemouth, which lay in a direct line from the Wall's end, and were at about half a mile's distance from the Tyne. Nor, indeed, s 70 SEGEDUNUM. could I Hud the least appearance cither of the Wall or ditch, though 1 sought very diligently through several fields." 1 Iii company with Mr. MacLauchlan the present writer engaged in a similar exploration, with the same result. Between Wallsend and the sea the river Tyne gradually expands into an estuary of considerable width. The river itself, therefore, for some miles formed a barrier sufficiently strong to render the building of a Wall superfluous. Great care was, notwithstanding, taken to guard efficiently the mouth of the Tyne. A station subsidiary to Wallsend was planted on the northern shore of the estuary at Tynemouth, whilst the promontory on the opposite side — Shields Lawe — Avas similarly guarded. A mile or two to the west of these stations were other two strongholds, one on the north side of the river, near East Chirton, and the other on the south side, at Jarrow. The country seaward of Walls- end was thus rendered perfectly secure. I.— SEGEDUNUM. The station at Wallsend occupies a site well adapted to military 1 imposes. It stands on a bend of the river, formed by two of its longest "readies," and, consequently, commands a view of the stream for a, great distance in both directions. Without being so much elevated as to give it a painful exposure to the blasts of the north and of the east, it rises above the general level, so as to prevent the possibility of a sudden surprise. The ground in front of it slopes rapidly down to the river's brink, and has a full exposure to the mid-day sun. A defile on its western side added to its security. When Horsley wrote, the ruins of the station were clearly discernible. Its ramparts could be traced out, and though the interior had been ploughed and levelled, "there were very evident remains of two turrets at the western and eastern entries to the station, and of another at the south-west corner." He found manifest traces of suburban building's on the slope, between the south rampart of the station and the river, and also "to the south-west of the fort." The station was square, and con- tained an area of above three acres and a half. The Wall came up to the north cheek of the western gateway, consequently the station pro- jected considerably to the north of the Wall. 2 Gordon, Brand;' and 1 Camden's Britannia, with Additions and Improvements by Edmund Gibson, D.D., Bishop of London, fourth edition, Vol. II., p. 195. ■"Sixty yards to the north of the Wall, and eighty within it." — Britannia Romana, p. 1 ■'!•">. : " - I traced the eastern rampart of this station to the very edge of the Tyne, April 3rd, 1783, in company with the ingenious Air. Chapman, where we caused many square stones, bedded in lime, tn lie dug out in several parts of it. anil close t<> the brink of that river." — History of Newcastle, Vol. II., p. 605. Horsley, who is usually so candid and so accurate, maintains, in opposition to Gordon, that it is the western, and not the eastern, rampart that is continued down to the edge of the river. In this he is clearly wrong. FH IIIK STATION AT WALLSEND. 71 other writers inform us that the great Wall was continued from the south-east angle of the station, and brought down into the bed of the river, where it terminated. By this means an attacking force was pre- vented from getting within the line of the great barrier. The present aspect of the station is not encouraging. The workings of the colliery, which still gives name to the best class of coal sold for domestic purposes, were commenced in 1770, and continued to the year 1853. The principal shaft was sunk a few yards to the west of the western rampart of the station, and the pumping engine was planted a little beyond its north rampart. The defile on the west was filled up to give a proper level to the " waggon- ways." The stones of the station, some of them with inscriptions, were used in the erection of the colliery buildings. In such circumstances it is not remarkable that the vestiges of the station should be almost entirely removed. On the accompanying plan of the station the position of the ramparts is marked by a dotted line. The northern section of the camp is entirely obliterated. The western rampart was immediately in front of the house so long occupied by Mr. Buddie, the eminent colliery "viewer," and now by Mr. Leslie; it is scarcely discernible. The eastern rampart, which is a little to the east of Mr. Reay's house, is still plainly visible, and the fosse which gave it additional strength can be easily made out. A portion of the southern rampart and the rounded corner by which it joins the eastern wall also remain. These are shown in the accompanying plate. By a little careful scrutiny the line of the Wall, from the south-east angle of the station to the ancient margin of the river, may be discerned. This Wall was continued for some distance into the bed of the river where it is still to be seen when the tides are unusually low. 1 The inequalities of the surface on the slope fronting the station indicate the remains of suburban dwellings. Numerous proofs of Roman occupation have at various times been found in and around the station. Whenever the ground is broken, stones, tiles, pottery, and bones are found. Brand says — " In sinking the shaft of a pit, very large teeth were found, anil a conduit dis- covered which has no doubt remained there since it was a Roman town. The viewer crept a good way along it, and described it as built of great stones of coarse workmanship. Many fragments of very beautiful pottery have been turned up. There is a very curious piece in the possession of Hugh Hornby, Esq., Alderman of Xewcastle. 2 I saw taken up part of a wall composed of Roman bricks cemented closely together with lime. I found a fibula, some Roman tegulae and coins, a ring, &c. Immense quantities of bones. 'Within the last ten years the river has been greatly contracted in width, the margin having been reclaimed to the extent shown by the jetties in the accompanying lithograph. Several tall chimneys have arisen and other changes taken place since the drawing was made. -This, which is the fragment of a large embossed Samian bowl, is now in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. (j> SEGEDUNUM. horns, and teeth of animals that had been sacrificed 1 are continually turning up. [ have two Roman hand mills which came from this station." The late Dr. Lingard traversed the Wall in the year 1807. The present writer has had the advantage of perusing the notes which he made on this occasion, an advantage which had previously been enjoyed by Mr. Hodgson. At Wallsend he made the following memoranda : — "Mr. Buddie informed us, that in trenching their garden to the east of the house, many human bones were found, and in digging a cellar under the dining room a well [many] feet deep was [met with]; at the bottom of which were the bones and skulls of different animals, and the horn of a buffalo or reindeer." "A little to the west of the station was opened, twenty-five years ago. an arched cavity — arch of brick — in which were found many broken urns, a dial, and a cross — this i> doubtful." In 1814, a considerable building was discovered to the south-west of the station, but was immediately removed. It seems to have con- tained an oval tank or bath, formed of masonry and cement, having a hole at the bottom of one end and a lip at the top of the other. A flue ran past it." More recently an altar was found in the same spot. It was without inscription, but had a circular hole driven through its centre, from which twelve rays, very coarsely cut. proceeded. The altar may have been used in the worship of Mithras. 3 Mr Reay informed the writer that — The altar when found was lying on -the ground. It was surrounded by twelve .-tones arranged in a circle. These stones were about a foot high and eight or ten inches thick; they were roughly "scabbled with a pick." The people said they were intended to represent the twelve apostles. Coins were found under several of the stones and also under the altar. No inscriptions of importance have been found at Wallsend. The most interesting is on the stone drawn in the margin, which proves that some portion of the second legion, styled the August, has at one time been employed here. The form of the letters renders it probable that the inscrip- tion is of comparatively late date: not older than the time of Scverns.' 1 These animals had most likely been used for food — not slain in sacrifice. '■' Hodgson's History of Northumberland, Pt. II., Vol. III., \>. 171. s It is shown in the foreground of the view of Wallsend. \n attempt was long ago made to palm upon the world an inscription which, had it been genuine, would have been important. The following letter, with the accompanying cut. appeared in the Newcastle Journal, of August 26th, 1 7 T •"> — ■ g. "To the Printer. Some workmen digging near Wallsend have this « hadr. morning discovered a broken stone, on which is the following inscription : — 9 mur : cond If any of your curious readers can give any explanation through your paper ^# nnc. marm they will oblige many of your readers, and among the rest your humble I pos. coss, d i rvant, J. M., Wallsend, Aug. 3rd., 1775." ^arm-iyy^ Unfortunately Pennant, who received it from a correspondent, in time for publication in his Tour, adopted the inscription (Tour in Scotland, 177°, Pt. II.. p. 291), and it is given in Gough's ( 'amden on Pennant's authority, A ol. III., p. 513. : Satle A* ./// ////■ enlarged Plans of the Stations , 8 Chains «■/' €6 feet each to an inch § TAT I f iTT AT liAlL BJEIOD) I'lli; STATION AT WALLSEND. 73 Gordon, guided by the position of the station in relation to that of others on the list of mural garrisons in the Notitia. the names of which had been ascertained, came to the conclusion that Wallsend was the Segedunum of the Romans where the prefect of the fourth cohort of the Lergi [Lingones] was stationed. 1 Horsier confirmed Gordon's con- jecture, but neither of these antiquaries had the satisfaction of having their opinion verified by an inscription. In the year 1783 the altar which is here figured, was, along with another inscribed stone, to be afterwards noticed, discovered in the foundations of a conventual building, on the north side of the castle- vard at Tynemouth. Both of these are now in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries of London. On the supposition that Tynemouth fovi] o[PTIM(> M AXIMO .EL I\- HVFVS PKAEfV.CTVS 1 COH ORTIs] IIII. LINGO- NY M. To Jupiter the best and greatest j^lhis Rufus Prefect of Cohort the Fourth of the Ling-o- nes. was a fort subsidiary to AVallsend. and that in the copies of the Notitia which have come down to us Lergorum has. through the fault of some early transcriber, been written for Ldngonwm, the necessary confirmation is ol itained. That Lergorum has been erroneously written for Lingonum is rendered probable from the following circumstances : — No inscription has been found in Britain mentioning the Lergi ; but inscriptions have been found which mention the first, second, and fourth cohorts of Lin- gones. On the other hand, the Lingones are not named in the Xotitia. and the cohorts of the Lergi, which are there recorded as belonging to the Wall, are the second and the fourth. There can be little doubt, therefore, that the one word has been mistaken for the other, the slight difference between Lergorum and Lingonum rendering such an error easy. 8 1 Camden, deceived by a similarity of sound between the names of the places, placed Sege- dunum at Seg-hill. a village which lies several miles to the north of the Wall, and where no traces of Roman occupation have been found. On the same principle, he identified the next station, Pons iEi.ii, with Ponteland, a villag-e situated seven miles north of Newcastle and the Wall, and which also is entirely destitute of Roman remains. -For these sug-g-estions the reader is indebted to Mr. Thomas Hodg-son, of Newcastle, who discusses the subject of the Tvnemourh inscriptions in the first volume of the Archteoloiria -Eliana, ( >ld Series, p. 231. T 74 SEGEDUNUM. According to the Notitia the commander of the garrison was a tribune -on the altar, however, iElius Rufus is styled a prefect. The Lingones were a people who occupied that part of Gallia Celtica in which the rivers Seine and Marne take their rise. Most of the ornaments on the sides of the altar, which we have been discussing, are of common occurrence, and will be described in the fifth chapter of this work. The serpents which stand erect on each side of the patera are more rare. From the frequency with which these creatures are represented in the mural paintings of Pompeii, particularly in kitchens, it would seem that they were regarded as a species of house- hold deity. In one painting, now in the Museo Borbonico, in Naples, two serpents are figured approaching an altar, and partaking of the offerings placed upon it. Figures of serpents were attached to dead walls in Pompeii, as the figure of the cross now is in some of the cities of Italy, to prevent their defilement. It is evident that serpents were n sgarded with reverence. Why the station at Wallsend was named Segedunum it is difficult to conjecture. There Avas a Segedunum in Aquitania, the modern Rodez; a Segodunum in Northern Germany, the modern Siegen ; and a Singidunum on the Danube, the modern Belgrade. It may be that some of the soldiers of Hadrian, on taking up their quarters here, were struck with some resemblance between it and one of these localities, and so gave it its name. In the New Yorks and New Londons of the western continent. Ave have modern examples of a similar mode of procedure. Happily there is no doubt regarding the origin of the present name of the place — the end of the Wall. The early period at AA-hich the name Wallsend is known to have been in use — the latter part of the eleventh century — is a proof of the large amount of attention given to the ruins of the Barrier by the inhabitants of the district, even at that distant date. ' It is curious also to observe hoAv many places along the course of the Wall have dem-ed their name from this great structure; for example, in Northumberland we have Wallsend, Walker. Wallknoll (in Newcastle). Bcnwell, Wallbottle, Heddon-on-thc-Wall, Welton, Wall-houses. Wall. Walwick, Shield-on-the-Wall, Wall-mill. WalltoAvn, Thirlwall. and Wall-end ; in Cumberland, we have Walton, Wallbours, Old- Wall, High Wallhead. Middle Wallhead, Low Wall- head, Walby, Wallfoot. and doubtless others also. The present village of Wallsend is about half a mile distant from the Roman station, a little to the north of the turnpike road. It is, hoAvever, of comparatively modern erection. Brand says " that an old 1 Bishop William Carileph, after his restoration to his see of Durham, and, therefore, between 1091 and 1095, granted to the convent of Durham the vills of Wisfeling-ton (Willing-ton) ami Wallsend, Fenham and Norham, north of the Tyne.— Hutchinson, quoting- Simeon, p. 23-4 ; and Leland's Collectanea, Vol. II., p. 332, 38. CARVILLE HALL. 75 woman, still living, remembers when the site of the present Wallsend was an empty field." The traditional account of its erection in this place is, that a plague having desolated the original town, which stood upon the site of the camp, and had been built out of its ruins, the terrified inhabitants forsook the spot, and sought shelter in the new locality. Traces of the stone Wall are very indistinct between Wallsend and Newcastle, and its course is chiefly to be ascertained by the ditch which accompanied it on its north side. The fosse of the Wall is seen, though faintly, behind the Methodist Chapel at Carville. The private footpath leading to Carville Hall is no doubt on the site of the Wall itself. It often happens that when the Wall has been entirely removed, for the sake of its stones, the foundations are left, and used as a footpath or bridle way. The fosse of the Wall is here distinctly marked. Carville Hall is the Cousins's House of Horsley. 1 As Wallsend colliery was not in existence in Horsley's day, this house was the nearest notable object to the station of Segedunum. Hence we often still read that the Roman Wall began at Cousins's House — a designation not known now in the district. The fosse on the north of Carville is filled with water, and serves as a duck-pond. The stone dike which forms the fence of the next field contains many Roman stones. Stote's Houses are the Beehouses of Horsley. On the north of them the fosse of the Wall is filled with water, and forms two ponds. Here some traces of the foundation of the Wall may be seen. About sixty yards to the south of these houses are faint traces of two tumuli, one on each side of the little valley descending to the Tyne. The cart track is now on the Wall ; the fosse is less distinct — a hedare runs alono- it. Forty years ago the Wall in this vicinity was standing between three and four feet high, covered with brushwood. About half way between Stote's Houses and Old Walker is a small stream ; at the point where the Wall crosses it several Roman walling stones lie in its bed. West of the brook the core of the Wall is seen in the footpath. On the top of the rising ground, about eighty yards from the brook, is the site of the first mile-castle. It is under tillage, but its slightly elevated surface, and the number of small stones which are sprinkled over it. distinguish it from the rest of the field. The Farm-house of Old Walker is now reached. Many Roman 1 This place derived its earlier name from being- the property, and perhaps the suburban residence of Horsley's gTeat uncle, John Cousins, an alderman of Newcastle-upon-Tvne, in the seventeenth century. About 1740, Sir Robert Carre, a London knight, and draper, but also, it is thought, a burg-ess of the northern metropolis, bought Cousins's house at Wallsend, and rebuilt it, thenceforward designating - it Carre-ville. The present mansion is called Carville-hall, 76 BYKER HILL. stones appear in its walls; the fosse is used as a pond for farm purposes. The bronze ornament shown in the margin was found a few years ago on the south side of the Wall near Walker. The black strokes on the tiger's back are formed of some soft composition, let into the metal. It has probably been attached to some horse trappings. The road that is seen stretching in a straight line up the hill to Byker indicates the direction of the Wall. It is the first, but by no means the most remarkable, instance that we shall meet with of the unflinching and straightforward tenden- cies of this remarkable structure. The road now runs on the north side of the ditch for some distance. The site of the fosse all the way to Byker Hill is enclosed between hedges, and used as potato gardens. It was left waste long after the neighbour- ing ground was brought into tillage. In the second field from Byker Hill Mr. MacLauchlan. aided by his measuring chain, lays down the position of the second mile-castle. It is seven furlongs from the last. The attentive observer will detect it 1 >y its gently swelling surface. On Byker Hill is a large quarry, winch entirely obliterates the remains of Roman works. Passing this and the houses near, the fosse is seen on the left of the road. In the fence, on the other side of the road, enclosing the grounds of Heaton Hall, many Roman stones will be observed. The Wall in this vicinity must, in the year 1725 have been in a goodly condition, as appears from the " Pros- pect of the Wall from Byker Hill," which Stukeley gives in his " Iter Boreale." The drawing is reproduced in the opposite lithograph, with some slight corrections, made on the ground, by Mr. John Storey. Stukeley made this drawing because, as he says, "the country being entirely undermined, it might, sometime or other, sink, and so disorder the track of this stately work." It must have remained in an encourag- ing state of perservation until the year 1800, for in the Monthly Magazine of that year we read, "At this period a portion of the foundation of the Roman Wall was taken up at Byker Hill, for the purpose of repairing the highways." At Byker Bar the turnpike road deviates to the south ; but the Wall marches right on, descending the steep bank which leads down into the Ouseburn, and then climbing the equally steep cliff on the opposite side. The Wall probably began its descent at the spot where a deserted blacksmith's shop now stands ; and here once stood a mile- castle. Two large chiselled stones are preserved in the Castle of THE OUSEBURN. i < Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which arc believed to have been brought from this castellum. One of them bears a rude inscription, which has not been deciphered. From this point until we reach the western extremity of Newcastle no existing traces of the Wall are to be found. We are entirely dependent upon the testimony of former observers for our knowledge of its passage through the town. Descending the eastern bank of the Ouseburn, it crossed the stream a little to the south of the existing bridge, and ascending the other side, passed through the grounds of Red-barns, which have recently been purchased for the purposes of a Dominican monastery. From this point, according to Gordon, Brand, and Lingard, it made straight for the tower in the town's wall called the Ship Carpenters' Tower, or Sally- port Gate. 1 From the ( 'arpenters' Tower it is supposed to have passed over the rising ground called the Wallknoll. The name of the place, in addition to other reasons, renders this probable." It is said to have approached Pilgrim Street, a little above Silver Street. 1 Grey, in his Chorographia, states that the Picts Wall came over the Lorke Burn (the site of the present Dean Street), by the Nether Dean Bridge. 1 It may have crossed at this place, but not by this bridge, which was evidently of mediaeval structure, and was of too wide a span to be safe in a line of military operation. Advancing westward, a little, the Wall reached St. Nicholas' Church. In a passage already quoted. Leland informs us that he was told that St. Nicholas' Church stood upon the Picts Wall. There is little doubt that long before the erection of the present church of St. Nicholas, a church was built upon the same site, in consequence probably of the 1 "About Red-barns the garden grounds have destroyed every vestige both of the Wall and the fosse: but when we are past the gardens, the remains of the Wall seem again to appear, ami, bavin- crossed the field, proceed in a straight line, behind the Keelmen's Hospital to the Sallyport or Ship Carpenters' Tower. There was a rope walk here, upon the foundation of the Wall, not many years ago. Near the present Sallyport Gate stood a turret or Roman castelrum." — Brand's Hist. Newcastle, Vol. I., p. 138. "From Bvker windmill it may be easily traced down the rock on the eastern bank ot the Ouseburn. Bv the remains of it in the garden, it appears to have crossed the river a little to the south of the present bridge. It then rises up the opposite bank to Red-barns, from whence it may be traced, but with difficulty, to the Carpenters' Tower."— Lingard's Notes, a.d. 1807. Horslev maintains that the Wall did not go straight to the Sallyport Gate as Gordon asserted, but to Pandon Gate.— Brit. Rom., p. 131. On a former occasion we have had to prefer the testimony of Gordon to that of Horsley, p. 89. •-Brand savs that an old woman, living on the Wallknoll, informed him "that several years aii'o some workmen, in building a coach-house for Alderman Sowerby, discovered plainly the foun- dations of the Roman Wall coming- over the top of the bill, and bearing- to the north side of the present Sallyport Gate, and that a great many curious gentlemen came to view it." 3 "The Milbank MS., cited so often by Bourne, tells us that (about Charles I.'s time) the Roman Wall might be traced down the hill by Mr. Leonard Carr's house, which stood in Pilgrim Street, on the we>t side, a little before you come to Silver Street."— Brand, \ ol. 1., p. 139. 4 The Nether Dean Bridge crossed the ravine indicated by the present Dean Street, at a point immediately opposite the east end of St. Nicholas' Church.' The passage which led to it on the east side of Dean Street exists, and ^till v.'oes bv the name of the Low Bridge. U 78 pons .t:i.ii. accumulation upon it of the ruins of Roman structures. The Wall was continued westward, nearly in a line with the north side of Collingwood Street, and here it formed the north rampart of Pons iEui. II.— PONS iELII. Newcastle, even at an early period, must have been a place of impor- tance. Its situation upon a navigal »le river, at a convenient distance from the sea. gives it peculiar commercial advantages. The troops required to garrison the Wall would of themselves cause no small amount of inter- course with foreign countries, which would most naturally find a seat here. The bridge which Hadrian built across the Tyne would bring into Pons ^Elii all the traffic of the south. The changes, however, which have passed over it in Saxon, Norman, and more recent times, have nearly obliterated the traces of its primeval condition, and rendered these things mere matter of conjecture. Even the ramparts of the station cannot be satisfactorily ascertained. Horsley, with great ingenuity, but questionable success, attempted to define them. He found that the Wall passed under a house in the Groat Market (not far probably from the present Collingwood Street), and this he conceived would form the north wall of the station. A traditionary account existed in his day that the Wall "passed through St. George's Porch, near the north-west corner of St. Nicholas' Church ;" and as this porch lies a little to the south of the probable course of the Wall, he thought that the wall in question must be the east Avail of tin' station, not the great Wall. The position of the south Avail he deter- mined upon the principle that in many of the stations the Vallum comes up to the support of the south rampart. In the case before us. he found that the Vallum, when last seen, Avas running in a line which pointed tOAvards the north-west corner of the castle. In this line he placed the southern rampart. The western boundary he determined by supposing that this station, like many others, Avas square, and finding that the south rampart, as ascertained by him, Avas six chains distant from the north, he laid down the western rampart at the same distance from the eastern. 1 There can be no doubt that the station lies to the south of the north side of Collingwood Street; but with the exception of this fact, and of the situation, perhaps, of the east rampart, we have no data for determining its limits. The form of the station may not have been a square, but a parallelogram, and the Vallum, instead of coming 'Horsley, in forming the plan of the -ration upon the relationship subsisting between the Wall and tin- Vallum, seems entirely to forget that he lias endeavoured to prove that the Wall wa- rn^ built for eighty years after the construction of the Vallum and station. He evidently feels that Vallum, Murus, find Station are in reality one work, and that if one member were wanting the whole would he incomplete. He g-ives Hadrian the credit of acting more wisely than he would have done if he had placed the station of Ton- .I^lii on the exposed or enemies' side of the great harrier which he erected against the Caledonian foe. NEWCASTLE. 79 up to its southern rampart, may have come up to the gateway in the middle of the western rampart. 1 Horsley, as has been already mentioned, found traces of the Wall in the Groat Market. 3 Since his day it has been twice seen in the line of Collinsnvood Street. 3 In addition to this, two lines of walling, at right angles to the main Wall, have been met with in the middle of the same street. There can be little doubt that these cross walls were portions of the station. One of them was nearly three feet thick, which is the usual thickness of the walls of houses in the stations ; the other was six feet and a half thick — a degree of strength sufficiently great to warrant the supposition that it may have been the eastern rampart of the station. Both the walls were of admirable workmanship, and bore all the characteristics of Roman masonry. 4 In Mr. Thomas Hodgson's MSS. 5 is a remarkable confirmation of the opinion here expressed, that the stronger of the cross walls now mentioned may have been the east wall of the station. He says — " In regard to Collingwood Street I can add that the Wall was also met with on the south side of the street, in front of the third or fourth house from the east end of the street. This would he as nearly as possible the site of the stables of the Spread Eagle, which was at the north-east corner of Denton Chare, and which Brand said was supposed tn have been built of Roman stones. If the cast wall of the station existed in this part, these remains seem as probable to have belonged to it as any part of the Wall." 'The present writer endeavoured, in the former editions of his work, to draw the lines of the station so ;is ti) include most of the gTOund wdiere Roman remains have been found. Subsequent reflection has led him to abandon the attempt. "•• In laving the foundation of a building in the Groat Market, about fifteen or sixteen years since, the masons struck upon the Roman Wall, at each of the side walls, so that the building stands cross the Roman Wall." — Britannia Romana, p. 132. 3 "I saw strong remains of the Roman Wall exposed when the foundations of houses were being formed on the mirth side ut' Collingwood Street in 1810, but here, as at other stations, mi remains of Roman suburbs have been found to the north of the line of the Mums — nothing in forming Mosley Street — nothing in building the magnificent markets [now removed to make way for Grey Street] and streets between the Bigg Market and Pilgrim Street. The grave of Pons ,'Eli'i lies to the south of St. Nicholas' Church."— Hodgson's Hist! North., Pt. II., Vol. III., p. 280. ''On the 23rd December, 1853, a drain from the Turf Hotel, leading across Collingwood Street, was renewed, and at IS feet from the front of the hotel, and 11-t from the east end of the street, Mr. Ventress saw the outside face of a piece of Roman Wall. It was running diagonally in the street. S.W. to N.E., and striking for the angleof the Cloth Market and Mosley Street. The cut was 4 feet wide, and that distance of wall was seen. The depth from the street pavement to the base of the wall was 9| feet. The wall had six courses of stones, the bottom one projecting 2§ inches, and the entire thickness of the wall at its base was 9 feet. Mr. White was present."— Arch. Ml., N.S., Vol. III., p. 60. 4 On May 17, 1852, the labourers of the Water Company, in laying down pipes in the centre of Collingwood Street, at 92 feet from its east end, came upon a piece of Roman Wall, at right angles to the street, and 2 feet 11 inches in thickness. At oO feet nearer to the east end of the same street another Roman Wall, feet 6 inches thick, was found running in the same direction. Dr. Bruce inspected these remains." — Arch. Ml., N.S., Vol. III., p. 59. 5 The late Mr. Thomas Hodgson, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, author of some papers in the Archaeologia iEliana, which are characterized by great acuteness and sound judgment, was engaged towards the close of his life in preparing an account of "The Roman Walls — their Stations, Inscriptions, and Sculptures." At the time of his death he had completed the examination of all the stations in Northumberland and Cumberland that are actually on the Wall, and the result of his labours is contained in three folio volumes of manuscript, most carefully written. Through the kindness of his surviving brother, Mr. Alderman Hodgson, the present author has enjoyed the privilege of consulting these valuable documents. They will be quoted under the designation of " Mr. Thomas Hodgson's MSS" 80 PONS ,ELII. We have no data for laying down with accuracy the south and west ramparts of the station ; but if the north and the east may be considered as fixed, and we bear in mind the usual size of a station, we can be at no loss as to the general position of the station of Pons tElii. The site was an advantageous one. Whilst furnishing a level platform of a size abundantly adequate to the requirements even of a milliary cohort, its south front sloped rapidly down to the river ; and at no great distance. both on its east and west sides, natural defiles added to its strength. The vicinity of the station too, afforded many sunny spots suitable for the erection of suburban villas. In Newcastle, as in other places, no remains of building on the north side of the Wall have been found. When the foundations of the New- Town Hall (which is just outside the Wall) were excavated, hopes were entertained of the discovery of Roman spoil : but the virgin clay was reached without a trace of Roman handiwork being met with. South of the Wall the proofs of Roman occupation are very abundant. This is 1 larticularly the case in the Castle precincts. The present County-courts occupy the site of a building which used to be called the Half-Moon Battery. When they were being built some interesting discoveries were made which are thus described : — '• In digging fur the foundations for the Northumberland County Court-House, L810, a well was found finely cased with Human masonry. It still remains below the ciiitre part 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 round 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. 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 Moothall. 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. '• The whole site of the Court-house, for several feet above the original surface of tin 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 tire, 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 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 HADRIANS BRIDGE. 81 corfs of collieries, but in a decayed Btate, and cut as easily with the workmen's spades as the brushwood found in peat mosses does. As there was much horses' or nudes' dung near them, and some mules' shoes amongst it, I thought they had been fixed there as orates or racks to eat fodder out of." 1 But perhaps the most interesting trace that we have of the Roman occupation of Newcastle is the bridge which gave to it its Roman desig- nation. 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 mediaeval structure had been placed upon the foundations which Hadrian laid. Several piles of fine black oak, which had supported the founda- tion, were drawn out of the bed of the river, and found to be in a state of excellent preservation. The coins that were found imbedded in the j tiers give decided evidence of the Roman origin of the structure. To some of these, in the possession of the late Mr. Rippon, of North Shields, the author had access. They consisted of four denarii of Hadrian, two brass coins of Sabina. and a denarius of Severus.' The coins of Hadrian were remarkably bold and sharp, and cannot have been long in circula- tion before being deposited in the bed where sixteen centuries of repose awaited them : that of Severus was 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 Magnen- tius. which had been obtained from the piers of the bridge. The coins posterior to the time of Hadrian were, no doubt, deposited during the repairs and alterations which the bridge received after its original con- struction in A.D. 120. It is probable that the ancient bridge had no stone arches, but was provided with a horizontal roadway of timber. Such was the character of the famous bridge constructed by Trajan over the river Danube on his second Dacian compaign, and such too seems to have been the construc- tion of all the Roman bridges in the North of England. No altar or inscribed stone has been found to confirm the theory that Newcastle is the ancient Poxs 2Elii. The existence of the bridge is. however, sufficient proof of it. 4 Besides the position of Poxs 2Ei.ii ■History of Northumberland, Pt. II., Vol. III., p. 173. -The author, as the leader of the pilgrim-band who traversed the Wall in the summer ol 1849, used a staff made of this primeval oak. It is now in the collection of antiquities in the Castle ot' Newcastle. 'These coins were given to Mr. Rippon's mother by the engineer of the bridge. The engi- neer lived in the house of Mr. Rippon's grandfather. 4 The bridge takes its name from Hadrian, who was of the .Elian family. 82 THE GARRISON AT PONS .EUl. thl on the list of stations in the Notitia — between Segedunum and Conder- cum — is conclusive evidence of the fact. The Notitia informs us that Poxs iEui was governed by the tribune of a cohort 1 of Cornovii. Unhappily the only inscription discovered in Newcastle which mentions any body of military at all is the one figured in the margin, and which bears the name of the first cohort of Thracians." It seems a little doubt- whether the transcribers of the Notitia have written the name of the cohort correctly. Cer- tain it is that we are at considerable loss to identity the people in question. Ptolemy represents a tribe, named the Cornobii or Cor- novii, as occupying the extreme north-east of Scot- land — the present county of ( 'aithness ; and another in South Britain, as lying to the east of the Ordoviees, which u'ives us parts of Stafford, Cheshire, and Shropshire as their area; 3 but it is not likely that either of these people furnished the cohort in question, for, as Mr. Hodg- son remarks, " it was not according to the Roman policy to uarrison a country with detachments of its own inhabitants." Some other stony memo- rials of Roman Newcastle have come down to our time. It is not known precisely where the figure of Hercules. ( >f which the woodcut pre -s-.-nts Some copies of the Notitia read "first cohort," others simply "cohort," '-This stone was found in 1864 in what seems to have 1 n the burying place of the White- friars' monastery. In preparing the foundations of some new buildings in Mr. Spoor's premises in Claverino- Place several graves were found containing undecayed hones. The graves seem to have heen dug amongst a mass of Roman dehris— fragments of Samian vessels, wine amphora; and mortars "were turned up, as well as the hones of friars, and the stone before us. The stone is 13 inches by 10. The palm branch, the soldier's favourite emblem, will be noticed in one corner. 8 Booking's Notitia. p. 000.* Smith's Diet. Geo-.. Vol. I., p. 687, SCI [JPTURED STONES. 83 a careful representation, was found. 1 From the situation it occupied when first noticed it is probable that it came from some temple in the eastern suburbs of Pons iEm. As is the case with most of the sculp- tured stones found on the Wall it is much mutilated, the head, the feet, and every part which could be easily broken off having been detached. The lion's skin, the apples of the garden of Hesperides, and the club— the usual emblems of Hercules — are all represented. A figure of Mercury was found in cutting the crest of the hill, in front of the Old Castle, to receive the foundations of the railway viaduct. The youthful god holds the chlamys on the left arm. andthocaduceusin his left hand ; in the right hand he holds a purse — so essential in the pursuits of commerce; a goat kneels at his feet, and near his head there has been a cock, the emblem of vigilance, but it is much mutilated." The woodcut represents the figure. In removing, in 1843, the Whitefriar tower, which stood on the brow of the hill overhanging the Close, and formed a part of the walls of Newcastle, two Roman altars were found. They were lying about eleven feet deep in the ground. amongst a mass of Roman roofing tiles. One of them was uninscribed, the other, shown in the woodcut, is dedicated to Silvanus. It is curious to find a memorial of a rural god in a part of Newcastle which now, more than any other, is clouded by the smoke of manufactories. There cannot, however, be a doubt that on the knoll and contiguous dell and river bank, where of recent years have been planted the engine factories of Stephen- son and of Hawthorn, in Roman times natural forests grew, beasts of the chase found shelter, and soldiers and shepherds were stimulated by the joyous freshness of the scene to offer their devotions to the deities whom they had been taught to regard as the presiding genii of the place. The lower part of the inscription on this altar may have contained the name of the cohort stationed here, but, unhappily, it has been hopelessly effaced. We must, however, now leave what Stukelev calls "this focus of the kingdom." DEO (.') 5 I L V A N O . 'I'd the god Silvanus. 1 It was standing in the garden behind the house in Pilgrim Street, which is now occupied 1>\ the Poor Law Guardians, at the time the premises came into the possession of the directors of the .Newcastle and North Shields Railway, and bj them presented to the Newcastle Antiquarian Society. It docs nut seem to have lieen noticed before. -In Gruter, page LI., is a representation of Mercury; in which all the characteristics of the deity are given precisely as in the case before us. S4 THE WALL WEST OP NEWCASTLE. The Wall, in its course westward, went by St. John's Church, and in front of the Assembly Rooms, up Westgate Hill. 1 No remains of it are to be seen between Newcastle and Ben well Hill. Its course is marked, for the greater part of the way, by the fosse on its north side At the top of Westgate Hill, there were, in Horsley's days, some traces of a mile-castle ;' they are now entirely removed. The Vallum, of which there are no traces between Wallsend and Newcastle — the river being sufficiently near to afford protection to the mural garrison on the south — makes its appearance directly the western suburbs are passed. In Horsley's time, and for a considerable period afterwards, it was to be seen on the south side of West-ate Hill, pointing in the direction of the Literary Society's buildings and the Castle. 3 The Vallum is seen as soon as the last row of houses in the town- Gloucester Road — is passed. It runs at the back of the windmill on the top of the hill, and behind the row of houses called Graingerville. it is seen on the left hand of the road nearly all the way to Condebcum. On the right of the road is the fosse of the Wall, occasionally strengthened by an elevated ridge on its outer margin. ni.—CONDERCUM. The third station on the line, Condercum, stood on the top of Ben well Hill.' two miles distant from Newcastle. The situation is a good one. Without being much exposed, it commands an extensive prospect in every direction. Northwards the view is only bounded by ;i - I he following paragraph is taken from an unpublished paper by Mr. Hodgson Hinde, which was intended to form the first part of a new History of Newcastle : — " Horsier, and afterwards Brand, have laid down the line of the Wall somewhat too far north, in deference to a tradition that it passed through St. John's churchyard and behind the Vicarage House, whereas its true course was certainly in front of the Vicarage, skirting the churchyard, if it touched at all, at its southern extremity. This fact was established beyond all doubt by the discovery of its remains in making an excavation in front of the palisades which enclose the ground of the Assembly Rooms, and is recorded on the authority of Mr. Thomas (lee, the late Town Surveyor, confirmed by the testimony of persons still living, who were present when the remains were exposed." The Sayings Bank, new County Court, and contiguous buildings now occupy the site of the Vicarage house ami gardens. When the foundations for these structures were prepared no remains of the Wall were met with — an additional proof that it must have gone in front of them. The following memorandum, in pencil, in the handwriting of Mr. Thomas Hodgson, is further confirmatory of the route now given — " I can say that of the stone Wall, traces were met with at the corner of the garden before the CrOfS House, Westgate." — Mr. Thomas Hodgson's MSS. The Cross House is in front of the Assembly Rooms. 2 "I thought there were some visible remains of a castellum just behind the quarry house." — Brit. Horn., p. 137. " It is probable there was a mile-castle where the wall makes a bend at the top of Westgate Street, which would be about a Roman mile from the supposed site of Pons MhiiJ" — McLauchlan's Memoir, p. 11. "Britannia Romana, p. 132. The premises called by Horsley ''Mr Ord's house" are now occupied by the Literary and Philosophical Society. "Of the earthen 'mound the last I knew was in the field at the Westgate where Blenheim Street now traverses what used to be called Wailes' field .... running up to the garden of the house Wailes used to occupy. In the garden of that house it was still traceable. The line of this mound made direct for the' Old Castle through the building of the Literary and Philosophical S ii iety, ju-t at the part where the great room commences."— Mr. Thomas Hodgson's MSS. 1 Benwell Hill, proper, is the elevated point just beyond the station. The village of Benwell is in the valley below. The prior of Tvnemouth had a summer residence here. Ml r '1% V r* ^J -J '.!,*■ ■*~c Kitll JBrc. 15 Luh r - STATION AT 1EFWELI MILL THE THIRD STATION OF THE WALL. 85 the Cheviot Hills, whilst southwards the meanderings of the Tyne, the graceful proportions of Ravensworth Vale, and the verdure of the river's banks constitute a scene of peculiar gladness. Of late years the advance of manufacturing industry westward of the Tyne Bridge has injured the natural beauties of the spot. The sunny slopes south of the station were well adapted for the erection of suburban buildings, and here the foundations of several have been found. A plan of the camp as it existed in 1772, prepared by Mr. Shafto, who was then its proprietor, is given in Brand's Newcastle. The ramparts were distinctly traceable, and there were appearances both of the north and east gateway. What was supposed to be a draw-well is laid down near the north-west angle of the station, and another near the south-east. The remains of an important building were found within the station at a short distance from the eastern entrance, and of another, consisting of eight or nine apartments, at about three hundred yards to the south- west of the station. Both of these buildings had their floors supported upon pillars ; to allow, as is supposed, of the apartments being warmed by the free circulation of hot air beneath and about them. According to Mr. Shafto's plan, the station contained an area of nearly five acres. Since the year 1772, great changes have taken place at Condercum. In Brand's time, the portion north of the turnpike road was trenched and planted. 1 When the author first became acquainted with the station, this part was under the plough, and whenever the ground was disturbed, numerous fragments of Roman pottery were brought to light. More recently it has been converted into the high service reservoir of the New- castle Water Company. In constructing the reservoir some remains of Roman houses were met with, and the piers of the north gateway were disclosed. 2 The draw-well in the north-west corner proved to be the shaft • >f a coal pit, which had probably been sunk at an early period of the modern history of the coal trade. Being cased round to the depth of seven or eight feet with the stones of the station, it had the appearance of a Roman work ; this probably led to the error regarding its use. 8 South of the road, some interesting traces of the station remain. Its eastern rampart, as well as its south-east angle, show boldly in the grounds of Mr. Rendel ; its southern and western ramparts may be traced, though more obscurely, in the grounds of Mr. Mulcaster. The remains of a small building, apparently a temple, discovered in 1862, are to be seen outside the eastern rampart. It is about sixteen feet '"In trenching- this ground many coins were found, most of which wen- defaced. Great conduits or sewers were discovered at the deptli of about a yard-and-a-half : the)- were composed of large wrought stones. Several little altars and fragments of inscriptions were turned out on this occasion." — Brand's Newcastle, Vol. I., p. 606. '-' Some doubt existed as to the precise position of the north rampart of the station. See Mr. McLauchlan's Memoir, p. 13. The discovery of this gateway proved the correctness of Mr. Shafto's plan. 3 At the request of the author, Mr. T. Y. Hall of Newcastle, accompanied by Mr. Mossman, went down the pit and explored the workings for some distance. A plan, by Mr. Mossman, of the portion examined, is in the hands of the author. 86 CONDERCUM IDENTIFIED. long, and is provided with a circular apse at its southern extremity. Two altars were found lying within it on their faces ; they had origi- nally stood upon a foundation of concrete on each side of the apse. In the circular recess three human skeletons were found, pressed into the curve and lying side by side. Fragments of statues, inscriptions, tiles, and pottery, together with bronze ornaments, coins, and snail shells were also found within the inclosure. 1 Happily we are at no loss as to the Roman designation of the station. The Xotitia informs us that the prefect of the first ala 2 of Astures was quartered at Condercum. Several inscriptions have been found here recording the operations of this body of troops, so that we are entitled to infer that Benwell is the Condercum of the Romans. One of these is here introduced. It will be observed that the latter MATUIBVS' CAMPES TRIBVSj ET GENIO AI.AE PHI MAE HIsl'WO- RVM ASTVRVM GORDIAN.'E. T. VGRIPPA PRjEJFECTVs] tempi.vm a s olo RES TITVIT. fee To tlic woodland mothers and to tlie well as at Chesters and Great Chesters, where other bodies of the same people were quartered, read Astwrum. It is probable, therefore, that some early transcriber of the Xotitia has, in error, written Astorum for Asturum, and that Condercum, Cilurnum, and .Eska were garrisoned by the Astures, a people from the north-west of Spain, and not as Horsley supposed, by the Asti, the inhabitants of a small city in the north of Italy. 1 On the whole, the inscriptions found on the Wall arc very correctly cut ; in this slab, how- ever, an error occurs, the TB in "Matribus" being put twice over. Or. can the first line have been intended to read matr[ibvsJ tribvs campestribvs ? An altar found at this very station is inscribed lamiis tribvs. ALTAI! To .III'ITET! DOLICHENUS. 87 usual to destroy his statues and to strike his name from every public monument, It is not improbable that Elagabams may have allowed the "ala" to assume the epithet of " Antoniniana," and that this was the offensive part of the inscription requiring obliteration. 1 The deities to whom this slab is dedicated, will be discussed in the sixth chapter of this work. The emperor Gordian, from whom the ala derived one of its PI rAE'SARBY/Zfct'M/^ : ills i @if I m TPiifi ■ i , o feet 1 mcli by 2 feet 1 inch. iovi <> ALTAR TO ANOCITICUS. and the other to Anociticus. Probably the same deity is intended by both designations; but the names have not been met with before, and nothing is certainly known respecting them. As the deity has no place illlpilsi^^m^; ! I* ^TOflPilffnilllfffWfi'iiw,- w^ 1 1' fill 1 1" " ll ' in * W ■lilU'llil" V'll inwi iiini man i tSSm^BBT !:;^ ; X^ETM;,P;P.NSyB yiP ! %rfT7t RC HlLO£7o's1 T 'I.I\E! HVSlX. >f\] G^S!]\JPRF DEO ANOCITICO [VDICIIS OPTIMO- 1( V M MAXIMO Ii V M- QVE IMPP. NfoSTRORVM] SUB VI. 1'. MARCELLO CO[N]s[vLARl] TINE- IVS LONGVS IN PRAE- FECTVRA E Q V I T [ V M | LATO C'LAYO EXOHNA- TVS ET IjfvAESTOR] d[esIGNATYS 'I'n the god Anociticus Tineius Longus a prefect of cavalry adorned with the broad stripe and quaestor elect by the decrees of our very excellent and very potent emperors [obtained] through the influence of Dlpius Marcellus a man of consular rank [erects this altar]. ' , ■ feet 11 inches by 1 toot 7 inches. in the mythology of Rome, it is presumed that he was a British god. The more ornate of the two altars, shown on page 89, is carved on all four sides, which is an unusual though not unprecedented circumstance. The other altar is more rudely carved, but it contains a longer in- scription. The letters have been coloured with a red pigment. It is views were adopted in the former editions of this work, reads valens, mctrix ; the powerful and victorious. After much consideration the author is, at length, constrained to adopt the views of Dr. Musgrave and of Henzen, and to read Valeria, Victrix. The following examples seem decisive. Dion Cassius, speaking of this legion as being then in Britain, denominates them OvaXipEim mu NtKjjropfe; and in the continuation of Orellius, by Henzen, Nos. 6680, 6871, wehave vai.eriae victric. and valeriae victricis. The writer has met with only one example favouring the view- of Valens rather than Valeria; it occurs in Gruter, p. CCCCXCIL, 5, where we have valen. victr. In none of the British examples are the epithets sufficiently expanded to decide the point. •This inscription presents considerable difficulties. The reading here given is the one which on the whole seems to be the best. The author is indebted to the suggestions of Dr. McCaul, of Toronto. — Brit-Rom. Ins., p. 288, and the Master of Balliol. — Gent Mag., Nov., 1863, p. 585. In giving the translation of this inscription, it has not been found practicable to adhere as closely to the order of the Latin words as is done in most other instances. LEGIONARY MEMORIALS. 91 probable that both altars belong to the same period ; and if the Ulpins Marcellus mentioned on the last, be the general who in the year 184 repelled the northern tribes that had overwhelmed the mural garrison, the period in question will be the closing years of the reign of Marcus Aurelius, when his son Commodus was associated with him in the government of the empire. Stones inscribed with the name of the troops engaged in the erection of the various buildings connected with the Wall, seem to have been set Size, 1 foot up in conspicuous parts of them. Several of this character .have been found at Benwell. The one shown above is of considerable importance. In addition to the name, it bears the symbols — a sea-goat and a Pegasus —of the second legion. It is now in the British Museum. Inscriptions leg[ionis] secvndae aug[v»taej coh[ors] octava [fecit] The eighth cohort of the second legion, the August erected this. recording the constructive activities of the second, the eighth, and the tenth cohorts of the second lesion, and revealing to us the names of several of the "centuries" 1 employed upon the Wall, have been found in the station of Condercum and its vicinity. Examples of these are given from specimens which still remain in the neighbourhood. It not unfrequently happens that, as in the examples shown, these centurial 'A century consisted of a company of a hundred men, and was commanded by an officer called a centurion. The letter G reversed, or more frequently the angular mark y here shown, is the character generally used to signify "centuria" or "centurio." The century is always named after its commander. i>2 CKNTURIAL STONES. stones occur in duplicate. The most probable explanation of this cir- cumstance is that each century or cohort inscribed its name at each extremity of that portion of Wall which it had built. )IVU (ENTVRIA IVLIpJ RVFI The century oi Julius Rufiis. The coins which arc discovered in a station give us the means oi judging approximately of the time during which it has been occupied. A station, for example, may yield coins of a date anterior to the time of its settlement, but it will give none of a date subsequent to its abandonment. The inscribed stones which we have examined prove that Roman troops were quartered at Condercum in the time of Antoninus Pius. Marcus Aurelius. and Gordian, a period extending from about a.d. 138 to 238. The testimony of coins uives us. as mighl he expected, a period more extended than this. During the excavations in 1858, the author examined as many of the coins that were found as he could gain access to. Thirty-nine of these (brass and silver) could with certainty be ascribed to their respective emperors. They were as follows: — Vespasian 3, Titus 1. Nerva 1. Trajan 7. Hadrian 4. Antoninus Pius 9. Marcus Aurelius 5, Commodus 1. Tetricus 1. Maxi- mianus 1. Claudius ( irothicus 1. ( Jonstantine 4, ( lonstans 1. Brand tells us that when the northern section of the station was trenched in his day. the coins found were much corroded, but that examples belonging to the following personages were recognized : — Domitian, Trajan, Hadrian, Faustina, Dioclesian, Maxentius, Valentinian, Gratian. Mr. Rendel, in his account of the operations in his own grounds in 1SIi2. mentions the finding of the coins of Nero, Vespasian, Domitian, Antoninus Pius. Aurelius, together with one of Severus and Laslianus. Thus, we have presumptive evidence of the occupation of the station from an early period to about the year 364. The comparative absence of the coins of Severus on these occasions is remarkable. The circumstance of only one having been found seems to in- dicate the absence of much activity in the station du- ring his reign. Although in the arrangements of a station secu- rity was more studied than elegance, proofs of the taste of the Roman soldiers not unfrequently appear. The capital, which is here introduced. ANCIENT COM. WORKINGS. 93 was found in the station, and is now in the garden of Mr. Mulcaster. It must have belonged to a building of some pretensions. Its leaf-shaped ornaments were afterwards adopted by the Norman architects.' There is no doubt that the Romans made use of mineral coal when beds of it were found in their vicinity. The ashes resulting from the use of it are to be seen in most of their stations, and in some of them stores of the coal itself have been found. In some parts of the line of the Wall, this neighbourhood for one, there are some indications of the pits from which the fuel has been obtained. Horsley says, " There is a coalry not far from Benwell, a part of which is judged by those who are best skilled in such affairs to have been wrought by the Romans.*' When the lower reservoir of the Newcastle Water Company, in the neighbourhood of South Benwell, was formed in 1858, some ancient coal workings were exposed. The author examined them, and though Ar.cient Coal Workings, South Benwell. — Modern Investigators. lie and those whom he consulted saw no reason to suppose that they were not Roman, no coin, lamp, or shred of Samian was discovered to give authority to the conjecture. The seam of coal was two feet thick. It was wrought by shafts sunk to the depth of twelve or fifteen feet, and at a distance of forty or forty-five yards from one another. Lines of excavation radiated in every direction from the bottom of the shaft. The coal crops out, on the bank, between the workings and the river, so that the mine could be drained by means of an " adit." Disentangling ourselves from this most interesting station w T e again make the Wall our companion. The stone dikes in the vicinity of the Wall and its stations will usually repay examination. Most of the stones in the high wall, on the south of the road here, bear marks of Roman workmanship ; the larger being derived from the Wall, the smaller from the internal buildings of the station. Proceeding westward the north fosse, on our right hand, becomes increasingly distinct. Mr. Shaffco, 8 in a note on his plan of Condercum, tells us that on Benwell Hill, the summit that 1 See the doorway on the south side of the nave in Durham Cathedral. 2 Brand's Newcastle, Vol. I., p. 000. A .' 94 THE WALL AT DENTON. is reached shortly after leaving the station, the foundations of an exploratory turret, about four yards square, were met with when the road was made by Government ; no traces of it now exist. He also informs us that " There are still large quarries on each side of the Wall, at convenient distances, which have been wrought [by the Romans] and are now quite grown over with brambles and whins." Some of these may yet be noticed on the left hand side. Descending Benwell Hill the village of East Denton is reached. Here, also, on the left hand, we meet, for the first time, with a remnant of the Wall risinu' above the ground. In Brand's time five courses of facing stones on both sides were pre- served ; and an apple tree grew out of the middle of it. The wood- cut shows its present state, and the apple tree, as it was before yielding to the storm three winters ago. The turnpike road which usually runs upon the site of the Wall generally swerves to the right when passing a village. This is easily explained. Nearly every house and hamlet in the district has sprung out of the Wall. In many instances a mile-castle has formed the substratum of a dwelling of some strength, and smaller habitations have clustered round it for support. When the road was constructed, motives of economy required that these spots should be avoided ; and the diver- sion was made on the northern side of the mural line because the ground was of less value without the Wall than within. Beyond the bum 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 we have yet met with it. Both the aggers and the intervening fosse may be clearly made out. Some young ash trees grow in the ditch. Advancing a little farther we have Denton Hall on the right, formerly the seat of the literary Mrs. Montague ; attracted by her influence many of the great spirits of the age Avere occasionally found IOVI OPTIMO] k[aXIMo] To Jupiter the Lest and [greatest. within its Avails. A tew centurial stones, and a small altar engraved on three sides, dedicated to Jupiter, the king of gods and men, which is shown in the woodcut, are preserved in the house. The idea has been WEST DENTON. 95 intertained that the size of an altar usually bears a relation to the dignity This law does not universally Before coming to it the site of of the o-od to whom it is dedicated, prevail, as the example before us shows The next village is West Denton, a mile-castle may be observed on the left hand, buried amidst a heap of ruins. A year ago, the culvert, by which the Roman builders gave Denton burn a passage beneath the Wall, was to be seen. It is now overwhelmed by a heap of rubbish thrown in to form a new approach to West Denton House. The woodcut shows the former state of things. The circular arch is the drain which was formed when the road was made. The Roman channel is beneath. It consists of two lines of massive stones laid parallel to each other, about two feet apart. The top was covered over by other large blocks, giving the conduit a height equivalent to its breadth. This seems to have been the usual way of allowing brooks to pass the Wall. Stukeley, speaking of an instance in the vicinity of Carvoran, says, " I remarked that where the Wall passes over a little rivulet the foundation is laid with broad flat stones, having intervals between sufficiently large for the passage of water." The same plan was adopted in the Wall of the Upper Isthmus. Mr. Stuart, describing its state on Ferguston Moor, says : — " The foundation was twelve feet broad, and had drains or conduits formed in it for the escape of water. These conduits extended from the Wall to the Military Way. They were formed of blocks of freestone, laid in parallel courses, with similar blocks resting across them on the top, and the passage was sufficiently large to admit the body of a man, in a creeping posture The same kind of water courses have been discovered under the Wall of Hadrian, and at other places on that of Antoninus, as will be afterwards noticed." — Caledonia Romana, p. 316. The reason of this arrangement is obvious. A wide arch would have given needless facilities to the enemy to get within the line. At West Denton the Murus and Vallum are about two hundred yards apart ; after this they slowly converge until they reach Walbottle Dean, where they are but sixty yards distant from each other. From this point they proceed in nearly parallel lines to Rutchester. 1 A road leads from West Denton to Newburn on the north bank of the Tyne. This road was probably a Roman one, traces of Roman pavement having been visible in it until a recent period. Newburn was an important post, for here the flow of the ocean-tide first ceases to be 1 " In the bed of the brook at West Denton the geologist will see the course of the ninety- fathom dyke, which crosses the brook very near the spot where the ditch of the Vallum does, and where this very large fault will be known by the perpendicularity of the strata." — McLauchlan. 96 CHAPEL HOUSE. felt; and here, for the first time in our progress from the sea. we meet with a ford. During some operations at this point, Mr. Brooks, at the time river engineer to the Newcastle Corporation, discovered indications of a stone platform, which had been laid across the hod of the stream to improve the ford. This must have been done in Roman times. Several stones in Xewburn Church exhibit the "diamond broaching" of the Roman masons, and what appears to he Roman mortar still adheres to others. A fort may have stood where the church now does. The importance of the ford, even in mediaeval times, is shown by the fact that the Scottish forces not unfrequcntly made use of it when invading England. Passing the fourth milestone we arrive at Chapel House. Horsley tells us that here, about a furlong south of the Wall, were some rains having the resemblance of a small fort, and called by the country people the Castle-steeds. All traces of them have disappeared. The prospect from Chapel House is very extensive, and. under favourable circumstances, very beautiful. The river, in the distance, sparkling, on its serpentine way, is an object of peculiar interest. In exposed situations such as this, exhibiting so much beauty on the southern side of the Wall, and so much comparative sterility in the other direction, the question will naturally arise — why did the Romans draw their Wall along the northern rather than the southern hank of the Tyne? The river itself forms a barrier of no mean strength, and its southern edge is much less exposed than the northern to the chilling blasts which during the long months of winter, and the longer months of spring, sweep this district of the country. The Romans had sufficient reasons for the course which they pursued. Occupying the northern bank of the river, they could watch the move- ments of the Caledonian foe more conveniently than from the south, and in the event of disaster they could still avail themselves of the military advantages which the river afforded. The richness of the soil in proximity to the stream was probably an additional motive. Unless the northern margin had been occupied, the whole of the valley would virtually have been in the hands of the enemy. And there is perhaps something in the remark of Stukeley that it was politic in the Romans to interpose between themselves and their enemy "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 a tree : to ride it is impossible." Certain it is that when the Romans occupied a country, they endeavoured to make sure, at what- ever cost, of their possession of it. A little beyond ( Jhapel House, on the left hand, we meet with the site of another castellum ; it is barely discernible. On the slope of this hill, and the ascent of the next, traces of the Wall are to be seen in the middle of the road. These appearances were more frequent and more GATEWAY OF CASTEU-UM. 97 strongly marked some years ago than they are now, the Wall havingin recent times been a good deal quarried to afford material for mending the road. Brand well describes the aspect which the Wall in his time had in many parts of its course : — •• Between the seventeenth anil eighteenth milestones, cm the road to Carlisle, Severus's Wall is plainly discernible for a good space, sunk in the centre of the turnpike road. It lias a singular appearance, for the facing stones on both .-ides thereof have resisted the action of wheels, &c, longer than the battered materials that surround them, and rise a little above the level of the road."' We shall afterwards have occasion to revert to this subject. Passing Walbottle we come to the fifth milestone. It having become necessary in 1864 to renew the bridge over Walbottle Dean, it was resolved to raise its height, and to lower the approaches to it on both sides. During this operation a long strip of the Wall, on the eastern side of the dean, was exposed. It was thiee or four feet high, and exhibited four courses of facing stones. The remains of the northern gate of a mile-castle were at the same time laid bare. Unhappily it was found necessary entirely to remove the Wall : but the remains of the gateway have been preserved, and for its better protection the fence of the garden opposite has been brought forward, so as to enclose it. It is worthy of note that every eastellum. which has been excavated of late years, has 1 teen found to possess a gateway of bold dimensions upon its northern as well as its southern side. This does not look as if the country north of the Wall had been given up to the enemy. Xo traces of the means by which the Wall was conducted over Walbottle Dean remain. As we ascend the next hill, and approach Throckley, we have, for the most part, the fosse of the Wall and the mounds of the Vallum well developed. The site of another mile-castle is soon reached. 1 'The field gate is immediately opposite it. This aisangement frequently occurs; theruinsof the building forming a hard surface, impervious to the ploughshare, hut well adapted for the pur- poses of a road. 98 HEDDON-ON-THE-WALL. Beyond it, on the right hand, is a range of houses called the French- men's Row. These were originally built for the workmen employed in Heddon Colliery, but afterwards became the residence of a number of refugees, who fled to England at the first French Revolution. On the top of a little eminence, at which we arrive before reaching Heddon-on-the-Wall, the north fosse is deeper than we have yet seen it. The works of the Vallum, about fifty yards to the south, are also finely developed. The fosse in both cases is cut through the freestone rock. In the sides of the southern fosse the tool-marks of the excavators are visible. Before entering the village, let the traveller clamber over the tree-crowned wall which skirts the road on his left. He will here see an interesting fragment of the Wall, which forms the subject of the plate opposite. Its north face is destroyed, but four courses of its southern face remain in excellent preservation. At Heddon-on-the-Wall the Wall is only about thirty-five yards from the ditch of the Vallum. The fosse of the Vallum cuts boldly through the village ; in the low ground it is used as a pond. A castellum must have stood in this vicinity. which was probably destroyed on the erection of the village. An im- portant discovery of coins took place at Heddon. probably in the ruins of the mile-castle, in 1752. Brand gives the following account of it : — " The workmen employed in making the military road to Carlisle found a great number of Roman coins and medals in the ruins of the old Wall near Heddon. They had been deposited in wooden boxes, which were almost decayed; yet several of the medals are as fresh and fair as if but newly struck. Some were of silver, but the most part of copper, and a mixture of a coarser metal." Unhappily no catalogue of these coins seems to be in existence. We are more fortunate regarding a small collection of coins found at or near Heddon-on-the-Wall, that was presented in 1856 to the New- castle Antiquarian Society by the Rev. James Raine. They are believed to have been found about the year 1820. They are small copper coins, in good preservation, belonging to the reigns of Maximian, Constantine. Con stan s. Magnentius, Constantius junior, Valens, and Arcadius. As the latest of them belongs to the year 394, 1 we shall not be far wrong in supposing that they were secreted during that disastrous period which culminated in the final withdrawal of the legions from Britain. The unfortunate owner never returned to claim them. The works between Heddon and Rutchester are interesting, but present no peculiar features. At the distance of seven and a quarter furlongs from Heddon is the site of another mile-castle, but it will be detected with difficulty. A large number of coins were discovered here in the last century, the history of which is curious. 'The following' is the description of it:— [d. n. arc]adivs p. f. a[vg]. The laureated head of the emperor to the right. Rev.— [v]rbs ro[ma]. An armed figure standing, holding the labarum in his right hand, a Victoriola in his left. — See Birago, p. 523. RUTCHESTER. V>V> •• In the castellum nearest to Vindobala, on the east, two poor labourers, in 17(i(>. found a small urn full of gold and silver coins, 'almost a complete series of those of the higher empire: among them several others: most of them in fine preservation.' At first a quantity of them were dispersed about Newcastle; but Mr. Archdeacon, the proprietor of the estate and mesne lord of the manor "claimed them as treasure trove, and recovered nearly five hundred silver and sixteen gold coins;' though he in turn, after proceedings at law, was compelled to deliver them up in the court of Ovingham to the Duke of Northumberland, the chief lord of the fee." 1 A catalogue of these coins would probably be of historical import- ance. The hoard may have been deposited at the same time as the Thorngrafton find, to which our attention will afterwards be directed. IV.— VINDOBALA. Rntehester, the ancient Vindobala, is the fourth station on the line ( >f the Wall. Unless a stranger be upon his guard he may pass through the middle of it without knowing it. A lane crosses the road at right angles nearly in a line with its eastern ramparts. According to our present copies of the Notitia the first cohort of the Frixagi is placed at Vindobala. As the Frixagi are unknown to geographers, and no inscriptions name them, it is thought that some transcriber has written this word in mistake for Frisiones or Frisiani. 8 The Frisians occupied a portion of the north of Holland, nearly corresponding with the modern Friesland. No stone has been found in the station to identify it with the Vindobala of the Notitia. This is of little consequence ; the stations on each side of it having been ascer- tained, its order on the roll is sufficient evidence of its identity. The great Wall seems to have joined the fort on the northern side of its eastern and western gateways, so that the present turnpike road may be taken to represent its " via principalis." The general form of the station, as shown in the accompanying plan, may readily be discerned. North of the road it is under tillage ; the general elevation of the surface, however, and the distinct, though yearly diminishing, traces of the ditch mark its position. South of the road the station is covered with greensward. Its surface presents those undulations which indicate a mass of ruins beneath. The southern and south-western ramparts are in a fair state of preservation. Mr. McLauchlan estimates the area of the station, within the walls, at about three acres and a half. The Vallum here, as is usually the case in the immediate vicinity of stations, is indistinct ; but it seems to have joined the fort in a line with its southern rampart. The suburban buildings are believed to have occupied the ground 1 Hodgson's Northumberland, Pt. II., Vol. III., p. 281. Gent.'s Mag., 1706, p. 102. 2 See Booking's Notitia, p. 965. * 101) THE AXOIKXT V INI>< HIAI.A. south of the station, where the present farm buildings stand. The site has a fair prospect and a sunny exposure. The farm-house, which has recently been fitted up for the occasional residence of the proprietor of the estate. Thomas James. Esq.. of Otterburn Tower, has been formed upon the nucleus of a mediaeval stronghold, some of the ancient features of which are retained. 1 On the brow of the hill, west of the station, is a receptacle, hewn out of the solid rock, which has been variously denominated a bath, a coffin, a giant's grave, and a brewers vat. 2 It is twelve feet long, four broad, and two deep, and has a hole close to the bottom at one end. When discovered in 1766 it had a partition of masonry across it. three feet from one end. and contained many decayed bones, as well as an iron implement, described as a three-footed candlestick. A few yards to the west of this "bath" is a spring, marked on the plan, and a little to the west of it is the site of what appears to have been a Mithraic temple. Here, in 1844. five altars were found ; a small one uninscribed, and four others (figured on this and the following page) tt. 6 ii DEO I.[VCIVS] SENTIVS CASTVS LIT;. VI. d[kcvbio] .' P[0SVIT I ' To the god [Mithras] Lucius Sentius 1 lastus A decurion of the sixth legion erected [this]. DEO INVICTO UYTRAE P. AEI.[lVS] FLAVINVS PS\E. V. S. LL. M. To the invincible g> "i Mithras Publius A-'Au - I inus the prefect most willingly and fittingly harges his vow. L ATiTKAEPAEL FLAVNVSPI?A ViS LLAA- bearing dedications to Mithras, the eastern Apollo. Mithraic worship will be discussed in our last chapter here to state that the rites of this deity were usually that were partially at least subterranean, and whic . by I it.fi m. The nature of the . It may be sufficient celebrated in temples h were permeated by \\ allis tells us that Rutchester Tower was the •• seat and manor of Robert de Rouchester, 1-t King Edward I. ; and of Gawen de Rotherforth, lnth Queen Elizabeth." — Hist Nor., Vol. II., p. 168. 2 " The old peasants here have a tradition that the Romans made a beverage somewhat like beer of the bells of heather, and that this trough was used in the process of making such drink."' — Sir David Smith's AlS., Alnwick Castle. 'The letters d. p. can only be conjecturally extended. Something is wanting to show the dedicator's position in the legion ; decurio (the commander of a troop of ten horsemen) — the term here suggested — does this. The initials have sometimes been read aedicatpie. The bull, carved on the base of the altar, was the victim usually sacrificed in the worship of Mithras. V 1/N D B A L A H X/ / /'flJU T STATION AT MTTCJEDESTJl ALTAKS To MITHRAS. 101 a stream of water. Such a cave might easily have been formed on the brow of the hill where the altars were found, and the adjoining spring might supply the needed stream. It has been suggested too that the 11 N Ut 'TBCLDEC/ CORNa'ANTOl EMPIRE ,_•_ DEO SOLI IXYIC[TO] TIB. CL. DECIUVS coesel[ia] ANTU- XIVS praef[ectvs] templ[vm] restit[vitJ To the gorl the sun unconqi.. Tiberius Claudius Decimus inins of the Cornelian tribe the prefi this i SOLI Aflll. I, IM To the eun Apollo SQL1 APOKIINI ANIORO Size, 3 ft. 4 iri. by 1 . ••bath" may have been used in the lustration of persons desiring to be initiated in the Mithraic mysteries. 1 Brand describes an altar that was found at this station, on which, he says. " is plainly inscribed the ^ monogram of Christ," The altar is now in the *** museum at Newcastle. It appears to have been originally uninscribed; but some modern swains, emulous of immortality, have carved their initials upon it. Probably the cross-like figure was carved at the same time and by the same persons. The altar has no focus, but, on comparing the ornaments on it with those on the other altars found at this station. and looking at the comparative size of its base and capital, it would almost seem as if it had been standing upside down in the farm-yard at the time that the supposed monogram and the initials were inscribed upon it. Most of the stones in the farm buildings and adjacent fences are Roman. One or two fragments of inscriptions, built into the stables, give interest to the place. Two of these are given in the woodcuts on the top of the next page. One is a monumental slab ; the other represents what is probably also part of a funereal stone, giving us the effigy of the deceased person ; has he been a sacrificing priest — or a stone-mason ? ft. Urn. by 1 Mr. Thomas HodiZ'sonV MS. 102 CENTURIAL STONES. We now renew our journey. About a third of a mile forward, on a knoll, the site of another mile-castle occurs. Presently we pass on the \I f 5 ill HttPHW [d. m.] avh[elivs] ? [victo]rin[vs] ? [/l]xiT [an]nis "To the Divine Manes Aurelins Victorinus lived . . Years. left of the road a house formerly known as " The Iron-sign ; " but which has ceased to 1 >e a place of public entertainment. Some of the buildings are entirely composed of Roman stones. In the wall of a house abutting upon the road, are some centurial and sculptured stones which have doubtless been taken from the Wall. One of them records the labours i\j pi V L of the eighth cohort; another of the century of Hostilius Lupus; and a. third, though this is questionable, of a cohort of Brittones, a people of Gaul. Passing the ninth mile-stone, we stand upon the top of an eminence, called Round Hill, or sometimes Eppie's Hill. We have here a good view of Harlow Hill, to the west of us, and the adjacent country. The north fosse is very distinct, forming a deep groove on the right of the road all the way to Harlow Hill. The Wall and Vallum are at this point within thirty yards of each other. They soon separate ; for whilst the Wall inclines to the north in order to secure, in conformity with its usual practice, the high ground, the Vallum continues to move onward in a nearly straight line. In doing so. it skirts the flank of Harlow Hill. Had the Vallum been an independent barrier, it would probably have taken possession of the high ground. From a point opposite the next mile-castle, to Carr Hill, a distance of five miles, the Vallum goes in a perfectly straight line. 1 A little more than half a mile beyond Round Hill, we pass the site of a mile-castle ; the Vallum is here -100 yards from the Wall. 1 McLauchlan's Memoir, p. 18. HXHH Tit Sfjjl The Getty foCdout/map not digitized HARLOW HILL. 103 Just before entering the village of Harlow Hill, some portions of the core of the Wall may be seen, and a careful scrutiny will enable us to ascertain its course through the stables on the south side of the village — a part of its foundation, of the width of nine feet, 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. On the high ground north of the village are the remains of a tumulus and entrenchments. The Romans would not leave so important a position undefended. Underlying this summit, are strata of lime and sandstone which have been wrought both in ancient and modern times. A field, about half a mile north of Harlow Hill, bears the ominous name of Graveriggs ; the traditionary account of its origin being, that after a bloody battle in "the troublesome times" the field became the resting place of slaughtered multitudes. Descending the hill from Harlow, we come in sight of the reservoirs of the Newcastle Water Company. The idea generally prevails that the Romans resorted to the use of aqueducts because they were ignorant of the fact that water rises to its own level. That they were not ignorant of this principle, the leaden pipes which supplied the fountains of Pompeii, and which exist to this day, abundantly show. Although we possess facilities for making tubes of large diameter which the Romans had not, modern experience seems to show that where large quantities of water are to be introduced into towns it is more economieal and more convenient to do it by means of free channels, having a very gentle descent, than by pipes following the undulations of the surface. The renewal of defective pipes is effected with difficulty, and the sudden bursting of them, occasioned by the pressure, is often attended with serious consequences. The day is probably not far distant when New- castle and other large towns will be compelled to adopt the aqueduct system in its integrity. The village of Welton is about half a mile to the south of the road. Its most prominent feature is the ancient fortlet called Welton Hall, built entirely of Roman stones. Ascending the hill, just after passing the reservoirs, the site of another mile-castle is seen on the left hand. At this point the Vallum, after crossing one of the reservoirs, again comes into close companion- ship with the Wall. At the usual distance westward of the castle just named, the site of another may be discerned. It is about a furlong west of the Robin Hood Inn, where a road turns down to a farm-house. Wall Houses are next reached. 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 some distance, planted with trees, 104 DOWN HILL. which will, for a considerable time, save it from the plough, Another little village, called High Wall-Houses, is now approached. About a mile to the south of us is Shildon Hill, which forms a conspicuous feature in the landscape. It has an oval-shaped entrenchment on its summit, belonging, probably, to the ancient British era. At Matfen- Piers Lodge there is another mile-castle. The Wall, as seen in the road, is a little less than eight feet thick. Matfen Hall, the seat of Sir Edward Blackett, Bart., is to the right of us, where some important inscriptions and other antiquities derived from the Wall are preserved. At Halton Shields was another castellum, though all decided traces of it are now obliterated. On the top of the next summit, Carr Hill, the facing stones of the Wall are seen in the road. The angle which the Wall makes at this point is worthy of notice. The upper part of the hill has been exten- sively quarried, and, probably, by the Romans for the Wall. 1 Imme- diately after passing the farm-house 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. The Wall pursues its course straightforward. The view, exhibited on the opposite plate, taken from the edge of the hill, looking eastward, shows 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 Huron rat. These appearances strongly corroborate the opinion that all the lines of the barrier are but parts of one great engineering scheme. If the Vallum had been con- structed 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. Dr. Lingard says, in his MS. : — ' : A castle-stead was on the east of the Down Hill.'" This is a spot where, from the nature of the ground, a mile-castle might be expected, but no traces of one exist. 2 The hill bears marks of having been quarried at some distant period for its lime- stone. Some traces of an ancient road leading from this vicinity to Stagshaw Close House and Hexham are here apparent. Mr. McLauchlan is of opinion that it commences at the bend of the Vallum, opposite Down Hill. Halton Red House is next passed, and we speedily enter Hunnum, the fifth of the stationary camps on the line of the Wall. Unless a person be upon his guard he may pass through it without being aware, as did both Gordon and Hutton. 1 McLauchlan's -Memoir, p. 20. ' Mr. McLauchlan's Memoir, ]>. 19. * I *T J9y lSevnv HUNNUM. 105 V.— HUNNUM. This camj) is seven miles two furlongs and a quarter distant from Rutchester. 1 Though placed upon ground slightly elevated above that immediately adjoining, it is to a considerable extent commanded by the high grounds to the east and the west of it. There can be no doubt that the station was planted in its present position to guard the Watling Street, which traverses the valley immediately beneath it. It was necessary to have a large body of troops in the vicinity of the place where so important a channel of intercourse, between the south and the north, crossed the Wall. The station has the usual rectangular form, but it possesses this peculiarity, that a rectangular portion has, as it were, been cut out of its north-west corner. The reason of this arrangement probably is that the ground in this part droops too much to form with advantage the platform of a camp. Its whole area is four acres and a quarter. Its elevation above the sea is six hundred feet. The Wall, which is now indicated by the line of road, came up to the eastern and western gateways of the station. The northern section of it was brought into cultivation in the year 1827, and it now presents little to interest the antiquary. Its general outlines may, however, with care be discerned. The part of the station which is to the south of the road has a gentle slope and a fair exposure to the sun. It is known by the name of the Chesters ; in Horslev's day it had the additional designation of Silver Hill, no doubt from the discovery, on some occasion, of a number of denarii in it. As it has not been recently ploughed, it exhibits, with con- siderable distinctness, the lines of the outer entrenchments, as well as the contour of the ruined buildings and streets of the interior. The road to Halton runs through the middle of the station, probably on the very site of the old Roman " via" leading from the Praetorian to the Decuman gate. The suburban buildings lie to the south and south- east of the camp. Horsley, who was the first to investigate this station, ascertained the existence of an aqueduct which was used to bring water to it "from a spring in the higher ground near the Watling Street gate." He was shown part of it by a countryman, " who said it was what the speaking- trumpet was laid in." Lingard, also, in his MS. notes, speaks of it as a hol- low conduit, twelve inches broad and eight deep. The late Mr. Ebenezer Johnston, the gardener at Matfen Hall, told the writer that he had traced it for between two and three hundred yards, that it was formed of stone, and covered with flags. It seems to have been three-quarters of a mile long, and to have originated in the high ground north of the spot where 1 Mr. McLauchlan's Memoir, p. 21. As all the measurements relating- to the Wall,_ unless otherwise stated, are taken from Mr. McLauchlan's Memoir, it will not be necessary henceforth in such cases formally to cite the authority. DD 106 HALTON CHESTEES. Stagshawbank fair is held. We are not informed how it was introduced into the station. In crossing the valley on its western side it must have been supported upon pillars. The existence of a water-course to the north of the Wall — and this is not a solitary instance — proves decisively that, in building the barrier, the Romans by no means contemplated abandoning the country north of it to the enemy. No traces of this water-course are now left. 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 foundations, were squared and chiselled, struck beholders with surprise. The thickness of the Avest rampart was found to be, in one place, nine feet. As this is thicker than usual, the wall may have been strengthened in this part in order to support a catapult or other engine of Avar. Examples of such an arrangement occur at Housestcads and High Rochester. In the angle of the north-west portion of the station, just outside the Wall, was a large heap, containing numerous fragments of Roman potterv. the bones of animals, the horns of deer, and other refuse mat- ter — it must, in short, have been the dunghill of the camp. Even now, although the plough has passed repeatedly over it, its position is shown by the darkness of the soil. Crossing the station diagonally from below the eastern gateway to the north-west angle, a sewer or drain was found, of considerable dimensions. The gardener at Matfen Hall crept along it for about one hundred yards. The bottom of it was filled with hardened mud, among which were found a bronze lamp, a pair of com- passes, and a great number of bone pins. The most interesting discovery made on this occasion, however, was a suite of apartments, which have usually, though with questionable propriety, been denominated " the baths." The 1 milding 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. One circumstance is inimical to the view of their being baths. No pipes for the conveyance of water, or cauldrons for heating it, were discovered. Several of the rooms had hanging floors with flues beneath, and flue-tiles fixed to the walls by T-headed holdfasts, furnishing means for conveying the warm air up the sides of the apartments. These arrangements, however, were HUNNUM. 107 probably nothing more than the usual method of warming the principal apartments of a public building. In one of the smaller rooms there was a cistern ten feet long and seven broad, carefully lined with cement; this may have been used for the purposes of ablution, but the larger apartments may well be supposed to have formed the halls of state & in which the prefect of Hunnum transacted his business. Many coins were found in the ruins of these buildings. Amongst those preserved at Matfen Hall the author recognised coins of Vespasian, Hadrian, Julia Mamasa, Severus Alexander, Postumus, Victorinus| Tetricus, Carausius, Alleetus, and Licinius. Wallis records the discovery of a silver coin of Nero, and " some small copper coins of Constantine and of his two sons, and of the two usurpers Magnentius and Deeentius." Thus we have numismatic evidence that the station was held by the Romans for a very considerable period. A massive gold ring was found in the north part of the station in 1803. The woodcut represents it of the actual size. 1 It contained a small artificial blue stone, on which was engraved a female figure, supposed by some antiquaries, who exa- mined the ring itself, to be a representation of Sabina standing upon a crocodile. This valuable relic of the Roman era was stolen, together with some other portions of the jewel- lery of the dowager Lady Blackett, from her London residence, many years ago. This is the more to be regretted, as the representation of it here given, the only one we possess, is not altogether satisfactory. s noric'i an. xxx. [m]essoiuvs magnvs FHATr.lt EIVS DVl'I.. AT.AK SABINIANAE. [To the Divine Manes] of Noricus, 30 years of age, Messorius Magnus his brother a duplarius of the Sabinian wing- [placed this], S;ze, 1 foot 9 inches by 1 foot 3 i] The Notitia informs us that the prefect of the Savinian Ala was garrisoned at Hunnum. A portion of a monumental slab, here engraved, 1 Archaeologia jEliana, Vol. I., p. -JO:!, Old Series. 108 INSCRIBED STONES. DEAE F O R T V • NAE C V R A identifies Hunnum with Halton Chesters. It was described by Camden, and is now preserved in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. This ala probably derived its distinctive epithet from Sabina. the wife of Hadrian, who, there is reason to believe, accom- panied her husband to Britain ; but it is not known to what country it belonged. Several other inscribed stones have been found here. The upper portion of an altar to Fortune was dis- covered in this vicinity in 1801. As the form of its capital is peculiar, a drawing of it is introduced. An altar to the Deaj Matres will be described in the last chapter. An elaborately carved slab, commemorating some work clone by the second legion, was found here in 1769, and is preserved in Alnwick Castle. The To the goddess Fortune through the care i>t LEG[ti>] SECVNDA AVG['VSTA] fJecit] m l.C,'i.,n V^V i I 'iC si.'*.'" »in. I iJjgSft the auirust ^1?^^^ Rev. John Hodgson was impressed with the notion that it was derived from the Wall of Antoninus ; a drawing of it. and a letter announcing its discovery, preserved in the minutes of the Society of Antiquaries of London, 26th November. 1769, fortunately enables us to restore it to Hadrian. 1 Memorials of the sixth and twentieth legions have also been found here. In several instances, sculptures representing a lion overpowering some animal of the chase have been found in the stations on the Wall. Whether these designs were merely ornamental, or whether they had a mystical meaning — such as that the sun or Mithras, in the 'See the London Antiquarian .Society's Catalogue of Antiquities, by Mr. Way, p. 11//. lIAI.lt »x c \sn.r.. 109 sign Leo. subdues all things by his power — it were perhaps vain to inquire. One of these, now at Matfen Hall, is here figured. The Romans were fond of shell fish. Oyster-shells arc frequently found in stations far removed from the sea. The garrison at Huxm m occasionally indulged in muscles, as we may infer from heaps of muscle- shells having, according to Wallis, been found here. Halton Castle and Church, which lie to the south of the station, are chiefly composed of Roman stones. In the churchyard is a Roman altar placed upside down, but its inscription is obliterated. In the buildings attached to the castle are some Roman mouldings, and a weathered figure probably part of a sepulchral slab. On leaving the station, it will be noticed how much the defile on its west side strengthens the military position of the camp. About a mile west of the station, the slab which is here figured was found in the year 1850. The inscription ivi.ovR divo[rv]m — the lightning of the gods — would lead us to suppose that some one had been struck dead upon the spot, which would thence- forward be accounted sacred. Similar inscrip- tions are to be seen in the museums of Florence and Xismes. This stone is at Newcastle. Passing the sixteenth milestone, we come to another castelhnn. and continuing to ascend the hill, we reach the ancient Watling Street, which crosses the Wall at right angles. This road, which was probably form cm 1 by Agricola. in his first advance into Scotland, is in many places, as here. still used as a highway ; in others it is grass-grown and deserted, but in these instances it retains, often for miles together, all the features of its original construction. The Watling Street, leading southward, leaves the Scottish border at Chew Green, where are several camps of remarkable construction. It passes the stations of BfeEMENiUM, High Rochester, and Habitaxctm. Risingham. and after crossing the Wall, proceeds south- iDIVOM k 110 THE WORKS OF THE VALLUM. ward to Corstopitum, Corchester, and so to the stations at Ebchester and Lanchester, in the County of Durham. A branch of the Watling Street struck off from the main line at Bewelay, a few miles north of the Wall and went direct to Berwick. The Wall and Vallum are parallel in this place, and are about eighty yards apart. The earthworks now become exceedingly interesting, and continue to be so for the next two or three miles. The north fosse is in many places very bold; the materials that have been turned out of it are lying on the outer margin, rough and untrimmed, as if the labourers had left the work but to obtain some refreshment, and were about to return to it. Ascending the hill, on the top of which is a fir plantation, the Wall may in one place be measured six feet wide ; a little farther forward it has increased to nine feet six inches in width. Before reaching the plantation, a mile-castle will be observed. At this point it will be well for the traveller to forsake the turnpike-road and examine the Vallum. He will not find it in a more perfect state in any other part of the line. Mr. William Hutton, of Birmingham, in the year 1801. at the age of seventy-eight, walked from Birmingham to Carlisle to visit the Wall. Having traversed the great structure from west to east, and again from east to west, he returned home on foot and published the result of his observations in a book, entitled " The History of the Roman Wall." His description of the earthworks, at which we are now arrived, exhibits a fine vein of enthusiasm. " I now travel over a large common, still upon the Wall, with it.s 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 Ions: course of sixteen hundred years. Even hunger and fatigue were lost in the grandeur before me. If a man writes a book upon a turnpike-road, he cannot be expected to move quick; but, lost in astonishment, I was not able to move at all." The first time I visited the spot this passage 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 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 churchyard under a humbler and less durable mound than Hadrian had here raised. The progress of agricultural improvement lias recently partially injured the antiquarian interest of this spot. FALLOWFIELD PELL. 1J ()n Errington Hill head, about half a mile north of the Wall, are the foundations of some ancient buildings, called "The Camps"" or •• Nightfolds." The post is an important one, commanding as it does, not only the whole of the wide valley watered by the Erringburn, Imt part also of the North Tyne valley. It is uncertain to what age these ruins are to be ascribed. A branch road, believed to be Roman, which leaves the Watling Street at Bewelav, and joins the Wall near the Plaintrees mile-castle, passes the immediate vicinity of the " Nightfolds." ' These remains probably, however, belong to a later period than the road. Before coming to St. Oswald's Hill head, about a quarter of a mile short of the nineteenth milestone, the north fosse and the works of the Vallum are very boldly developed. Here we encounter the site of another mile-castle which is but feebly marked. Opposite to it. and about a furlong- north of the Wall, is a small quadrangular camp, which has 1 >een a good deal disturbed, 1 >ut is undoubtedly Roman. Mr. McLauchlan . who was the first to call attention to it, found similar camps, opposite mile-castles, in other parts of the Wall. He conjectures, and no doubt correctly, that these enclosures were used for the protection of the soldiery during the building of the Wall. The other instances will be noticed as they occur. A little to the west of this camp, and also on the north side of the Wall, is a large circular mound, having all the appearance of a well-formed barrow; it seems to invite exploration- On the north side of the village of Fallowfield is a similar barrow. I'l.TKA II, AVI I ( AKAV1I.N I The rock of Flavius Carantinus. South of this spot is Fallowfield Fell, an elevated sandstone ridge which lias evidently yielded stone to the builders of the Wall. On the face of a low scar, near the centre of it, Flavius Carantinus, who pro- bably commanded a gang of quarrymen, has carved his name. Such is the excellent quality of the stone that the inscription is still distinct. Rejoining the road we speedily arrive at St. Oswald's Hill head. Built See Mi-. McLauchlan's Memoir, p. 24. m 112 THE BATTLE OF DEXISESBURN. into the front of one of the houses here, is a centurial stone bearing an inscription, the meaning of which seems to he — The century of Cecilius Clemens, he- longing to the eighth cohort. 1 The church of St. Oswald's is close at ;■•("" T \ : y\/\ "£~ U nan(L Opposite to it, on the south side of the L^^±±^^^1X road is a field called Mould's Close, where, according to local tradition, the hottest of the fight between King Oswald and Cadwalla raged a.d. 635. The church undoubtedly occupies the spot where Oswald erected the cross before the battle; but the Rev. William Green well has shown that the place where the battle occurred must have been at some little distance. His remarks are : — " Betla tells us that this battle was fought at Denisesburn, a locality not now identified under that name. ... A charter of the thirteenth century, granting lands to an Archbishop of York, seems to fix the place on the south side of the Tyne, and up the Devil's water, that is, if we may allow the name Denisesburn to settle the point. . . . The charter contains the following entry : — 'Know ye that I, Thomas de Whittington, have granted to Walter Archbishop of York a third part of Hoggesty . . . and for this grant the Archbishop of York has given me in exchange twenty acres of land . between these bounds, to wit. between Deniseburn and Divelis (Devil's water), beginning on the east part upon Divelis, and ascending to the great road which leads as far as to the forest of Lilleswude.'" — Transactions of the Tyneside Naturalists' Club, Vol. VI., p. 13. Some faint traces of the next mile-castle may be seen at the field gate on the right of the road, opposite Planetrees farm-house. The house is in the ditch of the Vallum. A little farther on, also on the right of the road, is the Black Pasture Quarry, from which the Roman masons have obtained the stone for this part of the Wall, and which is at present extensively wrought. The facing stones of the Wall exhibit but slight traces of weathering, a striking proof of the excellence of the stone. Continuing to descend the hill, we come to Planetrees 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. The sight may be rendered more interesting by carrying the eye forward, and tracing the Wall in its onward course. In its modern representative, the turnpike road, it is seen bounding up the opposite hill in its usual unflinching manner, and making for the wastes and mountains which it is speedily to traverse. We are probably indebted to the remonstrances of Mr. Hutton for this piece of the Wall. He shall tell his own story : — " Had I been some months sooner, I should have been favoured with a noble treat : but now that treat was miserably soured. 'The centurion's name is given on the stone cliime., hut n is occasionally put for e. cho is here substituted for coh — not an unrrecjuent occurrence. O 1-1 THE WALL AT BRUNTON. 113 "At the twentieth milestone I should have seen a piece of Severus's Wall, seven feet and a half high, and two hundred and twenty-fonr yards long, — a sight not he found in the whole line. But the proprietor, II. Tulip, Esq., is now taking it down, to erect a farmhouse with the materials. Ninety-five yards are already destroyed, and the stones fit for building removed. Then we conic to thirteen yards which are standing, and over- grown on the top with brambles. " I desired the servant, with whom I conversed, to give my compliments to Mr. Tulip, and request him to desist, or lie would wound the whole body of antiquaries. As he was putting an end to the most noble monument of Antiquity in the whole island, they would feel every stroke." In the grounds of Brunton, a little below this, a small piece of the Wall is to he seen in a state of very great perfection, preserved by the grandson of Mr. Tulip, Henry Thos. Butler, Esquire. 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 north fosse also is very strongly developed. The opposite lithograph gives a 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 gatepost at the entry of the graveyard of St. Oswald's Chapel. It is uninscribed, but is carved on both sides. The road, which, for nearly the whole distance from Newcastle, has run upon the line of the Wall, is found for the next two or three miles to deviate considerably to the north of it. This was done by the Government Surveyor, who laid out the military road, partly to diminish the sharpness of the pitch, but chiefly to take advantage of an ancient bridge which crossed the river at Chollerford. 1 The Wall proceeds down the hill to the river in a straight line. The Vallum also may be noticed in company with it. A little before reaching the Border Counties Rail- way a gently elevated mound indicates the site of a mile-castle. We are uoav arrived at the most remarkable remains on the Wall, which time and violence have left us — the abutments and piers of the bridge over the North Tyne. It had long been known that the vestiges of a Roman bridge 2 were to be seen in the river opposite to Cilurnum, but the land abutment on its eastern side, which is by far the most striking feature of the work, was not discovered until the year 1860. Successive beds of sand and gravel had for ages encumbered it, and at the time of the discovery a fir plantation grew upon the deposit. The river, too, forsaking, for some distance, its ancient bed had left this abutment dry, completely submerging the corresponding work on the opposite side. It was at the suo-o-estion of Mr. William Coulson, of Corbridge, that Mr. Clayton 'This bridge was in existence in the time of Richard II. Unfortunately it was carried away by the great flood of 1771 ; soon after which period the present structure was raised. 2 Alexander Gordon describes it in his Itinerarium Septentrionale, p. 73. F F 114 THE BRIDGE OVER THE NORTH TYNE. engaged in the explorations which have revealed to us this fine specimen of the engineering skill of the Romans. To supply the deficiencies of mere verbal description, the reader s attention is invited to the accompanying " plan" of the whole structure and a bird's-eye " view " of the eastern abutment. The Wall, distinguished by its peculiar masonry, and, still standing eight feet high, comes near to what has been the river's brink. It terminates in a square building or eastellum. In front of this tower, and to some extent embracing it, we have the land abutment of the bridge, consisting of a mass of peculiarly solid masonry. The face of the abutment, from which the roadway of the bridge would spring, is parallel with the stream, but the sides are bevelled off so as the better to resist the thrust and the eventual recoil of the waters in their down- ward course. The river is subject to sudden floods, and when high it moves with great rapidity. In the river three water piers have 1 >een discovered ; two of them are easily discerned when the water is low ; a third, lying under the eastern bank of the stream, has been partially exposed, but to prevent the river encroaching upon the excavations immediately behind, it has been found necessary to restore the bank to its original state. From what remains of the abutment on the west side of the river, there can be no doubt that in plan and mode of construction it resembled the abutment on the opposite bank. The roadway of the bridge has unquestionably been horizontal, and has consisted of a framework of timber. " Neither amongst the ruins nor in the bed of the river have been found the voussoirs of an arch." 1 On the other hand, some of the stones have cavities apparently made to receive the extremities of beams. The bridge which spans the Moselle, at Treves, nearly resembles in its design the Roman bridge at Cilurnum ; though now provided with stone arches, its piers have manifestly been at first intended to carry a horizontal platform. The works of the Bridge of Cilurnum do not all belong to one period. There can be little doubt that Agricola first reared the station. The valley of the North Tyne was of too much importance to be neglected, and the security of the garrison there required that the troops should be provided with the means of crossing the river. On referring to the plan, it will be seen that a water pier is imbedded in the midst of the masonry of the eastern abutment. Tins pier is different in form from those seen in the river, it is smaller than they are, and it is not in aline either with them or the face of the abutment. It must have been con- structed before the other works of the present bridge were planned, and 1 Archseolo^ia /Eliann, Vol. VI., p. 83, New Series. - ' : '**'*W pa o P-< o E-i <3 E-i PlanUUien Fence [W] 55 © W 5 33 1 ESTER 3 1 SS) 1- *-* — ^ F^ ~ « ^_: =3 w O > H H t r .Y I THE BRIDGE OVER THE NORTH TYXE. 115 at a time too when the course of the river lay more to the east. We shall probably not greatly err in coming to the conclusion which Mr. Clayton thus expresses: — "Agricola secured the possession of the valley of North Tyne by planting in its gorge the fortress of Cilurnum, and. amongst other communications with it, threw a bridge across the Tyne, of which this pier is the only remnant." 1 The great mass of the eastern abutment, embracing the extremity of the Wall, must be ascribed to the period when the Wall was built. The stones of which it is formed are larger than those in the Wall itself, but they resemble in size and shape those used in the gateways of the stations and mile-castles. When Hadrian built the Wall, Agricola's bridge had probably become useless, through the violence of the floods and the shifting of the bed of the river, so that he found it necessary to renew the . structure. To him the bulk of the work before us may be ascribed. At a subsequent period, however, the abutment seems to have been refaced. The whole of the part which is most exposed to the action of the river — the north wing, the face, and the lower part of the south wing (extending from A to B in the plan) — consists of a kind of masonry differing from that of the rest of the structure. The stones are unusually large, are more oblonar in their form than those of fefc*^ ■■' „ most of the buildings on the Wall. ( W/y / *f /, ///////M and are characterized by a feathered tooling, sueli as is slmwn in the i woodcut. It seems not to have been necessary to carry on the repairs beyond the middle of the south wing ; at this point (marked B in the plan) the new masonry ceases and the old appears. We know, from the inscriptions found in the stations on the northern section of the Watling Street, that these forts underwent extensive reparations under the auspices of Severus and his sons. It was natural that before engaging in his Caledonian expedition the energetic emperor should see to the security of the forts on the line of his march. Now, the newer part of the masonry of these stations exhibits stones of the same shape, and dressed in the same manner, as the facing stones of the North Tyne bridge. Shall we err in recognizing in this part of the structure the hand of Severus? No inscription remains to tell us the history of the building. A slab, of which a drawing is given on the following page, was found amongst the ruins, but the greater, and the most important part of its record, lias been effaced. It retains simply the name of the person under whose superintendence the work was conducted, and of whom we have 1 Archseologia iEliana, Vol. VI., p. 83, New Series. 11(3 THE BRIDGE OYER TOE NORTH TYN'K. no other account, The lower portion of the stone seems to have been pro- tected by being buried in the bed of the river, the upper has been exposed to the stream. Mr. Hodg- son says of the inscrip- tions of the time of Hadrian "that they were bold in their lettering, and brief in words, none of them mentioning for what pur- pose they were erected." Of the accuracy of this observation we have abun- dant proof. Guided by it we come to the conclusion rest[itvit 1 cvl HANTE AELIO LONQINO P11AKF. EQQ. restored under ■ inspection of - Elii Longinus a prefect of cava! 7- that this inscription be- longs to a subsequent date. The upper portion of it obviously contained a record of the occasion on which it was erected, and the rest of it resembling in form the inscriptions by which Severus and his sons have commemorated their works of reparation, it may be reason- ably inferred that this stone has recorded some work of restoration of that period. That the Emperor Severus did engage in bridge building soon after his arrival in Britain, is rendered evident by the tact that several coins have been struck to com- memorate the circumstance. A drawing of one is here given. There is reason to believe that the bridge over the Tyne at Corbridge underwent repairs or was renewed at the same time as the North Tyne bridge, and probably also the bridge over the Reed at Risingham. The coins may have reference to all these works. 1 A work which probably belongs to the latest period of the Roman occupation, or more probably to the succeeding era, must also be men- 1 On the coin which is figured the bridge lias a circular arch ; whereas, the bridge we are examining is supposed to have had a horizontal platform. Probably the Roman mintmasters were, in this instance, satisfied with conventional forms, and did not attempt to give a correct representation. m 3 fit ./ C I LU R N U M V t Very Faint 75 /" Cas«35 STATION .AT I EH E '.'•'. THE MASONRY OF THE BRIDGE. 117 tioned. A covered way of rude construction, but formed of stones derived from the bridge, crosses the abutment from north to south. As it is founded upon a bed of silt, a yard thick, the bridge must have been overwhelmed at the time of its construction. Can it have been intended as a secret passage to some neighbouring stronghold ? The whole of the masonry of the bridge is remarkably solid, and would not dishonour a modern engineer. As many as six courses of stones remain in one place, and in others five, and four. The stones in front have been set by a luis, and they are bound together by long rods of iron imbedded in lead. Some of the stones of the interior, and some of those of the water-piers are connected by iron cramps, having the form of a double wedge — of which the drawing in the margin shows an example — and also imbedded in lead. The lead seems in both cases to have enveloped the iron so thoroughly as to protect it from oxydation. Din-ins; the excavations a considerable number of coins were found. Mr. Clayton enumerates the following: — Two of silver: one of them a consular coin, of the Cassian family, the other, in good preservation, a coin of Jnlia Domna, the second wife of Severus ; and several of brass, generally much worn, belonging to the periods of Hadrian, Diocletian, Tetricus, and the Constantine family. Referring the reader for fuller information respecting this bridge, to Mr. Clayton's instructive paper. already referred to, one extract from it may here be introduced : — " Those who have seen the magnificent remains of the Pont du Gard (justly the pride of Gallia Xarbonensis) lighted by the glorious sun of Languedoe, may think lightly of those meagre relics of the bridge of CiLUitxoi, under the darker skies of Northumberland ; but it may be safely affirmed, that the bridge over the Gardon does not span a lovelier stream than the Xorth Tyne, and that so much as remains of the masonry of the bridge of Ciluexum, leads to the conclusion that this bridge, as originally constructed, was not inferior in solidity of material, and excellence of workman- ship, to the mighty structure reared by Roman hands in Gaul." Crossing the river and ascending the western bank we see traces of the ancient road which led from the camp to the bridge. The Wall, a portion of which is laid bare, has covered the way on the enemies' side. VI.— CILURNUM. We are now arrived at the sixth station on the line of the Wall, which is distant from Hunnum a little less than five miles and a half. It stands on the right bank of the Xorth Tyne. at a convenient height above the level of the stream. The position is one of great importance, commanding as it does the gorge through which the river forces its way. GG 118 THE STATION OF CHESTERS. And it is beautiful as well as strong; for, as Hodgson remarks, ''The Astures in exchanging the sunny valleys of Spain for the banks of the tawny Tyne, might find the climate in their new situation worse, but a lovelier spot than Cilurxum all the Asturias could not give them." The outlines of the station may be distinguished with ease. It has, as usual, the form of a parallelogram, the corners being slightly rounded off; and it contains an area of five acres and a quarter. As the Wall comes up to its eastern gateway and takes its departure from its western, a large part of the station is to the north of that structure ; the Vallum comes up to the support of the south rampart. A portion of the west Wall of the station, near the north-west corner, has been freed front the encumbering soil; it is five feet thick, and exhibits four courses of masonry in position. The south-west corner has also been laid bare, exhibiting seven courses of facing stones, together with some chambers of one of the buildings of the interior. The position of all the gateways may be discovered. The northern and eastern have been excavated; the others show themselves in the dip of the rampart. The northern gateway is not in a good state of preservation. The foundation of the pillar which divided it into two portals remains, and there are some traces of an advanced work on its eastern side. The eastern gate is in a better state. The sockets in which the pivots of the doors moved, and the central stone against which they struck, will be noticed. There are also the remains of the guard chambers on each side. It is rather remarkable that this gateway is a single one, for usually all the gateways of the stations are provided with double portals. The interior of the station presents many objects of interest. Not- withstanding the care that has at one time been taken to render the area level, the undulations of the surface reveal to the eye of the antiquary the position of whole lines of habitations. When Hutehinson wrote, these indications were even more distinct than they are at present. That writer says : — " The site of the praetorium, at the eastern end, is very distinguishable, with two entrances through the [rampart] answering to each side of the praetorium, and a road leadino- down to the river. The ground within the [ramparts] is crowded with the ruins of stone buildings, which appear to have stood in lineal directions, forming streets, two on the south side and two on the north, intersected in the middle by a cross street from north to south." Such, as far as present appearances warrant us in judging, has been the arrangement adopted in all the stations. Happily for the modern student, the "Praetorium" which, in Hutchinson's time was covered with turf, was in 1843 laid bare. The accompanying lithographic view, together with the plan on the opposite page, will give the reader an idea of its general features. Lf M It Sfft^' SS&M ^ I E-i CO o o a, w !> THE STATION' OF CIIESTERS. 119 Descending a few steps at the north-west extremity of the excava- tions (L on the plan), a street, three feet wide at one end 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 by the tread of feet, and even some of the stones, which have 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 Ground Plan, Hypocaust, ClLURNUM. 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 per- mitted, by the withdrawal of the troops, to do so without molestation. Passages diverge from this saloon, to the right and left, into other apart- 120 THE PR^ETORIUM. ments. 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 wall of this chamber (at B), and in the rubbish which encumbered the gap, was found the statue of a river-god, shown in the woodcut, taken from a photograph. It is probably intended to represent S\ze, 3 feet by 1 foot 11 u the genius of the neighbouring river — the North Tyne. Of the present state of the apartments beyond, the lithograph here introduced, will give some idea, 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 1 which have been used in a prior structure. The student of mediaeval architec- ture 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 of thin flag-stones. 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 Hrxxor, and the same arrangement may yet be observed in the corresponding building at Lanchester. In the circular recess of this apartment is an aperture (G), which has probably served to regulate the current of air circulating in the lrypo- causts. The furnace which warmed the suite of apartments was situated 'The initial L, page 87, is formed of two of tlip^e Roman balusters. The lower one is at Chesters, the upright one at Cb.esterb.olm. THE HYPOCAUSTS. 121 near the south-east extremity of the building (at F) ; the pillars near the fire having been much acted upon by heat, the whole of this part of the floor was speedily 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. The walls of this apartment were coated with plaster, and coloured dark red; exposure to the weather soon stripped them of this covering. An arched passage, curiously turned with Eoman 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. supported upon pillars of peculiarly massive masonry. 1 The entrances to 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 tin' buttress (A), the action of the trowel in giving the finishing touch to the pointing may be perceived. The walls rest upon two strong base- ment courses, the angle of the uppermost being bevelled off with a taste- ful moulding. The cut ex- hibits this neat and nearly perfect piece of masonry. The reader, however, will -'. ' 11#, "T" not be surprised, if, on a visit to these interesting remains, he should find that they are beginning to be injuriously affected by a twenty years" exposure, after an entombment gs^ 1 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 contri- vance 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 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 disagree- able 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 dwellings. II H 122 THE /ERARIUM. of more than a thousand, to the vicissitudes of a Northumbrian climate. 1 It may be observed that the concrete used in the formation of the floors possesses hydraulic properties. 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 lodgment of rain on the floor. A vaulted chamber, somewhat nearer the centre of the station than the " Praetorium," may next engage our attention. A tradition has long prevailed that an underground stable existed in the vicinity of the camp, capable of containing five hundred horses. When this chamber was struck upon, the workmen thought that the statements of their "fore-elders"' were verified. An oaken door, bound and studded with iron, closed the entrance into the chamber, but it fell to pieces shortly after being exposed. On the '■^-^S^3B^^f- W^S Bmm& L- door were found a number of base denarii, chiefly of the reign of Severus; hence the conclusion was drawn that the chamber constituted the yErarium or Treasury of the station. The roof of the apartment is peculiar. It consists of three separate arches, the intervals between them being filled up by the process called " stepping over." No other buildings are left exposed in the station, though wherever the surface is removed Roman masonry is found. A sward of unusual richness covers the city which for several centuries gave to Rome the command of the valley of the North Tyne. Suburban buildings have left their traces between tin' station and the river, and ruins more extensive than usual are spread over the ground to the south. No habitations have been erected to the north of the encampment or the Wall. Leaving for the present the immediate confines of the station, we may bend our steps a short way down the river on a visit to the cypress grove — the burial ground of ClLURNUM. This, which in Horsley's days formed a separate field called the Ox-close, is now included in the park of Chesters. Never was spot more appropriately chosen. The river '"The ruined walls" of these buildings are " overg-rown by the beautiful plants, Corydalis Intra and Geranium lucidum." — Murray's Hand-Book of Durham and Northumberland, p. lT4. ' CD Ci3 ►J ;=> P3 < Pi EC o Cd, THE CEMETERY. 123 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 procu- red several sepul- chral si alts, one of which is figured in the engraving. We need not lie surprised at the rudeness of these gravestones, car- ved as they must. tin- the most part. have been by un- skilled hands, and perhaps prepared D. M. ma. svilivs vir- T OR V I X I T A N N S To the Divine Manes Marcus Suiliu* Vic- tor lived vears in haste, so as to be deposited in their place at the time of the inter- ment. The in- size, scription is considerably injured, but the copy of it which Horslev made, more than a century ago, and is here followed, is probably correct This rude stone was very precious in the sight of our great antiquary. No stone had in his day been found in the station to confirm his sup- position that the second wing of Astures had been garrisoned in it; it was some comfort to him, therefore, to notice from the effigy upon the stone that the deceased person belonged to a troop of horse, and such was the description of force which he expected to find here. This sculp- ture, and most of the inscriptions discovered at Chesters during the last century, are preserved in the museum of the Duke of Northum- 124 A GLADIATORIAL SCENE. berland at Alnwick Castle, 1 where also are to be found a number of altars and other antiquities, derived from the stations of Risingham and High Rochester, forming altogether a collection of rare interest. Another rude but very curious 'stone. 2 which is here engraved seems feel inches 1 to have been found in the neighbourhood of the cemetery. The specu- lations as to its meaning have been various. Horsley says : — " The sculpture before us represents a female seated, holding a key in her right hand, and I think a thyrsus or hasta in her left; and on the other part of the stone, a human figure lying along, and a lion with, one of his paws gently raising up the head. The lion represents Cyhele, the mother goddess, and the thyrsus and hasta are her common symbols, and sometimes the key. . . The lion that is gently raising up the head of the human figure may signify the revival of man by the spring and produce of the earth, or by the wine and fruits it affords." Hodgson, who slightly differs from him in opinion, says : — "I would hazard a conjecture that the whole relates to the Mithraic rites called Leontica; for the lion in the zodiac of the ancient heathens stood for Mithras or the sun, which threw its greatest heat upon the earth through its course through the constellation of Leo, from July 24th to the same day of August." A simpler explanation of the sculpture is that it represents a scene in the amphitheatre. The. emperor, or other regulator of the games, sits in the seat of authority, with a flag in his hand to direct 'The Iiev. John Hodgson savs: — "The Erring-ton family, before they built the mansion house of Chesters, in 1771, had for many generations resided as tenants under the Northumberland family, in the mansion house at Warwick Grange, which accounts for so many of the antiquities of Ciltjrnum having been built up in the garden walls and farm premises there. Having suffered much from the weather and neglect, several of them were some years since removed by Sir D. W. Smith, hart, [the Hake of Northumberland's chief commissioner] to a tower in Alnwick Castle, where they are carefully preserved.''- — History of Northumberland, Pt. II., Vol. III., p. 181. In 17!t(3 the estate and mansion of Chesters passed into the possession of the Clayton family. The antiquities discovered in the district have, since that period, found a resting place at Chesters. The present head of the family, John Clayton, Esq., has done more for the elucidation and preserva- tion of the Wall and its remains than any other individual. One of his most recent acts has been to add a noble portico to the house at Chesters, where the "opima spolia" of Cilurnum, Borco- vicus, and Vixdolana will, for many a long year, he carefully preserved and fittingly displayed. a Hutchinson, who gives an engraving of the stone, says : — " This, with others at the Grange, appear to he merely monumental; ami we were informed they were found to the east of the camp, not far distant from the Vallum." — View of Northumberland, Vol. 1., p. £ -'. THE NAME OF THE STATION ASCERTAINED. 125 the sports. A contest between a gladiator and an animal of the feline tribe has been going on, in which the human combatant is worsted. In all probability the right-hand portion of the stone, which is broken oft; contained the portraiture of a similar spectacle. 1 The occurrence of this sculpture encourages the belief that Cilur- num was provided with an amphitheatre for the amusement of the soldiery. Decided traces of one still exist at the station of Borcovicus ; and the sculptures on Trajan's column show us that even amidst the stirring events of a campaign the erection of a circus was not neglected. The bank of the river, to the south-east of this station, where this stone was found, would afford facilities for the erection of one. The Xotitia places at Cilurnum the prefect of the second Ala of Astures. One inscription, confirmatory of this statement, has already been introduced to the notice of the reader (p. 51); his attention is now invited to another of still greater interest. The fine slab which is represented in the wood-engraving is broken into four pieces, and is 'At, DIG — ._ . Size, 3 feet by 2 feet 3 inches. IMP. caesa[b M.] AVREL. [antoninvs PIVS FEL. ' AVG. [SVMMVS SACERDOS DEI SOUS ELAGABAEl] [PONT. MAX. t]i!IB. P^Ot]. II1I. COS. III. P.P. DIVI. [ANTONTNI MAG. F. DIVI SEVER. XEP. V.T M. AVREL ALEXANDER NOB.] CAESAR IMPERII II E R E S . . . . M I I. I T E s] ALAE II ASTVr'vM TEMPLVMJ VETVSTATE [cOLLAPSVM RESTITv] E R V X T PER M A R I V M V A L E R I a[n V M LEG. AVG. P R. P R. ] INSTANTE SEPTIMIO NILO PRAEF DEDICATVM III. KAL. X O V E M. GRATO ET SELEJVCO C O S S.] 1 For these views the author is indebted to Signor Montiroli, of Rome, the designer of the internal decorations of Alnwick Castle— an antiquary as well as an artist and architect of con- siderable eminence. 126 THE VALUE OF ROMAN INSCRIPTIONS. The emperor ( Jaesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, pious, happy, Augustus, high priest of the sun-god, Elagahalus, supreme pontiff, possessed of the tribunitian power for the fourth time, consul for the third, father [of his country, son of the deified Antoninus the great, grandson of the deified Severus ; and Marcus Aurelius Alexander the noble Caesar, heir to the empire The soldiers of the second Ala of Astures restored this temple, which had fallen down through age, by Marius Valerianus, imperial legate and proprietor under the superintendence of Septimius Nilus the prefect. It was dedicated on the 3rd of the kalends of November, Gratus and Seleucus being consuls. imperfect on the right side. The letters, though not deeply cut, are distinct ; the parts which are blank have been purposely erased. It was found in the year 1798, in the south-west corner of the station. The reading which is here followed is that of Borghesi, 1 the only deviations from it being the insertion of the words milites and temelvm. Mr. Hutton, of Birmingham, notwithstanding his enthusiastic admiration of the Wall, underrated the value of inscriptions. Not content with telling us that he was ignorant of the Latin tongue, lie says, "Besides, with what success could I explain that, about which the learned themselves differ? And if they could be explained, what do they amount to? . . . When he has laboured through a parcel of miserable letters what is he the wiser ? " A satisfactory answer to these queries is easily furnished. These miserable letters that were carved seventeen hundred years ago are the same letters with which every English child, and nearly every child throughout the civilized world, 1 legins his literary career : and in regard to form many of them would supply admirable models to a modern type founder. So far from there being much uncertainty regarding the interpretation of Roman inscrip- tions, their meaning seldom admits of doubt. Occasionally an unusual word or peculiarity of construction will occur, giving rise to diversity of view, but this is not a frequent case. The principal difficulties are caused by the obliteration of portions of the original writing, and here the anti- quary has not only to interpret but to restore, and this he often does with marvellous success. As to the utility of the information afforded by these lettered memorials, let the broken, battered, and long-buried stone, which we are now considering, supply us with a reply to Mr. Hutton 's inquiry — "What is he the wiser" for inscriptions? — 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 was Cilurnem. 2. We acquire the tact, 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 1 Henzen's Supplement to " Inscriptiones Orellianoe," No. 5514. STATUE OF CERES. 127 ruin and inscription thus corroborate each other. 3. The date of the dedication is given: the third of the kalends of November falls upon the thirtieth of October, and the year in which Gratus and Seleucus were consuls, corresponds with a.d. 221 ; proving that 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 Elagabalus was reigning at the time of the dedication of the temple; we find that what remains of the names and titles on the stone apply to him and his successor Alexander. The year following he was slain by his own soldiers, his body dragged through the streets of Rome and cast into the Tiber. We thus learn the unity that existed in the Roman world even at this late period; the behests of the seven- hilled city were obeyed to the extremities of the empire. We find, too. that human nature is the same in every age, the idol of to-day is often the object of public execration to-morrow. Many other inscribed stones of considerable importance have been found here, to some of which attention will lie paid in the concluding chapter of this work. Chief, however, among the antiquities belonging to Cilurnum is the mutilated statue shown in the engraving on the next page. It was discovered within the station, near the south-west corner. ^Vhen Dr. Lingard saw it, it formed part of the Avail of a contiguous plantation. Statues of so large a size are rare in the North of England, and workmanship of such excellence is yet more uncommon. The pose of the body, and the graceful manner in which the folds of the dress are arranged, will excite attention. The soldier-artist has even succeeded in displaying the form of the limbs beneath the drapery. In conse- quence of the injuries which the figure has sustained, it is difficult to determine with precision the deity intended. On her head, or in her hand, she probably bore some badge of her peculiar attributes. There can be little doubt that the Syrian goddess, under some of her phases, was intended. Horsley remarks: — "It is very certain that what is physically the same is often represented by several deities ; and the same deity has several names considered under different relations, or as conferring different benefits. Thus Cybele, Ceres, Vesta, Rhea, and Tellus, all signify the earth; and Dea Syria is only another of Cybele's names, who is usually called the Mother of the gods." 1 These views were strikingly confirmed by an inscription found a i'vw years ago at Carvoran, that will afterwards be described ; in it the virgin of the celestial zone is said to be the same as the Mother of the gods, Peace, Virtue. Ceres, and the Syrian goddess. It matters little, therefore. whether we call the sculpture before us Cybele, Ceres, or the Syrian goddess. If Cybele had been specially intended, a lion would probably 1 Britannia Romana, p. 226. III l i il w>v*—w m Size, 5 feet 3 inches by 2 feet 2 inches. BADGES OF THE SECOND LEGION. 129 have formed the pedestal ; if Ceres, a bull ; but enough of the animal on which the figure is actually placed does not remain to enable us to ascertain with certainty its species. None of the three legions located in Britain have left an inscription recording their presence in this station; but on what appears to have been the stone lintel of a door, the badges of the second legion appear Size, 3 feet 3 inches by 9 inches. in bold relief. Instead of the Pegasus which occurs on the slab found at Condercum (p. 91) a second sea monster has in this instance been introduced. The fine capital, of a composite order, shown in the woodcut, enables us to judge of the 1 >eauty of some of the buildings which adorned the ancient Cilurnum. A capital equally ornate, derived, it is believed, from the station of Borcovicus, is in the Museum at Newcastle. In making the excavations at the hypocausts, many coins of silver and brass were found. A descriptive catalogue of them is given by Mr. Clayton in his account of the excavation, in the third volume of the Archaeologia iEliana, to which the reader is referred. They extend from the time of Hadrian to that of Gratian (a.d. 119 to a.d. 'Ml) ; the prevailing coins being those of Constantine and his immediate suc- cessors. Several beau- tiful specimens of pot- tery have been found, which, together with the various imple- ments and articles of domestic use, in silver, bronze, and iron, are reserved for subsequent description. One of the most curious of the relics obtained from this treasury of Roman effects is the tooth of a bear ; it is of large size, and is pierced with two holes, to enable its possessor to suspend it by a string, and wear it as a trophy or a charm. K K 1 31 » APPROACH To WALWICK. That bears were to be found in the forests of Britain was not unknown to the Romans ; Martial refers to the circumstance : — " Nuda Caledonio sic pectora praebuit urso." The importance of the station of Cilurxoi is shown by the number of roads which converged upon it. Besides the road that ran parallel with the Wall on its southern side, the eastern Watling Street seems, as has already been stated, to have been continued from Bewclay to the vicinity of the station. Horsley speaks of a road coming to this station from the Watling Street, south of Rising-ham. A road seems to have gone southward from the station by Walwick Grange and High Warden, leading probably to Hexham. From this road, a little to the south of Walwick Grange, the great military highway, leading direct to Carvoran, diverged. By means of it the garrison at Cilurntjm would lie able to communicate more quickly with the stations in the west than by taking the road which accompanied the Wall. 1 Altogether the station of Cilurnum has been one of the largest and most important in the chain of mural fortresses, and it is one which the antiquary will leave with the Greatest regret. Once more we bend our steps westward. Making for a wood, which shelters the garden at Chesters, we come to a short strip of the Wall, presenting four courses of facing stones, and covered with honeysuckle, ivy, and other wild plants. The fosse on its north side forms a pond. All through the wood the foundation of the Wall may be detected, rising above the general level of the ground, while the ditch on its north side sinks below it. Emerging from the grounds of Chesters, we once more join the turnpike road, which here again coalesces with the Wall. The labour of ascending the hill which takes to Walwick is relieved by the scenes which meet the eye. The lines of the Vallum are boldly developed in the field on our left, whilst the fach i g stones of the Wall may often be traced for a con- siderable space together in the irround on which we tread. Mr. Fairholt, to whose facile pencil we are indebted for the woodcut in the margin, was fortunate in seeing these traces under very - 'The roads have heen investigated with gTeat care liy Mr. McLauchlan. See Plan, Sheet II., Memoir, p. 27. The author, in company witli Mr. Clayton, has verified the accuracy of his delineations. ANCIENT BRITISH ENCAMPMENTS. 131 favourable circumstances. On the top of the hill, just beyond the house which was formerly an inn. is the site of a mile-castle ; excepting a slight elevation of the ground, all traces of it are gone. The view from. Walwick is extensive and beautiful. The valley of the North Tyne, the South Tyne, and that along which their united streams flow, may be traced. The hills, too, which guide these rivers in their course give variety to the surface. The intelligent industry of the people of the district has clothed the surface with verdure and fertility. There is much in the scene, also, to stimulate the imagination. Lines of entrenchment may be seen near the summit of Warden Hill, which lies upon the fork of the two rivers, and upon the hill behind the village of Wall, which is seated upon the left bank of the North Tyne. These are probably ancient British works. What were the feelings of their occupants while the erection of the Wall was proceeding, if indeed they had not, before that time.' been driven to the fastnesses of the Cheviot range ? Neither are the memorials of the middle age wanting. The Abbey Church of Hexham, slightly obscured by the haze which generally hangs over towns situated in the northern coal-field, will be discerned in the distance, to the south- east. Haughton Castle, on the one side of the North Tyne, above Chollerford Bridge, and Cocklaw Tower, on the other, are in sight ; whilst to the north Chipchase Castle, which long held in check the marauders of the debatable land, is seen to frown as grandly as ever. After passing Walwick the turnpike road leaves the Wall and runs by the side of the Vallum. Ascending the next hill, we come to an ivy-covered tower, called Tower Taye, which, though now possessini: a venerable aspect, was not built till about the year 1730. Reaching the summit of the hill, all the lines of the barrier come grandly into view, running in apparent parallelism with each other. Having crossed the valley before us. they bound unflinchingly up the opposite ascent. The present road runs upon the north agger of the Vallum, which has been spread out to form it. Descending from the Tower Taye the site of a mile-castle is detected on the right. The whole of the facing stones are gone, and the place is chiefly marked by the vacuity occasioned by their removal. Horsley thought that this castellum was ••detached about a yard from the Wall ;" but Mr. Clayton has recently ascertained, by excavation, that this was not the case. The hills on the left of the road bear marks of having been quarried in ancient days, probably by the Romans, for the construc- tion of the Wall. To the south of these quarries, and nearly opposite the mile-castle, is an earthen encampment, to which Mr. McLauchlan was the first to call attention. Its gateways are furnished with traverses, and it commands a very extensive view of the surrounding country. Here, doubtless, a detachment of Roman soldiers was securely lodged, while the natives, whom they compelled to labour at the Wall, camped, as best they might, around them. 132 THE WALL AT BLACKCARTS FARM. Before beginning the ascent of the next hill, the Limestone Bank, a very fine strip of the Wall is reached in the Blackcarts Farm, on the right hand. It stands between five and six feet high, and exhibits, in some places, seven courses of facing stones. Its top is covered with a copse of hazel, blackberry, and thorn. The fosse on its north side is boldly developed. Ascending the hill, the works of the Vallum are seen, on our left hand, to considerable advantage. The fosse, which is cut out of the native rock, remains of its original size, though its apparent magnitude is diminished by " the dense thicket of oak, rowentree, hawthorn, and hazel " ' which grows in it. The aggers have been formed out of the stony materials derived from the fosse. On the top of the hill the works of the Vallum are covered, and perhaps " protected for years to come, by a plantation of pines and firs." 1 On the summit of Limestone Bank several things deserve our attention. A castcllum is on the edge of the cliff, overlooking the somewhat sterile north. This elevated spot is about eight hundred feet above the level of the sea. Here, for the first time, we meet with dis- tinct remains of the military way which ran, from mile-castle to mile- castle, the whole length of the Wall. It is seen coming up to the south gateway of the castcllum, and then bending away from it to proceed on its western course. In the immediate vicinity of the fences which bound the fields it has been taken up, in order to supply stones for these structures. But the moats of both Wall and Vallum form the most remarkable features of this spot, In passing over the crown of the hill, they have been excavated with enormous labour out of the basalt of which the summit consists. The workmen, as if exhausted with the task of raising the splintered fragments, have left them lying on the sides of the moats. A mass on the outside of the north ditch, though now split by the action of the frost into three pieces, has evidently formed one block, and cannot weigh less than thirteen tons. It is not easy to conceive how they managed to quarry so tough a rock without the aid of gunpowder, or contrived to lift, with the machinery at their command, such huge blocks. Mr. Roach Smith thus describes the scene : — " In one place this Vallum Is formed out of a solid rock, and the huge masses of stone lie about upon its banks, as if some superhuman agency had ploughed through the rock, and shivered it into pieces, as the plough in the hands of the ploughman turns up a furrow in a field."— Gent. Mag., Oct., 1851. The lithograph presents a view of the giant works of the Vallum at this point. On examining the ditch of the Wall and the Vallum here, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that both have been excavated at the same time and by the same gangs of workmen. An inspection Hodgson's History of Northumberland, Part II., Vol. III., p. 285. ^ J w o E-l CO w 1—1 re CO CO o CfHTiieGetty foCdout/map not digitized THE STATION OF CARRAWBURGH. 133 of the north agger of the Vallum, also, will show how ill its appearance accords with Horsley's theory that it was Agricola's military way. One other object demands attention before proceeding on our journey. To the south of the plantation, and nearly opposite the cas- tellum, is another temporary encampment. Its earthen entrenchments, its gateways, and the traverses in front of them are distinctly visible. The works now pass over Tepper Moor. The north fosse of the Wall here is in excellent preservation. The materials taken out of it are piled on its outer margin, as if they had just been thrown from the wheelbarrows of the labourers. Almost immediately after passing a small limestone quarry, the site of a mile-castle will be discerned on the left side of the road, and soon after this we come to Procolitia, the seventh stationary camp on the line of the Wall. It is very nearly three miles and a half distant from Cilurnum. VIII.— PROCOLITIA. Though in a lofty and exposed situation, being about six hundred and fifty feet above the level of the sea, this station is to some extent sheltered by the hills in its immediate neighbourhood. The absence of human habitations gives to the visitor an oppressive sense of loneliness. The general outline of the station is easily made out, and if its walls were divested of the ruins which encumber them, they would pro- bably be found standing several feet high. The area of the station is three acres and a half. The Wall forms its northern boundary. The eastern and western gateways are easily distinguished ; they are opposite each other, and are nearer the northern than the southern extremity of the station. The Vallum has come up on each side to the defence of these gateways. A gentle dip in the middle of the south rampart indi- cates the position of the southern gateway. The southern corners are rounded off, but the side walls of the station, in joining the great Wall on the north, seem to preserve their rectilinear course. 1 The fosse in front of the southern rampart is broad and distinctly marked. The western rampart is defended by two ditches, but as both together only equal the width of the south fosse, the arrangement, as Mr. McLauchlan suggests, is probably the result of some alteration sub- sequent to the original formation of the place. 2 Outside the western wall are extensive remains of suburban buildings ; some also lie to the ! Mr. McLauchlan finds that " the bearing' of the north wall of the station is about one degree more towards the north than that of the great Wall, and about three degrees more than that of the Vallum." He hence infers : — " This want of conformity in structure would lead us to a supposition that the station was built before either the Vallum or tlie Wall ; and it is not impossible that the two north angles were rounded like the two south ones, and destroyed in the construction of the Wall, which probably formed nearly a straight line with the north front." — Memoir, p. 34. This cannot have been one of Agricola's forts. There is no defile or important pass to be defended. It is scarcely credible that the station can have been planted here for any purpose but that of sheltering- the mural garrison. The building of the station would, no doubt, precede, but im- mediately precede, the stretching- of the Wall to the, east and the west of it. 2 The same is the case at /Esica. — See Memoir, p. 34. L L 134 THE BATAVIANS. south of the camp. A natural valley, consisting at present of boggy ground, permeated by a stream of clear water, gives additional strength to the western side of the station, and forms an independent fortification to the extra-mural buildings in that quarter. Few stations have had such an abundant supply of water as Peocolitia. In the western defile there was in Horsley's days a well cased with Roman masonry — the country people called it a bath ; no traces of it exist now. Besides this, three " springs" are marked in Mr. McLauchlan's plan of the station ; two to the north of it, and one near its south-west corner. The burying- ground of the station seems to have been between it and the castellmn to the east of it. 1 The modern name of this station is Carrawburgh. which Wallis, as if to bring etymology into disrepute, says is derived "from the Saxon Burgos or Brough, and the emperor Carausius who repaired it.'' The Notitia informs us that the tribune of the first cohort of the Batavians was quartered at Peocolitia. Several inscriptions bearing the name of this cohort have been found here; the inference is natural, that the Carrawburgh of the modern borderer is the Peocolitia of the Roman empire. A slab has already been given (p. 51), carved by the first cohort of the Bata- vians, when Maxi- mums was emperor. An altar, now pre- served in the library of the Dean and Chapter at Durham, which was found here, and which is shown in the engraving, gives us the name of the same body of forces. The country from which the Batavians came appears to have been that which lies between the modern cities of Rotterdam and Leyden. These troops were early introduced into Britain. Tacitus tells us that Agricola commenced the battle of the Grampians (a.d. 84) by ordering three Batavian and two Tungrian cohorts to charge the enemy, sword in hand. When the first cohort took up its quarters at Peocolitia Ave have no means of knowing ; it FORTVNAE coh. i. batavor[vm] CVI PRAEEST MELACCINIVS MARCELLVS PRJEFECTVS^ To Fortune The 1st cohort of Batavians commanded by Melaccinius Marcellus the Prefect. 'Dr. Lmgard lias the following- note: — "A hundred yards east of the station is the castle- stead. The burying-place is between it and the station; bones, &c, found in it."— MS. The Rev. John Hodgson, speaking of the ditch of the Vallum here, says, that itbadbeen filled up with earth and mbhish, and that "among the rubbish were hones, teeth, and horns of deer and other animals; also, much masons' sandstone clippings, as deep as ten feet below the surface. The quarrymen also told me that urns, with ashes in them, were not nnfrenuentlv found here."— Hist. Northumberland, Pt. II., Vol. III., p. 286. From »' 1 2^-— ~% \ ^ — OTas. Bull, -il ' "fT" OirrctwluTyfi ''THo COLlllA it If uumnl STATIOH A.T CAKlRAWmiJ]R(&]H THE AQUITANI. 135 "L^euc ( 'HI. I. AQVIT ANOHVMl FECIT AVLO PLATORJIO NEPOTE The 1st cohort of Aquitani erected this underAulusPlatorhis Nepos. was here a.d. 237, and it was here at the beginning of the fifth century when the Notitia was compiled. The Batavians, however, were not the only troops who have left a memorial behind them atCarrawburgh. The broken and imperfect slab here drawn was found in the north-east cor- ner of the sta- tion in 1838. The Rev. John Hodgson gives it in the appen- dix to his last volume, but lie does not at- tempt to give a reading of it. Mr. Roach Smith was the first to perceive its historical value. 1 Aulus Platorius Xepos was the personal friend of Hadrian and his representa- tive in Britain. Under him there is reason to believe the construction of the Wall was chiefly prosecuted. In the labour of erecting this station, the Aquitani probably took a part. We have only one other memorial of this cohort in Britain, and this also belongs to the reign of Hadrian. .V bronze plate found at Riveling, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, contains the name of the first cohort of Aquitani, and of several other bodies of troops, then under the command of Aulus Platorius Xepos in Britain, who had earned the privilege of citizenship, and other rewards, at the hand of the government. It is difficult, with evidence like this before us, to resist the opinion that the soldiers of Hadrian built the Wall. The greater part of the station is unexplored, and there is, doubtless, much which will interest the anti- quarian, lying buried under the heaps of ruin which encumber it. Seldom has the surface been broken in search stones to build a field dike, or repair a cottage, without some objects of antiquity being- discovered. Two Jo inches o rude but very rare sculptures are here shown ; both of them, unhappily, are sadly mutilated. 'Collectanea Autiqua, Vol. II., p. ITT. 136 SCULPTURED STONES. The figure of Neptune was, when Wallis wrote, built up in the gable of a cottage at Carraw. It was derived from the station, but from what part of it cannot now be ascertained. Neptune does not seem to have been a popular deity with the troops along the line of the Wall, very few altars being dedicated to him. The Batavians, however, as coming from the vicinity of the sea, and from a part of the coast so much intersected by rivers as to render appropriate the designation of Csesar, " Insula Batavorum," may be supposed to have had some predilection for the marine deity. The sculpture is now in Newcastle. The other carving represents Minerva, and, if we may venture to judge from the small portion of the other figure which remains, iEseulapius. Wisdom all men need at all times, and too often they require the services of the professors of the healing art. This curious stone is now at Chesters. Leaving Carrawburgh we soon reach Carraw. once the rural retreat of the Priors of Hexham. Few places could afford a more eligible asylum when fever or plague raged in the low-lying, wall-encircled, undrained town ; and ever, in the autumn, the moors of the neighbour- hood would give to the falconer, be he clerical or lay, abundant means of successfully applying his craft. Two inscriptions have lately been found at Carraw. One of them is of the legionary kind, though very rude, and probably belonging VEXILLAT 10 legion[is] VI ? A vexillation of the sixth legion. } avfid[ii].'' rvfi The century of Aufidius Ruins. a 1&5±}1 to a late period ; the other is a centurial stone of the ordinary character. Shortly after leaving Carraw, the site of another mile-castle appears. Farther to the west, and crowning a knoll on our left, is a temporary Roman camp, called Brown Dikes, furnished with traverses. The site may be recognised by the greenness of the herbage. There arc evident traces of ancient freestone quarries near it. On the crown of the next elevation the works are brought into close proximity, apparently for the purpose of avoiding an extensive bog on the north, and of maintaining possession of the apex of the hill on the south. The earth-works are very boldly developed, but are in a ragged state. Before reaching the humble cottage called Shield-on-the-Wall, another mile-castle is passed. We must now, to adopt the language of Hutton, " quit the beautiful scenes of cultivation, and enter upon the rude of nature, and the wreck of antiquity." Four great mountain waves are before us, and seem to chase each other to the north, on which side their crests rise almost 0. . IM $-m "St- 3 " • v.— THE MURAL RIDGE. 137 perpendicularly. To the highest of these, the second from the south, the Wall directs its course. It is a ridge of basalt, which crosses the island obliquely, from Holy Island to Cumberland. After passing the rivulet, just beyond the twenty-seventh milestone, the works part company, the Vallum taking the "tail" of the hill, and the Wall its precipitous ridge. The drawing opposite shows the nature of the country before us. Before approaching Sewingshields farm-house, which is on the line of the Wall, an experienced eye will detect the Roman military way. It runs at first nearly parallel with the Wall, at about thirty-six paces from it ; hut, in its subsequent course, recedes from the barrier, or approaches it. according to the position of the mile-castles, and the nature of the ground. With 1 >ut few interruptions, it may 1 ie traced. 1 >y the appearance of the herbage, by its slightly elevated rounded form, and by the occasional protrusion of the stones composing it. all the way from Sewinashields to Thirl wall. O The north fosse, which we have had in view from the very com- mencement of our journey, accompanies the Wall for a short distance up the hill; but when the ground becomes precipitous, it dies out. The moment, however, that the Wall approaches the low ground, or sinks into a hollow, it reappears, even though its assistance should be required f >r but a short distance. We noAv begin the ascent of the hill. The Wall, when Dr. Lingard passed this way in 1807, was five feet high ; it is now almost entirely removed, its track alone being visible, marked by the rubble of its foundation. The facing stones of the Wall have been largely used in the reparation and extension of the Sewingshields farm-buildings. Half-way up the hill, before reaching the farm-house, the site of a mile-castle will be perceived ; its area is planted with fir trees. Imme- diately opposite this castellum. and to the south of the modern military road, is another of those temporary camps, of which we have already spoken. The prospect from the heights of Sewingshields is extensive and fine. In addition to objects with which we are already familiar, the Cumbrian mountains come into view, and the Eildon hills, near Melrose, are occasionally visible. When the traveller has regaled his eye with distant forms, it will be well for him to attend to some objects of antiquarian interest in his immediate vicinity. About a furlong north of the Wall, and nearly opposite the mile-castle, is an earthwork, belonging apparently to the ancient British period. It consists of a slightly elevated platform, of a somewhat trapezoidal shape, surrounded by a well-defined ditch. Within its area are some of those rounded forms, which are supposed to be indicative of the dwellings of our rude ancestors. At the northern 138 SEWINGSHIELDS CASTLE. extremity of the encampment, and inclosed within the general rampart, is a circular space, depressed below the general level, and probahly formed for cattle. This small encampment has a weak and defenceless aspect at present ; but when the whole surrounding waste was a morass or forest, it would be comparatively sheltered and secure. To the west of this, and in a direction nearly north-east from the farm-house, is the site of a mediaeval stronghold, called Sewing-shields Castle. It is referred to by Sir Walter Scott, in the sixth canto of "Harold the Dauntless," under the denomination of the Castle of the Seven Shields. 1 ■• No towers are seen On the wild heath, but those that Fancy builds, And, save a fosse that tracks the moor with green, Is nought remains to tell of what may there have been. And yet grave authors, with the no small waste Of their grave time, have dignified the spot By theories, to prove the fortress placed By Roman bands, to curb the invading Scot. Hutchinson, Horsley, Camden, I might quote, But rather choose the theory less civil, Of boors, who, origin of things forgot, Refer still to the origin of evil, And for their master-mason choose that master-fiend the Devil." A vaulted chamber, the last remains of the castle, was removed by the present farm tenant, Mr. Errington, several years ago. The site of the castle may, in favourable circumstances, be discerned in the centre of the only patch of ground north of the Wall that is in tillage. Between the castle and the encampment formerly described are some circular mounds, the remains probably of dwellings of an ancient date. The farm-house at Sewingshields is entirely built out of the stones of the Wall. Its kindly occupants have lived through more than three generations, and can tell of times and traditions that are fast passing into oblivion. 2 A centurial stone is built up in front of the 1 Scott probably took the name from Camden, who culls it " Seaven-shale." 2 The memory of the Romans has been retained in the traditions of the district. The facts of history having-, however, been much distorted by the usual leg-ends of the dark ages, these ancient tales are lightly regarded by the present generation. The period subsequent to the Roman era also lives in their traditions. King- Arthur and his Queen are "freshly remembered" by the people. The following tale is worthy of repetition. Mr. Hodgson, from whose pages it is taken, says, " For the broad outlines of the story, I am indebted to the inquiries and graphic pen of Miss Carlyle, of Carlisle [Mrs. Maclean, of Lazohby Hall : for parts of its detail and colouring to old inhabitants of the neighbourhood." "Immemorial tradition has asserted that King Arthur, his Queen, Guenever, his court of lords and ladies, and his hounds, were enchanted in some cave of the crags, or in a hall below the castle of .Sewingshields, and would continue entranced there till someone should first blow a bugle- horn that lav on a table near the entrance of the hall, ami then with 'the sword of the stone' cut a garter also placed there beside it. But none had ever heard where the entrance to this enchanted hall was, till the [herd boy] at Sewingshields, about fifty years since, was sitting knitting on the ruins of the castle, and his clew fell, and ran downwards through a rush of briars and nettles, as he supposed, into a deep subterranean passage. Full in the faith that the entrance into King- Arthur's hall was now discovered, lie cleared the liriarv portal of its weeds and rubbish, and entering- a vaulted passage, followed, in his darkling- way. the thread of his clew. The floor was MURAL TRADITIONS. 139 gig-house. There is also a legionary stone, derived from this vicinity, now in the Castle of Newcastle. They are represented in the woodcuts. guffire CENTVRIA GELLlfl] rinr,n»p[i] The century of Gellius PhiUppus. LEG. II. AVG. The second Legion the August. Ascending the crest of the hill, in our course westward, the site of another mile-castle is soon reached. The highest point of the crag is about nine hundred and sixty feet above the level of the sea. Broomlee Lough here comes boldly into view. Immediately to the north of us two strata of sandstone crop out to the day. The highest points of each ledge is called the King's and Queen's Crags, from an ancient tradition, that on one occasion, whilst seated on them. King Arthur and his Queen, Guenever, engaged in a somewhat lively altercation. 3 Between the Wall and the Queen's Crag the Roman quarrymen have left traces of their industry. Many wedge-holes, intended for the dislodgment of fresh blocks of stone, remain. Before descending from the elevated position on which we now are, it may be well to pay some attention to an ancient cutting, belonging to these parts, called the Black Dike. It consists simply of a ditch, with a rampart on its east side, formed of the earth and stones taken out of it. In the old maps of Northumberland it is represented as ex- tending from the north-west extremity of Northumberland to the Tyne at Water House, near Bardon Mill ; it reappears at Morley, and is said to go by Allenheads into the county of Durham. We see, from the height on which we stand, a plantation on the other side of the valley, to the south of us, called the "Black Dike Planting." The fosse of the infested with toads and lizards; and the dark wings of liats, disturbed by his unhallowed intrusion, flitted fearfully around him. At length his sinking- faith was strengthened by a dim, distant light, which, as he advanced, grew gradually brighter, till, all at once, he entered a vast and vaulted hall, in the centre of which a fire without fuel, from a broad crevice in the floor, blazed with a high and lambent flame, that showed all the carved walls and fretted roof, and the monarch and his queen and court reposing around in a theatre of thrones and costly couches. On the floor, beyond the fire, lay the faithful and deep-toned pack of thirty couple of hounds ; and on a table before it the spell-dissolving- horn, sword, and garter. The [youth] reverently, hut firmly, grasped the sword, and as he drew it leisurely from its rusty scabbard, the eves of the monarch and his courtiers began to open, and they rose till they sat upright. He cut the garter; and as the sword was being slowly sheathed, the spell assumed its ancient power, and they all gradually sunk to rest; but not before the monarch had lifted up his eyes and hands, and exclaimed : — woe betide that evil day On which this witless wight was born, Who drew the sword — the g-arter cut, But never blew- the bugle-horn. Terror brought on loss of memory, and tin- shepherd was unable to find again the entrance to the enchanted hall." — Hodgson's Northumberland, Part II., Vol. III., p. 287. 3 King- Arthur, seated on the farthest reck, was talking witli his Queen, who, meanwhile. was engaged in •• doing- her hack hair." Some expression of Gueuever's having offended his Majesty, he seized a rock which lay near him, and threw it at her — a distance of about a quarter of a mile. The Queen, with great dexteritv, caught it upon her comb, and so warded off the blow. The stone, which weighs about twenty tons, fell between them, but it bears to this day the marks of tin- comb. Geologists would sav that the marks are caused by the action of the weather. 140 THE BLACK DIKE. dike from which it takes its name may be discerned on the west side of it. The point where the dike crossed the Wall has long been a matter of speculation. It probably crossed it, from the sonth, at the opening west of Busy Gap, and then, as the Wall there is running in a northerly direction, it took the course which the Wall now does, as far as the foot of the Sewingshields Crag ; it then made off for the northern wastes, passing the Queen's and King's Crags. Where the course of the two structures coincides, the Wall has destroyed all traces of it ; but there are some remains of it north of Sewingshields Crag. The stone dike, which forms the western boundary of the Sewingshields property, probably represents its course. Nothing is known respecting the object for which this cutting was made. It may have been intended as a boundary line between two territories. 1 Proceeding westward, we descend into a broad basin-like recess in the mountain ridge called Busy Gap. As the Wall at this point is more than usually exposed to attack it is not only strengthened with tlic fosse which generally defends it in the low grounds, but has the additional protection of a rampart of triangular form outside the fosse. This rampart is double on the western side. Busy Gap seems to have been the pass chiefly frequented by the mosstroopers and marauders of the middle ages. A Busy Gap rogue was a name of reproach as late as the close of the seventeenth century. When Camden and Cotton visited the Wall they durst not venture into the neighbourhood of Busy Gap " for the rank robbers thereabouts." Matters are entirely changed now; in no part of the kingdom is there greater security of person and property. Ascending the western side of the Gap we come to a gate called the King's Wicket, through which a drove road passes. The gate is well situated for defence and may have been a Koman passage. The site of another mile-castle is soon reached, which is remarkal »le as having a declivity of about one in five. Hodgson, who saw the castle in a less dilapidated state than it is at present, says that it had '"an interior [built] twenty-two paces, p ■;, ,,. ) ■ ^'■^\±:l ': , \J wall on every side at the distance of about twenty feet from the exterior wall," from which lie inferred " that the space between the walls had been roofed, and the centre uncovered." Near the mile-castle was discovered the cen- turial stone engraved above. The peculiarity of it is that it seems to suite the number of paces executed by the century in question. 2 3 FLORINI p[assvs] xxi r The century of Florinus 1 Mr. McLauchlan 1ms investigated tins subject with great rare. The substance of his enquiries is given in the text. See Memoir, pp. ;>r. 4'J. ° The tablets found on the Antonine Wall frequently mention the number of paces executed by the troops whose names they bear, but the quantities named are uniformly much larger than in the case before us, and in some others that we shall soon meet with. h m SI 5 wt- i^B^ti I 9 i THE STATION OF HOUSESTEADS. 14-1 The Vallum in this part of its course is well developed. The wood- cut represents it as the traveller will see it in the vicinity of the Moss Kennell farm-house. Two narrow but rather steep gaps are passed in quick succes- sion, and we soon after- wards reach the Knag- Burn, the eastern boun- dary of the station of Housesteads. Between the burn and the station the Wall is in excellent preservation. It has been brought into its present state by placing the fallen stones upon the courses which remained in position ; five courses arc original, three have been replaced ; close to the station all the stones are as the Romans left them. VIII.— BORCOVICUS. Housesteads is rather more than four miles and three-quarters from the last station, Carrawburgh. As it is at a distance from the great centres of population it has been less drawn upon for its stores of stone than most other stations; and as, still more happily, it is the property of a gentleman who has a reverence for the past, and is himself well versed in antiquarian lore, it is not only protected from injury, but made, by the judicious development of its structure, to furnish lessons of the highest import to the archaeologist and the historian. Alexander Gordon says of this station, "It is unquestionably the most remarkable and magnificent in the whole island of Britain." Stukeley, who visited it along with Roger Gale in 1725, says, "With great regret we left the place, deserving to be accounted the Tadmor of Britain." And even the cool and cautious Horsley speaks of " The famous station of Housesteads." When these writers visited the place numerous altars and stones, more or less mutilated, 1 testrewed the ground. These i nteresting memorials of the empire are now safely lodged in the Castle of Newcastle. What the visitor loses by their removal is more than made up by the skilful disinterment of the ramparts, gateways, and principal buildings, effected by the exertions of Mr. Clayton. The Englishman who is interested in the early history of his country, must not omit a visit to Borcovicus. The site of the station is skilfully chosen. It consists of a platform somewhat elevated above the contiguous ground, but much less exposed to the blasts which sweep the mural chain than the cliffs to the east or the west of it. Its aspect, as approached from the east, is shown in the N N 142 BOKCOYKVS. opposite lithograph. Its height above the sea is about seven hundred and thirty feet. The floor of the station is thus described by the Rev. John Hodgson : — "Half of it hangs on a slope, with a southern aspect; the other, or northern half, is flat, floored with basalt, covers the summit of a lofty ridge, and commands a prospect on the east, south, and west, far away beyond the valley of the Tyne, over blue, air-tinted grounds, and lofty mountains; and to the north of the Wall over the vast waste of the forest of Lowes, where indeed 'a proud, stupendous solitude frowns o'er the heath.'" As will be seen, on inspecting the accompanying plan of the station, its greatest length is from east to vest, and its northern and southern gate- ways are nearer its east end than the west. Its whole area is about live acres. All the walls of the station are standing, most of them to an unusual height. The western wall, in particular, pre- sents a spectacle, which even those who have visited the Italian Pom- peii will not des- pise. All the cor- ners of the station are rounded. The south- western cor- ner is depicted in the woodcut, The masonry at this point evidently belongs to two periods. The elongated stones of the upper courses have probably been deposited in their present bed during the reparations effected by Severus. The northern angles of the station have been rounded off, as well as the southern, and its northern rampart is quite independent of the main structure. No one can doubt that the station was rendered complete before the Wall was annexed to it; and yet no one who examines the whole subject will fail to see that but for the Wall the station of BORCOVICUS would never have existed. The wood- cut, here given, shows the Wall as it coalesces with the north-west corner of the station. The Vallum is nearly obliterated in the vicinity of the station. This was a necessary result of the dense population of which, in Roman il\ -|»tu-;iuM R C V I C U s\ , ■ -* a,., f ,,t Hiii > ^Cdhuiui --^ f? .Burn > "Braces •■^^sfS^z, * .«i" .-»' F"" S T AT I (. ) N AT B (.. , | -EAjj S HOUSESTEADS. 14,'') times, Borcovicus was the centre. From a careful observation, how- ever, of its course on the east and west of the camp, Mr. McLauchlan concludes that it passed about a hundred yards below the south rampart of the station. All the gateways of Housesteads are in an excellent state of preserva- tion. As the western is the most complete, and all the others have hern constructed upon the same plan, it may with propriety first engage our attention. The " view " of the gateway forming the frontispiece, together with a ground plan, will render a lengthened ver- bal description unneces- sary. The gateway has been, in every sense of the word, double. Two walls are to be passed before the camp can be entered, each of these is provided with two apertures or portals, and each of the outside portals has been supplied with two-leaved gates. A guard-chamber has been placed on each side of the gateway, for the convenience of the sentries on duty. The walls of the north chamber, in the case before us, stand fourteen courses high, and if a roof were put on it might again be occupied. It has been heated by a flue running round three sides of it beneath the flooring. The masonry of the central pillars and the jambs is peculiarly massive, and of the kind generally denominated rustic. The projecting stones of both the jambs arc worn in a manner which suggests the idea that the soldiers, while loiterin<>' al lout the gate, had used them for whetting their knives or weapons upon, in the centre of each roadway an upright stone has been placed, against which the leaves of the gates struck when closed. One of these is still standing in the position in which it was when discovered. From the fragments of decayed wood and corroded iron, which have been found in the gateways at Housesteads and elsewhere, there can be no doubt that the leaves of the doors consisted of wood, strengthened with iron plates and studs. Each gate has moved upon an iron pivot, let into the threshold below and the lintel above. Many of the pivot-holes still exist, and when newly exposed, they are generally found to be coloured with the oxide of iron. Appearances warrant the supposition that the portals of this gateway were crowned above by arches of stone. In other instances the voussoirs or arch-stones remain. A circular head- way, cut out of a single stone, seems to have covered the entrance into each of the guard-chambers. Several examples of these stones have been found in the immediate vicinity of the gateways of this and other stations. Although, as originally constructed, this gateway was double, one of its portals had been closed with masonry of an inferior character, at some period subsequent to its first erection. The same has been the 1 44 BOKCOVICUS. case with every gateway in this station, and, as far as is known, with the gateways in the other stations of the Wall, and with those of the mile-castles. It is quite evident that a period of disaster must have passed over the mural region compelling the various garrisons to stand more upon the defensive than the original constructors of the Wall contemplated. Some ingenuity has been exercised in contracting the dimensions of the gateway which we are now examining. Instead of closing up 1 x )th the apertures of one of the portals, the outer aperture of the north was blocked up, and the inner of the south, so as to retard the progress of an enemy who should attempt to force his way in. The ground plan (p. 143) shows this arrangement, but the gateway itself, as depicted in the lithograph, has been freed from all additions of a late age, so as to exhibit, as far as possible, its original grandeur. It may interest the reader to be informed, that when Mr. Clayton began his excavations not a stone of this gateway was to be seen. The whole was buried under a mass of earth and disordered building material, and the surface was covered with turf of unusual luxuriance. The same remark applies to the rest of the station. The reader may conceive what an enormous mass of matter has been removed in order to display the buildings which meet his eye. 1 The debris is usually largely mixed with Roman pottery and animal matter. Amongst the animal remains the tusks of boars and the antlers of deer are frequently conspicuous. The north gateway, which has been constructed on the same plan as the west, is an exceedingly grand piece of masonry. The blocks of which it is composed have been so accurately laid that to this day they exhibit no signs of parting or displacement. Its eastern portal has been Availed up at some period before the abandonment of the station ; and throughout the whole structure a second floor has been laid above the original one, in consequence, probably, of the accumulation of stone and rubbish upon the first during some time of disaster. The angles of the basement stones of the western aperture are much worn by the tread, apparently, of the feet of passengers. The guard chambers are nearly entire. When this gateway was discovered a road was found leading up to it by a somewhat steep gradient ; the sloping bank was removed to display the masonry of the foundation. The eastern gateway will repay examination. When, in 1833, it was freed from the rubbish which then encumbered it, its eastern portal was found to have been walled up and converted into a separate apartment. On the floor of the chamber, thus formed, there was found "a cart load 1 Eight hundred cart loads of loose and broken stones were used in draining- the bog at the bottom of the station, but this enormous quantity is but a small fraction of the whole that has been removed. As many or more were put into the bog on the north. CO C3 > CD CJ PS Da CD 33 E-< CD CO THE EASTERN AND SOUTHERN GATEWAYS. 145 of fossil coal." 1 The grooves, which have been formed in the threshold of this gateway, by the action, probably, of chariot wheels, will, however, lie regarded as its most re- markable feature . The wood- cut shows the indentations. It might have been supposed that the central stone against which the folding doors closed would have prevented car- riages entering the city. This seems not to have been the case. We meet with parallel instances at Pompeii. In some of tin' streets of that exhumed city, which are onlv wide enough to admit a single carriage, rows of stepping stones have been planted in the middle to enable foot passengers the more conveniently to cross. Notwithstanding this apparent obstruction, the streets have been freely traversed by carriages as the ruts remaining in them show. Both at Pompeii and Borcovicus the chariot used would be the biga, a light vehicle drawn by two horses ; in both cases the horses would pass on each side of the projecting stones. On clearing the street, on the inside of this gateway, Mr. Clayton's workmen found a mutilated statue of Victory, of which the woodcut is a copy. Whoever entered the portals of this mural stronghold was expec- ted to do homage to the favourite deity of the Roman soldier. The goddess holds a palm branch in her left hand — the right, which is broken off, was, no doubt, extended, and held the victor's crown. The southern gateway is of the usual massive character. When laid bare, its eastern division was found to be blocked up. and suburban build- ings, the foundations of which remain, were erected in front of it. The lithographic plate opposite represents this gateway. The western guard chamber is seen in the right hand corner of the drawing ; the eastern (with its door-way walled up) faces the spectator ; and the foundations of the massive pillars, which divided the gateway into two portions, are between them. There are appearances which induce the belief that some borderer, probably of the moss-trooping period, had appropriated the eastern part of this gateway to his own purposes. The byre in inches bv 1 foe mche?. History ot Northumberland, Pt. II.. Vol. III., p. 185 146 THE INTERIOR OF THE STATION. Size, 2 feet by 1 foot 3 which he secured his cattle at night, the kiln in which he dried his unripened grain, and some of the steps by which he ascended to his little fortress, over the cattle-shed, may all be distinguished. He might conceive himself to be an independent chieftain ; but few were his comforts, and frail indeed his tenure of property or life. In the spandril of a door-head, which is now lying on the spot, and which has probably be- longed to one of the guard chambers of this gateway, an ornament resembling a Maltese cross may be obser- ved. A similar carving occurs on another stone found at this station, which is now in the museum at Chesters. The woodcut represents it. There is no reason to suppose that these marks have any Christian reference. The interior of the station is one mass of desolation. As it is impossible to give a correct delineation of it, a very general description must suffice. A line of street is seen going from the eastern gate to the western, dividing the station, laterally, into two equal parts. Two other streets, at right angles to this, run between the northern and southern ramparts, dividing the station transversely into three equal parts; the most easterly of these streets communicates with the northern and southern gateways ; the other has no outlet. 1 The other streets are parallel to these, and in this way the whole interior of the camp is divided into parallelograms of greater or less size. The minor streets are exceedingly narrow. In the northern section of the middle division of the station are to be seen the remains of some large buildings. One of them is seventy- eight feet long and eighteen wide. On the south side of it is another not quite so long, but, apparently, provided with a hypocaust, This building, which is strengthened by buttresses, seems to have been adopted by some borderer as the substratum of his own house ; there is a kiln in the middle of it. Another building, extending from the vicinity of these nearly to the eastern rampart, and bounded at its lower margin by the street which runs between the eastern and western gate- ways, has been recently excavated. It is one hundred and forty-seven feet long and thirty wide, and is strengthened by numerous buttresses. The masonry of it is different from that of the other buildings ; its 1 " The north and south gates, of which it seems there was one in each front, were so placed opposite each other as to leave about one-third of the station towards the east, and thouirh the other two-thirds are divided by a visible line, it is probable there was no outlet at each end of P it."— Mr. McLauchlan's Memoir, p. 30. THE INTERIOR OF THE STATION. 147 stones are larger, and they have the feathered tooling that we noticed in the facing stones of the abutment of the bridge over the North Tyne. We can scarcely resist the opinion that it belongs to a different period from the other buildings. It may have been one of Severus's restorations. At its eastern extremity are several small rooms; one of them has been heated by underground flues ; in another is a cistern or bath, four feet long and three broad, which, when discovered, was coated with cement. Some of these large buildings were, no doubt, the halls in which the public business of the district was transacted, and others were used as the residences of the prefect and his chief officers. At the south-west angle of this range of buildings, and very near the point where the streets dividing the station, laterally and transversely, cross each other, was found the fine statue represented in the drawing on the next page. It is hoped that further excavations may lead to the discovery of the missing fragments. Not far from the southern gateway are some buildings, which in 1858 were freed from the enormous mass of debris which enveloped them ; the rooms are small but the masonry is good. On the inside of the western wall, near its southern extremity, are some barrack rooms, a recess provided with seats, and a passage which ma}' have originally led to the top of the rampart. At the north-west corner of the station is an apartment which may have been crowned above with a tower. Between this and the west gate are some walls, which join the west rampart. Besides the buildings which have been already exhumed, the eye of the visitor, as it roams over the station, will detect several blocks of houses as yet covered with the sod, which are no doubt standing to the height of six or eight feet. When these are laid bare, Borcovicus will be a sight even more interesting than it is at present. It is to be regretted that no perfect specimens of the habitations occupied by the soldiery have been left us. They were probably small and gloomy. No windows have been noticed, but specimens of window-glass have been found in several of the camps. Probably the upper part of the houses consisted of a frame-work of timber, in which windows were inserted, and apertures left for the admission of air. The traces of fire which abound in all the stations prove that they must have contained a considerable quantity of combustible material. Before leaving the station, one or two minor matters invite inspec- tion. On the inside of the north gateway is a large trough, composed of stone slabs. The slabs are grooved for the purpose of making an accurate joint ; but the stones are not now in their original position, though they remain in the state in which they were found when first laid bare. The tops of the stones are much worn, as if by the sharpening of knives upon them. Grooved slabs, similar to these, have been found at Cilurnum and Bkemenium. The use of the trough is not known. Size, 5 feet by 2 feet 11 inches. PLATFORMS FOR THE I! \ I.l.lsT.K. uy Near the north gateway a circular hearth, five feet in diameter, and formed of three courses of Roman tiles, was found in 1857. It had ashes on the top. and near it lay a mass of wood and coal ashes and iron scori.e. Has it been a smithy? The north wall of the station, west of the gateway, has in one place been increased to the unusual thickness of ten feet. This is dune by placing a casing of masonry on the inside of the wall, and filling up the intervening space with stones bedded in clay. It would seem as if this thickened wall had been intended as a platform on which to plant a ballista or other engine for the projection of missiles. Several stones. weighing about a hundredweight, or a hundredweight and a half, and roughly cut into a rounded or conical form, were lying near it. To th«' north of the east gateway a solid platform of masonrv. twenty feet square, will be observed. It als< i has probably been a 1 lalHstarium. The cut represents a group of stones, now at Chesters, which have been derived from this station, and are supposed to have been intended for use in the way indicated. We shall afterwards find that decisive proofs of the existence of " ballis- taria" were discovered in the station of Bremenium. The suburbs of the station may now engage our attention. Turning to the east it will be noticed how much the Knag Burn contributes to the strength of the camp. On both sides of the burn the foundations of houses have been found. A villa of considerate pretensions stood upon a shelf of the rock, on its eastern side. Its foundations, formed of huge blocks of freestone, were laid in line blue clay. The flues of its hypocausts, when taken up, were found to be full of soot; and there was an iron grating at the mouth of one of them. 1 The greater part of the ruins of this structure. Mr. Hodgson further observes, were carted away nearly sixty years since to build stone walls with, and a flood, in 1817. broke up the foundations of the remaining part of the building. Little but its site is now distinguishable. Near to the point where the Knag Burn passes the Wall is an object of considerable interest. In clearing, in 1856. the Wall from the rubbish which encumbered it. a carefully guarded passage through 'Hodgson's History of Northumberland, Pt. II., Vol. I If., p. 188. p i> 150 THE AMPHITHEATRE. the barrier was discovered. Mr. Clayton, in a paper read before the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, thus describes it : — " Iu the valley of Knag Burn, 371 feet east of the station of Borcovicus, has recently been discovered and explored an unexpected passage through the Roman Wall. It has been closed by double gates, similar to those of the stations; and there is a guard room on each side. The width of the gateway guarding the south of the passage is eleven feet three inches. The width of the gateway guarding the north of the passage is ten feet six inches. In the middle there is an upright stone, such as we find in the gateways of the stations, and in the streets of Pompeii. The pathways are on each side of this stone, and the thresholds have been much worn by the feet of the passenger. The two guard chambers are of nearly equal dimensions .... During these excavations have been found coins of Claudius Gothicus and Constantius, a broken altar, and the usual relics of Roman occupation, fragments of Samian ware, and Andernach millstones." The object of this gateway has been to give access to a place of entertainment — an amphitheatre on a small scale — which is on the , north side of the Wall. The woodcut repre- sents it. It is one hundred feet across and about ten deep, and has no doubt been furnished with woodei 1 seats. The path lead- ing from the gateway to the entrance into the amphitheatre may be traced. Amphi- theatres, similar in construction to this, though larger, have been found at Silchester, Dorchester, Banbury, Cirencester, Carleon, and other places. We have seen, also, reason to surmise the existence of one at Ciluenum. These amphitheatres, like the one before us. were all outside the walls of the encampments. The Roman soldiers on the northern frontiers Avould often be in need of amusement. It cannot lie supposed that their mode of seeking it would be more refined than that of the inhabitants of Rome itself. Immediately in front of the station, towards the south, are extensive traces of suburban buildings. They extend in streets on the slope of the hill, having a full exposure to the mid-day sun. To the west of these the ground has been turned up in terraces for the purpose of cultivation. When the sun is low these lines of streets and gardens show strongly. Mr. Hodgson conjectured that " the inges or moist meadows at the foot of the hill would, perhaps, at some future period be found to contain the common burial-ground of the station. 1 This opinion has been 1 Archseologda iEliana, Vol. I., p. 271, <>lil Series. THE BURIAL-GROUND OF THE STATION. 151 proved to be correct. On draining the marsh, a few years ago, consi- derable quantities of human bones were found. The number of sculp- tured stones, apparently of a funereal character, found in this valley, and to which reference will immediately be made, is a further confirma- tion of the conjecture. In the centre of the meadow, and directly fronting the station, a small knoll rises above the general level. From the number, of altars and other remains found on it it has been named Chapel Hill. A little to the west of this, and in the fork formed by two streamlets, which unite and flow into the Knag Burn, is the site of the Mithraic cave which was discovered in 1822, and which will be described in the last chapter of this work. Dr. Stukeley gives a graphic account of the aspect of this valley when he and Mr. Roger Gale visited it in 1725. After saying that in the station itself fragments of pillars lie scattered all over the place, he proceeds to observe : — " But when we were led lower down into the meadow, we were surprised with the august scene of Romano-British antiquities, in the most neglected condition ; a dozen most beautiful and large altars, as many fine basso relievos, neaidy as big as the life, all tumbled in a wet meadow by a wall side, or one on the top of another, to make up the wall of the close; the basso relievos, some with their heads down the hill, particularly an admirable image of Victory, both arms knocked off; one large soldier, a sepulchral stone, with his short sword hanging at his right side, the man told us. was condemned to make a pig trough on ; but some gentlemen, full timely, with a small sum, for the present reprieved him ; many soldiers with heads broke off, mutilated by the middle ; three ladies sitting close together with globes in their hands, their heads all gone. Mr. Gale and I laboured hard at the inscriptions, and made out what we could of them under all disadvan- tages. Along the same wall, as we walked on further, we found more altars and carved stones of various sorts; but at length the farmer carried us up to a knoll in the middle of the meadow called Chapel-steed, where undoubtedly was a Roman temple; there we saw three or four most beautiful altars, and a little further, under another wall, a pretty sepulchral carving of an old soldier's upper part in a niche." — Iter Boreale, p. 61. The western side of the station is that which is, from the nature of the ground, the weakest. Hodgson tells us that it was defended by " a triple barrier of ditches and ramparts of earth." These lines are now partly obliterated. The station has been well supplied with water. Under the cliff, near its north-west angle, is a "fine well," which, in Mr. Hodgson's time, was " still well walled round," and which, he says, " was used for a bath while the farm of Housesteads was occupied by the Magnay family." The Knag Burn, on the east, furnishes a never failing supply ; and on the south, the spring near the Chapel Hill yields, in the driest seasons, a full and refreshing stream of the purest water. Near the south-west angle of the station is a well cased with stones taken from the rains of the station. This well has sometimes been supposed to be 152 THE NAME ASCERTAINED. a Roman one. it is, however, comparatively modern, having been sunk by the late Mr. Magnay.' The roads leading to the eastern and western gateways may be discerned; they are laid down in the plan of the station accom- panying this description. A branch road, proceeding from the south gateway and running in a south-easterly direction, communicated with the Stanegate or direct military way at Grindon Hill. 2 Horsley thought he observed vestiges of a road running in a south-westerly direction to the station of Chesterholm. The writer has sometimes made the same observation, but Mr. McLauchlan could not satisfy himself of its existence. The Notitia places at Borcovicus the tribune of the first cohort of Tungrians. Numerous inscriptions found at House- steads name this cohort. The altar here figured is to our purpose. It was font id at the close of the year 1854, in the south- west corner of the station, and now stands DEO SILVAN ( MCIDIO Matres ; the third is said to he a head of Hercules; the fourth, with short curly hair, is supposed to have come from this station, but there is a want of evidence of the fact. The altars and sculptures found in the Mithraic cave will be reserved for discussion in the concluding chapter of tli is work. In the meadow, at the foot of the hill on which this station is placed, to the east of Chapel Hill, are two fragments of large cir- cular columns, which have probably rolled down from above. The temples, of which they were parts, must have been conceived upon a grand scale. Scattered over the station itself are the basements of columns. and other indications of the ornate character of some of its build- ings. The woodcut forming the tail-piece, at the close of this volume, exhibits one of them. Another near the spot where the two great streets cross each other is of an unusually large size, and is square in its form. Most of the carved stones, to which the attention of the reader lias been drawn, have been found in the Size, i foot 10 inches by i fool z inches. 158 THE ANTIQUITIES OF HOL'SESTEADS. 3* i '^ f. burying- ground ; some of an important character, besides those previously described, have been found in the station. The one represented in the cut on the previous page was discovered by Gordon, the first time he visited this famous place. It is valuable as exhibiting to us the accoutrements of a soldier belonging to an auxiliary cohort. It is difficult to divine the nature of his head dress. Gordon says — " On his head was a galea, with a plume of feathers." 1 Can it be a mural crown ? This sculpture is now in the antiquarian museum at Edinburgh. A less perfect figure, also from Housesteads, now in the museum at NeAv- castle, shows very distinctly the scale- armour with which the lower part of a soldier's tunic was defended. As giving us a glimpse of the every- day life of the garri- son, the small and rude sculpture, shown in the margin, may have its value. It repre- sents a stag startled at the appearance of a net — just as the poet Ovid has it :— ■• Aspicit lumc trepidos agitantem in retia cervos Vocalis Xymjilic." The numerous fragments of antlers, found in the station, prove that venison formed no inconsiderable part of the food of the garrison; and nets, it would appear, were used in providing it. The antlers found are those of the red deer. With a reference to some relics, suggestive of the anxieties which at one time must have agitated the breasts of the lordly masters of Borcovicus, this account of the station will be brought to a close. In front of the southern r Size, 2 feet 4 inches by i foot i inches. gateway, a signet ring, a pendant for the ear. both of the purest gold, and a large brass coin of Commodus were found lying together in the year 1853. The drawings, which are by Mr. Fairholt, represent them of the full size. The coin, which bears a date corresponding with a.d. 181, is unworn by circulation, and apparently fresh from the mint. It 1 Itinerarium Septentrionale, p. CO < L3 CO < w E— CO u-" en MEMORIALS OF DISASTER. 159 could but just have been received in Britain when the Caledonians made that rush upon the mural fortresses which left them in a state of tem- porary ruin ; for we know that the successful repulsion of this invasion, by Ulpius Marcellus, is recorded on the coinage of the empire a.d. 184. There is great probability, as Mr. Clayton suggests, that the trinkets and coin were lost during this scene of violence. 1 After valour had done its utmost, but in vain, the prefect and his lady, having these objects on their persons, may have been attempting to effect their escape by the southern gateway, when the ruthless foe struck them down. The trinkets by themselves would prove nothing ; but, accompanied by a coin which fixes, with some degree of certainty, the date of their deposit, they may be regarded as interesting memorials of a dark and dismal day. The stone of the ring is an artificial one. and has the figure of Mercury engraved upon it. Again taking the Wall as our guide, we pursue our course west- ward. For a considerable distance the Wall is in a sufficiently good state of preservation to make it a varied and interesting study. It not unfrequently exhibits five, six, and even seven courses of facing stones. It is generally in the best condition on the north side. The Vallum also is boldly developed, and runs for several miles, in the valley below, at a considerable distance from the Wall, completely commanded by the hill on which the Wall stands. This is surely fatal to the theory that the Vallum was reared as an independent barrier against the north. At a distance of little more than three hundred yards from the west gate of Housesteads is a mile-castle, which has recently been dis- interred by Mr. Clayton. Its features, which are of more than usual interest, have been carefully described by that gentleman in the paper already referred to. 1 The following extract from its opening page is here introduced, not only on account of the graphic description of the district which it contains, but also for the kindly allusion which it makes to the memory of a man to whom every student of the Wall is under the deepest obligations : — " The Rev. John Hodgson, the able historian of Northumberland, thus speaks of this mile-castle, and the locality in which it is placed: — ' Under the north wall of Bok- 'covicus, the Housesteads crags begin to rise in rude and pillared majesty, and to the ' west were crowned with a castellum, the remains of which, and of the Murus, are still ' very interesting. At the foot of these crags lie long columns of basalt, which, probably, ' many centuries since, fell from their sides.' " The writer of the above quoted passage, an ardent admirer of the beauties of nature, as well as a laborious and accomplished antiquary, proceeds to enlarge upon the natural attractions of the scene. He describes the crags of this district, upon the top of which the Roman Wall runs, as 'bearded with witchwood, rowantree, ferns, bilberry, and ' heath, and their heads everywhere perfumed with wild thyme, and garlanded with the ' little sun-flower cistus.' " There are amongst us those who cherish a pleasing recollection of the amiable Archaeologia .Eliann, Vol. IV., p. 275, Old Series. 160 THE HOUSESTEADS MILE-CASTLE. author, and who delight to dwell on the memory of his gentle nature, his simple manners, aud the enthusiasm of his character, which sometimes inspired the use of language which the cold in blood are disposed to regard as extravagant. Those whose fortune it has been to wander through this solitude, on a calm and bright day of summer, when no sound is heard but the wild note of the curlew wheeling in the air, and the plash of the water- fowl on the lake below, will acknowledge the truth of Mr. Hodgson's description of the scene." The mile-castle itself must now he described ; a reference to the accompanying lithographic view of it will render tin's task compara- tively easy. The ground on which the mile-castle stands is very uneven ; the principal portion of it dips to the south, the remainder in a contrary direction. The great Wall, which here stands in a higher degree of per- fection than in any other part of the line, being nine and a half feet high, with the facing stones complete on both sides, forms the northern side of the castellum. The castle measures, inside, fifty-seven feet and a half from west to east, and forty-nine feet and a, half from north to south. The side walls of the castle, which consist of the same kind of masonry as the great Wall, are nine feet thick. Occasional courses of sandstone slate will be noticed, used in the same manner as bonding tiles. The southern angles of the castle are rounded exteriorly, but are rectangular inside. The principal feature of the building is the north gateway. This exhibits the masonry of two different periods. The pillars of the original gateway are formed of large slabs of stone, skilfully laid. The width of it is ten feet, and it has evidently been spanned by an arch. The springers of the arch are in their original position, and several voussoirs, each provided with a luis-hole, lie on the ground near it. The height of the gateAvay, from the floor to the impost of the arch, is a little under six feet. At some period subsequent to its original structure, the width of this gateway has been considerably reduced, and its floor raised. In order to ascertain the reason of this proceed- ing, we must attend to some facts which were revealed during the process of exca- vation. On digging down to the founda- tions of the castellum, on the inside of the north wall, a quantity of masons' chippings were met with, and a Upon the chippings, in the neighbourhood of the walls, had been laid a flooring of rough mason's chisel, which is shown in the woodcut. AULUS PLATORTUS \i:ims. 1(51 flags. These flags were much broken, and some of the fragments had been forced into an almost vertical position, indicating that the walls of the building had been forcibly thrown down. Immediately above the flags was found a quantity of finely comminuted charcoal, as if the sheds or barrack-rooms, which probably were placed against the main walls of the building, had been destroyed by fire. The ashes were not found in the centre of the area, but only on the sides. At this level were discovered an axe, and a knife resembling those carved on altars; they are represented in the group on the opposite page. It would appear that, after the first tide of desolation had swept over the building, it had been hastily renovated. Xo attempt was made to remove the mass of ruin ; for upon the heap of broken stones, mortar, and rubbish, resulting from the overthrow of the castle, a second floor, and traces of a second series of barracks, were found. It must have been at this period that the gateway was contracted in width, for it is upon the higher platform that the additional jambs rest. Happily we are at no loss to ascertain, with tolerable probability, the time when these events transpired. Forming part of the flooring of the second set of barracks was the broken and battered stone shown in the woodcut. If the reader will refer to the drawing given on page 13. lie will see that this stone has formed part of a slab of a character similar to the one shown there. The mile-castle, as originally constructed, had borne, over its principal en- trance. the name of the emperor by whose command it had been reared, the legate 1 who had seen his orders executed, and the legion on whom the task chiefly devolved. At the time that the second flooring was laid, this slab had been pulled from its place, and broken into fragments, and these being unfit for any other purpose were used in flagging the soldiers' guard-chamber. There is no period when these things are so likely to have occurred as 'Aulas Platorius >>epos, whose name figures so prominently in this and kindred inscriptions, was a personage of -Teat importance. Spartian, in his life of Hadrian, three times mention.- him. He was long- a favourite with the emperor, hut. as often happens, he was eventually as much dis- liked as lie hail formerly been esteemed. Through jealousy he was denied access to the dying bed of his master. From an inscription found at Aquileia in 1815, and now preserved at Vienna, we find that besides beins - legate and propraetor quaestor of the and the new Traja second leg-ion, praetor, tribune of the people, and one of the triumviri capitales. Such was the man to whom the important task of building- the Wall was consigned by the world's master. — Inscrip- tiones Orelliame, No. 822. 1(32 OBJECTS FOUND IN THE CASTELLUM. during the devastation which took place in the reign of Commodus, and the restoration to order which was effected by his legate, Ulpius Marcellus. To complete the history of this castellum, it may be mentioned that above the second floor another layer of ashes was found, redder in colour, and smaller in quantity, than the former, and that a mass of broken stones and earth covered the whole. It would seem as if a second time the enemy had used his devastating force, and that the building had never again been restored. In disinterring this mile- castle, several slates and roofing- tiles were turned up, and the _p usual quantity of Samian ware. H f ( )ne fragment of a Samian bowl | was remarkable as having the 1 word dedico scratched upon it; **H it is now in the collection at Chesters. Coins of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius were found. Two altars and a legionary stone also belong to this locality. The altar to Jupiter, figured below, was found on the slope of the hill, descending to the south from the mile-castle. It had ] >r< >bably, as Mr. Clayton conjectures, been dropped from the farmer's cart which was transporting it from the CO(| D'lO ^,'ABRlVj" fi -'•' \L I. O. M. MILITES LEG. II. A. To Jupiter best and greatest the soldiers of the second legion the August [erected this altar]. L[EGIOJ VI. v. p. f. f[ecit]. The sixth legion victorious, dutiful, faithful, made it. DEO C O C I D I VABHIVS V.S.L.M. To the god Cocidius Vabrius, &c. castellum to some erection where it was intended to be used as a common building stone. The altar to Cocidius had fallen from the mile-castle to the foot of the cliff on the north. Amongst the rubbish in the same position was the stone which, if our expansion of its inscription be right, affords evidence of the active agency of the sixth legion in this part of the structure. The legend is more contracted than usual. We resume " our examination of the Wall. Passing Cuddy's Crag WIIV THE WALL WAS BUILT ON THE CLIFFS. 163 we reach the defile called Rapishaw Gap. The view here introduced is taken from the western side of this gap. looking- towards the east. As we traverse the mural heights, the question will very often suggest itself — why was the Wall reared upon them at all — were these crags not of themselves a sufficiently strong bul- wark ? If routine li eld the sway in Rome, which it docs in some governments of divided responsibility, the question would admit of an easy solution. A wall across the isthmus being ordered, the order was literally carried out ; just as when the British government, during the war in which it was involved with America, having ordered that vessels, duly equipped, should be placed upon the Cana- dian lakes, tanks for holding the usual stock of fresh water were. with other things, transported across the Atlantic. Despotic govern- ments are. however, saved to a considerable extent from the influence of mere routine. The author has sometimes thought that even though the Wall had not been required for the purposes of defence, it would be required to shield the soldiers in severe weather from the blasts of the north. The habits of the enemy demanded continual vigilance. In the earlier periods of the Roman domination, the Caledonians fre- quently retrieved in winter the losses which they sustained in summer. It would be scarcely possible to keep watch and ward upon these heights, during a severe season, without the friendly shelter of the Wall. But probably the cliffs were not after all a barrier to lie depended upon. Broken columns and open joints, here and there, give advantages which a bold and agile enemy would not be slow to avail himself of. It was best, therefore, on the score of safety to take the Wall along the heights. The woodcut represents the mural heights as we approach Hot Bank, looking to the east. It will be noticed that the Wall differs in width in different places. 164 THE MILKIXG-GAP SLAB. Tlie north lace of the Wall is uniform, but on the south face offsets and insets occasionally occur. The only explanation given of this is that different gangs of men wrought simultaneously on different parts of the line, and that the superintendent of each was allowed, within certain limits, to exercise his own judgment. From the top of the hill, before coming to the valley in which the Hot Bank farm-house is situated, a most extensive view is obtained. In particular, such lakes as Northum- berland can boast of. Crag Lough, Greenlee and Broomlee Loughs, to the north of the Wall, and Grindon Lough to the south, are all in sight. They are small, and their margins are nearly destitute of wood ; but their wildness and simplicity are charms which many will appreciate. Langley Castle and Staward Peel may also be noticed on the farther hank of the South Tyne. Bradley Hall, now reduced to the condition of an ordinary farm-house, is on the other side of the modern military road. It was once the residence of royalty, Edward I. having rested here on September 6 and 7, 1306, when on his last journey into Scotland. 1 The farm-house at Hot Bank is a sunny spot in the memory of many antiquaries, not a few having received much kindly attention from the late Mr. Armstrong, and his family, the present occupants. The break in the basaltic ridge, opposite the farm-house of Hot Bank, is called Milking Gap. As we approach it. Crag Lough comes boldly into view, laving the base of the perpendicular cliffs along which the Wall runs in its westward course. In passing the valley the Wall IMP[ERATOttIS] C'.\ Es[AETS] TKAIAX[l] IIAIIH1AM AVG[\'STl] LEff[lO] SF.CVKDA AVG[vsta] WI..I PLATORIO NEPOTE LEG L ATo] PR[o]PF.[jETOEE]. Of the Emperor Caesar Trajanus Hadrianus Augustus The second legion styled the August Aldus Platorius Nepos being legate and propraetor. forms an angle, and the fosse on its north side reappears. On the eastern side of the gap the remains of a mile-castle will be noticed. From it was obtained the broken slab represented in the drawing. The 1 "According to the ' Chronicon de Lanercost,' the king fell sick at Newbrough, Imt was able to pursue his journey to Bradley on the 6th of September. On September 8 and 10 we find the HIGH SHIELD. 165 left hand portion, which was formerly in possession of Mr. Warburton, the surveyor, is now in the library of the Dean and Chapter of Durham. 2 The right hand fragment, which, when first noticed, was built up in the kitchen doorway of Bradley Farm, is now at Matfen Hall. It will be observed that this inscription is identical with that found in the Castle- Nick castelhnn, which is figured on page 13, and that it corresponds with the fragment found in the Housesteads castellum. 8 A portion of a similar inscription was found in the Cawfields castelhnn, which is four Roman miles to the west of the Castle-Nick. The occurrence of these slabs in four several mile-castles, and upon that part of the Wall which is farthest removed from the "Valium, gives strong coun- tenance to the opinion that the Wall was the work of Hadrian. One mile due south from the Milking Gap mile-castle lies Chester- holm, the Vixdolana of the Notitia. It has, in modern times, been variously called Little Chesters, the Bowers, 4 and Chester-in-the-Wood, as well as by its present designation. This is the first time that we have met with a station to the south of both lines of the barrier: Ave shall afterwards meet with others; but in no instance so far removed as in this case. The Vallum is here at nearly its maximum distance from the Wall, and Chesterholm is not much more than half a mile south of it. The Vallum makes two rapid curves, something in the form of the letter S, to avoid, apparently, the swellings of the contiguous marsh. Leaving Milking Gap for the purpose of visiting Vixdolana, we pursue, for a short distance, the course of the stream which flows out of Crag Lough. Nestled under the lee of the hill, on our right hand, are the remains of what seems to be an ancient British village. There are several circles, formed of rough blocks of basalt, twenty or twenty-five feet in diameter, and the whole is enclosed by a rampart of loose stones. After crossing the modern military road, we reach some cottages called High Shield. Here the station comes into view. Between High Shield and the camp are traces of a paved way ; if? is probably Roman. In the field, on our right, are the remains of a tumulus, which has been in a great measure removed ; and at the bottom of the field, near to the farm-house of Coadley Gate, is a large tumulus, nearly uninjured. Shall we err in considering these mounds to be the memorials of an era anterior to the Roman ? king- a t Henshaw; on September 11 at Haltwhisfle; September 13 at Melkridge ; September 15 at Redpath ; September 16 at Blenkinsop; and on September 20 at Thirlwall. Towards the close of that month he had reached Lanercost." — Archaeological Institute Journal, 1857, p. 208. *Horsley, who was acquainted with this fragment, was sorely puzzled with the Inst lino. Failing- to recognize in it tin- name of the leg-ate, In- came to the conclusion '-that apiatorivm was the name of a place at that time."— Brit. Rom., p. 233. 3 It has been generally supposed that the unbroken slab (p. 13) is the one which was found in the Milking Gap. Mr. Clayton has given satisfactory reasons (Arch. Ml., Vol. IV., p. 272) for ascribing the broken slab to the Milking Gap castellum, and the perfect one to the Castle-Nick. 4 "Little Chesters, easily distinguished by the clumps of trees ami brushwood in it, like natural arbours, from which it has obtained the name of the Bowers."— Wallis's Nor., Vol. II. p. 24. T T 166 THE STATION OF CHESTERHOLM. IX.— VINDOLANA. The station of Chesterholm stands upon a partially detached eminence, surrounded (though not so closely as to he commanded) by hills of superior elevation. On all sides, except the west, it is naturally defended, whilst the summits of the surrounding heights afford it a degree of shelter which would be peculiarly grateful to the natives of southern Europe. Two streams, one of them the Brooky Burn, arising from the flanks of Winshields Crag, and the other the burn which issues from Crag Lough, unite in the immediate vicinity of the station, and form the Chineley Burn ; they contribute not a little to the strength as well as the romantic beauty of the position. 1 Detached as this station is from the Wall; standing as it does upon the direct line of road which led from Cilurnum to Magna ; and commanding the important defile giving access to the fertile valley of the South Tyne, there is great pro- bability that it was one of Agrieola's forts. The early inhabitants of the country, too, would not neglect a position like this, and were pro- bably driven from it by the soldiers of Agricola. 2 The walls, ditches, and gateways of the station (though all dis- cernible) are in a sadly dilapidated condition. Its former owner, the Rev. Anthony Hedley, a warm-hearted man and an earnest antiquary, tells us that its "ramparts had from time immemorial been the common quarry of the farm, and partly of the neighbourhood, for almost every purpose for which stone is wanted." The station contains an area of three acres and a quarter; its height above the sea is three hundred and sixty feet. Under the rich sward of the interior, the lines of streets and the foundations of houses are still partially visible. The east gateway was cleared in 1818. The rampart, on the left side of it, was standing six feet high and eight feet thick. The entrance was only six feet wide. A flight of stone steps led from this opening down the declivity which leads to the burn ; it was removed as soon as discovered. Portions of the west rampart were in 1832 cleared of the rubbish which encumbered them. The wall was standing twelve feet high, but was bulging out. Several coping stones, belonging to the western gateway and adjacent wall, Avcre found. Some of these. together with some peculiarly dressed stones and altars, are built up in CO ' Before falling into the Tyne the Chineley Burn is called Bardon Burn. A little below the ttaae of Chesterholm the Chineley Burn receives the waters flowing out of Grindon Lough. l'liev find their way by an underground channel of more than two miles in length, and come bubbling up through the fissures of the limestone rock which forms the bed of the burn. 2 "Situated on the southern confines of the territory of the Ottadini, it was probabhj one of a chain of fortresses erected by them against their powerful neighbours the Brigantes." — Rev. Anthony Hedley, Arch. .EL, Vol. I., ].. -Jus, Old Series. 8 Arcb.£eologia .Eliana, Vol. I., p. 000, old Series. *#& i - ■». \3 Ri '" m ,Hf Constantius and Magnentius, with a few of Constantine II. and Constans, were found." Mr. Hedley cleared the outer face of the north-east angle of the station, and found the Avail standing twelve courses high. The lower courses were formed of large stones, the upper becoming gradually smaller. This fine piece of masonry is now nearly all removed. At least two buildings provided with hypocausts have been dis- covered here. One of them stood a short way within the eastern gate- way on the northern side of the main street. Hodgson thinks it was this building which "War- burton partially exca- fortvnae p[opvli] r[omani] C. I VI.. RALTICVs[c] LEU.VI. VIC. To the Fortune of the Roman people ( laius .Julias Ralticus, a centurion of the sixth lea-ion the victorious. Size, 3 feet 5 inches by l feet. vated in 1717, and in which he found the altar here engraved. The altar is now in the Library of the Dean and Chapter of Durham. Warburton gives an account of his discovery in a letter to Roger Gale : — •• I have below given you the sketch of an altar which some workmen found in a vault, as they were lately digging, by my order, in the platform of a Roman castrum by the Picts Wall, which, as it is the beautifullest and most entire I have ever seen, am thinking to present it to the King, to be set up in St. James' Gardens . . . The place where I dug it up is called . . . Chester-in-the-Wood . . . My workmen had not dug above two yards in the area of the platform before they struck into a vault of a very irregular figure, three-quarters of a yard in height, and three or four in breadth and length, all blackened on the inside with smoke . . . This great altar lav with its face downwards, and by it another of the same size, but broken in pieces and the inscription imperfect." — Hutchinson's Northumberland, Vol. I., p. 61. In 1831 this building was farther explored by Mr. Hedley. Several apartments were found supported upon pillars. One of the rooms had 168 TITF. STATION" OF CHESTERHOLM. a circular recess, 1 and on the outside of it were found three noble altars, with their laces downwards. The furnace still existed, and strong marks of fire were observed in its vicinity. The pillars of the hypocausts were of different shapes and diameters; some of them were evidently portions of former build- ings, such as the fluted column shown in the margin, and small circular columns like the balusters of stairs, one of which forms the upright stroke of the initial letter, p. 69. Two small cisterns, lined with cement, were found. Other buildings seemed to have branched off from the apartments explored. The finest of the altars found on this occasion is shown on the opposite page. The chief peculiarity of this altar is that all the immortal gods, and the presiding genius of the camp, are joined with Jupiter in the invo- cation of the worshipper. As the Rev. John Hodgson remarks, Petronius contrives in a few lines to give us a tolerably full account of himself. The Brixia mentioned is the modern city of Brescia in Lombardy ; the railway between Milan and Venice runs a little to the south of it. This and other inscriptions induce us to conclude that, although the auxiliary forces of Rome consisted mainly of foreigners, their commanders were natives of Italy. There is a blank space on the face of the altar, caused by an erasure. As the inscription is complete, it is supposed that the erasure is the consequence of some blunder on the part of the stone- cutter. No satisfactory account has been given of the storks which adorn both sides of the altar. The question has been asked, but not answered, was the stork the badge of the fourth cohort of Gauls ? — or did Petronius introduce this bird, so remarkable for its social instincts, as indicative of his ardent attachment to his absent relatives, the "svis" of the altar ? This altar is now at Chesters. Another altar to Jupiter was found at the same time as the former. For many years it stood in the grass plat in front of the cottage at Chesterholm; it is now placed in the colonnade at Chesters, where its full proportions are seen, and where it is protected from farther injury from the weather. With the exception of the first two lines, the writer has not been able to decipher the inscription to his own satisfaction. Is the genius, who, along with Jupiter, is here invoiced, the genius of the emperor — d[omini] n[ostri] ? Hodgson proposes to read the inscrip- 1 The reader will remember the circular bay in the " baths " at Ciluhnum. Rev. J. Hodgson gives a detailed account of the excavation. — Hist. Nor., Pt. II., Vol. III., p. 196. mmw.« mm i " i i w'"""" 11 " 1 ■"■•» ■> « i . <. < » tiMiMiiii'MlliMWiinwwiiw*^ t I t KioUvt til'l SIM MORI FKEMI'nAEeR QPETRONIVS' (IF FABVRBJCVS fi PRAEFCDIilfi! iGALLORVM \ pv j nrAT { a ia/amm soivfi VkVAW/VAtAyAV for Size, 4 feel 6 inches by 2 feet I OVl] 0[PTIM0 M AXI MO CETBRISQ1 i: DIIS IMMOR,t[ALIB'\ - ET GEN^IO] PRAETORfll] q[vintvs] petronivs ij[vinti] f[ilivs] fab[iaJ vrbicvs praef[ectvs] coh[ortis] mi. GALLORVM EX ITALIA D03IO BRIXIA V T V M SOLVIT run se AC s v i s . To Jupiter, best and greatest, and the other immortal gods, and the genius of the pretorium, Quintus Petronius [Irbicus, son of Quintus, of the Fabian tribe, prefect of the fourth cohort of Gauls from Italy. a native of Brixia. discharged a vow for himself and his kindred. i i 170 FOURTH COHORT OF GAULS. QVARTA GALLORVM ET . . . (LECILIV tion thus: JOVI OPTIMO MAXIMO ET genio DIISQVE CUSTODIBVS COHORS The woodcut represents the altar. The third altar which was found on this occasion is a very J tine one. to the Genius of the Prastorium, which has been already described, page 53. A villa of considerable pretensions stood outside the Avails of the station on its western side. Dr. Hunter, in a letter dated 1702. published in the Transactions of the Royal Society. 1 says: — •• Some years ago, on the west side of tli is place, about fifty yards from i lie walls thereof, there was dis- covered, under a heap of rubbish, a square room, strongly vaulted above, ami paved with large square stones set in lime ; and under this a lower room, whose roof was supported l>\ rows of square pillars, about hall' a yard high. The upper room had two niches like, and perhaps in the nature of, chimneys, on each side of every corner or square, which in all also its roof, were tinged black V :\ V\ V i ' '&im 'V.' p Full size, 4 feet i inches by I foot J inches. made the number sixteen; the pavement of this room, a with smoke." The niches in the sides of the room, of which Dr. Hunter speaks, were no doubt the Hues by which the heated air. bran the hypocaust below, was taken tip the walls of the apartment. Mr. Hod-son. speaking' of this building at a comparatively recent period, says : — "The pillars of the hypocaust are still very black with fire and sool : and people say that the Bowers, from the Roman age till within the last century, was the elysium of a colony of fairies; and this ruined bath the kitchen to one of their palaces, of which the soot among the stones was undeniable evidence: and confident belief affirmed that lone- passages led from this laboratory of savoury messes to subterranean halls, that ever echoed to the festivities and music of the Queen of the Bowers and her aerial court."' To the west of this mined building are still lying, in order, a series of gutter-stones, by means of which water has been brought either to this villa or the station itself, from an abundant spring in the farther ex- tremity of the field. Their position is marked on the plan of the station. The Notitia places at Vindolana the tribune of the fourth cohort of Gauls. Several inscriptions fotmd at Chesterholm mention this cohort, two of which have already been presented to the reader (pp. 53, L69) ; stions of the Royal Society, Vol. Will., p. 1131. MEMORIALS OF THE LEGIONS. 171 lid doubt ran. therefore, exist that it is the Vindolana of the Romans. The commander, however, uniformly receives the title of prefect on the inscrip- tions, not tribune. Before leaving the station some more of its anti- quities may. with propriety, 1 ie exa- mined. Thealtar represented in the cut is destitute of an inscription, but if we may judge fr< mi the figure that adorns its capital, and the chili which is ear- yV ved on one of its side panels, it has 1 teen dedicated to Hercules. The altar is more ornate than usual. Scallop shells and festoons surround the base of the capital, and the palm branch and victor's wreath fill the right hand panel. It is now at Chesters. Warburton found here a figure of Mercury, which, as Horsley tells us. he •' presented to the Royal Society, together with some Roman shoes or sandals, which were found at the same place underground." There is still at Ches- terholm, built up in the cottage, a rude and imperfect sculpture, representing this deity ; the woodcut shows it. We have traces of several bodies of troops at Chesterholm besides the fourth cohort of Gauls, who were in garrison there when the Xotitia was compiled. The large altar to Fortune, already described, was erected by a centurion of the sixth legion ; it is probable that a portion of that legion was stationed here at the time of its dedication; and. judging from the boldness and -race of its lettering, this must have been at an early period. Horsley had in his possession two I foot i Roman bricks, bear- ing the stamp of the sixth legion. Both of the other British legions have left marks behind them of their presence at Vindolana. A comparison of the imperfect inscription here inserted with the Castle-Nick and [imp. ca]es. traia[n.] Thadjriano [avg.] [le'lI. II. AVG U.ATORIO NEPOTE LEG. PR. PI). . by i li. ; ill 172 THE COHORTS OF THE XERVII. Milking Gap inscriptions enables us to restore it to its original complete- ness with absolute certainty. In this inscription, it will be observed, the name of the emperor is in the dative case, in the others referred to it is in the genitive ; in all other respects they are the same. ) \: i " . yy NA/f|^i Built up in the kitchen passage, near the me- ^mB morial of the labours of the second legion, is a stone bearing witness to the presence of some part of the i^fiBsniiMijajlS size, i rt. n in. by , ft. t \v( m i tieth also. In addition to the usual style and titles of the lesrion, " le2,io vicesima Valeria victrix," we have a repre- sentation of its badge, a boar. If we may credit Wallis, the third cohort of Nervii have left a record of themselves in this camp. He reads the fragment of an altar to Mars. here shown, thus: — •■' <$±. MARTI VICTORI COO. Ill NEHVIOKVM PRAEFECT I. CANINVS. The stone is still on the spot, but the inscription is nearly obliterated. in consequence of its having been exposed to the friction of cart wheels. Happily we are at no loss as to the reading of the altar to Cocidius, represented in the woodcut, which was dedicated by the prefect of the second Size, 3 feet 4 inches by 1 toot 5 ii.cnts. cohorts were in Britain in the time of Hadrian DEO CHI IDIll II I'. <* I M V S CAERELLI- VS VICTOR I'r[aefECTUs] COH[ORTIS] II. NERfviORVM V. s. I.. M. To tlir go 1 < locidhis Decimus ( laerellius Victor, prefect of the second cohort of Nervii, dedicates this altar, in discharge of a vow willingly and worthily. cohort of Nervii. It was found at Hardriding, which is about a 'W%$> mile to the south of Vixdolana. The altar is now in the collection at Chesters. The Nervii were a Belgian tribe of great bravery. The second, third, and sixth MONUMENTAL, INSCRIPTIONS. 173 The engraving represents an exceedingly rude funereal stone, which was found, in 1810, on the north side of the Roman way. north of the station. The name of the individual to whom the memorial is raised is obscure. ^ T^'^TiiwSKiS \ VIXIT ANNIS' XXIIII. ET MENSES [III. ET DIES VII. if 1 ,." ' if He lived years twenty-four, and months four, and days seven. The Rev. John Hodg- son, in Ins remarks upon tin's stone, observes :— '• It no doubt marked the grave of some young foreigner, to whose filial affection or friend- ship or some estimable quality it was placed as a ' rude memorial.' And sympathy can look back with sorrow over fifteen centu- ries, to reflect how many similar monuments have been erected on the line of the Roman Wall to foreigners snatched away in the prime of life. The sultry savan- nahs of the West India Islands become the cemeteries of soldiers and adventurers from Britain: and the earth in this neighbour- hood, no doubt, entombs the ashes of thousands of warriors attached to the Roman army, whom the rigour of our winters, and the changeful climate of our year, consigned to premature graves. < 7 'i;x,rT/w'A! j S X X H \ ?' r /\7^ fy\/sr5i Size, 4 feet by 1 feet 3 inches. Almost all the gi avestones we find are to young persons. —History of Northumberland, Pt. II., Vol. III., p. 201. Upon this passage Mr. Thomas Hodgson, in his MS., with great propriety remarks : — "The conclusion that I feel disposed to draw from the absence of the records of the deaths of aged persons is very different. It is to me most convincing proof of the admirable system of relief which the Romans must have established for the garrisons in their distant stations, perhaps we might say in all : and that though the cohorts might be stationary, as garrisons of particular stations, yet that the individuals composing those cohorts were in a constant state of change, ami that they served no longer than tlieir stipulated time, on the expiring of which they were removed to some more temperate station, or allowed to return home." 'We would have expected this to have been " annos," as " menses" and " dies" are in the accusative; the engraving, however, correctly represents the word as it stands in the inscription. x x 174 The fifnire he] -MYSTIC SYMBOLS. the inscription on tin's stone is probably intended to represent the urn in which the ashes of the deceased were deposited. We have here the record of a life of ordinary duration. The stone was found, in 1818, on the out- side of the wall of the station, near the eastern gateway ; it is now in the antiquarian museum at ( 'hesters. -i feet ? inches ches, 1> US M i.V Il(\> CORN. VICTOB s[lGNIFER] c[OH. mil es ann[os xxvi. i i\ i- P A N N I l> N 1 A K j F I L f I V > - A T V li X I - m p[rovincia] p[annonae] ' \i\itJ an[os] i.v. d[ies \i conivx procvravi. To the Divine Manes. Cornelius Victor, standard bearer of the cohort, si soldier for twenty-six years, a citizen nt Pannonia, son of Saturni- nus, nt the province of Pannonia, lived fifty-five rears and eleven days. i. In- wife, caused this monument to be erected. Pannonia occupied what is now the western part of Hungary. The most singular antiquity belonging to the station, in the opinion of 3Ir. Hodgson, is a stone here engraved, and which also is built into the cottage wall. It is probably impossible to unravel the mysteries intended to be shadowed forth l>v these strange symbols: at least no one can hope to succeed better than Mr. Hodg- son lias done. He says:— " This triangular stone is charged with a cockatrice, lunette, cross, ami umbilicated moon, one above another, and the globe with lines dividing it longitudinally and Iatitudinally into four quarters. The umbili- cated moon, in her state of opposition to the sun, was the symbol of fruitfulness. She was also the northern gate by which Mercury con- ducted souls to birth. The cross the Egyptians regarded a.- the emblem of reproduction 'This reading of p.p. is conjectural; both Hedley and Hodgson read it rimi]-p[iliJ has also been suggested. I'l IN ll"l m v.. FRAGMENTS OF ALTAI 1 O) and resurrection. It was, as Shaw remarks, the same as the ineffable image of eternitj that is noticed by Suidas. The crescent was the lunar ship, wind,, in Mr. Faber's language, bore the Great Father and the Great Mother over the waters of the deluge; and it was also the boat or ship that took aspirants over lakes or arms of the sea to the sacred islands to which they resorted for initiation into the mysteries, and which carried souls from the river of death to the happy Lowers and meadows of Elysium. The cock- atrice, cock-adder, or basilisk is said to have had. as here represented, a head like a cock and a tail like a snake. Perhaps these hieroglyphics were connected with son,,. festival of the Pagan year, and the star, called the basibsk in the heart of the celestial Lion, was intended to he represented here. The globe, divided into four quarters, is plainly the old tale about the upper and hover hemispheres— Ceres and Proserpine— the regions of the living and the dead, symbolized by the equinoxes; and the gates ,,) Cancer and Capricon— the door, into time and eternity by the solstices."— ffiston oi Northumberland, Pt. II.. Vol. III., p. 200. Built into the kitchen passage at Chesterholm is a stone -here re- presented — which, when Wallis saw it. was used as a rubbing post for cattle in a neighbouring Held. It has probably formed part of an altar, dedicated by the Venatores Vrxno- i.ax.i; to Silvanns or ( 'ocidins or Diana. The upper portion of the sculpture represents a stag in a wood, the lower portion two fawns. Wallis says :- "Many stags' horns have been digged up; some of an unusual size: one. presented to me. measures round the base nine inches." Built up in the cottage is the small ccnturial stone, represented in the woodcut, which has been attached to some of the buildings in the station. The fragment of an altar, here shown, is in the kitchen passage already re- ferred to. It has the billet-moulding and the zig-zag ornament, which the Norman architects '> afterwards so extensively adopted. But the most inte- resting antiquarian relic connected with Vindo- i.axa is the Roman milestone which stands near the north-eastern angle of the station, on the spot where Roman hands planted it. at least seventeen centuries ago. A Roman road ran. as has been already } VALERIAN] 'he century ■>{ Valerianus. 176 A ROMAN MILESTONE. stated, direct from Cilurnum to Magna, skirting the north rampart of this station. It is not improbable that this military way may have been part of the engineering scheme by which Agricola sought to secure the lower isthmus of Britain before venturing to advance northward. Should Agricola have originally made the road, it is highly probable that Hadrian would set it in order and plant milestones upon it. West- ward of the station the course of this way may easily be traced ; it is seen shooting up the hill in an undeviating course for about two miles. Eastward, it is not so easily discerned, as, for a little distance, it is covered with turf; when once detected, however, it cannot be mistaken. Instead of going directly east, it swerves to the north so as to bring the wayfarer to the shoulder of the hill that overlooks Crag Lake Burn ; and then bending at an angle it proceeds upon its proper course. Shortly alter passing the limekilns, at present in use. it is for several miles made to serve its original purpose — a road. The milestone is shown in the foreground of the accompanying lithographic plate ; the camp occupies the platform in the background. The pillar is six feet high and one foot ten inches in diameter. The traces of an inscription are visible on its western face, but. with the exception of a letter or two, nothing can be made out. Besides this milestone, another, within a recent period, stood a Roman mile to the west of it, but it was split into two, in order to form gateposts. 1 As this. so far as the author is aware, is the only Roman milestone in Britain standing in position, it seems fitting to set down here all that is known respecting it. Horsley, under the head of Northumberland, LIX., writes : — •• Near Little Chesters there are some of the milliary stones, which are said to have been erected at the end of each mile upon the military ways, from whence the phrase "ad lertium," or "ad quartum lapidem." One of these is thrown down, and lies under a hedge near the rivulet, a little east of this station. And about two miles west from the station. upon the common, there is another. But the most curious one is standing at about a mile's distance or less from this place to the west. The military way that passes directl} from AValwick Chesters to Caervoran is here very visible; and close by the side of it stands a rude large pillar, with a remarkable inscription upon it, in large letters, hut very coarse. Bono Reipvblicae Nato." In his preface he gives us the additional information : — " This is an usual compliment paid to the emperors; but what particular emperor it is designed for in this inscription, may need a farther inquiry. The faint letters DRI, which on the last review were discovered above the word BONO, render it very probable that either Hadrian or Antoninus Pius has been intended. The implication of the letters DR is the same as in the Benwell inscription to the Emperor Antoninus Pius; and Hadrianus is generally inserted among the names of this emperor. But as there is no room between the letters mil and the word BONO for the other usual names of Antoninus 'The fragments are now Lying on the causeway at a point where a rustic road crosses it at right angles. A HUMAN MILESTONE. 177 Pins, I think Hadrian must have been the emperor to whom this pillar lias been inscribed, and to him the compliment upon it is very suitable. And, if this be admitted, we shall hence be furnished with a strong argument to prove that this military way, from Walwick Chesters by Little Chesters to Caervoran, was laid in the time of Hadrian, and mosl probably at the same time when this Vallum was raised, which favours the scheme I have advanced concerning this Vallum." Horsley's pen must have slipped when he states that the pillar "a little to the east of the station" was thrown down, and was lying under a hedge near the rivulet. If it had once been thrown down it would never have been re-erected. Persons who have known the district longest, and most intimately, have, in answer to the present writer's inquiries, told him that they never knew the stone in any other position than its present one ; and the people before them never spoke of its having been prostrate. The testimony of the writers nearest to the time of Horsley leads to the same conclusion. Stukeley visited the spot in 1725. Proceeding from the west, he says : — " Before we come to Little Chester is a most noble column or milestone, set upon the road ; it is of a large bulk and height, with an inscription, but only not quite defaced. Mr. Gale thought he could read tvng. upon it: it is the finest stone of this sort 1 have seen, and would have informed us who made the road.'' Then coming to the station he thus describes the stone which is the object of our present enquiry : — " In a corner of a field below, by the side of a brook, and as the military way turns up the hill, is another such milliary stone, but no inscription legible."' Gordon does not mention the milestone. Wallis, whose history was published in 1769, gives satisfactory testimony : — "The Via Vicinalis from C'aer-vorran to Walwick Chesters comes close up to flic north side of it, [the station of Vixdolaxa] on which a Roman milliary stone is still standing by a gate called Caudley Gate, near the brink of Bardon streamlet; also another a mile west from it, in a straight line ; the road very fair ; the milestones in fine preservation, of white rag, six feet four inches in diameter [circumference], and near as much in height aboveground, of a round figure, like garden rollers." — Hist. Nor., Vol. II., p. 2."». Brand, in 1789. says :— •• A remarkable pillar or milliary stone stands a little to the east of this station, adjoining to the military way of Severus. I was informed of another to the west of the station." — History of Newcastle, Vol. I., p. 610. Thus there is reason to conclude that Britain can boast of possess- ing one milestone which occupies the position in which it was placed by Roman hands. And there is little probability of its being now exposed to the action of ruthless violence. The camp and contiguous lands, as well as the ground on which the milestone stands, have recently passed into the possession of Mr. Clayton, to whom antiquaries are already under such great obligations. Rejoining the Wall at Milking Gap, and continuing our course V v lis CASTLE-NN K CASTELLUM. westward, we .soon arrive at a conspicuous gap on the Steel-rig grounds. The Wall on the eastern declivity of this pass may be studied to great advantage. The courses are laid parallel to the horizon ; the mortar of each course of the interior seems to have been smoothed over before the superincumbent mass was added. The lithograph facing the previous page will give the indoor antiquary some idea of this portion of the Wall. Mounting another hill, we find the Wall shooting nearly due north, in order to seize the very edge of the cliff. Descending, again, almost immediately, into the valley, we come to another gap, in which are the remains of a mile-castle. From this circumstance the defile has received the name of the Castle-Nick. The castellum was, in 1854, freed from its encumbering rubbish by Mr. Clayton, on whose property it stands. The walls of the building are in a good state of preservation ; they are seven feet thick, and about five feet high. The castle measures, in the inside, fifty feet from east to west, and sixty-two feet from north to south. The gateways do not present the usual massive masonry ; they have doubtless been altered since their original construction. The chief peculiarity of this castle is, that the foundations of the interior apartments of the building still remain, on the western side. These erections have been independent of the main walls, and have been more rudely constructed. The accompanying lithographic view, taken from a sketch by Mr. Henry Richardson, shows its position. The south-east corner of the castle is worthy of attention. Standing on sloping ground, it has been built first, upon a broader base than the other parts, and altogether contrived so as to resist the thrust of the portions which pressed upon it. No inscriptions were found during the recent excava- tions ; the important slab, the memorial of the labours of the second legion under Aulus Platorius Nepos , (see p. 13), having been previously removed. Fragments of Roman pottery, of various kinds, though smaller in quantity than usual, were found. A terra-cotta lamp, Terra -co i u Lamp, 4 inches in length, discovered in the Mile-casilc, i • i • * 1 "l castk-NK*. shown 111 the margin, was picked up, by means of which the Roman sentry may, perchance, have endeavoured to relieve the dreariness of the lone: winter's night. In such a situ- ation articles of elegant workmanship could not be looked for; some were, however, found. The bronze fibula, shown in the woodcut (1), as well as the enamelled fibula (2). and stud (3), which are also figured, i ' :; -«h|- h-i < W .■■"'' r l -*.*..,,,,. o i — i w 1—1 E-i ft WINSHIELDS CRAG. all of them of the full size, were found here.' exceedingly rare upon the line of the Wall. 179 Enamelled articles are The Roman military way is in excellent preservation in the vicinity of this castellum. and may he examined with advantage. Its width is about twenty feet ; the kerb-stones are in their place. Proceeding- onwards a minor depression in the mural ridge, called the Cats' Stairs, is reached, after which we come to Peel Crag, one of the most precipitous faces which the Wall has had to traverse. The military way ingeniously avoids the sudden descent by winding round the southern projections of the rock. The lithographic view represents the northern aspect of the crags, as they appear here. After passing a cottage, called the Peel, a modern road is encountered which leads to Kielder and so into Scotland; in its progress north- wards, however, it soon degenerates into a mere track. As the defile at Peel Crag is wider than usual, special precautions have been taken to defend it. On both sides of the pass the Wall bends sharply to the south. This has the double effect of narrowing the gorge and exposing an enemy to a nanking-fire within half a bow- shot on both sides. It is not unlikely that the low ground north of the Wall was a swamp in the days of the Romans, which would render it more easy of defence. On the western side of Peel Crag, sheltered by a few trees, is the now deserted farm-house of Steel-rig. Here the Wall loses the basaltic ridge, and runs along a stratum of sandstone. For some distance it is in a ruinous state, but the fosse is boldly developed. The crags shortlv reappear, and the ditch again ceases. Before reaching the summit of Winshields, the highest point traversed by the Wall, a mile-castle is met with ; it is about eight furlongs from Castle-Nick. Winshields Crag is one thousand feet above the sea. The prospect from it is very extensive in every direction. On a clear day the vessels navigating the Sol way can easily be descried. Burnswark and Criffell, well known heights in Dumfriesshire, come into view. Proceeding onwards from this point, we find the Wall in an en- couraging state of preservation. A little friendly help has been given to make the facing stones on each side equal the height of the core of Cits' Stairs, from the North. 1 The cross on the fibula (2) is red; the Jutted spaces between the rays beino- coloured with two tints of pale green. The stud (3) has its outer circle red. with white and black dots ; the second green, with black dots; the inner circle red, with a central black dot 180 BOGLE IK H .!■:. the interior. The accompanying lithographic view represents the Wall in this part of its course. A gentle descent now brings us to Shield-on-the-Wall. a thatched cottage, which is about to be removed. It probably stands upon the site of a mile-castle, and is composed of its materials. 1 Shortly afterwards we come to a gap of very bold proportions. Popular faith asserts it to have been the abode of evil spirits, and it is known by the ominous name of Bogle Hole. The sides of the gap are steep ; on the western declivity the courses of the Wall are, for the most part, conformable to the ground, but they are stayed up by occa- sional steps parallel to the horizon. In the valley, to the south, the Vallum is seen pressing forward in a straight line ; but the Wall, fol- lowing the deflections of the crags, is brought into closer contact with it than it has been for some distance. The vicinity of Bogle Hole seems a fitting place for introducing the following passage from Proco- pius, a Byzantine historian of the sixth century. We can readily conceive that at a period when the inroads of the Caledonians were still fresh in the memory of the inhabitants, the country north of the Wall would be regarded with superstitious dread. " Moreover, in this isle of Brittia, men of ancient time built a long wall, cutting off a great portion of it ; for the soil, and the man, and all other things are not alike on both sides; for on the eastern [southern] side of the Wall there is a wholesomeness of air in conformitj with the seasons, moderately warm in summer, and cool in winter. Many men inhabit here, living much as other men. The trees, with their appropriate fruits, flourish in season, and their corn lands are as productive as others; and the district appears sufficiently fertilized by streams. But on the western [northern] side all is different, insomuch indeed that it would be impossible for a man to live there, even half an hour. Vipers and serpents innumerable, with all other kinds of wild beasts, infest that place; and, what is most strange, the natives affirm that if anyone, passing the Wall, should proceed to the other side, he would die immediately, unable to endure the unwholesomeness of the atmosphere. Death, also, attacking such beasts as go thither, forthwith destroys them. . . . They say that the souls of men departed are always conducted to this place; but in what manner I will explain immediately, having frequently heard it from men of that region, relating it most seriously, although I would rather ascribe their asseverations to a certain dreamy faculty which possesses them." — Giles's Ancient Britons, Vol. I., p. 404. rheel has beei lilv dish. Irain in the fosse of the Vallum, opposite Shield-on-the-Wall, they came upon a wheel, which, whether Roman or not, must be of considerable antiquity. It lay upwards of four feet below the surface of the fosse. It was composed entirely of oak, its various parts being pinned together by wooden bolts. It fell to pieces on being removed, but the accompanying sketch was taken as it lay on the spot where it was found. The diameter of the wheel was three feet six inches. Its rim, which consisted of seven segments, was nine inches in depth, and four inches in breadth. and was probably attached to the axle revolving with it. «* 1 4 t M (=1 !±! m DO CAWFIELOS CASTELLUM. 181 The next defile is Caw Gap: some mined cottages, formed of Wall stones, stand in it. The fosse reappears for a short distance. A road runs through this pass to the north, which soon becomes a mere track, it passes a solitary house, called Burn Dcviot, nearly due north from the gap, which was long the resort of smugglers and sheep-stealers. The crags along which we soon rind ourselves to be proceeding possess a considerable elevation above the plains below. Here are traces of what appear to be mural turrets. Passing another small gap, called the Thorny Doors, we come to a tract of Wall in an excel- lent state of preservation. The lower courses have recently been freed from the rubbish which for centuries had covered them, and the fallen stones replaced in their proper order. Amongst the loose stones, one has been found which furnishes us with evidence that the twentieth legion was engaged in the erection of the Wall. It is preserved amongst O O O 1 ' - the antiquities at Chesters, and is represented in the adjoining cut. 1 The next gap is a wide one. and in it is a mile-castle of considerable interest. It is on the property of Mr. Clayton, and the clearing of it was one of the earliest of the important explorations undertaken by that gentleman. As the castellum resembles in its parts those which have since been explored, and have been already described, a minute account of it will not be necessary. When the accompanying drawing was taken, the whole of the area had not been excavated. The fort measures, inside, sixty-three feet from east to west, and forty- nine from north to south. The walls are eight feet thick, and have seven or eight courses of stone standing. The masonry of both northern and southern gateways is peculiarly massive. The lightly chiselled lines. by which the mason was guided in placing the superincumbent stones. are, in some cases, quite distinct. A recess lias been provided on each side of the gateways for the folding doors to fall back into. The pivot- boles of the gates remain. In clearing the interior, fragments of gray slate, pierced for roofing, were found among the rubbish, and marks of fire were found against the south wall : there can be no doubt that temporary barracks were planted against the walls. Neither were proofs of residence wanting. Large pieces of earthenware vessels. chiefly of the coarser kind ; fragments of hand-mills, some of them of the description brought from Andernach on the Rhine ; and some oyster- 1 This is not the only memorial, as we shall afterwards find, which the twentieth legion have left of their labours on the Wall itself, besides those which we meet with in stations. In Mr. Horsley's time there was an absence of such testimonies. Speaking of the twentieth leu-ion, that able anti- quary says: — "One would expect that this legion bore its part in building Severus's Wall; hut among- all the centurial inscriptions upon the face of this "Wall, I remember not one of this legii or of any cohort said to belong to it. This makes me suspect that this twentieth leg-ion was no way concerned in that work : though I know not I'm- what reason, or how they came to be excused, since it is certain they continued in Britain long- after this.' - — Britannia Romana, p. 85. 182 ANTIQUITIES OF THE MILE-TOWER. shells were found. The millstones seem to heave been regarded as vain- able; one of the fragments found is marked with the name of a century : 3 lvci[i] — the century of Lucius. Two denarii were dug up ; one of Vespasian, the other of Marcus Aurelius. Some articles in bronze and two large glass beads were found. Two inscribed stones were met with. One of them, though but a fragment of the original, is exceedingly interesting. Enough of it is left to show that it was a repetition of those found in the Housesteads, Milking Gap, and Castle- Nick mile-castles, recording the names of Hadrian, Aulus Platorious Nepos, and the second legion. The other, which is here engraved, has evidently been a monu- mental slab, but has been roughly shaped into a circular form and used as a hearth-stone. It was found on the west side of the south gateway; the face was downwards, and it was covered with six feet of rubbish. Fortunately the inscription is not wholly obliterated. The phrase, " titulum posuit," is exceedingly rare on British tombstones, but it is frequently met with in the D. M. dagvald[vs] mi[i,es] rA\[NONI.2E] VIXIT AN[NOSj PVSINNA |coniv]x titvl[vm] [posvit]. To the divine Manes. I (agualdus a soldier of Pannonia lived years — Pusinna his wife placed this memorial. museums of Germany. 1 For a fuller account of this mile- castle, and the antiquities found in it, the reader is referred to a paper by Mr. Clayton, entitled "Account of Excavations at the Mile-castle of Cawfields,*' in the Archgeologia JEliana, Vol. IV., p. 54, O.S. South of this castle, and a little before coming to the modern military road, is another of those temporary camps of which we have had several examples. It has an area of half an acre. " The defences on all sides, except the east, are natural and good, but that side has undergone so much alteration as to make it difficult to ascertain the number of ditches precisely." The Roman road between Cilurnum l Vide Collectanea Antiqua, Vol. XL, p. 102, Treves. - Mr. McLauchlan's Memoir, p. 40. :, *,. VALLUM STATIOH -AT GMEJ&.T C1ESTE1RS STATIOX OF GREAT CHESTERS. 183 and Magna runs past it. On the western side of the camp is a freestone quarry which has been used by the Roman soldiers. In the paper already referred to. Mr. Clayton says : — '•' In riding- over Haltwhistle Fell, before its enclosure in the summer of 1844, I came upon some workmen employed in reopening an old quarry; they told me they had met w ith a ••written stone." I dismounted from my horse, and climbed the face of the rock, when I found inscribed in letters, very clear and fresh. LEG. VI. V. From its position on a wide waste, far removed from any abode of man, but in the immediate vicinity of the Roman Harriers, this quarry could not possibly have been used for any other purpose than for the supply of stones for them; and from the freshness of the letters of the inscription, must have been filled up with earth so soon as the Roman 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 pieces." The quarry was soon afterwards closed. Between the Cawfields mile-castle and the station of Great Chesters there is little requiring remark. Haltwhistle Burn Head is the first object of interest that we meet with. The burn is derived from the overflowings of Greenlee Lough. Between its source and the Wall it is called Caw Burn ; below that point it bears the name of Haltwhistle Burn. Occasionally the stream is too much swollen to admit of the passage of pedestrians ; in this case the bridge on the military road must lie resorted to. Westward of the Burn Head farm-house the fosse is boldly developed, but the Wall is traceable only in the ruins of its foundations. "About mid-way between the water and the station of iEsiCA are traces of a building about the size of the mile-castles, but unlike them, being partly within and partly without the Wall. Its distance from the last is only about four furlongs;' 1 Hence it remains a question whether it be a mile-castle or not. It is in a ruinous condition. X.— .ESK'A. The stationary camp of Great Chesters is rather more than four miles distant from Chesterholm. and is nearly six miles from House- steads, following the course of the Wall. Although it lias popularly obtained the epithet of Great, it is one of the smaller stations, containing only about three acres. Its height above the sea is five-hundred and fifty feet. It is well situated, having a southern exposure ; the ground falls gently from it in every direction. The ramparts and fosse of the station are clearly marked. On the west side there is a double ditch. The station comes close up to the great Wall, but whether it had an independent rampart on this side or not, there are now no means of ascertaining. Both the southern corners are rounded off in the usual manner. 2 'Mr. McLauchlan's Memoir, p. 44. 5 The station was probably quite independent of the Wall. In Stukeley's "Prospect of Chester-on-the-Wall," given in his Iter Boreale, its north-west corner is represented as b munded off precisely as that of Housesteads is. At the same time it cannot for ;) moment be supposed that hut for the Wall this station would have had an existence. The Vallum i> some distance from it, to the south. 1X4 THE BURIAL-GROUND OF TI1K STATION. The south gate is clearly marked; it is about one-third of the length of the front from the south-east angle. Appearances seem to in- dicate that the east gate was in the centre of the east rampart ; there are no satisfactory traces of any opening on the west side. The interior of the cam]) is replete with the foundations of houses. but with the exception of ;i vaulted chamber, near its centre, none are exposed. The room resembles in many respects the iErarium at Oilurnum. The suburban buildings have been chiefly situated on the south and east of the station. One building, with hanging floors, is at present partially exposed. A road leads from the south gateway of the station to the Roman military way running between Cilukxum and Magna. In close con- tiguity with the Vallum, and lying south-west of the station, is a barrow and two circular enclosures. Nearly due south, and near the Stanegate, are a group of tumuli, called Four Laws. 1 In the same direction, a little to the south of the Vallum, is Walltown Mill, near to which the burying-ground of the station seems to have been. Brand saw some graves that " had been opened out." Hodgson thus describes it : — *■ The burial-ground of the station is supposed to have been near the spot called the .Mill Hill, a little tcr the west of Walltown Mill, where, in 1817, a great number of stones, well squared on five sides. bu1 rough on the sixth, were dug ii]> to repair the mill. They were laid on fine sand, and had the rough side upwards. Many foundations have been dug up on the same hill; and a stone, which had the figure of a woman upon it, and had lain at the gate from the mill to the station formany years, was broken, and put in the end of the mill in rebuilding it in 1S17."— Hist. Nor., Pt. II., Vol. III., p. 203. The woodcut represents one of these stones, with "the figure of a woman upon it." It is now safe in the Newcastle museum. If we may form a general conclusion from the example before us. the ladies of tEsica were like The Horace's Pyrrha, " simplex munditiis. i > r i is m[anibvs] |>ro] salvte PEIIVICAE III.IAF. To the Divine .Manes for the welfare of Pen ica our] daughter. carving probably belongs to a late period of the Roman occupation. Perhaps the most peculiar feature of this camp is the aqueduct by which it obtained its supply of water. This artificial channel is to the north of the station. 1 Wallis tells us that some of these were dug into " by the late observing and curious Mr. Curry, a dissenting minister, who found both entire human bones and an urn with ashes and sail in it; the salt well preserved, white and fair." — Hist. Nor., Vol. II., p. 11. 'HE AQUEDUCT OF THE ATlOX. 185 Dr. Lingard knew of its existence ; but the first published account of it appeared in the first edition of "The Roman Wall," accompanied by a plan. It is not thought necessary to introduce here the full details formerly given ; the following brief account of it is taken from the author's "Wallet Book of the Roman Wall.*' The aqueduct is slightly sketched upon the map of the line accompanying this volume. The water-course consists of a channel, three or four feet deep and proportionately wide, cut in the sides of the numerous little hills which stud the plain north of the Wall. In order to preserve the water-level a most circuitous course is taken, but so effectually is this done, that only once has it been necessary to resort to a bridge or embankment. This bridge does not now exist, but the place has the name of " Benks Bridge." The whole length of the aqueduct is six miles; the distance in a straight line is little more than two miles and a quarter. By this means the water of the Caw Burn was brought within a short distance of the station. Within about three hundred and fifty yards of the station the aqueduct is lost sight of. Owing to the nature of the level, the water could only be brought over this part of its course by means of an artifi- cial embankment ; this, if ever it existed, is now entirely removed. It may surprise the reader to find the means of supplying so important an element as water placed on the north of the Wall. The truth is, that the Romans by no means gave up the district beyond the Wall to the enemy. An aqueduct within sight of iEsiCA was perfectly sate when the forces of Rome were vigorously handled. Several important inscriptions belong to this station. Horsley, after giving an account of Vixdolaxa. says : — "The next station upon IMP. C2ES. M. AYR. SEVE RVS ALEXANDER Pl[vs] f[eLIx] AVG. HORREVM VETV- STATE CONLABSVM M[lLITEs] coii. ii. astvrvm sj kvi'hianie] a[lexandrianjs] 1 a soi.o restitvervnt ,:ijI«ii«l5Wi rjjfSff^ The Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander pious happy 8 august. This granary through age dilapidated the soldiers of the second cohort of Asturians styled the Severian Alexandrian from the ground restored -y^c IT OKI N/V IvSr \ /m ,7 i \ ' ,J> (ViV V 'RQVMCTAuiC^ MAXIMA >Mf cV'" -"U MARTI/-' Size, 4 feet i inch by j feet 4 inches. the Wall is Great Chesters, which in the course of the Notitia is iEsiCA; it was garrisoned by the ' Cohors prima Astorum,' but no in- scriptions are found here that mention this or any other cohort." This 'These letters, S.A., have given rise to much conjecture. The suggestion of Dr. McCaul is here adopted.— See " Brit-Roman Ins.," p. 155 ; also " Ins. Orel.,'' 3359, and Gruter, CCCLXV., 7. ■ Happy, in the sense of fortunate; as Shakspere uses it in the Prologue to Henry "V III. A A A 186 THE ROMAN NAME ASCERTAINED. deficiency of inscriptions lias been supplied since the time of Horsley. In digging up the foundations of a building in the upper part of the station, in the beginning of the year 1767, the stone, which is roughly sketched in the cut on the previous page, was found. Both corners at the bottom have been broken off, by which means the last four lines are rendered unintelligible. This inscription, confirmed as it is by another on a flue tile, figured page 54, enables us to correct what appears to be a clerical error in our copies of the Xotitia. Instead of con. i. vstorvm, we must read con. n. astvrvm. On the other hand, the com- parison of the Xotitia with these inscriptions enables us to ascertain with certainty that Great Chesters is the 2Esica of the lower empire. The stone was probably placed in front of the renovated building. Severus Alexander became sole emperor in 222, and was assassinated in 235. Lampridius, in his life of that emperor, tells us that " he built in every country public granaries, to winch those might bring their goods who had not the means of privately storing IMP. CAES. TRAI[a].V. HADRIA- NO AVG. P[ATEI] P[.vr: To tl I < : : -;u- Trnjanus Hadria- nua the father of his country. them." The inscription is now in the Castle at Newcastle. The tablet copied in the woodcut above was recently discovered near the eastern gateway nf ; _.;;■- •. ^wMsm*^ this station. It affords ~ftk^»r ' l "*M ! ' l " l l ^ r i "" ' ' * «i" ject of the inscription cannot be ascertained, there is no doubt that it is a dedication to the Emperor Marcus Aurelms Antoninus and his col- league. Lucius Verus, both of whom assumed the titles of Parthicus and Medicus. It is not improbable that the third line may relate to some MEMORIALS OP THE TROOPS 181 officer in the (coh. i. raetorvm) first cohort of Rhastians, though we have no other evidence to show that any cohort of that people were ever in Britain. The inscription belongs to a period between a.d. 162, when the epithets, medicvs, parthicvs, were assumed by the emperors, 1 and a.d. 169, when Verns died. It was in the former of these years that ( 'alpurnius Agricola was sent to Britain." At the station of Vindolana we met with traces of the second and third cohorts of Nervii ; here, an inscription has been found which men- tions the sixth cohort.' This cohort, also, was in Britain in the time of Hadrian; when the Notitia was compiled it was in garrison at Virosidum, a station supposed to be near the western extremity of the Wall. The VICTORIAE AVGfVSTAE] COHfORS] SEXTA XKKVIORYM CVI. PRAEEST C[AIVs] [VL[lVS] BABBABVS PBAEFEC[tVS] V. S. L. M. To Victory tlic august, the sixth cohort of Nervii, commanded by Caius Julius Barbarus, prefect, [erected this | in dis- e of a vow. freely and deservedly made. • i'.. ; " n- -,-. I 'OR1AE- m [Vt BAR-BA'R.ffW EfEGV^tMl I) I B V S V K - TF.Iil BVS. To the gods of the olden time. Size, 6 inches by 5 inches. size, 2 feet by 8 inch,':. stone lias probably been inserted in a temple dedicated to the favourite goddess, or hasformed part of a pedestal on which a statue of Victory stood. Whatever deities the garrison of iEsiCA worshipped, they seem to have been opposed to innova- tions in their mythology. Others might adopt new deities.' they held by the old ones. Two altars recently found here are inscribed dibvs s veteribvs — to the ancient gods. One of them, shown in the margin, is now at Chesters. The lower portion of it has been lost. The other, now at Newcastle, is shown in the cut on the left on the following page. It is a small and rude altar, but is nearly perfect. And. in order to dismiss the subject at once, the drawing of another altar, having a similar dedication. which was found at the neighbouring station of Carvoran. early in the last century, and carried by Alexander Gordon and Baron Clerk into Scotland, is placed beside it. Horsley gives the latter altar, but lie mis- reads it. He says: — '•Dims Yitiribus Deccius is evidently the name of the person who erected tins altar." thus leaving the altar without a dedi- cation to any deity. Had he seen the other altars here engraved, he would ■ See Index of Emperors in Henzen's Inscriptions. • Clinton's Epitome of Chronology, p. 39. 'The farmer at \Valltown, where it was when Hodgson first saw it. "supposed it had been brought from Great Chesters." — History of Northumberland, Pt. II., Vol. m., p. 204. 'The reader may remember the earnest remonstrance of the inspired lawgiver: — "They sacrificed to devils, not to God; to o-,,ils whom they knew not: to gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not." — Dieut. xxxii., IT. 5 This form of the dative case, plural, of "deus," is not uncommon in inscriptions. 188 ALTARS TO TIIK ANCIENT GODS. have come to a different conclusion. The boar on one .side of this altar probably indicates that Decerns belonged to the twentieth legion, of kHm. fS3*A> mm uMi ' lis i L. '.in ' YlT Size, 1 1 inches by 5 inches. DIB \ - V t: T E R I BVS POS V I T ROMA- NA, Romana dedicated this to the ancient gods. I DOT 1VS \T\ S I /"A *:*iNl|ll*#«»»#*flW Size, 9 inches bv c inches. DIBVS V F. T E R I B V S DECCIVS V.S.L.M. To the ancient gods Deccius dedicates this in discharge of a xn\\\ &< (Now in the Antiquarian Museum, Edinburgh.) which it was the badge. The serpent, on the other side, may be sym- bolic of the faith which Deccius patronised. The serpent was supposed to be a dispeller of charms, and a protector against the evil eye. Shortly after leaving iEsiCA, the crags again appear, and the Wall ascends the heights. For some distance little more than the foundation courses remain in position. The fosse, which at first is distinct, is soon discontinued. After passing Cockmount farm-house, we meet with a long and very encouraging tract of the Wall. Its north face exhibits six or seven courses of facing stones, and in some places as many as nine ; the south thee is broken. The lithographic drawing represents it. Before coming to Ollalee farm-house, the ruins of a mile-castle, very distinctly marked, are met with, at the distance of seven and a quarter furlongs from iEsicA. Opposite the farm-house, the Wall is reduced to a pitiable condition, and it continues so until after passing Walltown. Two centurial stones have been built into the front wall of the farm-house ; they are both much weathered. One seems to read > valeri[i] veri, the other omaridi. About three furlongs beyond the mile-castle we reach Mucklebank Crag, the highest of the Nine Nicks of Thirlwall. It is eight-hundred and sixty feet above the sea. The view is very extensive. In addition to the objects formerly named, the viaduct of the Alston Railway forms a pleasing feature in the landscape. I | if ' 1 l ? ' RL Vn : ,. ?fl ■1 » ' - i > -f O o s THE MNK-MCKs OF RI.WALL. 189 The defile of Walltown ( !rags is a wide one. The fosse of the Wall is. as in such situations, strong. At Walltown several objects attract our attention. Nearest to the Wall is a spring, surrounded by masonry, now much disordered, called the King's Well; the present inhabitants call it King Arthur's Well. Other accounts are given of it. Hutchinson says : — " Travellers are shown a well among the cliffs, where it is said Paulinas baptized King Egbert ; but it is more probable it was Edwin king of Northumberland." The well lias, no doubt, been a place of historical interest and importance. but unhappily modern drainage is robbing it of its treasures. Another interesting circumstance is connected with this locality. In the crevices of the whin-rock, near the house, chives grow abundantly. The general opinion is that we are indebted for these plants to the Romans, who were much addicted to the use of these and kindred vegetables. Mi of the early writers refer to this subject. Camden says : — "The fabulous tales of the common people concerning this Wall I due wittincly and willingly overpasse. Yet this one thing which I was enformed of by men of good credit I will not conceale from the reader. There continueth a settled perswasion anions a great part of the people thereabout, and the same received by tradition, that the Roman souldiers of the marches did plant here everywhere in old time for their use certaine medi- cinable hearbs, for to cure wounds; whence it is that some empirick practitioners of chirurgery in Scotland Hurl, hither every year in the beginning of summer, to gather such simples and wound-herbes, the vertne whereof they highly commend as found by long experience, and to he of singular efficacy." — Phil. Holland's Translation, p. 795. Another point of interest here is the site of the Tower of Walltown, the inheritance of John Ridley, the brother of the martyr. The bishop was a frequent visitor here, and his letters, written in prison, abound in allusions to the various localities of the district. The present farm- house is a modern erection. Mr. McLauchlan discerned " faint traces of a tower" to the north-west of the present house. To the east of Walltown House, on a small hill covered with fir trees, is an ancient cam]), which reminds us of that on Castle Hill. Haltwhistle. Leaving the valley, we climb a steep ascent, which soon brings us to the site of another mile-castle. This is a most interesting and pecu- liar part of the line. The mural ridge, divided by frequent breaks into as many isolated peaks. gives rise to the deno- mination of the Nine- Nicks of Thirlwall. The view from the edge of the cliff is extensive ; whilst stunted trees unite with the craggy character of the rock in giving variety to the foreground. The Wall climbs and descends the little hills unflinchingly, and adapts itself with its accustomed pertinacity 190 THE STATION OF CARVORAN. to the ragged edges of the basaltic line. Its northern face occasion- ally shows a well preserved specimen of the structure, as is shown in the woodcut on the previous page. For the preservation of these portions of the "Wall, and of all objects of antiquity which have been recently found at iEsiCA, antiquaries are indebted to the taste and consideration of Gustavus Hamilton Coulson, Esq., the proprietor of this district. Sir Walter Scott, who was familiar with this part of the Wall, here penned the lines which he inscribed — '•TO A LADY, WITH FLOAVEliS FKOM THE ROMAN WALL. •■ Take these flowers, which, purple waving, On the ruin'd rampart grew, Where, the .-mis of freedom braving, Rome's imperial standards flew. •• Warriors from the breach of danger Pluck no longer laurels there : They but yield the passing stranger Wild-flower wreaths for Beauty's hair." At length the cliffs, which extend in a nearly unbroken series from Sewingshields to Carvoran, sink into a plain, and the fertility and beauty of a well cultivated country reappear. However agreeable, in certain states of the atmosphere, an arrival on the plains may be, few antiquaries will leave these imperial heights without regret. XL— MAGNA. The camp at Carvoran is advantageously placed. It lies to the south both of Wall and Valium. The Wall stands upon an elevated ridge, overlooking, towards the north, an extensive tract of bleak moor- land. Between the Vallum and the station is a marsh ; and, in order to avoid it, the Vallum bends at a somewhat sharp angle, afterwards returning in the same abrupt manner to its former course. On the south and west of the station the ground falls rapidly. There can be little doubt that this was one of xVgricola's forts. The defile by which the waters of the Tipalt pass the mural ridge was of too much importance to be neglected. The direct Roman road from the east came up to it, and the Maiden Way from Kirkby Thore and Stanemoor 1 >r< >ught the traffic of the south to its gates. It was evidently at an early period an important Roman post. Writers of the last and previous centuries — Leland, Camden, Stuke- ley. Gordon, and others — speak of the remains of the station as consi- derable. The following is Stukeley's description : — '• A little upon the south side of the Wall was a great Roman city and castle. V\ e traversed the stately ruins: it stood upon a piece of high ground, about four hundred foot square; had a wall and ditch; vestiges of houses and buildings all over, within and without. We observed the Madan-Way coming over the fells from the south, where it passes by a work or labyrinth, called Julian's bower. We saw too the Roman road passing eastward along the Wall. The countrv hereabouts is a wild moory bog; and the Wall itself climbs all along a crag, and is set upon tin' southern edge of it; the steepness of the cliff northward performing the part of a foss." — Iter Boreale, p. ■"»!». fl ..**, V ****** ♦ STATION AT CATRTGRAW . PRESENT STATE op THE CAMP. i;u So late as the year 1832, the ruins were such as to excite the admiration of the antiquary. Hodgson, writing at this period, savs : — "Of late the rubbish of numerous rooms, the walls of which remain to about an average height of three feet, has been cleared out quite to their floors. The largest building that has been opened is just within the south wall, and near the south-wesl corner of the station. It had a large hypocaust, and several rooms floored with bath cement, laid on large flat stones, and supported by pillars, many of the stones of which. by the lines and mouldings upon them, had been evidently used in former buildings. The mouth of the furnace of the hypocaust was deeply reddened and corroded by fire, and one of its flues covered with a firm arch, secured by a regular key stone. In 1830 the walls of one of these rooms, when first exposed, were so strongly and beautifully painted that their colours glittered in the sun like stained glass. In the next year the altar of the prefect of the Hamian archers Mas found, standing upon a pediment six inches thick."— History of Northumberland, Pt. II.. Vol. III., p. 13G. More recently the remains of the station have been obliterated, its whole area having been subjected to the plough. With care its form may be detected. Some portions of the north wall remain : the ditch is \i>ible on the north side, and in the vicinity of the south-west corner. Mr. McLauchlan inf inns us that tin's station is rather more than two miles and a half from the last station, Mslca, that it contains an area of three acres and a half, and that it is three hundred and fifty feet above the sea. At the time that the Notitia was compiled the second cohort of I >almatians was in garrison at Magna. 1 An inscription found here, men- tioning this cohort, has already been given, page 54. In the absence of a second memorial of a direct I'll- MJANIBVSJ avre'liae] f a i a e D OMOj SALOXAS AVRE[LIVS] MARI V- > obseqJVio] ( ON- tva[is] SANCTIS- SIMAE QVAE VI- \IT AXX1S XXXIII. SINE VLI.A MAI VLA. To the Divine Manes of Aurelia Faia a native of Salona Aureliiis Marcus a centurion our of affection for his most holv wife who lived thirty-three years without any blemish [erected this.] character, one of an indirect kind mav be introduced. A monumental 5 feet ; inches by i feet 9 inches. slab found here, and now in the ■ The Dalmatians inhabited a portion of the western coast of Turkey, washed by the Adriatic sea. Some bodies of this people were in Britain as early as the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian. The Malpas rescript mentions the fourth cohort of Dalmatians; the Sydenham and the li)2 THE HARRISON AT MAGNA. museum at Newcastle, is inscribed by a centurion to his wife, who was a native of Salona, a city of Dalmatia." Nothing is more natural than that an officer in a Dalmatian regiment should form an alliance with a Dal- matian lady — especially with one so rarely endowed as the epitaph declares Aurelia Faia to have been. The expression " sine ulla macula" may excite remark. In the collections of Roman inscriptions we meet with many similar examples. One disconsolate husband erects a memorial to his " incomparable wife, with whom he lived twenty-seven years — sine vlla qverela — without a single squabble." We have traces of other troops besides the Dalmatians at Magna. At least three inscriptions mention the Hamii. a people of Syria. 3 One of these occurs on the altar which is here engraved. Lucius JElius Csesar, for whose welfare it was dedicated, was the adopted son of Hadrian. He ■ d : 'R()':^.'lcfAti! ■ •.CAESAro v EX\W>V,< fortvnae avg[vstae] PRO SALVTE Li VCIl] AEI.I I CAESARIS F.X VISV T[lTVs] FLA[VIVS SECVNDV3 PRAEF. C0H[0RTIS] I. II A M - IORVM sagittar| iorvm V. S. L. M. To Fortune the august, for the safety of Lucius /Elius Caesar, according to a vision, Titus Flavins Secundum, prefect of the first cohort of Ham- ian archers, erected this altar in discharge of a vow, <£< received the title of ( 'a>sar, a.d. 136, and he died January 1, 138; between these periods the altar must have been carved. It is now at Newcastle. The fragment of another inscription, also at Newcastle, affords evidence that the Hamii were at [calpvrnJivs agri[cola] [coh. i.j hamiorv[m] Magna when Calpur- nius Agricola was in Britain, by command of Marcus Aurelius, about the year 162. A stone, mueh injured by the weather, also at Newcastle, leads us to A Calpurnius Agricola the first cohort of the Hamii. Riveling rescripts mention the first. The writer strongly suspects that in the Riveling rescript the sccml cohort was intended. The greater part of the original talilet, found at Riveling, has been lost, and the copy that we have of it is not very accurate. 2 Dr. McCaul has suggested that this stone might be used in identifying this station, a use which is now made of it. — Canadian Journal, July, 1864. 3 The Epiphaneia of Ptolemy, a city situated on the western bank of the Orontes, is supposed to lie the Hamath of Scripture. Jerome tells us that in his time it was called Hamath by the native Syrians. Its present name is Hamuli. From this locality the Hamian cohort probablv had its origin. THE LEGIONARY FORCES AT MAGNA. 193 suppose that the first cohort of the Batavians assisted in the erection of C () II O R S B A T A VORVM F [ECIT ] The first cohort of Bata vians lmilr this. ^Hi rriiWi ■■iwiiii some building here. It was at Procolitia when the Notitia was compiled. Neither are we without traces, at Magna, of the legionary forces. An altar, which belongs to this station, has been dedicated to Fortune by FORTVK AVD IC[TVS] .' RO- M i\V- p LEG. VI. XX. f II.] AVO. I ledicated to J Fortune byj Audactus Romanus a centurion of the sixth twentieth and second Ieprions. i uKivr n mmemo LEG VI- XX \ .nv Kj Audactus (?) Bomanus. who seems to have held, no doubt successively, the office of centurion in all the British legions — the sixth, the twen- tieth, and the second, styled the August. ■S3 rVALEKP. HA I^/APvA'. A/fjVm ■ Size, 2 feet 10 inches by z feet 6 inches. (. VALERIVS ('All FILIVSj VOl[tINIA TRIBVJ TVLLVS VIAN[NA MIlTes] L E G [ I O N I S ] XX. v[ALERIAE] v[lCTRICIs] The tombstone here engraved affords a trace of the twentieth legion. Cains Valerius Tullus was the son of Cains, of the Yoltinian ccc 194 DEDICATION TO COXSTAN II \K. tribe, a native of Vienne, 1 a soldier of the twentieth lesion, the Valerian and victorious. The pediment and the two lower corners of the stone are decorated with the palm branch — the great object of a soldier's being. His age is not mentioned. Another inscription of historical importance belongs to this station. The split and mutilated stone, shown on this page, bears a dedication in honour of Constantine the Great. As Horsley remarks, this monument must have been erected to Constantine, after the death of his father, Constantins. for the title of " Imperator" was not given him till then. This event took place a.d. 806; we have, therefore, distinct evidence of the Roman occupation of this fort up to the beginning of the fourth century. It is now in the library of the Dean and Chapter at Durham.' Although the plough has passed over the station. and the most important of the inscriptions winch have been dis- interred have been transferred to Newcastle, many interesting memorials of Roman times remain on the spot. Behind the farm-house, and in the garden, broken capitals, fragments of columns, coping stones, gutter stones, and querns, lie about in profusion. In all the stations of the Wall, troughs, rudely formed out of blocks of sandstone, are frequently met with ; here there are several. Several small altars and centnrial stones will also reward the examination of the visitor. The more interesting of them are here figured. Belatucader is a god that seems to lave had some alliance with the Baal of the east. He was chiefly worship- 1M1> EIlATOnr CAES All] FLAV[l0] VAI. Klllo ! ( ONSTANTINO PIO nob[] lissimo] c AESARI. To tlu' Emperor I 'cesar Flavins Valerius ( 'onstantinus the pious and most noble ( 'a'sar. IH. 11 BELATV- CADHO i votv[m] s[olvendo]. To tlir god Belatu- cader in discharge of a vow. 'The letters vian., on the second line, have generally been read vixit annos, whilst tlie vacant space which follows them has heen supplied with the numeral i... thereby giving as to under- stand that the soldier had attained the age of fifty. The objections to this reading are, that if vian. was intended to represent two words, the leaf stop, which is placed after nearly every other word on the stone, would he placed after vi.. which it is not; and that if the numeral L. had ever heen carved, the lower portion of it. notwithstanding the flaw on the stone, would have heen visible, but there is not the least trace id' it. A leaf has probably occupied the spot where the flaw now is. Dr. McCaul, to whom the writer is indebted for the view here advocated, says : — •• This conjecture is confirmed by the circumstance that all the natives of Vienna (scil., Allobroguni), mentioned in inscriptions, belonged to the Voltinian tribe," as is the case in the example before us. Dr. McCaul also cites two instances in which VIANNA occurs for tie- more usual form of Vienna. — See Britanno-Roman Inscriptions, p. 159. -An inscription nearly identical with this occurs on a circular column at Cambridge. SMALL ALTARS AT CARYORAN. 195 I. O. M. HELIO- POLIT- ANO (?) Tii the Jupiter of Heliopolis Greatest ped in the north-west of England. An altar, rudely carved, is inscribed to Jupiter. The greater part of the inscription cannot 1 >e satisfactorily read. In the "Inscriptiones Orellii" are several altars, inscribed i. o. m. heliopolitano. The altar here shown is probably one of the same class. The Syrian god- dess was much worshipped at Magna; it would be nothing surprising to find that Osiris, the the best and Egyptian Zeus — the deity held in greatest reverence at Heliopo- lis — also received some attention. In the garden wall is an example of a numerous class of altars found in this station, inscribed deo viteri ; the letters are so feebly cut, and so much obscured by moss. that, with the exception of those in the first line, they cannot be satisfactorily read. An engraving of the fragment of an inscription lying here, which gives the names of Calpurnius Agricola.the imperial legate, and Licinius Clemens, the prefect, has already been presented, page 16. The two ccnturial stones, which are here figured, are built into the garden wall. > S O R I O N [ I 'I lir century of oononus. / s i l v I [ i J p n ISCI The century of Silvius Priscus. In the farm-house, under the care of Miss Carrick, whose family for many generations have been the owners of Carvoran, are preserved several minor antiquities. Amongst them are a small pair of bronze shears, several fragments of glass, Samian ware, and amphora?, a few- beads, some implements of iron, some spindle-whirls, and a few coins. The coins belong to the reigns of Vespasian, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius. Marcus Aurelius, Tetricus, and Constans. In the year 1762, as we learn from Richardson's Table Book, "in digging up some of the foundations of the station, some very large eoal cinders were turned up, which glowed in the fire like other cinders, and were not known from them when taken out." 1 Mr. C. Roach Smith, who was the first to publish this altar, sees upon it a dedication to Jupiter, Helius, and Rome, an interpretation which is justified by the inscription when viewed in certain lights. — Collectanea Antiqua, Vol. II., p. 19i?. 190 limil.WAI.I. CASTLE. The burying ground lias probably Jain to the east of the station. Wallis tells us that a skeleton was found in this quarter by the work- men employed in diguing up the foun- dations, for making 'the military road : on exposure to the air it turned to /■■•' dust. In 1856, a ploughman struck jjr''' upon a jar in the field east of the station. It was of the kind usually called " smother kiln " ware. It was full of calcined bones, and Avas covered with a thin flag-stone. As the jar is "flawed"- —having a twist in its rim through the action of the kiln — -a con- jecture has been hazarded that it has not been imported but manufactured •ize, ,z , in the vicinity. The writer is informed that there is abundance of clay adapted for such a purpose here. Disengaging ourselves from the attractions of Magna, we once more proceed upon our exploratory tour. The lines of the barrier run parallel with each other down to that little raging river, the Tipalt. The fosse of the Wall is peculiarly well developed. Thirlwall Castle, standing by the margin of the stream, is a dark melancholy fortress, now in ruins. As it is entirely composed of stones taken from the Roman Wall, the accompanying sketch of it may with propriety be introduced. Edward I. slept here September 20, 1306. Mediawal writers tell us that the Wall was first thirled or broken through by the northern enemy in this vicinity, and that hence arose the name Thirl-wall. Whatever truth there may be in the statement. it is certain that this is the weakest part of the barrier line. Closely adjoining Thirlwall Castle is the village of Grlenwhelt. In the inn here are two fine specimens of red-deer's antlers, derived from the camp at < arvoran. Greenhead is close at hand. On a rising ground, westward of Glenwhelt, and on the other side of the Tipalt. are the remains of a large temporary camp. The gateways |jif yjjj The Getty foCdout/map not digitized BRITISH TROOPS EMPLOYED UPON THE WALL. 197 have a straight traverse in front of them ; they are, besides, protected by a semicircular line of defence, on the inside. There is some reason for supposing that this camp was thrown up by the ninth legion, when advancing with Agricola into Scotland. 1 It was formerly mentioned (page 61) that the direct Roman way. which extended between Cilur- num and Magna, was supposed to have been prolonged westward from ( Jarvoran as far probably as Stanwix. Some distinct traces of this road are to be seen on the north of this temporary cam]). The cam}) and the road are to the south of both Wall and Vallum. Besides this cam]) there are four other temporary camps, extending westward to the vicinity of the station of Birdoswald. The position of them is shown in the map of the Wall accompanying this volume. They are all of them on the south of the great barrier, and all occupy lofty positions. Some of these camps, as Mr. McLauchlan remarks, may have been intended to strengthen the line of defence in the part where it was naturally the weakest. No traces of either the Wall or the Vallum remain in the swampy plain lying between Thirlwall Castle and the railway ; but both appear on the bank to the west of the railway. To this neighbourhood belong two stones of the centurial sort, the inscriptions on which are of a peculiar character. One of them, which is built, upside down, into an outhouse at Holmhead, bears the inscription civitas dvm- ■j, noni ; the other, which 'fX^Tf T^ '= O \ i* m ^ r - Mounsey's 1 V.t Lrun collection at Rocldiffe, Vj\!\\\\- iMJ Carlisle, is inscribed "■--^s=c^_^. civitas dvmni. Some difficulty attends the interpretation of these words ; they are, however, generally understood to imply, that some of the community of the Dumnonii, who occupied the counties of Devonshire and Cornwall, built some portions of the Wall in the vicinity of Magna. The Romans were justly cautious of employing, in a military character, the inhabitants of a subjugated country in any part of the country itself. This was. however, sometimes done. Agricola. in the battle of the Grampians, had with him a select band of Britons, of courage and approved fidelity. The Dumnonii seem to have earned the confidence of the Romans by their ready submission to the empire. We shall soon meet with another inscription, rendering it probable that another British tribe was employed in the construction of the Wall in these parts. 1 The camp of Dealg-in-Ross, in Strathern, N.B., is supposed by General Roy to be the one in which the ninth legion was encamped when it wa* attacked and nearly cut to pieces by the I ialedonians in AgricokYs sixth campaign. This camp has the circular traverses which characterise the one before us. D D D 198 THE WORKS AT WALLEND. At Wallend the lines of the Murus and Vallum are distinct, but one stone of the Wall is not left upon another. Westward of Wallend the fosse of the Wall is of unusu- ally large dimen- sions; it measures thirty four feet across the top, and it is nearly sixteen feet deep. The woodcut re- presents its ap- pearance here. Before coming; to Chapel House the site of a mile-castle may. with care, be discerned. From it was obtained the fractured slab here shown: it is now at Newcastle, [f NERViE N[EPOTIJ [tkai]ano hadria[no] avg[vsto] I.EO. XX. v.v. jOH-\DRIA p>4& v c Size, l feci l inches by I foot. To the gTandson of Nerva Trajanus I [adrianus Augustus The XX. legion Valerian, victorious. Severus built the Wall, as Horsley supposes, it is very surprising that all the mural tablets that we have as yet met with, are inscribed to Hadrian, not to him. This stone furnishes additional evidence of the fact that the twentieth legion were employed upon the Wall. At the village of Gap, the Vallum, which is very distinct, stands upon ground that is higher than the Wall. The place is said to take its name from the Wall having been breached here at an early period. Kose Hill is a hill no longer. The top of the diluvial mount was thrown into the surrounding hollow, in order to afford a site for the railway station, which has assumed the name of the summit which it displaced. Dr. Lin- gard in his brief notes. made in 1807, says of it:— 3ffi53T •' Size, J feet 7 inches by I foot II inches. " A sugar-loaf hill, two hundred yards from the Wall, called Rose Hill. It lias a platform on the top, twelve yards in diameter, with a diteli round it. Here was a figure of flying Victory." This figure, here engraved, is now in the possession of Mr. Mounsey. < < £ w CO u: o t- S o X- THE STATION OF BIRDOSWALU. 199 of Rockliffe, Carlisle. The artist, the late Mr. Fairholt, writing to the author, says : — "It is very graceful in design. I make the object on the right to be a domed building, shaded by a tree, and situated on a rock. It may probably represent a British house, after the fashion of the Gaulish ones on the Antonine column at Rome." The medicinal springs <>t' Gilsland are to the north of Rose Hill. The Eomans knew how to appreciate such appliances. The earthworks of the harrier are in a good condition between Rose Hill and the Poltross Burn, the boundary line between Northum- berland and Cumberland. The gorge, in which the stream flows, is deep and well wooded. Camden tells us that the Wall passed with an arch over the swift riveret Poltross. Gordon says, that he " could rind no vestiges of it." Gordon's successors have not been more fortu- nate. The foundations of a mile-castle are to be seen on the western bank of the defile. Proceeding a little farther westwards the Wall is crossed by the railway. Beyond this point it is seen two or three courses high, stretching towards Willowford. The north fosse is strongly developed. On the flat ground, bordering upon the river, it cannot be distinctly traced ; a hedge, amongst the roots of which are a number of Wall stones, probably indicates its course. We are now arrived at the river Irthing. How the Wall crossed it. and ascended the steep cliff on the opposite side, we have no means of knowing. Gordon says distinctly, that he saw no remains of a bridge. The cliff consists of soil and gravel, and is continually being undermined by the waters of the river. All traces of the Wall, as it mounted the position, have necessarily disappeared long ago. The spirit of William Hutton. even at his advanced age. was not daunted by the formidable obstacle which the river and its steep bank presented. He says :— " I had this river to cross and this mountain to ascend ; but I di 1 not know how to perform either. I effected a passage over the river, by the assistance of stones as large as myself, sometimes in and sometimes out, but with difficulty readied the summit of the precipice by a zig-zag line, through the brambles, with a few scratches."' On the very brink of the precipice above, the remains of the Wall and its fosse appear. A few paces forward we meet with another mile-castle. Ami;ogi.axxa. the twelfth station on the line, is now close at hand. XII.— AMBOGLANNA. The cam]-) of Birdoswald occupies a position naturally strong and very beautiful. It stands upon a cliff (represented in the centre of the lithographic view here introduced), at the base of which the river Irthing flows. Rendered thus unassailable on its southern side, its northern is made nearly equally strong by a bold chasm, through which a streamlet flows from the Midgeholm Moss. The view which is < >1 itained from a point within a few yards of the southern gateway of the camp. •200 THE GARRISON OF AM li( K.ILANNA. in the opinion of the late Earl of Carlisle, strongly resembles the aspect of what he considered to be the site of Troy. In his " Diary on Turkish and Greek Waters" he says : — " After fording the Kimois at a sylvan spot, we arrived at the foot of the gentle slope on winch stands the Turkish village of Bounar Bachi. As I here found myself upon not only the most classical, but also the most controverted, .-he in the whole world, I shall be forgiven for dwelling upon it with some comparative minuteness Strikingly, and to anyone who lias coasted the uniform shore of the Hellespont, and crossed the tame low plain of the Troad, unexpectedly lovely is this site of Troy, if Troy it was. I could give any Cumberland borderer the best notion of it, by telling him that it wonderfully resembles the view from the point just outside the Roman camp at Bird- oswald. Both have that series of steep conical hills, with rock enough for wildness, ami verdure enough for softness. Both have that bright trail of a river, creeping in and out with the most continuous indentations. The Simois has, in summer at least, more silvery shades of sand." Birdoswald is three miles and a quarter from the last station, ( !ar- voran. It is the largest station on the line, having an area of five acres and a half, which is about a quarter of an acre more than Cilur- num, and half an acre more than Borcovicts. Most of the camps of the Wall have a southern exposure ; in this the southern margin is slightly elevated above the rest of the ground — the northern half of the station is level. According to the Notitia, the tribune of the first cohort of Dacians, styled the /Elian, was stationed at Amboglanna. Many altars have been found here, dedicated to various deities, especially Jupiter, by this cohort ; there can, therefore, be no doubt that the Birdoswald of the Cum- berland farmer is the Amboglanna of Imperial Rome. As this is the last time that we shall be able distinctly to identify a station by means of inscriptions, the opportunity of doing so must not be lost. I. O. M. [COJH. I. AEl/lA] DAC r L ORVM] [evi prae]est . . . AEI.IVS FA- [BIVjS TIUBJVNVS] [per]petvo [et cor.veliano] COS. To Jupiter the best and greatest the first cohort of Dacians the /Eliiin commanded hy . ... ,-Elhis Fa- bhis tribune Perpetuus and Cornelianus being consuls. Size, i feel v inches by I foot 6 inches. The altar here presented was one of those collected by Lord William Howard— the "Belted Will" of tradition— at his Castle of Naworth ; it t \ i / *- x v Mi ,1 ,ir _ //, In M, ...■ STAT (!) v AT BIMJDOS W^ LB THE EPITHETS OE THE COHORT. 201 is now at Rokeby. It has suffered at the bands of some ignorant mason ; but no difficulty attends the reading of it. This cohort, doubtless, was in Britain at the time that Hadrian was. and received the honorary epithet of iElian. in consequence of services rendered him. 1 This altar seems to have been carved a.d. 237, in which year Perpetuus and Cornelianus were consuls." The Dacians, who occupied the region now called Walla- chia, were a fierce and powerful people. They were not sub- dued until Trajan personally led the forces of Rome against them. Ha- drian accompanied him. It was a wise policy to draft off the more restles> spirits of Dacia, and allow them in distant parts to expend their energies in conflict with the foes of their conquerors. The Dacian garrison at Amboglanna re- tained to the last the honorary epithet of .Elian. but they were not always content with it. An altar now at Rokeby, which also formed one of Belted Will's collection, gives to it the addi- tional epithet of " Gordiana." This was. no doubt, derived from the Emperor Gordian. who wore the purple from a.d. 238 to 244. As will be seen from the above woodcut, the altar has I. (>. M . foil. I. AKI.. DAC. GORDI- ANA C r VlJ PBAEEST To Jupiter best ami greatest the first cohort of Dacians the .T'.lian ami Gordian commanded l»v Size, I fool 7 inchei b) I. O. M . COH. I. AEL r lA; DAC IIIIV.M TETIilCIAN A To Jupiter best and greatest the first cobort of Dacians the /Elian and Tetrician been fitted for use as a building stone. There is also lying in the garden at Birdoswald a rudely inscribed altar, which gives the cohort the title of " Tetriciana." This was. no doubt, derived from Tetricus, one of the so-called "thirty tyrants." This altar, which is here figured, after having been embalmed in the pages of Camden and Horsley. was used 1 This cohort is not named in the Riveling rescript, but unfortunately a considerable portion of that tablet is wanting 1 . 2 This year was a most disastrous one at Rome. It would almost seem as if the name of Perpetuus had stood alone upon the altar. Perchance evil may have befallen his colleague before it was carved. i: e e 202 THE WALLS OF THE STATION. J*' as a common building stone in the construction of the farm-house here. It was released from its thraldom during the repairs which took place a few years ago. The concluding lines of the inscription are too confused to admit of a satisfactory reading of them being given. In the Gentleman's Magazine for 17-P> and 1752, is a description of two altars, now. it is to be feared, lost, which give the cohort the epithet of " Postumiana." Postumus occupies a prominent position among the numerous band of potentates named the " thirty tyrants." He became emperor a.d. 258, and was slain a.d. 267. We have thus evidence to show that the first cohort of Dacians occupied Amboglanna from an early period to the decline of the third century. We may now resume the description of the station. Its Avails are in a good state of preservation, as is shown in the opposite lithograph. They are five feet thick. The moat which surrounded the walls may also be satisfactorily traced. The station has been built entirely independent of the great Wall, and is rounded off at its northern as well as its southern corners. The woodcut shows the mole in which the Wall coalesces with the north-west angle of the station. A new gate leading to the farm-house has occasioned the removal of that part of the Wall which joined the station. The gateways of this station are its principal features. Some remains of the north gateway were in existence when Horslev wrote, hut they are now removed. The south gateway is a noble specimen of Roman work. It and the other existing gateways of the station, as well as some portions of the interior, have been excavated 1 iy Mr.H. Glasii >rd l'< >tter, F.S.A., assisted 1 >y his brother. Mr. W. S. Potter, and Mr. H. Norman, the proprietor of the station. 1 This gateway in plan resembles the gateways at Houscsteads. but its masonry is not so massive. Each aperture is eleven feet wide. and has been spanned by an arch ; several of the wedge-shaped stones, used in the construction of the arches, remain on the ground. The pivot-holes of the gates are to be seen. The west portal, at some period before the abandonment of the station, has been closed, and converted into a dwelling house ; the stones with which it was flagged remain. The gateway, as usual, has had two guard-chambers. The eastern chamber 1 Mr. II. Glasford Potter lias laid the antiquary under further obligations by the contribution of three papers, containing the results of his excavations, to the Archa'ologia /Eliana, Vol. IV., pp. 63, I'M, and 141, ( ).S., to which the reader, desirous (if farther information, is referred. THE GATEWAYS OF THE STATION. 21 >3 has not been excavated ; the other, though excavated, lias again become encumbered with its own ruins. Adjoining the west guard-chamber is another apartment; in one angle is a circular depression, the nature of which has not been clearly ascertained. This station ex- hibits the peculiarity of having two gate- ways on its eastern and western sides; the lower gateway in each case being a single one. The lower gateway on the west side was excavated by Mr. Potter in 1S50. The woodcut exhibits it. Ruts appear in the threshold, and the pivot-holes remain. The grooves must have been produced by carriages having wheels about three inches broad, and about four feet apart. The upper gateway on this side is nearly obliterated; its posi- tion is marked by a mound in the shrub- bery. The lower gate- way on the eastern side has been injured by the yielding of its foundations, and the pressure of the soil which had accumulated upon its inner margin : it presents, however, no features of peculiar interest. Mr. Potter states that it had been built up, ami that from the bad and coarse nature of the masonry the work had probably been done in a hurrv. The other gateway on this side is in an excellent state of preser- vation. It is a double gateway, as exhibited in the above woodcut. When excavated its northern portal was found to have been closed with a wall of loose masonry. Some traces of a second floor, raised about a foot ifc_M, T above the original one. were also noticed. ' : fSfe'jte Many door heads were found lying on the spot. One of them had been put upon the '^8^ jambs of the door of the northern guard-chamber when the accom- panying engraving was taken; a position corresponding to that which 204 THE SWORD OF THE DACIANS. doubtless, it had originally occupied. During the process of exca- vating this gateway the slab, of which a drawing is here given, was found. The slab is now in the museum at Newcastle. It will be noticed that a palm branch, the emblem of victory, is carved on SVB MOD Ml IV- LIO LEG ATO AVGJVsTALl] PR oj- pr[aetohe] toh. i. ael. dac[orvm] (VI PRAEEST m[aRI VS cl[avdivs] menander THII! VNV>.~ I nder Modius Ju- lius imperial legate and propraetor the tirst cohort of Dacians styled .-"Klisiii commanded by Marcus ( 'laudins Menander Tribune [erected tlii>. one side of the stone, and a sword, by which it is to be won. on the other. The sword is peculiar in its form, resembling that in tin- hands of the Dacians on Trajan's column at Rome. An example is here introduced, from the bas-reliefs of that renowned erection. It would hence appear that the auxiliary troops of the Romans retained their national weapons. The interior of the cam] > is marked with the lines of streets and the ruins of buildings. We have occasionally noticed the narrowness of the minor streets in the stations. Horsley. speak- ing of this camp, says : — " The founda- tions of the houses within this fort are very visible. I measured the thickness of these walls, and found them to be about twenty-eight inches, and the distance or breadth of the passage, between the rows of houses or barracks, to be no more than thirty-two inches.'' Xot far from the lower gate, on the east side of the station, are the remains of a STATUE OP A MOTHER-GODDESS. 205 building which has been partially excavated. The floor of at least one of its rooms is supported upon pillars. Here Mr. Potter found the statue represented by the accurate pencil of Mr. ( '. Roach Smith. It appears to be a Dea Mater. The body of the figure is retained in the farm- house at Birdoswald; the bead, which was found several years previously, is at Newcastle. In levelling the ground in front of the farm-house, to form a new garden, Mr. Norman has recently discovered the remains of a building of large dimensions. The principal feature of it is a wall three feet and a half thick, which extends ninety-two feet from east to west. It is upwards of eight feet high, and is sup- ported by eight buttresses. In the middle of the space, between each buttress, is a long slit or loop hole which is supposed to be connected with the flues used in warming the building. Three other walls, parallel to this, were ««, , fc« 7 >nd» b>- . foot 7 ;„*«. noticed on the north side of it and another to the south, which still remains exposed. While the excavation was going on many roofing slates were found. A few coins were also discovered belonging to the reigns of Vespasian, Domitian, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius. Marcus Aure- lius. and Diocletian, and some rude bronze statuettes of Hercules. Some excavations were made here, at the expense of the Archaeo- logical Institute, when it met at Carlisle, in 1859. A spot near the centre of the station, which always had a damp appearance, was cut down upon. The remains of a tank or reservoir for supplying the station with water were found. Some arrangements for filtering the water, by making it pass through a wall of charcoal, were noticed. Shortly after this period, Mr. Parker, of Brampton, discovered that the cistern was fed by a spring on the west side of the station. The water- course, conducting the water to the tank, was formed of flat stones set on edge, covered over by a third on the tojo ; the whole was sunk in the ground. The writer was shown it at a distance of about three hundred yards from the station; water was then flowing in it. In the south-west angle of the station are several buildings which, if completely excavated, would probably yield valuable results. 206 ANTIQUITIES AT BIRDOSWALD. The field on the east side of the station contains the foundations of several suburban buildings. Mr. McLauchlan met with some traces of a road which he took to he the direct Roman way or Stanegate, immediately above Underheugh farm. After surmounting the cliff, by the easiest gradient, it made for the lower gate on the east side of the station, in the manner marked on the plan. Few traces of any troops besides the ordinary garrison have been found at Amboglaxna. From this circumstance, as well as from the size of the station. we may conclude that the Dacian co- hort was a strong one, standing, even in cases of emer- gency, in little need of help. The sixth legion, however, has been here. The woodcut represents a stone which was formerly at Xaworth and is now at Rokeby. Horsley says: — " This is a very fine and beautiful inscription, the letters being yet as distinct as they were at first. I find Camden has published it among the inscriptions at Willowford or Birdoswald, which makes it the more probable that the others of this kind, which are now in this garden, have either come from this station or the Wall hereabouts. The sim- plicity of this inscription, and beauty of the character, inclined me to think this, and some others like it, as ancient as Hadrian's time; but of this there is no certainty." The stone next shown was discovered, in two fragments, after the present writer had begun to make the Wall his study. The farmer at leg[io] sexta vic[trix] p[ia] f[idelis] f[ecit]. The sixth legion, victorious, pious, faithful, made this. F ECIT ixth legion the victorious and] faithful built this. Birdoswald told him that the larger fragment was found in the mile- castle, a little to the west of the station ; the smaller was built up in the garden wall of the house. There can be no doubt that this legionary stone is of the same date as the stone first noticed. If so (with Horsley's concurrence), we have in it a proof that the sixth legion was employed in building the Wall in this neighbourhood in the time of Hadrian.' The stone is still at Birdoswald. 1 It will he noticed that in the second stone the word fidki.is is given in full. It is examples like this which enable antiquaries to complete winds, the initials of which only are in other instances given. ALTARS TO FORTUNE AND JUPITER. 207 There art.' sonic other inscriptions here which will interest the visitor. The altar represented in the woodcut was first described by Gordon. It is dedicated to the standards of the cohort. The eagle and other insignia of the legions were objects of adoration with the military. The second SIGNIS ET HER[CVLI(?) COH. [.] AEL. [DAP.] To the standards ;iiid Hercules the first cohort of Dorians the ."F.lmn. line of the inscription is doubt- ful. The altar to Fortune, next shown, had been used in building the farm-house, but was liberated during the recent alterations. It has suffered from the action of the masons' tools. Should the reader visit the farm-house of Under- heugh. at the foot of the cliff, and be at the trouble to turn up the swine trough there, he will find on the RVVU\, .\ XV Size, ; feel 6 inches by 1 fool 6 inches. DEAF. FORTV- XAE. To the sroddess For- tune. Size, 2 l^u ; inches j> I lout 2 inches bottom of it a dedication by the Dacian cohort to Jupiter, the best and greatest; the woodcut above shows it. The original constructor of the altar would be amazingly surprised at its present application. 21 )S THE MAIDEN* WAY. A small altar in the garden at Birdoswald, also dedicated to Jupiter, is chiefly remarkable for having on its capital that peculiar form of the cross called the " gammadion." ' We shall meet with other instances of it. The cross, in its various forms, is a symbol belong- ing to an era anterior to the Christian, and altogether independent of it. The centurial stone, shown below, was seen by Hodgson in its original position on the north face of the Wall, a little to the west of the station. It is to be regretted that it should have been removed. The lower part of a figure of iEsculapius. found at Birdoswald in 1849, is now in the Castle of Newcastle. The figure shown in the woodcut has been more recently discovered, and is supposed to represent Telesphorus, the attendant of iEsculapius. It is now in the i by 7 inches. possession of Mr. W. Carrick, < larlisle. The sculp- ture not inaptly represents a convalescent patient. wrapped in his cloak. Before proceeding on our western journey, it may be well to pay some attention to the course of the Maiden Way. It has already been mentioned that it came up to the south gate of Magna. It does not seem to have been continued northwards from that point, as might have been expected, but to have coalesced with the ordinary military way as far as Amboglanna, and to have taken its departure north from that place. The Maiden Way is not seen in the immediate vicinity of the northern precincts of the station, but when first met with it points to the centre of the north front of the camp. 2 It prol >ably passed the river King, a little to the east of Slittery Ford. On entering Ash Fell a strip of the way remains in a nearly perfect state ; it is fifteen feet in width, and is bordered by kerb stones. On the Spade-Adam grounds it is repeatedly cut through by drains, some of which remained open when the author examined the line, furnishing sections of its formation. Before reaching the summit of the hills between Birdoswald and Bewcastle the remains of 'So named from its being formed of four gammas. In the middle aires it was called a "fylfot," probably an heraldic term. Mi moir of Survey of tlir Roman Wall. n. 55. /-' pat I til: m m :v?."±- -,f- i , ;■ > ■ .. .. - - , •' '■./ | fg • ' -.4 ■ THE WALL WEST OF BIRDOSWALD. 209 a watch-tower will be met with, on the west side of the way. The litho- graph represents it. It is encumbered with rubbish, but if cleared would probably exhibit walls six or seven feet high. It is eighteen feet square, its walls are three feet thick, and it has an entrance on the north. The masonry is undoubtedly Roman. The view from it in a southern direction is most extensive ; signals could be exchanged from it with all the camps on the Wall that lie between Housesteads and the Solway. Shortly after passing the summit of the hills, the road bends to the east, and makes for the vicinity of Bewcastle. For some reason, which is not very obvious, there are two lines of road, but slightly diverging from each other, from the point where the way turns to the east down into the vale of Bewcastle. Beyond Bewcastle its course is dubious; it may have been a mere track. The line of this road, as far as Bewcastle, is laid down upon the map accompanying this volume.' The Wall, westward of Birdoswald, is in an unusually good state of preservation. Taking into account not only the height but the length of the fragment, and the completeness of the face on both sides, it may be pronounced the finest specimen of the great structure that remains. Even here, however, it is in some places beginning to bend under the weight of years. In the second field from the station we meet with the first distinct traces of the turrets or stone sentry-boxes, four of which are supposed to have been placed between each castellum. Here portions of the side Avails of one remain, united to the south face of the great Wall ; they are three feet thick, and are about thirteen feet apart. At the distance of little more than half a mile from the station we come to the site of another mile-castle. The fosse of the Wall and the earthworks of the Vallum are in this part of their course boldly developed. It will also be observed, that here the Valium is strengthened on its northern side by an addi- tional ditch, as is shown in the subjoined section. No satisfactory reason has been assigned for the arrangement. 3 The additional fortification begins a little to the west of Birdoswald, and ends abruptly at the 'The writer had the advantage of heing accompanied in his examination of this road bv the Rector of Bewcastle, who has himself written upon the subject in the Journal of the Arehasolo°-ical Institute, 1854. 1 Mr. Hodg-son says: — "Through a bog, about a mile west of Amboglanxa, the Vallum has had two ditches, probably intended for draining the military road that ran between them." Mr. McLauchlan thinks " it possible that it was made originally for the ditch of the Wall.'' The present writer has sometimes thought that the Vallum was strengthened, in this part of its course, by an additional line, in order to give increased security against attack from the south. The banks of the Irthing here seem formed for ambuscades. G G O 210 ROCK INSCRIPTION'S. ■ Wallbours mile-castle. This eastellum has occupied the summit of the rido-e which lies before us. Here the Vallum and the Wall come into unusually close proximity, and they continue to hold for some distance the same relationship with each other. The object of greatest interest in this neighbourhood is Coome Crag, 1 a quarry from which the Romans probably obtained extensive supplies of stone, and on the face of which they have left a record of their labours. About a quarter of a mile beyond Wallbours mile-castle let the antiquary forsake the road, and turn down to the river's brink. A woodland scene of great beauty will meet his gaze. The Roman in- scriptions, which are not easily found by the unaided traveller, are on the eastern side of the projecting rock. Most of them are on the upper ledge ; one is near its base. The most important of the inscriptions on the upper ledge is that which is here represented. Un- fortunately it yields us little or no in- formation. "Sep. se- vervs avgvstvs" and '■ severvs ale[xander]" have both been suggested as its true reading; but neither of these interpretations is consistent with the characters as they now stand. Probably the carving is a simple memorial of some soldiers employed at the quarry. It will be observed that the letters have been formed by drilling holes in the shape of the letters, and then connecting them with lines. Several other markings m this part ot the rock seem intended for the word mitii- rianvs ; the most distinct of them is here represented.'- These inscriptions have been known beyond the reach of living memory. A few years ago when Dr. Johnston, of Brampton, was botanizing in this neighbourhood, he discovered, at the x ■R" ■Jr drP "HI! »«!!- /W\ti V' x !\ 1 The word Coome or Comb is probably identical with the Welsh Cymb (pronounced Coome), which signifies a dingle, a hollow place, a glen. 5 Unfortunately the inscriptions on this part of the rock have been covered with a coat of white paint by some well-meaning but mistaken individual, who, whilst seeking to preserve the markings, lias" meanwhile entirely destroyed their antique character. The inscription at the foot of the cliff was probably not known to the knight of the paint-pot, as it has escaped his attentions. HOCK IXSCRIFl'IOXS. 211 foot of the cliff, the inscription which is here shown. Curiously enough, whilst the rock, in the part where the inscription occurs, is coated with a minute smoke-coloured lichen, the letters themselves are covered with FAVST IXO ET RVF CO N S VI.IBV S. Ill tJ le consulship o f Fanstinns and Rnfns, a white lichen, which renders them unusually distinct. Fanstinns and Rufus were consuls a.d. 210. This was the year before Septimius Severus died. During this and one or two previous years extensive repairs were, no doubt, effected in the Wall. In prosecuting our journey westward, nothing calling for remark is met with until we reach Banks Head. Here a mile-castle stood. the traces of which are now nearly or quite obliterated. In it were found, in the year 1808, two altars, dedicated to the local deity. Cocidius. They are now in the crypt of Lanercost Priory. DEO i o C i n I o M T J.1TFS. leg[ionisJ xx. v. v. V. s. L. M. APTi'oxiAXo ET BRAd[va] COS. Dedicated to the god < 'ocidius bv the soldiers of the twentieth legion the Valerian and victorious in discharge of a vow, &c, in the consulship of Apronianus and Bradua. apr-W(§ One ot them, here figured, is the offering of the \ twentieth legion. Cassius Pedo Apronianus and M. Valerius Bradua were consuls in the twelfth year of Commodus, a.d. 191. The boar, on the base of the altar, is the badge of the twentieth legion. Size, j feel i inches by u inches. 212 ALTARS TO COCIDIUS. The other altar, also here figured, is imperfect, and split longitu- dinally into two pieces. It is dedicated by the second legion. Another altar, dedicated to the same god by a vexillation of the sixth legion, belongs to this neighbourhood, probably Howgill, but DEO LECx. II. AVO. To the god Cocidius the soldiers of the second legion the August as the name of the legion cannot now be traced upon it the woodcut representing it is with- held.' It is not improbable that these dedications were made at the same period. We have already seen that the earlier part of the reign of Commodus was a time of turmoil in Britain (page 21) ; it must have been on no ordinary occasion that all the three British legions (or detachments from them) were concentrated here in the latter portion of his reign. The legionary troops, being more purely Roman than the auxiliary forces, may be supposed to be more free from the influence of local superstitions ; but here we find them addressing a god unknown to the mythology of Rome. The events of a.d. 191 were, doubtless, such as to cause considerable anxiety to the commanders in Britain. 5 The Wall then goes over a small hill, called the Pike. The next group of houses is Banks, or Banks Hill. The view from this point, of the fertile plains below, is exceedingly striking. Before coming to the brook, called Banks Burn, a piece of the core of the Wall is seen. Ascending the hill, called Hare Hill, on the western side of the brook, we come to a fragment of the Wall, which is nine feet and a half high. It is, however, divested of its facing stones. Hutton, speaking of it, says : — " I viewed this relick with admiration. I saw no part higher." Just beyond this piece of Wall, a little farther up the hill, is the still distinguishable site of a mile-castle. LANERCOST. In a south-easterly direction from Hare Hill lie two mediseval structures of great interest, Lanercost Priory and Naworth Castle. Both of them have claims upon the Roman antiquaiy — the priory for the treasures which it yet possesses, and the castle as having been the 1 See Lysons' Cumberland, No. 48. and Hodgson's Northumberland, Pt. II., Vol. III., p. 209. The altar is now in the possession of Mr. Georg-p (Jill Mounsey, of Rockliffe, Carlisle. 'The writer's attention has been specially called to these altars by the remarks of Mr. Thomas Hodgson upon them in his MS. volumes, winch are of too great length to be introduced here. A Sl'PPOSED STATION AT LANERCOST. 213 place where, in a rude age, Belted Will preserved, with scholarly care, the lettered spoils of the Wall. Hitherto we have been able to ascertain, with absolute certainty, the stations recorded in the Notitia as standing on the line of the Wall. Now, the means of identification which we have used — inscriptions mentioning the garrison in each — fails lis; and to add to our perplexity antiquaries are not agreed as to which of the camps that Ave meet with, in our progress, are of sufficient importance to be ranked as stations. In these circumstances it will be prudent to forbear allocating the designations of the Notitia until the happy discovery of some inscrip- tion relieves us from our perplexity. Petriana is the station which in the Notitia follows Amboglanna, and it was garrisoned by a body of horse bearing the same name. The station at Walton House is the station to which, in the absence of an inscription naming its garrison, the name Petriana has by most anti- quaries been ascribed. A recent discovery throws doubt upon this opinion. On the face of an ancient limestone quarry, by the side of Banks Burn, and within a short distance of Lanercost, the inscription fnven in the engraving was found in 1859. Can there have been a dec[vrio] al f ae] pet[rianae]. Junius Brutus a decurion 1 of the cavalrv of* Petriana. station at Lanercost, and can it have been Petriana? Walton House station is seven miles distant from Birdoswald; this, though above the average, is not an unprecedented distance, yet when the difficult nature of the country is taken into account it seems to be too great. The stones of which the coventual buildings at Lanercost are formed are all Roman ; these may have been derived from the Wall, which, at the nearest point, is half a mile distant, but the quantity of them is such as to suggest the probability of a nearer source of supply. There is another reason for the conjecture in which we are indulging. Below the present bridge, and immediately opposite the Priory, are the remains of an ancient bridge. The land abutment and the first water-pier on the north side have been deserted by the river, and can easily be examined. The pier is ten feet high. Unfor- tunately all the facing stones have been removed, but the rubble- work of J A decurion was an officer having- the command of ten cavalry. The senior decurion of each tnrma (consisting of three decuries) commanded the whole ti p. K 2 o H <1 Q Jz; P O fa K 03 fa O H M fa i it II Iff ■ »- i/l| : H:l > e o sz; «! o C3 C3 1 ' H 5 S _c3 O > -C tf OJ W > Ph S3 i> o o 5 C3 H s C3 CI. o 1— t Cfl i-3 W •< pi t— 1 O h5 •SJ o CO " j C3 'cfl a o c3 L3 O w S R 3 u CD aT ^. — i CD !-3 « H pfl CT 1 K O c- W ■ CD •- L> CO -a ?-. C3 cd THE ALA PKTRTAXA. 215 the interior has all the appearance of being Roman. In the river, the remains of another pier are to be seen when the water is low. The writer has been informed that there are traces of an ancient road, on the south side of the Irthing, in a line with this bridge. If this bridge, as is probable, is a Roman one, there must have been a stationary camp at Lanercost to guard it. Shortly after the discovery of the rock inscription, given above, a slab, mentioning the Ala Petriana. was found in Carlisle. A drawing of it is shown on the opposite page. This inscription, unfortunately, gives ns no information as to the locality of Petriana. It cannot be Carlisle, where the slab was found. It gives us, however, some unex- pected information regarding the horse regiment or ala bearing the name of Petriana. It was a large one, consisting of a thousand men ; its composition was select, none but citizens of Rome being admitted into its ranks, and it enjoyed the distinction of using the epithets Augusta and Torquata. The epithet " torquata " does not occur on any other British inscription. Probably the prefect, for some deed of valour on his part or that of his troops, was allowed, like Titus Manlius of old. to wear a twisted band of gold around his neck ; or the torque may have been attached to the banner of the ala. The Ala Peatrina occurs in the Riveling rescript of the date of a.d. 124. So powerful a body as this was when the ( iarlisle slab was carved cannot have been I. O. M. CHO. I. AEL. dai . evi pr[ae]- E*T IVLIVV! SATVHNINvfs] tribvn[vs.] Jupiter the ltest and trreatesl rlip first cohort the /Elian of Dacians commanded by Julius Saturainus the tribune [dedicate thi<. CH'OIAh accommodated in so small a station as that of Walton House, which has an area of only two acres and three quarters. The ala may, however, have been greatly reduced before the Notitia was compiled. Excepting the bridge there are no remains of Roman work at Lanercost. It is just possible that if some portions of the priory green were excavated, the foundations of ramparts and barracks might be found. There are evident traces of buildings beneath the sod. Size, z feet 3 inches by 1 foot 1 inch. 216 THE HUNTERS OF BANNA. There are some interesting inscribed and sculptured stones here. An altar, which has been dedicated to Jupiter by the cohort whose head quarters were at Amboglanna, forms part of the headway of the clerestory of the priory-church, in the south-east angle of the choir. 1 The woodcut on the previous page represents it. It has been trimmed by the officious hands of the masons; but, fortunately, the inscription has been spared. The church was 3HE wr ^m m 4 111 i.*)»> ■ consecrated in 1169, so that this altar has been held in durance for seven centuries ; it has, how- ever, been safely preserved. Another altar of great in- terest is now in the crypt of the DEO SANCTO SILVANO VE- NATORES HANN \]v. S A("'ISAVEKVNT.| To the holy god Silvanus the hunters of Banna have consecrated [this tiltar.] priory ; it is shown in the wood- cut. According; to a writer in the Carlisle Patriot of June 16, 1821- it was found in the station of Birdoswald. This altar gives us some insight into the amusements of the Roman soldiery. What occasion had called forth their gratitude does not appear. At Stanhope, in Weardale, is an altar, which will afterwards be described, dedicated to Sil- vanus by the Sebosian cavalry, on the occasion of the destruction of a formidable boar. It is not known where Banna was situated. It is named in the Chorography of Ravennas, where it follows 2Esica. It is also inscribed on the rim of the Rudge cup, where it is next to Amboglanna. It is probable, therefore, that it was in this neighbourhood. A sculptured stone, representing in bold j inch« by i foot 6 inches relief Jupiter and Hercules, is also preserved here. There is a hole in the right hand of Jupiter for the insertion of the thunderbolt. This stone is stated to have been found at Birdoswald. Edward I. and his queen resided at the priory of Lanercost during the winter of 1306-7. See Gentleman's Magazine, 1744, and Arch. Ml., Vol. III., p. =50, N.S. HARE HILL TO SANDTSIKE. 217 Naworth Castle is to the s< >uth of Lanercost. It was severely injured by fire in 1844 ; it still, however, exhibits, with striking vividness, many of the peculiar features of a herder fortress of the middle age. To the south of the castle, and near the railway, is an ancient earthwork, probably a British camp. We now rejoin the Wall on Hare Hill. A little beyond the mile- castle a break in the Wall occurs, in which a turret or small quadran- gular building is placed. It seems to have been quite independent of the Wall, and projects northwards beyond it. We next pass Money Holes, where, probably, coins have occasionally been picked up. Through the priory woods, to the south of us. the works of the Vallum proceed un- dauntingly on their onward course, and are in irood condition. The fact that the Vallum goes along the southern slope of the hill, leaving the summit to the Wall, bears upon the question of the contemporaneous or successive construction of the works. At Craggle Hill the north fosse is very bold. At Havton Gate a drove road, closed half a century ago, crossed the Wall. A very little west of Randelands we meet with the feeble traces of a mile-castle. After crossing the rivulet, called Burtholme Beck, a piece of the Wall is seen, which stands nearly seven feet high ; its facing stones are gone, but the rough pebbly mortar of the interior possesses its original tenacity. As is often the case, the ruin is tufted with hazel bushes, oak trees, and alders. Beyond this point a second ditch and rampart, outside the Wall. seem, for a short distance, to have been added to the usual lines of fortifi- cation. The Wall passes on the north of Howgill. Low Wall, and Dovecote, on its way to the King Water. At the farm-house of Howgill is a rude centurial stone, described by Gordon, Horsley, and most subsequent writers. It is shown in the woodcut. It is one of the few [e] civ it ate c at- vyellavx- onvM .... From the stnre of the ( lattuvellauni Size, i foot 6 inches by 10 inches. inscriptions which give some little countenance to the conjecture, that occasionally some of the British tribes were used in repressing others. The Catyeuchlani of Ptolemy occupied the counties of Buckingham and Oxford, and some neighbouring parts. Nearly due north from Low Wall some slight indications of a mile-castle may be ol (served. Between the King Water and the Caml >eck Water the line of the Wall may be easily traced ; but the Vallum is more obscure. At the entrance of the village of Walton taint traces of a mile-castle are to be observed. Many of its cottages are built out of the spoils of the Wall. At Sandysike farm-house the foundations i i i 218 THE (AMP AT WALTON HOUSE. of the Wall and other traces of mural vicinage are to be seen ; the barn consists of Roman stones, marked with the diamond broaching, and some fragments of carved stones are preserved in the garden. In the plantation, to the west of the house, the ruins of the Wall are well marked; a little excavation might display the foundations of a turret. The fosse of the Wall, as we descend into the valley of the Cambeck, is well developed. It is probable that a mile-castle stood on the west bank of the water, but all traces of it are obliterated. WALTON HOUSE STATION. This station is called, by Camden, Castlesteads, where, he tells us. o-reat ruins were to be seen. It is called Cambeck Fort by Horsley, from the circumstance of its vicinity to the river Cambeck. Prior to the publication of Hutchinson's Cumberland, in 1794, the estate, in which it is situated, passed into the hands of the ancestor of its present possessor, George John Johnson. Esq., who erected the existing man- sion, and denominated it Walton House. The station must needs take a similar designation. When Mr. Johnson purchased the property, the camp was covered with brushwood and trees of large size, and when the house was built, the camp was cleared, trenched to the depth of three feet, and converted into a garden. The following particulars relating to the station are given in Hutchinson's Cumberland, cither from the writer's own observation, or contemporary authorities: — " The whole fortress seems to have been a very sumptuous and fine building. Mos1 of the stones that are dug- up are black, as if the whole place had been burnt: and what confirms me more in this opinion is, that in several places, as yet dug into, there are great numbers of iron nails, pieces of iron and brass, that are run into lumps, though now in a mouldering condition There are several foundations of the houses yet standing distinctly in the fort, pretty high, but hard to he come at for the brushwood growing in them. "Several rooms were found, the floors of which, consisting of thick masses of strong cement, were supported upon pedestals. There were many other curious floors found among the ruins, and some coal ashes. . . . There was also a cold hath found near the place, and not far from it something like a cistern, about five yards by one and a half, composed of thick slate stones, very large, and set edge-ways, curiously cemented so as to refuse passage to any liquid. " The altars (except the largest) were found within the fort, about eighteen inches below the surface of the upper soil; several little troughs were also found there, with their bottoms turned up; conduits were discovered in all directions, and channel stones, apparently made for carrying off day water. " The ruins of the walls were wholly confused It has frequently been observed that the little buildings, found within the Roman stations, were scattered in an irregular manner, and must have been the work of those who succeeded the Romans. " Several coins were found of one of the Constantines, of Maxentius, and others.*' The following statement probably relates to the platform of a ballista, or other engine, for projecting heavy missiles: — " On the south side, without the walls of the fort, was a large platform of stones. five feel below the surface, covering eleven yards in length and eight feet in breadth. Tc "Vl"' "9>ron STATIOl AT TVAiLTOFT EDI'.SJ 1 , ALTAR To JUPITER. 219 •• At some little distance from the fort the foundations of a building were found, ami about it a quantity of ashes and some wheat, the graiD entire but turned black. Here the lars^e^t altar was discovered; it is cracked, perhaps by the effect of fire. Ashes ami burnt wheal have frequently been found." The station of Walton House being situated upon a tongue of laud, somewhat elevated above the general level, occupies a position of considerable strength. " On the north the ground is precipitous, falling about sixtv feet to the river Cambeck; on the south and west the fall is gentle towards the Irthing." "Its height above the sea is about two hundred feet." " The distance of the station from the Wall is about four hundred yards south, and from the line which it is presumed the Vallum took about one hundred yards." ' Its area, as already stated, is two acres and three quarters. It commands an extensive view ; besides overlooking the country for a considerable distance north of the Wall. the camp of Watchcross on the west, and Birdoswald on the east, are in sight. The outlines of the station cannot be now accu- rately discerned. The traces of the ditch are visible, par- ticularly on the west front. No ditch was required on the north front, the steep diluvial scar being a sufficient protection. As to the ancient name of the station nothing more definite can be said of it than has been said by Hodgson : — "Petriana, I believe, was cither here <>r in some other part of Cumberland." The Ala Petriana was in garrison at Petriana when the Xotitia was compiled. The station of Walton House has yielded many im- s^-, 4 ka > inches b y ■ foot 7 inches. portant inscriptions. Most of these, together with the other relies found in it. are carefully preserved upon the spot. The altar here given has had an eventful history. After having VnWiVi, r R ICVI-P,RA!1 Hit - ^lARrrffj 1 Memoir of a Survey of the Roman Wall, pp. rr.?. . ' Mr. Thomas Hoda'Son shows that •■princeps" is not here a proper name hut a designation of military rank. Dr. McCaul remarks: — "The first centurion of the 'principes' was called 'princeps,' and in military rank stood next to the first centurion of the ' triarii,' who was called ' primipilus.' " — Brit.-Rom. Ins.. p. IT. (hie other difficulty occurs. This inscription makes the Emperor Gordian colleagme with Pompeianus, in his third consulate, which the fasti consulares ascribe to his second. The easiest way of getting over the difficulty is by supposing that the third i. in the numeral was intended to lie all ET ill feature. Henzen takes this view of it. ALTAH TO JUPITER. 221 The altar next introduced is of similar character to that already discussed. It was found, in the year 1818, in the Cambeck Water, a little south of the Wall. It is supposed to have fallen from the east d 1 \ T\/FRVC* cp ■,)tV Li\v J' T\ oTTWKjSB/RO' r MM). ^NkrXr.: ■ >^»^^ l[0V]J 0[PT1MO] M[AXIMO loll ORS] SECVNDA TVNGR[ORVm] m illiakia] eq[vitata] c[ivivsi] l[atinorvm] praeest alb[vs] [cvi severvs pr- aef[ectvs] tvng[rorvm1 in- sta[nte| vic[tore] sev[e]ro prixcipi. Size, 4 Icot Dy z feet. To Jupiter the best and greatest the second cohort of Tungrians a milliary cohort with a due proportion of [cavalry citizens of Latum commanded by Albus Seyerus pre- lect of the Tungrians [erected this] under the superintendence of Victor Severus princeps. bank of the rivulet, where a stone pedestal was found, on which appa- rently it had been placed. In the masonry of the pedestal a coin of the elder Faustina was detected. 1 Like the former this altar is adorned 'This information was supplied by Mr. Parker, of Brampton, who had it from the mason employed. Mr. Wilkin, in the Carlisle' Patriot, June 16, 1821, says:—" Had the hammer of the man who found it not been stayed at the precise moment of libration, this fine monument would have heen broken into walling stones in a tew minutes." K K K 992 THE GARRISONS OF WALTON HOUSE STATION. uii one side with the thunderbolt of Jove, and on the other with the wheel of Nemesis, the symbol of swift retributive justice. Two Tungrian cohorts were among Ao-ricola's forces at the battle of the Grampians. The first cohort of the Tungrians was located at Borcovicus, when the Notitia was compiled. We have the evidence before us of the employment, at some period, of the second cohort of the Tungrians, in the neighbourhood of the Walton House station. It may be doubted, however, whether the whole of so large a cohort could be accommodated in so small a camp. Other troops besides these have left proofs of their presence here. Horsley gives an altar, "generally said to have come from this fort," which was dedicated by the fourth cohort of Gauls. Traces of the second and sixth legions have also been met with. Among the most important of the altars which are now at Walton House is the one which is represented in the woodcut. The altar is a / m^^^-^^-^^^e ^»__ rude one. but the letters are it as sharp as if they were only just cut. It bears marks of fire upon its surface, and a quantity of scorched wheal was found lying beneath it. On the third line are some [SCIPV- To the disci LINAE pline AVC- of Aug- VSTI. ustus. letters, which have been nearly obliterated. 1 There can be no doubt, as Mr. C. Roach Smith shows, in his Collectanea Antiqua, Vol. II., p. 17"). and Vol. IV., p. 150, that the Augustus referred to is Hadrian. He brought the discipline of the Roman army to its highest perfection. Several of the coins of Hadrian bear on the reverse the legend disciplina avg.. with a corresponding device. One of these has already been figured, page 48; another is here shown. Coins of this type belong exclusively to the reign of Hadrian. 'The Bishop of Cloyne concludes, from the presence of what lie believes to be three G's, that the altar was originally dedicated to Severus and his two sons. — Lysons' Cumb., p. clxxi. INSCRIPTIONS AT WALTON' HOUSE. 223 with the exception of a very few of the time of Antoninus Pins, and the dies of these may have been prepared during the lifetime of Hadrian. We are warranted, therefore, in ranking this altar along with those other tablets which bear witness to the activity and influence of Hadrian in the mural region. The following statements, from Dion Cassius, are in conformity with this view : — " Hadrian maintained a severe discipline among the soldiers, and suffered them not to abuse their strength either in disobeying the generals or oppressing the weak. "He accustomed the soldiers to their exercises, encouraged those that did 'well, reproved others, and showed them all their duty. There was not one that durst excuse himself from it, when he saw the severity of discipline which he imposed upon himself. To say all in a few words, he established, during the whole course of his reign, by his precepts and example, so exact a discipline in the army, that to this day it is observed as a kind of law." — Manning's Dion Cassius, Vol. II., pp. 133, 137. The altar shown in the woodcut was found, in 1856, in a field north of the station. The name of the deity is new to us, the name of the dedicator is unusual. X VMINl] AVGVS'I'f 1 I DEO VANA- v.\'i i avrel[ivs] AHMIGER DEOVRIOI PRINcTlPVM. To the majesty of Augustus and the god Vanauntis (!) Aurelius Armiger a decurion of the principes. >izj, 1 fet I inch by I fjol I inch. and the title which he assumes has not pre- viously been met with in Romano-British inscriptions. It was first published by Mr. C. Roach Smith in the Collectanea Antiqua, Vol. IV. The ornaments on the capital are worthy of attention; here we have an undoubted example of the pointed arch respecting the origin of which there has been so much dispute. The funereal monument here represented was seen by Brand in 1783, and figured by him ; it is still preserved at Wal- ton House. The lower part of the stone has been broken off. In consequence of the incorrect representations of the inscription that have Size, z feet 6 inches by I foct lo inch;;; ■224: SCULPTURED STONES AT WALTON HOUSE. hitherto been given, the last two letters of the word gemellica being- separated from the rest, and a full stop placed after each, great has been the perplexity of those who have attempted to read it, and various the interpretations they have given of it. 1 Gemellica, it must be con- fessed, is a name which we have not previously met with. d[iisJ m[anibvsj gemellica fiJavio] hilario s[epvlchrvm] h[oc] f[ieri] c[vhavit.] To the divine Manes Gemellica to Flavins Hilarius caused this sepulchre to be erected. Of the other objects which are here represented little need be said. One is a figure of Victory, bearing the palm branch and the crown. The inscription, vic[toriae] avg[vsti], is an attempt to identity Victory with the person of the emperor. The other stones arc probably frag- Size, i feel 1 inches by I foot 9 inches Size, 1 foot 8 inches by 1 foot 2. inches. merits of funereal monuments. One (if them gives the portrait of a somewhat comely damsel, the other is a good exhibition of the dress of the period. The headless lady wears a circular brooch on her breast, and a bracelet on her right arm. The objects which she holds in her hands may represent the provision with which she is furnished for her long last journey. Mr. C. Roach Smith suggests that she may be a Dea Mater. BRAMPTON OLD CHURCH AND BRAMPTON STATION. About half a mile to the south of the station of Walton House is Brampton Old Church. It stands upon a knoll possessing great military advantages and commanding an extensive prospect. The mate- rials of which the church is composed have the appearance of Roman stones. In draining the ground recently added to the churchyard, traces of a Roman road and some Roman pottery were found. Probably a fort has stood here subsidiary to that at Walton House. Still farther to the south is the site of an undoubted Roman camp, to which the late 'The Rev. John Hodgson, for example, gives the following explanation of it: — "Diis Manibus. Gemelli causa affectionis Flavio Hilario sepulchrum hoc fieri curaverunt — To the gods of the departed: his twins, nut of affection to Flavins Hilarius, caused this sepulchre to he made." CAMP NEAR B HAMPTON. 22.3 Mr. Robert Bell, of Irthington, 1 was the first to call attention. It is a mile and a half south of Walton House station, and rather more than a quarter of a mile south-east of Brampton Old Church ; it contains an area of an acre and a half. As it is under cultivation the traces of its ramparts are fast disappearing. So satisfied was Mr. McLauchlan as to its possessing the usual features of a Roman camp, that he classes it among the " Stationes per lineam Valli." Conceiving Walton House to be the Petriana of the Notitia, he applies to the Brampton camp the name that follows next in order, that of Aballaba. The ground is strewed with stones; Roman pottery and coins have frequently been found in it. To the south of the camp are some remarkable barrows. We rejoin the Wall at Cambeck Hill. On the left of the road is a mound on which a plane-tree is growing — this is the site of a mile- castle. The antiquary who would keep company with the Wall must now forsake the road and traverse the footpath which for some miles keeps very close to it ; sometimes it runs upon the core of its founda- tion, sometimes in its fosse, and not unfrequentlv it is enclosed between pleasant green hedges. The village of Beck is soon reached. To the north of the village, and in the bed of the streamlet which probably uives it its name. Mr. Parker, of Brampton, recently discovered the altar" shown in the woodcut, and which is now in his possession. The altar seems to have fallen from a hill, by the water's edge, on the top of which are some slight traces of building. In consequence, probably, of the difficult nature of the country, I. O. M. i oh[ohs] IIII. GAL- L O R V M (VI P R A E - EST CLAVDIVS MODESTVS I'liAEFEl TVS V. S. L. M. To Jupiter the best and greatest the fourth cohort of Gauls commanded by Claudius Modestus the prefect in discharge of a vow. Ac. camps of observation seem to be more S ; z =, z *« i inch b, i thickly planted here than in other parts of the Wall. This is the second altar erected by the fourth cohort of Gauls which has been found in this district. This body of troops had their head quarters at 1 " A well-informed, zealous, and warm-hearted antiquary, who, for the pure love of science, had long- attended to the antiquities of the locality." — Collectanea Antiqua, Vol. IV., p. 151. Mr. Parker was out with his otter hounds at the time that he made the discovery. It is seldom that a sportsman returns from the field so richly freighted. L L L 22(5 NEWTOWN OF IRTHINGTON. ■Jftiim Vindolana when the Notitia was compiled. They must, at one time, have been quartered at Walton House station, or been present there in some considerable force. Westward of Beck the fosse of the Wall arid Vallum are deeply cut through some diluvial mounts. Headswood is passed and the Newtown of Irthington readied. The late Mr. Robert Bell, of Irthington, extracted from a pig-stye in Newtown, the memorial of imperial Rome shown in the wood- cut. Leaving Newtown, we walk on the outside of the north fosse. A little out of the village the site of a mile-castle may be detected. At Whiteflat it is necessary to avoid the road winch turns to the left, unless our object is to reach Irthington. Proceeding westward, the Vallum is distinctly seen in near vicinage to the Wall. At a point having Cumrenton on the north and Hurtleton on the south, the Wall bends at an angle to the north. A held between Hurtleton and the Wall is called ( !hapel Field ; some building of more than usual importance has probably at one time stood in it. We now make for Old Wall. The site of a mile-castle feebly manifests itself. The north fosse is boldly developed, and some fine oak trees grow upon its margins. Until a comparatively recent period the remains of the Wall at Old Wall must have been considerable, for the writer was informed by the late Mr. Richard Law, of this place, that he remembered great quantities of stone being carted away from it for building purposes. In the houses here. Roman stones will readily be noticed. A centurial stone, having reference to the second legion, is built in the inside face of the wall of a irii''- house at the east end of leg[ionis] ii. ayg[vstjej y IVLl[l] TE- iitvllia[pti! ? Of the second legion the August the century of Ter- tullianus. Size, IO inches by 8 inches. the village. To this locality also belongs the imperfect altar which is shown in the margin. It is in the possession of Mr. George Gill Mounsev, of Rockliffe. The altar is o interesting in many respects. We formerly noticed an altar (p. 152) in which Cocidius, the favourite deity M A It T 1 C O C I D I M A R T I V S . . CO H. I. DAT To Mars Cocidius Martins, a centurion (?) of the first cohort of Dacians. SV- .^»!ninnrmT!ffininnm(nTntn HART! PCI DIC fAPTlVS OH"TD/ v of these parts, was invoked in connection with Sil- oENO vanus. Here we find him associated with Mars. The altar also furnishes us with evidence of the presence, . * in. b, i ft. i at Old Wall, of a detachment of the cohort of Dacians. whose head quarters were at Amboglanna. We might suppose that THE CAMP AT WATCHCROSS. 22 t the altar included a dedication GENIO valli — to the genius of the Wall; in such a case, however, the name of the person erecting the altar would not have been placed between the two objects of his worship, but at the close. The last lines on the original are too obscure to admit of satisfactory explanation. As we find, in this locality, traces of Dacians, Tungrians, and Gauls, who for a lengthened period were quartered in the stations to the east of it, we are warranted in supposing that there had been, at some period, a concentration of forces here to repel a threatened invasion. Owing to the nature of the country, the mural barrier on the western side of the Cambeck Water would be more difficult of defence, than on the more exposed and lofty regions which we traversed before coming to it. WATCHCROSS. About a mile south of Old Wall is Watchcross, the site of a Roman camp. Whether it was a stationary camp or a place of only temporary occupation has been matter of dispute. Horsley conceived it to be one of the mural stations which had done battle with the Caledonians for centuries, and to be the Aballaba of the Notitia. The Rev. John Hodgson thought that it w T as but a temporary encamp- ment; and in proof of this position argued the absence of any stone buildings on the site, and the poverty of the soil, which he took to be conclusive evidence that it had not been long in Roman occupation. In answer to the latter statement. Mr. McLauchlan observes that " those who have examined the nature of the soil affirm that it is so very unretentive that any accumulation of manure on it would be carried through in the course of a few centuries."' The camp contains an area of an acre and a half. The site of it is now under cultivation, and the outlines of it can scarcely be detected. It has yielded no inscribed stones. ( )n mature reflection, the present writer is disposed to think that a mural garrison must have been stationed here. Stanwix, where, according to Hodgson, the station next in succession to that of Walton House is to lie found, is upwards of eight miles distant from it. Both Stanwix and Walton House stations are smaller than any of the stations to the east of them, and little more than half the size of some. The country is comparatively fiat, and in ancient times must have contained large tracts of marsh land. Under these circumstances we would expect to find some stations between the points referred to, and at no great distance from each other. The camp near Brampton has been one of these ; Watchcross may have been another. The present writer would look for a third but knows not where to find it. We rejoin the Wall. For some distance westward of Old Wall the works may he traced with satisfaction, an ancient drove-road 228 BLEATARN. running upon the site of the Wall. Eventually, however, tall hedges and cultivated fields interfere materially with the traveller's progress. At a spot called High Stead, about half way between Old Wall and Bleatarn, there ought to be a mile-castle, and tradition says there once was one. In this vicinity the altar here shown was ploughed up- -the two fragments at different times — in DEO To the god c OCIDIO Cocidius MILITES the soldiers of the LEG. VI. VIC. P. F. sixth legion, victorious, pious, faithful the winter of 1851-2. It was in the possession of Mr. Robert Bell, of Irthington. Bleatarn is a place of considerable interest. The Wall runs a little to the north of the farm-house ; the Vallum is imme- diately south of it. Between the Wall and the Vallum, and westward of the farm-house, is a large tumulus, which has been diminished in height by several feet within the last few years. The site of the Wall here rises above the general surface. Horsley tells us. " Near Bleatarn the Wall runs through mossy ground, and the foundation here has been made with piles of wood." It probably is to the same place also that Stukeley's observation applies — " Mr. Gilpin says, in taking up the foundation of the Wall at a boggy place they found a frame of oak- timber underneath, very firm." Nearly due south from Bleatarn, in the vicinity of Wetheral, and on the south bank of the river Eden, is a rock inscription to which little attention has been paid. It was mentioned by Mr. Milbourne, of Armathwaite Castle, in a communication to the Society of Antiquaries in 1755. and his description is given at length in Hutchinson's Cum- berland. The inscription occurs on the face of a lofty cliff, which can only lie approached when the water is low. It is easily found, from the circumstance that a few yards lower down the water, but at a higher elevation, three cavern-like apartments, popularly called " The Cells," have been formed in the cliff. The left hand portion seems to have been intended for maximvs scri[p]sit ; some of the letters of the other part are very ill formed, but to the writer they seemed to be le[g]. xx. vv. condicivs sivs. The reader has on the opposite page the vieAv entertained by the skilled and faithful artist, Mr. Mossman. to whom he is indebted for the drawing. Although the full meaning of the inscription cannot be ascertained, it gives us an additional indication of the presence of the twentieth legion in the mural district. The figure of a stag -will be noticed at one extremitv. Leaving Bleatarn the Wall goes by Wallhead, Walby, and Wall- < Ph I— » O 02 5S M M M 230 MONUMENTAL STONE. foot. It is chiefly to be traced by its fosse. Drawdikes Castle is a con- spicuous farm-building on the turnpike road leading to Carlisle. The lines of the Vallum may be seen in front of it. though they have recently been lowered to render the ground more sisrhtlv. Built into (VI J V \ VK1. Li rv-O 17 vil v v /\A71.1 \, Lj. CQH vr ~J m iize, ; feet 2 inches bv J feet 2 inches. DIS MANIBV- S MARCI TROIANI AVGVSTINI H[VNC]? TVMfvLVM] FA- ciendvm cvravi- t ael[ia] ammil[la] lvsima conivx karissima. 1 To tlie divine Manes of Marcus Trojanus Augustimis. This tomb was prepared by zElia Amilla Lusima his most lovino 1 wife. the back of the house is the curious monumental stone represented in the engraving. It is uncertain whether it has been derived from Carlisle or Stanwix. From Tarraby to Stanwix the "Wall may be traced with satisfaction : a footpath runs along its foundation. As we approach Stanwix the advantageous nature of its position for a Roman station is well seen. A fine elevated platform is before us, having the church on its eastern margin. The ground falls from it on every side, except the west ; and here the river and its deep and broad valley are at hand. 1 It is difficult to ascertain precisely the name of the deceased, there being three I's, instead of one or two at the end of avgvstiniii. The easiest way of solving - the difficulty is by sup- posing that the two last have been intended for h, representing- hvnc. There is also some doubt as to the correct mode of dividing the letters which compose the lady's name. snam SBJj The Getty foCcf out/map not digitized STAXWIX. 231 THE STATION AT STANWIX. The distance of Stanwix from Watchcross station is five miles, and from the Walton House station eight miles. The outlines of the fort cannot now be discerned ; the Wall formed its northern boundary. The church and churchyard stand within it. Mr. Hodgson was told by the vicar, that " in the churchyard graves are often dug through strong masonry, and much Roman earthenware found in it." Mr. McLauchlan, after patiently gathering up all the information that could be obtained, says : — " We suppose the east wall of the station to have been about sixty feet to the east of the church, and the width of the station about one hundred and ten yards, and the distance from the great Wall about the same, which would give a square of about two acres and a half." The suburban buildings of the station stood upon the sunn} slopes to the south and south-east of it. Unhappily no inscriptions have been found to tell us the name of the fort, or what troops garrisoned it. Horsley regarded it as the Con- ga vata of the Notitia ; Hodgson as the Aballaba ; and Mr. McLauchlan as the Axelodunum. The subject is not yet ripe for a decision. Size, 5 feet 8 inches by j feet z inches. Several sculptured stones have been derived from this station ; the woodcuts represent some of them. The stone, exhibiting a fully armed horseman trampling on a prostrate foe, is probably part of a monumental stone. It affords a slight corroboration of Pennant's notion 232 CARLISLE. that Stanwix was a station for cavalry. The drawing of this sculpture, though not in all points correct, is very spirited. It was found in the wall of the old church ; its surface is much injured by exposure to the weather ; it is now at Netherhall. The other subjects here shown are all of recent discovery. The small figure of Victory was found in pulling down the old church. The fragments of a leg and arm exhibit consider- able artistic skill. The other stone, representing the foot of what appears to have been an imposing figure of Victory, proudly treading upon the round earth, supplies us, in its present mutilated state, as compared with its former condition, with a striking emblem of the vanity of human ambition. The earth remains — the conquerors, where are they ? By means of its fosse the Wall may be traced from the station of Stanwix to the edge of the cliff overhanging the river Eden. It joined the stream near to Hyssop-Holm Well. No remains of the bridge by which it was brought across the Eden have come down to our time, but Camden and other writers describe some traces of it. The Wall did not, as might have been expected, make for the hill on which the castle of Carlisle stands ; but, bending more to the west, ran to a spot near the engine house at Newtown, formerly used to supply the canal with water. In cutting, in 1854, the main outlet for the sewers of the city, the Wall was met with, three feet below the surface of the ground, pursuing the course now indicated. The Vallum, however, is supposed to have embraced the castle in its range. ( 'ARLISLE. Carlisle, commanding as it does the passage of the river Eden. must always have been a place of importance. Agricola probably planted one of his forts here. When the country became firmly settled under the Roman rule, a commercial fraternity would naturally collect in it. The character and the extent of the remains which, at the present day, are exposed whenever the surface is disturbed, show that a large and thriving Roman population were located in the city. It is not named in the list of stations in the Notitia, possibly because it partook more of the nature of a commercial than a military post ; but antiquaries are agreed that it is the Luguvallium of the Antonine Itinerary. 1 A few of the lapidary remains that have been discovered in the city will here be noticed ; others will be referred to in a following chapter. The figure of Hercules, which forms the subject of the first woodcut on the next page, is less mutilated than statues usually are, and exhibits con- siderable artistic skill. It was found a few years ago in a garden opposite the Bush Inn, where the news-room and houses in Devonshire X A sort of Road Book of the Roman Empire. ''It is supposed to have been composed about the year 320." The Itineraries relating- to Britain are given in Mr. Wright's " The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon." LUGUV ALLIUM. 233 Street now stand ; it is in the possession of Mr. George Gill Mounsey, of Rockliffe. It would seem that the worship of Hercules was popular in Luguvallium. The slab next engraved was found in 1860. when the foundations of the Journal newspaper office were being duo - . The letters are very neatly cut, and the ornamental moulding skilfully carved. The inscription is a peculiar one. and the reading of it is difficult. One source of difficulty is our igno- rance as to whether we have cot the whole of the inscription (with the exception of a few letters at the end of the lines), or only the half of it. An inspection of the stone inclines the writer to think that each half of the slab has con- tained an independent inscrip- tion. Probably the missing tal >le contained the names of the con- suls of the year in which the temple was reared, and the day and month of its dedication. The Em- peror Commodus boasted of his skill as an athlete, and not only assumed DEI HERcVlIS IN-" VICTI CONUSOR-] TIBVS PRO S [ A L V T i: cmmilitoxym barbarorv[mJ OB VIRTV[TEJl] P. SEXTAN Tiv[s CI VI-" TATE TRAIA[X0P0LI.] To the companions of the invincible god Hercules for the safety of his foreig-n fellow-soldiers on account of their bravery Publius Sextantius of the city of Trajanopolis [erects this.] ; reet by z feet. - ;jj VfmKGOA ] .: : Mfi LT 3AXBARO. OBVIRT TAJ.i:-" r.EG [UNIS] vi. vic[thicis P I.i: F tDKLIs] OH RES TRANS vaj.i.ym ruo- SPEIir. GESTAS. Lucius Junius A ic- torinus and Cuius /Elianus Augusta! legati s of the sixth legion victorious (linns and faithful on account of achievements bevond the Wall 1 pro- sper usly effected. LIVM ! VS VI C ' ' ) F. I N V S El.- p\EL[A KG; lyAV-CLL-C" i/ic I '; .ff.obke; ::;/Y5i '"-VALI/'MrpRO^ 'S.PERECE.S7A^ Size, 5 feet by z teet. The altar has been cut down by modern hands, with the intention, apparently, of forming the base of a circular column. There is some doubt as to the correct way of reading the former part of this incomplete inscription, but there is none as to the latter, in which its chief interest centres. Many a tierce and valorous onslaught must the Romans have made upon the natives north of the harrier, and their reception by the early tenants of the soil was. no doubt, usually such as to make their safe return a matter of devout thankfulness. The inscription probably belongs to the reign of Hadrian. or that of Antoninus Pius, his immediate successor. 1 ■■ Vallum here. I think, plainly means the whole fortified line, consisting- of the earthen dyke mid the stone Wall — and ' trans Vallum' in the country north of the Wall.'"— Hodgson. - •■ If any inscription can, from the shape of the letters and the simple character of it. be claimed as one of an early date, it is this one. It, to my mind, has every appearance of beino- erected in the reign ot Hadrian There is only one ligature of letters, adopted as a contraction to p-et theword into the line. There is not a verb, too, in it."'— Air. Thomas Hodgson's MSS. 'Ihe Bishop ofCloyne ascribes it to the reign of Antoninus Pius.— Lysons' Cumb., No. 95. 236 THE STATION AT BURGH. Leaving the village of Kirkandrews, the Wall strikes north-west in the direction of Beaumont ; the Vallum goes in nearly a straight line to Monk Hill and Burgh-upon-Sands. The quantity of stones in the churchyard at Beaumont indicates the existence, at one time, of an un- usual amount of building. Mr. McLauchlan observes : — " The view from the churchyard is commanding, not only over the estuary of the Sol way, but over the country in every direction, and, therefore, advantageous as a position for a work of observation and defence."' LEG. XX. V A L . (?) VIC. [c]OH. V. Of the twentieth leg-ion ilic Valerian and victorious the fifth cohort. Built into a garden wall, in the village, is the stone here ex- hibited ; it was found in the Eden more than thirty years ago. We have thus another proof of the presence of a detachment of the twentieth legion on the line of the Wall itself. The Wall now forsakes the river's bank, and proceeds nearly due west in the direction of Burgh-upon-Sands. About half a mile below Beaumont an altar was found some years ago, 1 which mentions the coh. nervana germanorvm mil. eq. It does not seem to be now in existence/ BUEGH-UPOi\-SA.M)S. There is little at Burgh to arrest the eye of the antiquary. The outlines of the station are scarcely discernible. The Wall, which ran on the north of the present turnpike road, doubtless formed its northern rampart, and the Vallum probably joined its south front. ''The road, running north and south, nearly conforms to the west side of the station ; and it may be presumed that the south-east angle of the church- yard is very nearly conformable to the south-east angle of the station." 3 The station is five miles and a half from Stanwix, along the line of the Wall, and it contains an area of about three acres. The land, both on the east and west sides of it, must have been a marsh in the days of Roman occupation, thereby contributing to its strength as a military position. The church, which partakes very much of the character of 1 See Arch. yEL, Vol. J., p. 420, where it is figured. - And no wonder. When the Rev. John Hodgson saw it it was in a garden, in the village; it was whitewashed, '•ami used for the double purpose of a seat and braying sand upon." 3 Mr. McLauchlan's Memoir, ]>. 82. DYKESFIELD. 237 r Si Iff c H!esiMc^s a border fortress is composed chiefly of Roman stones; and in the churchyard fragments of Roman pottery are frequently observed. In 1855 some mutilated sculptures were found in a gravel pit. to the south of the station ; they are shown in the woodcut, which has been prepared from a sketch by the Rev. J. B. Norman. The larger fragment is evidently a portion of a monumental inscription, and it has pro- bably recorded the name of some soldier who was a native of the far-distant I )acia. It will be remembered that Edward I. died on Burgh Marsh, which is to K < ■ ,001 b ' nc,KS b >' 9 >" chcs - the north of the town, when about to invade Scotland. The monument which marks the spot is figured in the woodcut at the end of this chapter. From Burgh the Wall passes by the West End farm-house to Watch Hill ; an accumulation of stones, at this point, renders it pro- bable that a mile-castle stood on it, The Wall then makes straight for the edge of the marsh at Dykesfield. The Vallum is traceable at intervals throughout this distance; it is seen for the last time about fifty yards north of the public road, south of Watch Hill. In this district stone is exceedingly scarce. The Romans seem to have gone to Howrigg quarry, which is not less than eight miles south of the line, for their facing stones ; those used for the interior of the Wall correspond in character with the stone of Stonepot Scar, a quarry on the north shore of the Solway Firth. Such being the deficiency of building material, it is not surprising that the modern inhabitants of the district should have matri[bvs] domTesticis] VE.VILLATIo] LEGflONIsl VI. used the Wall as a quarry. However, even when the Wall has been entirely up- rooted, its track is marked by a quantity of small stones, which remain in the ground. IO j„ ches by 6 ,„ ch «. Dykesfield is probably indebted to the works of the barrier for its name. An altar to the mother goddesses, still preserved on the spot, was found here. To the domestic mothers a vexillation of the sixth lei; inn dedicate this. 238 THE STATION AT DIUMIHTiiill. RPROSEETSJ JJEO BELATV- CADRO . TO.SVIT Ali- AM PRO SE ET S- VIS To the g'od Belatu- cader . placed this altar for himself and family. 6 inches by 4 inches. At Longburgh, which is to the south of Dykesfield, an altar to Belatucader was found, some years ago, which is kept in the farm-house. The name of the dedicator has not been deciphered. The woodcut in the margin represents the altar. Some doubt has been entertained as to the course of the Wall Avestward of Dykesfield. It has been maintained that it went straight across the Marsh to Drumburgh. It is more than probable, however, that it skirted the southern margin of the inlet, going round by Boustead Hill and Easton. Both Horsley and Brand tell us that the country people informed them it took this course, and that in ploughing they frequently struck upon it. All traces of it have now disappeared. DRUMBURGH. The outlines of the station at Drumburgh arc quite distinct. It is the smallest station on the line, containing an area of only three quarters of an acre. Its surface is covered with a luxuriant sward, and its northern rampart is shaded by some thriving ash-trees. Drumburgh station is four miles and a quarter from Burgh. South of the station is a well, said to be Roman; it is now covered, the water being drawn from it by a pump. The Castle of Drumburgh is a fine specimen of the fortified manor-house of the olden time. Leland, writing in 1539, says :— "At Drumburygh, the Lord Dacre's father builded upon old ruines a prety pyle for defence of the country. The stones of the Pict Wall were pulled down to build it." In July, 1859, the inscription figured in the PEDATV UA VINDO Monvci Size, I toot 5 niches bv I foot I inch. margin was found at Drumburgh. It is provokingly silent upon the point on which antiquaries are so desirous of information — the Roman name of the garrison. Pedatvea is a measurement of space ; vindom< >i;a is a station in the first Iter of Antonine, and is generally identified with Ebchester, but what is vindomorvci ? As yet the inscription has not been interpreted ; in all probability it is incomplete. The Wall, after leaving Drumburgh, bends to the north of Glasson, keeping to the south of the road; having reached the shore, it runs PRIMEVAL FOREST. 239 along it by Westfield and Kirkland to Port Carlisle. Occasionally traces of it are discernible. In this part of its course the Wall has been built upon a stratum of earth which covers a prostrate forest. Camden noticed the changes which the coast had undergone. To adopt the quaint language of his earliest translator, he says : — « That the form of these shores hath bin changed, it doth evidently appeare by the tree roots covered over with sand a good way off from the shore, which oftentimes at a l„ w ,1,1,, are discovered with the windes. I know not whether I may relate here, winch the inhabitants reported concerning trees without boughs under the ground, oftentimes found out here in the mosses, by the direction of dew in summer; for they have observed that the dew never standeth on that ground under which they lye." When the canal, now turned into a railway, leading to Port Carlisle, was made, these ancient trees were cut down upon. The engineer o-ives the following account of the circumstance :— «A subterraneous forest was cut through in the excavation of the canal, near the banks of the Solway Firth, about half a mile north-west of the village of Glasson and extendi,,,- into Kirklands. The trees were all prostrate, and they had fallen, with little deviation, in a northerly direction, or a little eastward of it. Some short trunks, of two or three feet in height, were in the position of their natural growth; but although the tree* with the exception of their alburnum and all the branches, were perfectly sound, vet the extremity of the trunks, whether fallen or standing, were so rugged, that it was not discoverable whether the trees had been cut down, or had fallen by violent storm. The level upon which the trunks lay was a little below that of high tide, and from eight to ten feet below the surface of the ground they were embedded in; which, excepting the superficial soil, is a soft blue clay, having the appearance of marine alluvion. . . . . Ylthou-h the precise period when this forest fell is not ascertainable, there is a positive proof that it must have been long prior to the building of the Wall, because the founda- tions of the Wall passed obliquely over it, and lay three or four feet above the level of the trees."— Arch. ML II. , 117. The forest extends over a considerable tract of ground. It is probable that it was overthrown by a tempest of extraordinary violence from the south or south-west. The wood was so sound that it was used in common with other oak timber in forming the jetties at the outlet of the canal into the Solway Firth. The president's chair of the Society of Antiquaries. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, is formed of it. At Port Carlisle is a mound resembling an ancient barrow, called Fishers Cross; it has recently yielded a Roman coin or two. About half-a-mile to the westward of it is another, which has been somewhat encroached upon by the road that runs along the margin of the Solway. and is denominated Knock's Cross. The MATRI proverb is common throughout Cumber- dvs svxs hind, " As old as Knock's Cross." In the front of the Steam Packet ^ bUo ' Hotel, Port Carlisle, is built up the frag- ers ment of a small Roman altar, bearing an inscription to the mother goddesses. The letters, svis, are probably 240 THE STATION AT BOWNESS. part of a word describing the precise nationality of the mysterious ladies. 1 The site of the Wall may be traced from Port Carlisle nearly all the way to Bowness. Besides its foundation, the north fosse occasionally appears. When the writer first visited this part of the country the Wall answered Hodgson's description of it— " It is six feet high; its rugged and weathered core, still hard as a rock, is thickly bearded with sloe, thorn, and hazel, and mantled below with ivy and honeysuckle." No advantage has resulted from its destruction ; it occupied little space, and it served the purpose of a fence. BOWNESS. The station of Bowness is well situated. It stands upon a bow- shaped promontory, round which the waters of the Sol way bend, and are then lost in the Irish Channel. Its platform is slightly elevated above the general level of the surrounding country. The station is not made out without difficulty. Its northern wall lias stood upon the ridge overlooking the estuary. An ancient mound, still known to a few as the Rampire, or Bam part-head, is just outside its eastern rampart. Its western rampart is easily detected; and its south-west angle may, though with difficulty, be noticed. Although the form of the ground might lead to a different conclusion, the church is to the south of the station, and is not included in its area. The greatest length of the station is from east to west. The size of the camp indicates the importance of the position ; it contains an area of five acres and a half. Its distance from Drumburgh is nearly three miles and three quarters. What its ancient name was, and what troops garrisoned it. we do not know. The inscriptions found here are comparatively unimportant. Over a stable door, in the middle of the town, is the small altar which is \LVTF ETVOlYW/l/V ;AVCQJVLP|C[VJ SECWDI/UV VSTRJBCO. ■gSV\T. I. O. M. PRO SALVTE d[ominorvm] n[ostrohvm] CAT. I, I et volvsian] avo^vstorvm] svlpicivs skcvndian- vs trid. coh. POSVIT. To Jupiter the best and greatest for the safety of our Lords Gallus and Yolusiamis emperors Sulpicius Secundian- us the tribune of a cohort placed this. i fool j inches by 10 inches. here engraved. This altar belongs to the brief reign of Trebonianus Gallus, which occupied the period between a.i>. 252 and 254, and is comparatively Late; the great majority of the mural inscriptions are much earlier. : There was a town, Suissa, in Armenia, where the Ala I. Ulpia Dacorum was stationed. 'Vi*jS : '.' ! >' ■ fa mm 2ay&*0 7\ \ iS? B.OWUPSs TlVfi A.T BOWH E 3 -'■ WESTERN TERMINUS OF THE WALL. 241 Built upside down into the wall of a lane, leading to the church, the writer observed the stone here engraved. The first legionary memo- rial that we met with, in our mural peregrinations, was one of the second legion ; the same legion supplies us with the last. legiIaSS I foot by 8 inched. LEG. II. AVG. COH. III. Of the second le|,| '" , "1 legion [the august. 9 in. I.v 8 in. deab[v]s vet[eri]bvs To the ancient erods. 10 in. by 6 i I ft. 1 in. by 7 in. The first of these is dedicated to Apollo by some officer of the second legion, whose name is lost. As the soldiers on the Wall had sterner work to attend to than the cultivation of the belles lettres, dedications to Apollo are exceedingly rare in the mural region. The inscriptions on the others are very indistinct, partly on account of the coarseness of the sandstone, and partly through exposure to the weather. One of them seems to be a dedication to the ancient deities; the word on the base may refer to the river Wear, Vedra (?) which skirts the camp. As to the other altar it is dangerous to hazard a conjecture. The coins which fell under Mr. Featherstonhaugh's notice indicate the occupation of the station from the time of Hadrian to that of Gratian. In the spring of 1856 a farther discovery was made. In a field south of the station, and in the occupation of Mr. George Murray, of ( !hester-le-Street, a ploughman struck upon a large stone. His curio- sity was excited, and he determined to examine the spot. Assisted by his fellow labourers at over-hours, a considerable portion of a suburban villa was laid bare. One wall was five feet thick, and had six courses of stones standing. Thirty hypocaust pillars were found in their proper position, many of them being coated with soot. The floor, which had rested upon these pillars, consisted of a mass of concrete of the usual character. A building stone, inscribed leg. ii. av[g.], was found, and a huge lump of iron, weighing two hundredweights and a half. A (AMI'S AT CHEW GREEN. 247 conduit, intended probably to bring water from a neighbouring spring. still in great repute, was observed to be covered by an arch of wedge- shaped 1 tricks. The excavations were filled in immediately after these observations were made, as the time for sowing turnips had fully come. It is supposed that there are several other buildings in the same field. A sepulchral votive altar is now standing, where it was found, in a field south of the church. Unfortunately it was re-chiselled and "beau- tified" by the finder, so as to be rendered useless to the antiquary. With reference to the name of this important station Mr. Feather- stonhaugh asks — " Is there no reasonableness in Bi-and's proposition for attaching to this station the name of Epeiacum ? " and adduces argu- ments in favour of the view. For these reasonings, and for more ample details respecting the station itself, the reader is referred to Mr. Feather- stonhaugh's instructive paper. We now proceed to examine the stations on the Watling Street. STATIONS ON THE WATLING STREET. The Watling Street was most probably the principal line by which the Romans kept up their communication with Scotland. Strong for- tresses, at moderate distances, were essentially necessary to the transit of troops. In our examination of these camps we shall find that they were occupied up to a comparatively late period of the empire : thus proving that when the Wall was built, the territory to the north of it was by no means relinquished. As the Watling Street, for the greater part of its course through the northern counties, is still used as a commi m road, its original features are considerably injured: between the Scottish border and the station of Bremenium its structure has. however, been little interfered with by the hand of man. and. excepting where it has sunk into the bog. may be examined with advantage. In some places it will be seen that it is defended by a strong ditch on both sides. Chew Green. — At the head of the river Coquet and close upon the Scottish border is Chew Green, where there are several earthen camps. Two are of a large size, one of them containing fifteen acres, the other twenty-two. A third, which is in better preservation than these, contains six acres and a quarter. Opposite the southern gatewav of this camp, and on the inside, there is a peculiar circular flexure of the rampart. This contrivance, which has evidently been intended to protect the entrance, General Roy considers to be characteristic of the camps of the ninth legion. He does so upon the ground that the camp at Dalgenross, in Perthshire, which he says is that in which the ninth legion was intrenched when it was nearly cut to pieces in a night attack by the Caledonians, during Agricola's campaign, has this flexure. Besides these enclosures, there are two smaller camps at < 'hew Green ; one of them is protected by no less than three ramparts. 248 STATION' AT IIICII ROCHESTER. The camps evidently belong to different periods, and have been con- structed quite independently of each other. Proceeding from Chew Green, about two miles and a half southwards, on the line of the Watling Street, Foulplay Head is reached. Here on the west side of the road is another large temporary camp. It contains an area of forty-two acres. The gateway nearest the Watling Street has, in addition to a straight traverse in front of it, the circular flexure of its rampart on the inside already referred to. This camp stands fifteen hundred feet above the sea, and commands an extensive prospect. Bremenium. — At High Rochester, which is seven miles and a quarter from Chew Green, is the stationary camp of Bremenium. It contains an area of four acres and a half, and stands nine hundred and fifty- feet above the sea. The reader may wish to be informed, before we proceed with a description of the station, of the reasons which have induced antiquaries to assign to it the designation of Bremenium. In the Itinerary of Antonine, already referred to. page 232, the first Iter is entitled " A Route from the Limit, that is from the Wall to I'i.'.ktorium, 156 miles.'' 1 It begins thus : — From Bremenium to Corstopitum, XX. miles. To ViNDOJioij.v. IX. miles. To Vino vi a, XIX. miles. The camp at High Rochester is the first that we meet with south of the present boundary line between Scotland and England, and it is about twenty-three English miles distant from Corstopitum. Again, Ptolemy, a geographer, " who lived and wrote under Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius." ! places Bremenium very much in the position where High Rochester is. deae] r[omae] s'acrvm] dvpi.[ares] n[v.mebi] explob[atorvm BREMEN[llJ ARAM institvervnt n[omine] eivs c[aio| caep[ione] charitino trib[vx0] K ■ o-.... ^T?fJ^> l '*'^»^*' l, **#'i'' i fl ■EXP1CR BREiyEN/SAM iNSIIMR/NT CHAR1TIN0T4r INSCRIPTIONS TO ELAGABALUS. o lvin ANTOXINO riO F^ELICl] TRIB[VNITIAE] P0T[ESTATIS] III. CONjS^VLl] in. p[roconsvi.i ", p[atri] p[atriae] ballista[rivm] coh[ors] vardvl[lorvm] .... [sub] tib erio] cl[avdi0] pavlino legato avgvstall] PH r o]PR[^ETORE] FE[CIT INSTANTE] P[VBLI0] iELfloJ .... it in its earlier signification, as in the case before us. The late Professor Ramsay observes — " It occurs occasionally, but rarely, in inscriptions after the age of Caracalla ; ' Imperator,' when used in this sense, was always placed after the name of the individual who bore it." Henzen, No. 6,700, and Dr. McCaul, Brit. Rom. Ins., p. 158, suggest that the numerals after imp. should be in. not ii. On the coins of Caracalla, that emperor is denominated imp. nr., from bis sixteenth tribunesliip, a.d. 214, to his death L'17 : it is, therefore, highly probable that the stone-cutter lias, through inadvertence, omitted the additional stroke. THE BALLISTARIA OF THE STATIONS. 255 In honour of the Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus pious happy possessed of the tribunitian power for tlie third time consul for the third time proconsul father of his country this ballistarium the first cohort of the Varduli under the authority of Tiberius Claudius Paulinus imperial legate and proprtetor erected, Puhlius /Elius superintending 1 [the work.] tion the erasures have not, in all instances, been effectually accomplished; the word antonino, at the beginning of the second line, can be made out ; the numerals, also, after trib. tot. and cos. may be discerned. Elagabalus was consul, and held the tribunitian power for the third time a.d. 220. In both slabs there is an erasure after the name of the cohort ; there can be no doubt that the obliterated word was the epithet, antoniniana, assumed in honour of the emperor. The word " ballistarium " had not been met with in any British inscriptions before the discovery of these. It refers to the tower or platform on which the " ballistse " and other machines of war were placed. Josephus gives us a minute description of the part performed at the siege of Jerusalem by these engines. In the station at High Rochester, a number of large, roughly rounded stones were found ; these were evidently intended for use in the " ballistre." 1 The engines were probably planted on those peculiarly solid portions of the walls, to which attention has already been drawn. The second of these inscrip- tions adds the name of Tiberius Claudius Paulinus to the list that we already had of persons holding the important office of imperial legate in Britain. The name on the former inscription resembles this, but it is not the same. 8 Both of these interesting memorials are in the museum of the Duke of Northumberland at Alnwick Castle. About the time that these stones were discovered, Mr. C. Roach Smith drew attention to the fact that the name of Claudius Paulinus, imperial legate in Britain, occurs on a monument discovered at Vieux and now preserved at St. Lo, in Normandy. It was erected in the first year of the third Gordian, a.d. 238, in honour of Sollemnis, a priest of Mercury, Mars, and Diana. The monument has long- inscriptions on three sides ; that on the left side is thus translated by Mr. Roach Smith in his Collectanea Antiqua :— " Copy of a letter from Claudius Paulinus, imperial legate and propraetor of the province of Britain, to Sennius Sollemnis : — Although your merits entitle you to more 1 Two of them adorn the porch of the school-house at High Rochester. Here also are walled up some gutter stones, door soles, and building stones marked with diamond broachino-. 2 In the former stone there is a well denned angular stop after the cl., separating it from the rest of the legate's name. Again, the first r., in what the writer believes to be apellini, lias a stroke at the bottom proceeding towards the left, such as would be the case if the letters e ami i. were combined back to back. The crack in the stone has defaced the rest of the e, if such it was. It may be as Dr. McCaul observes, that we are to correct the reading of the first slab by that of the second, and to substitute pavlinvs for Jpellinivs, but we cannot do so without supposing that the stonemason has been guilty of a blunder. Errors in orthography and grammar are not common in the inscriptions on the Wall. MEMORIALS OF CLAUDIUS PAULINUS. marks of my esteem. I beg you kindly to accept, since they are offered in token of my regard and good will, a Canusian mantle, a Laodicean Dalmatic robe, a golden fibula set with stones, two Racena?, a British Tossia, a skin of a seal six months old, and also a letter, which will announce to you that I forthwith shall send you a military salary of twenty-five sestertia in gold. With the favour of the gods and the sacred authority of the emperor, may you ultimately obtain a recompense more worthy of your loyalty." In the inscription on the principal face of the monument, we are told that Claudius Paulinus had been propraetor of the province of Lugdunensis before he went to Britain, and that when there, " the said imperial legate was with the ninth legion."' It is curious to find a broken stone in the wilds of Redesdale, supplying the omissions of historians ; it is curious to find in a place so much out of the usual march of travellers as Vieux, an inscription confirmatory of that which Ave have been examining ; and it is curious to see the kind of presents which a Lord Lieutenant of Britain would send to his client in Gaul, in the earlier portion of the third century. The difference in the dates of the two inscriptions is but eighteen years, a period beyond which Sollemnis may readily be supposed to have survived the gift of his patron. 1 The lapidary documents found in Bremenium, which we have now examined, bring us from the time of Antoninus Pius to Elagabalus. One thing appears certain, that whatever may have been the nature of the erections of Hadrian or Septimius Severus, neither they nor their immediate successors contemplated an abandonment of their claims to the territory north of the Wall. The numismatic evidence which we shall presently offer is confirmatory of this view. From the inscriptions already presented to the reader it will have been seen that the station of Breme- nium was for some time garrisoned by the first cohort f 'of the Varduli. Here is an in- scription, giving the name of tin's troop in full, thereby warranting the expansion we have given of the contracted words we have hitherto had to deal with. The Varduli came from the north of Spain. The first cohort was in Britain in the time of Hadrian, as we learn from the Riveling rescript. How long it remained after the time of Elagabalus, we have not the means of knowing. This stone is now at Alnwick Castle. COIl|OIiSj I. VA IIDVI.I.O- HVM FECIT. the Varduli Imilr this. ''flic lender is recommended to consult Mr. Roach Smith's Collectanea Antiqua, Vol. Ilk, pp. 01-99, where the inscriptions arc given in lull and adequately annotated. DEDICATION TO Till-". DIVINE MANES. 257 / ■ t J -V V i >k V : m Besides the Varduli we have a trace of theBreuci at tin's station, or at least of their prefect, who had formerly also been commander of a cohort of Lusita- .„_.„.,.__ mans. The funereal stone, represented in the annexed engra- ving, and which is now built into the chancel of Elsdon ( Ihurch, was found in 1809, in a field opposite the north- east corner of the station. 1 The upper part of the inscrip- tion, unfortunately. came off in flakes when the stone was raised, leaving a dis- tinct impression of the letters on the clay. The number of the cohort on this slab is indistinct ; it ivsjwi k itrMCcffj'y BRmc^n f ^^PS® hish^ures. '■'-X$ Mr. Lawson, of .y^S.-fM Redesdale Cottage, has A ( .Wj11" %A^^} a st " 1R ' (ll » which is re- presented the boar in a wood. That gentleman also has a small and weathered representation of the three mother goddesses. The woodcuts show both of these. In many of the stations on the Wall, rude and uncouth represen- tations of some rustic deity have been found. As these are more numerous at Bremenium than elsewhere, drawings of several of them arc here introduced. The account which Horsley gives of the second of those we have figured is — " This is a small and monstrouslv rude figure of Silvanus;" the same description will apply, as well as any other, to the rest. The station has not been destitute of statuary. In the Alnwick Castle museum is the torso of a male figure of considerable merit. L The woodcut here given exhibits a female font B now also at Alnwick Castle : if the rest of the H rlu'ure were as well formed, the soldier artist who carved it must have possessed considerable J skill. The coins found during the excavations of 1852 and 1855 were submitted to the skilful discrimination of Air. (has. Roach Smith. That gentleman prepared a descriptive catalogue of 260 COINS AND LEGIOXAKY CAMPS. them, which is published in the author's account of the excavations, already referred to. It may be sufficient here to mention the emperors whose coins were found, and the number of pieces belonging to each reiu'n. These were : — otlio, 1. Verus, 1. Julia Paula, 1. Valerian, junior, 1 Vespasian, 4. ( lommodus, 1. Severus Alexander, 4. Postumus, 3. Domitian, 2. Severus, 5. Julia Mamasa, 2. Victorinus, 1. I la drian, 4. Julia Domna. ; 3. Gordian, 1. Tetricus, senior, 2. Antoninus Pius, 4. Caracalla, 1. Philip, 1. Tetricus, junior, 1. Faustina, senior, 1. Diadumenianus, 1. Valerian, 1. Claudius Gothicus, 2. -Marcus Aurelius, 3. Elagabalus, 2. < lallienus, 6. ( larausius, 1. Faustina, junior, 1. Julia Soaemias, 1. Mr. Roach Smith, on examining this collection of coins, was struck with the absence of those of the lower empire, particularly of the Constantines. From the time of Otho to Carausius, the list of Roman emperors is tolerably complete ; but here the series ends. He naturally deduced the inference that during the usurpation of Carau- sius, the garrison was withdrawn from Bremenium, and that it was in it again restored — at least in any strength, or for any considerable time. The station has yielded all the usual varieties of pottery and other articles of domestic use. Some of these will be figured in the last chapter of this work. A great number of whetstones were found. The animal remains were, as usual, abundant, and consisted of the bones of the ox, the deer, the sheep, and the pig; the rat, the badger, the dog, and the fox. Oyster shells were commingled with the Roman remains, though the station is, at least, thirty miles from the sea. The lithographic view of the station, given on the opposite page, was taken while the excavations were in progress. There are some objects of interest in the vicinity of Bremenium, which we must notice before pursuing our journey southward. On the western side of the Sills Burn are three temporary Roman encamp- ments. One of them has the circular traverse formerly described ; the others have a straight traverse, in front of their gateways. On the opposite side of the river Rede, on a hill overlooking Birdhope, are extensive remains of an ancient British settlement. This encampment. so long as the valour of its inhabitants could maintain its ground against superior discipline and skill, would be antagonistic to Bre- menium. Besides the Watling Street, which, passing the station on its east side, poes due north and south, another Roman road proceeds from the station in a north-easterly direction, and eventually joins the eastern Watling Street or Devil's Causeway. There are distinct traces of this road between High Rochester and ( lampville. Not unfrequently the direct road to the Caledonian borders would be impracticable, through the prevalence of z. v*?. :'-= CO O 2 < IS O J - -■ .. ROMAN TOM US. 261 tempests and fogs; in such a case, the auxiliary road would be invaluable. 1 There is one other object of interest here. On the line of the Watling Street, and at about half a mile south-east of the station, are the foundations of some " cippi." or funereal monuments. They were uncovered by Mr. William Coulson, some years ago, and are believed to be the only examples of Roman cippi in England. The lithographic view, on the opposite page, represents them. Three of the tombs are square; the fourth, which is the largest, is circular. This larger one has two courses of stones standing, besides the flat stones which form the foundation ; it is ornamented in front with a small carving, resem- bling the head of a fox ; has it been intended for the head of a boar — the emblem of the twentieth legion ? On clearing out the interior, a jar of imburnt clay was found, containing calcined bones and a coin of Severus xYlexander. The natural soil was found to have been acted upon by fire to the depth of more than a foot. Mixed with the rubbish was a quantity of white ashes. 2 The Watling Street, in its progress southward, crossed the Rede, westward of the present bridge. Beams of oak timber have often been seen here, when the water was low ; they have, no doubt, been used in forming the foundations of a bridge or an artificial ford. Near to this spot is the field of Otterburn, so famous in British song ; and a few miles farther to the east is the village of Elsdon. The "Mote Hills" of Elsdon are marvellous works, of an unknown antiquity. Even upon the supposition, which is highly probable, that their constructors have availed them- selves of mounds thrown up by dilu- vial action, these for- tifications indicate a people capable of great thoughts and resolute acts. Although the "Motes" have no resemblance to a Roman camp deo matvso pro salvte [ahtootni caesaris xati] .' bono generis HVMAX[l] I11PE RANTE C . . . . [LEG.] AVG. PR. PR. POSVIT AC DEDICAVIT C. A. C_ECIL[lVS.] To the god Matunus for the safety of Antoninus Caesar born for the good of the race of mankind by order of ... . imperial legate and propraetor. It was erected and dedicated by Caius Aulus Cascilius (.'I D VJOGENERIS pi^JMAiVIMPE RAKEOJi."*.* AODEPICAVIT GVCAGh°B/ ,N"XVXX^ — ~ Size, 2 feet io inches by I foot 4 inches. it is certain that the Romans occupied them. Several Roman remains have been found in them, the most important being 1 The district north of High Rochester is liable to be suddenly enveloped in fog. Mr. Lawson, of Redesdale Cottage, told the writer that once, when following the hounds, a thick mist fell upon the ground. Sport immediately ceased, the fox was forgotten, and each gentleman of the hunt became anxious to find his way home. Out of* a field of forty only Mr. Lawson and another succeeded in doin°- so that niuht. - Mr. C. Roach Smith, in the third volume of the Collectanea Antiqua, describes, in an account of a visit which he paid, fume years ago, to the " Roman < iastra at Rising-ham and High Rochester," these tombs, accompanied by an etching. v v v ■21 12 STATION AT RISIXGHAM. the very curious inscription represented in the woodcut on the pre- ceding page ; it is now at Durham. The name of the emperor for whose welfare the dedication was made, and to whom is applied the proud but not unprecedented title of " born for the benefit of man- kind," is lost in consequence of the fracture of the stone. It is here supplied in accordance with a suggestion made to the writer by his friend, Mr. Roach Smith. There can be little doubt, that one of the Antonines. probably Caracalla, was intended. The god Matunus is not elsewhere mentioned. Habitancum. — Prettily situated on the south bank of the Rede, and near the village of West Woodburn, is the station of Habitancum. Camden gives us the following account of it : — " There is also another towne beneath, of ancient memory, which Rhead watereth, or rather hath now well neare washed away ; they call it at this day Risingham, which is in the ancient English and German language the Giants' Habitation. . . . The in- habitants report that god Magon defended and made good this place a great while against a certaine Soldan, that is an heathenish prince. Neither is this altogether a vaine talc. For that such a god was here honoured and worshipped is plainly proved by two altar stones, lately drawne out of the river there. Out of the former of these we may, in some sort, gather that the name of the place was Habitancum." — Holland's Camden, p. 803. One of the altars to which Camden refers is lost ; the other, from which the name of the station has been inferred, is preserved at Cambridge, and is represented in the woodcut. Mo"on M ^^£t» *Af, ^ x ^f a *Ki£Tyr'i mrsi [MOCONTCaD (| £TNl>NAYC - lM : GSByNjNV5j rfcos habit/ MvflPRIMASTATl S^SEETSMSM [DEO] mogont[i] cad[enorvm] ET N - [VMIN'l] DpOMIXl] N[OSTBl] AVO. m. g[aivs] secvmdinvs is[exe]e[iciai:ivs] co[n]s[vlis] habita- NCI PRIMA STAT[lONB] PRO SE ET SVIS P0S[VIT.] To the god Mogon of the Cadeni and the deity of our lord Augustus Marcus Gaius Secundinus a consular beneficiary at HABITANCUM the first station from the Wall (?) rected this for himself and and his family. seems to have been a local deity, worshipped by the Cadeni, a tribe of the Vangiones. Mogontiacum, the modern Mayence. **,fc*,.u. was the capital of the province of the Vangiones. The first cohort of Vangiones, as we shall presently learn, was for some time in garrison here. Unfortunately Habitancum is not named either in the Notitia or Anto- nine's Itinerary. Perchance it was subsidiary to Bremenium, from which station it is distant between eight and nine miles. The Watling Street runs past the western side of the station, and has crossed the river Rede near its north-west angle. There can be little doubt that the station has been planted in its present position in order to guard the passage of the river. A few years ago a number of large square stones were to be seen in the river, near the north-west corner of the station, which were supposed to have have formed parts of the piers of the bridge : they have all been removed. GATEWAY TABLET. 263 This camp does not occupy the commanding position that we look for in Roman forts. It lies in a valley, and is surrounded, though not closely, by hills on every side. Ho sheltered a spot must have formed an invaluable retreat to such of the Roman hosts as had suffered from exposure, in more elevated positions, to the blasts of Northumbria. The site of the station is well marked. Its ramparts, its fosse. and the buildings of the interior may all readily be traced. Mr. McLauchlan considers that the moat on the eastern side, which is the weakest, has been double. The south and the west gateways are clearly defined; those on the other sides are obscure. The elegantly carved NVMIMB VS] AV(iVSTOR[VMj coh. mi. gal[lorvm] eq[vitata] FEC[IT.] Size, 4 feel 8 inches by j feet. To the deities of the emperors the fourth cohort of Gauls having a due proportion of cavalrv erected [this.] tablet, here represented, was probably inserted in the wall over the western gate. It informs us that the structure to which it was attached was reared by the fourth cohort of the Gauls. A figure of Mars occupies a niche on the right hand of the slab, and a figure of Victory one on the left. In one of the minor compartments is a triple-faced head, which may be intended for Janus, the guardian deity of gates. No satisfactory explanation has been given of the other carvings on the stone; they are probably to be ascribed to the fancy of the .sculptor. The fourth cohort of the Gauls was in srarrison at Vindolana when the Notitia Avas compiled. In the memorials which they have left of themselves, at that place, they do not assume the epithet of " equitata," which they do in the inscription before us. When occupying the more northerly position, they seem to have been reinforced by a detachment of cavalry. This stone was taken from Risingham 1 »y Sir Robert Cotton ; 264 THE INTERIOR OF THE .STATION. after gracing, for some time, his gallery at Connington, it was transferred to Cambridge, where it now is. 1 At the north-east corner of the station some courses of the facing stones of the rampart are visible. In the reparation of this part of the structure during the Roman period, three funereal monuments, along with other previously appropri- ated materials, were found to have tj[iis] m[anibvs] s[ackvm] avr[eliae] lvpv- l[a]e matri piissim[a]e dionysivs FORTVNA- tvs filivs s[it] t[ibi] t[erra] l[evis.] Sacred to the divine Manes of Aurelia Lupu- la. To a mother most affectionate Dionysius Fortuna- tus her son [erects this.] May the earth lie li^-ht upon yon ! been used. The woodcut repre- sents one of these tablets ; it contains, at the close of its inscription, a wish which is very rarely expressed upon the monuments of the mural region of the North of England. 8 The interior of the station is strongly marked by lines of streets and the foundations of buildings. Frequent excavations have been made here in recent times, in order to procure stones for building purposes, and though these have resulted in the destruction of the walls which were found standing, the altars and other lettered memorials that have been discovered have been carefully preserved. 3 In 1840 a building in the south-east corner of the station was laid bare. There were found a wall standing nine feet high, a large water tank, lined with a mixture of lime, pounded bricks, and charcoal, and some apartments, heated by flues, underneath. A drain, communicating with the tank, was laid bare, as well as a second tank or bath, smaller than the former. Near biz.-, 2 feel 7 inches by I fool 8 i 1 This tablet is engraved in Camden's Britannia, in Stukeley's Itinerarium < luriosum, and in a paper by the present writer, published in the Journal of the Archaeological Institute, Vol. XII., pajre 213. - In the antiquarian museum at Mayence are some examples of this formula. 8 Mr. Richard Shanks, of Parkhead, g-enerously presented to the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle all the antiquities discovered by him in tin' station, ami these were both numerous and important. ALTARS TO FORTUNE. 2G5 to a spot where traces of a furnace were noticed, more than a cart load of coals was found, which Mr. Shanks removed and used in his own grate. But the most important of the discoveries made on this occasion were two fine altars to Fortune, one of which is here engraved ; the other is re- % served for the H chapter on the mythology of Home. 1 On the top of the left hand volute of the altar the figure here represented fortvnae redvc'i ivlivs severixvs trib[vnvs] explicito balineo v. s i.. m. To Fortuna Redux Julius Severinus the tribune on the completion (if the bath dedicates this, &c. ■Ai±..MLi.. .-, ■ .a'MrtJ^ ^;X^CX5^vt4 -/ X yr ^ W : 'i" : -.. .Mk l±- is carved; it has some resem- blance to the " gammadion," or size, 2 fcetii inches by ifoot 7 inches. gamma-formed cross. It is drawn upon a larger scale than the altar. In 185-i the southern gateway of the station was excavated. It was found to be flanked by two projecting towers of excellent masonry. Most fortunately a large, though fractured and imperfect, slab was found amongst the rubbish which encumbered the building, giving us the history of the renovated structure ; it is figured on the next page. The upper part of this important slab is, it is feared, irrevocably lost. The figures on each side of it represent Mars and Victory. Every part of the inscription has been largely, and, to a great extent, success- fully discussed by Mr. Thomas Hodgson, in a paper in the Archaeologia iEliana, Vol. IV., p. 20, O.S. His reading has, in some particulars, been amended by Henzen, 8 Dr. McCaul, 4 and other antiquaries; the result is, that with the exception, perhaps, of a single phrase, the whole of this important inscription has been thoroughly elucidated. 5 1 An account of these discoveries occurs in some brief papers in the Archaeologia -Eliana. Vol. III., pp. L50-160, O.S. 2 The stones were more elongated than is usual in Hadrian's work, and marked by the feathered tooling - . A plan of the gateway and a drawing of the stones are given in the Arch. mi, Vol. iv., P . 20, o.s. 3 Orel. Ins., No. 6701. " Brit. Rom. Ins., p. 146. 5 The ensrravino- has been prepared with great care. Mr. Mossman, the artist who made the drawing for it, had before him all the various readings which have been proposed, and to the doubtful points he gave his special attention. Some small ironstone nodules stand nearly the eighth of an inch above the general surface of the stone, showing that its face has been removed XXX • [ASCRIPTION TO SEVERUS AND HIS SONS. ADIABENICO MAXI MOj cos. in. et m[arco] avrel[io] antonino no COS. II. AVCrfvSTo] PORTAM CVM MVRIS VETVSTATE 1 > I - lapsis ivssv alfen[ii] seneci[o]nis v[iri] c[larissimi] co[n]s[vlaris] cvrante oclatini[o] advento pro[cvratore] AVllli. NN. COH. I. VANUION[VM] .... cvm ai:mi[lio] salviano trib[vno] SVO A SOLO resti[tvit.] i ■ *..■• ^stt^5^ , (^? , '" ,,, i* ; ''-'WW"'^" rh iVLiu A. Size, 5 feet 1 1 inches by j feet 7 inches. [To] Adiabenicus Maximus consul for the third time and Marcus Aurelius Antoninus pious consul for the second time august this gate with the walls through age di- lapidated by command of Alfenius Senecio an illustrious man if consular rank under the care of Oclatinius Adventus the procurator of our emperors the first cohort of Vangiones .... with /TCmilius Salvianus its tribune from the ground restored. ALTAI! To HERCULES. 201 It is clear that the tablet was erected to the honour of Septimius Severus. one of whose titles was Adiabenicus, and his two sons. Caracalla and Geta. On the murder of Geta by his brother, that young emperor's name was erased from all the public monuments of the empire ; hence the vacant space in the third line of the inscription before us. 6 The date of the inscription may be fixed within narrow limits. Caracalla was consul for the second time A.n. 205, and for the third time a.d. 208. The slab must have ^r MS •Sft** |[0W HERc!M:I5A0 LMMIISA1MW ITRBOHlVANGi :; ' UUilJF 1 teen carved betweci i these periods.' Besides the large tablet, several smaller fragments of inscriptions, which have been derived fn»m this station, ' bear portions of the titles of the same emperors. These, which are now in the museum at Newcastle, farther serve to show that consider- able activity was manifested at Habitancum about this period. The tribune, whose name occurs on the large tablet that we have just considered, is also com- memorated on an altar found at this station, and published by Cam- den. The altar is here figured for the purpose of comparison ; it is now DEO INVICTO HEKCVLI SAC[hVm] l. aemil[ivs] salyianys TH1B. COH. I. VANGlfONVSl V. S. L. M. Tu the unconquered god Hercules sacred Lucius iEmilius Salvinnus tribune of the 1st cohort of Vangionea [erects tin's] willingly deservedly in discharge of a vow. by the action of the weather to that extent. This will account for the absence of some ul the small letters, which, it may be conceived, were not cut so deep as the larger characters. The present writer cannot satisfy himself as to the characters at the close of the seventh line. Henzen, who takes them to be o. p. f. s.. suggests that they are probably the titles of the cohort — perhaps •• Milliaria (0 for S or (gi) Pia Fidelis Severiana." Dr. McCaul reads — " Operibus perfectis." e It is remarkable to find an order, of apparently so trivial a character, issued in Rome, obeyed in the remote districts of Northumberland. The unity of the empire, and its discipline, must have been more complete, even at that period, than we are apt to suppose. There was, how- ever, a special reason for zealously carrying this order into effect; neglect of it might have been attended with serious consequences. Gibbon tells us that "it was computed that under the vague appellation of the friends of Geta above twenty thousand persons of both sexes suffered death." ; Mr. Thomas Hodgson contends that the slab belongs to the latter part of this period, a.d. 007, and is of opinion that the restoration of the gateway did not take place until the arrival in liritain of Severus and his sons. He strengthens this view by the remark, that Alfenius Senecio is denominated, on a stone found at Greta Bridge, legate and propra?tor. titles which he would naturally lay aside, as lie does in the inscription before us. when the emperors were in the island in person. The present writer strongly sympathises with these views. He cannot conceive how the restorations at Risingham and High Rochester could have been effected in the turbulent state in which the country was before the arrival of Severus. Still he cannot reconcile the fact of the presence of Severus in Britain, even in the latter part of the year 20?, with the issue of coins in Home, announcing his departure from the city in his sixteenth tfibuneship, a.d. 208. 268 ROB OF RISINGHAM. at Cambridge. The occurrence of the name of L. iEmilius Salvianus on the tablet enables us to assign this altar to the period when Severus and his sons wore the purple. Mr. Shanks presented to the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle the coins which he discovered in the course of his excavations. The collection, which is a small one, consists of specimens of the following reigns: — Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Faustina, jun., Julia Domna, Cara- calla, Geta, Elagabalus, Valerianus, Gallienus, Victorinus, and Claudius Gothicus. At Parkhead, about half a mile south of the station, the nbit. Until recently the figure was complete. but to discourage the visits of curious strangers the upper part was wrenched off by gunpowder. The sculpture, which is popularly known as "Rob of Risingham," was originally four feet high, and is probably a sepulchral memorial. It is shown in the accompanying cut, the animal in his left "land being separately drawn upon an en- larged scale. Corchester. — Fif- teen miles south of Risingham, along the line of theWat- ling Street, is I the station of Corchester. It lies about half a mile to the west of the town of Corbridge. It is believed to be identical with Corstopitum, the station which, in the first Iter of Antonine, follows Habitancum, at a distance of twenty miles. The site of this ancient city has Ions; been under cultivation, but coins and fragments of pottery are still frequently niPF.nATo in M. AVRELIO AsfTOMMl' POTESTATl[s] To the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus having - the tribunitian power. turned up by the plough. In the spring of 1861 the foundations of a Roman building furnished with a hypocaust were laid bare, but as seed time approached they GREEK ALTARS. *JG l J were again covered up. The remains of the bridge by which the Watling Street crossed the river, are still to be seen in front of the station when the water is low and clear. The tower of Corbridsre Church is entirely composed of Roman stones, and several other buildings are greatly indebted to the stones of the station. The inscription shown at the foot of the previous page is built into the front wall of a house at the east end of the town; the bottom and right hand portions are wanting; there is nothing in it to show which of the legio m> vi itricis] pi[a]e f[idelis] vex[illatio] refe[cit]. \ rexillation of the sixth legion victorious pious and faithful rebuilt fthisl. '** E G I VI PIFFVEY REFE Antonines is in- tended. Avery finely propor- tioned altar, the inscription of which is obliter- ated, for a long time formed the ~ "' ~ : pedestal of the market cross at Corbridge ; it is now at Newcastle. The legionary stone here figured was found at this place in 1856. But the most remarkable inscriptions belonging to Corchester are the two A2TAPTI12 BiiMON M E20P \2 l.o\ WF.P M' ANEOHKEN Of Astarte the altar me you see. Pulcher me dedicated. HPAKAEI TTPIQ AIOAQPA APXIEPEIA To Hercules the Tyrian Diodora the high priestess. Greek altars figured in the woodcuts. The inscription on each of these altars forms an hexameter verse. Astarte is the Ashtoreth of the Scriptures, the Great Goddess of the Syrians, the Aphrodite or Venus Y Y Y 270 CORBRIDGE LANX. of the Greeks and Romans. In her service impurity was demanded as a religious duty. The Tyrian Hercules was probably a male personi- fication of the same deity, a counterpart of Baal and Osiris. It is re- markable that " the abomination of the Zidonians"' should have extended to the very ends of the earth. Such being the case, we can hardly fail to perceive that the onslaught upon the Roman empire by the Germanic tribes was a blessing to humanity. To whatever vices the northern hordes were subject, the marriage-tie was held sacred amongst them, and woman was, in consequence, treated with respect. 1 The altar to Astarte is now at Netherby, that to Hercules is in the British Museum. One of the most remarkable pieces of antiquity, found in the North of England, is the silver lanx or dish shown in the annexed engraving. iimmi,,. 'Tmnn i ri-rm r^m p n-uin^rmrmrr rrfimrai Size, i foot 7 inches by I foot j inches. It seems originally to have been supported upon short feet, but these are now removed. It is in the possession of the Duke of Northumber- land. There is an electro-type facsimile of it in the museum at New- castle, the gift of the late Duke of Northumberland, long the munificent patron of the society there. The principal figures on the lanx are Diana, Minerva,, Juno, Vesta, and Apollo. No explanation of its mythology, that is entirely satisfactory, has yet been given. 8 Two other pieces of Roman plate have been found in this neigh- 1 "Vice is nut treated by the Germans as a subject of raillery, nor is the profligacy of cor- rupting 1 and being corrupted called the fashion of the age." — Tacitus, Germ., Chap. XIX. 2 The opinions of the earlier writers upon the subject have been collected by Mr. John Fenwick, in atract entitled " Treasure Trove in Northumberland ;" the most recent notices are those of Mr. Way, in the Journal of the Archaeological Institute. Vol. XVII., p. 261, and of Lord Ravensworth, in the Archaeologia -Eliana, Vol. VI., p. 109, X.S. FUNEREAL MONUMENT. 271 bourhood; one a basin, weighing twenty ounces, ornamented with foliage, and bearing the Christian monogram ; this valuable relic seems to have been speedily committed to the melting-pot ; the other was a small two-handled vase. A beautiful gold ring, now in the possession of the Duke of Northumberland, was likewise found at Corbridge. These tokens of wealth and luxury are unusual in the region of the Wall. The station of Corstopitum is situated on a sunny knoll in a peculiarly fertile district. It is protected on the north by the Wall, and on the south by the broad expanse of the Tyne. Here, therefore, if anywhere in Northum- berland, might those who had leisure and w r ealth find a secure retreat. Besides the Watliug Street, branch- roads gave facilities of access to Corchester, and connected that camp with Dilston. Hexham, and other places in the vicinity. 1 A funereal monument, built into one of the walls at Dilston Hall, is shown in the Avood- cut. It may have been brought from Cor- bridge. but it is more probable that it was found upon the spot. The figure is that of a female ; she has taken her last meal, and is on the point of setting out on her long and final journey. It was usual to bury by the way- side in the vicinity of cities. Hexham. — Though not upon the line of the Watling Street, Hexham, without any doubt, had communication by road both with Cilurnum and Coiistopitum. The situation of Hexham has all the characteristics which the Romans sought for in fixing upon the site of a camp. That they had a station here is rendered probable by the grandeur of the place in Saxon days ; and almost certain by the Roman relics which have in recent times been found in it." Stukeley, who had a keen and well practised eye, says : — " This town was undoubtedly Roman. We judged the castrum was where the castellated building now stands, east of the market place, which is on the brow of the hill, and has a good prospect." Here St. Wilfrid, between the years 67-1-678. built a church and monastery after the Roman manner, 1 Mr. McLauchlan describes a road which joins the Watling- Street at Corbridge, from the south-east. He says : — " It would seem to have g-one in the direction of Dilston Hall, thenc-e to cross the Devil's Water at Dilston Mill, where we find a pier of an ancient bridge still standing." — Memoir, p. 20. "In Horsley's map a way is marked from Portgate, through Hexham, by Allendale town and Xinebanks Church to Alston."— Hodgson, Pt. II., Vol. III., page 244 n. - See a brief paper upon this subject by the present writer in the Arclneologia iEliana, Vol. V.. p. 144, N.S. It is not at all probable that the Roman stones now in Hexham have been brought from Corbridge, a distance of four miles, there being excellent quarries in the immediate vicinity, which have evidently been wrought in ancient times. 272 HEXHAM CRYPT. which was long considered the wonder of the age. The crypt of his church alone remains, and it possesses several peculiarities of a marked character. The only crypt in England which resembles it is that at Ripon. The woodcut represents one of its chambers. The Rev. James Raine, in his important volumes relating to the Priory of Hexham, published by the Surtees Society, states his belief that other passages besides those already known may be dis- covered, and adds. "One great reason for all this labour was that the church might effectually shelter its inmates in the time of danger, and that the treasures and relies might be safely stowed away. It is certain also that these subterranean cham- bers were used as oratories for secret and solitary devotion." The crypt is almost entirely composed of stones fashioned by Roman hands, and taken from some pre-existing building. s One, which is used in an arched passage, has evidently borne an inscription of considerable impor- tance. The letters which remain are well formed, but nothing can be made of them. Many exhibit the peculiar "broaching," shown in the example here figured, so frequently met with in the fortresses on the Watling Street, which under- went restoration in the time of Severus. Others exhibit the germs of those mouldings which >ecame fully developed in the Norman and Early English styles of architecture. Two examples But the most interesting stone in the crypt is one which is inserted in the headway of one of its passages. Gale and Stukeley called attention to it in 1726. As tl lis was the first stone found in the mural region which recorded the name of Severus, its discovery was justly regarded as very important, especially by those who ascribed the building of the Wall to that emperor. of this kind are here shown. INSCKMTIuNS IN IIKXIIAM. Alexander Gordon, in the joy of his heart, denominates it " a very precious jewel of antiquity," and conjectures, though without authority, that it had been brought from the Wall. It has had a raised moulding, but this has been chipped off by the builders of the crypt. There can be no doubt that the portions «- of the fourth and fifth lines which have been obliter- ated contained the name of Fublius Septimius Geta. Considerable obscurity at- tends the interpretation of the latter part of the in- scription. Perhaps it may be well for the present to be satisfied with the fact to which the tablet bears undoubted testimony, that '■FECE'RVN )N imp[eratorJ caes[ar] l[vcivs] sep[timivs] PERTINAX ET IMp[eRATOr] c[AESAR MARCVS] avr[elivs] antoninv[s pivs avgvst] vs [co]horte[s et] vexillation[es] fecervxt vias (.') The emperor Caesar Lucius .Septimius Pertinax and the emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus pious august and the cohorts and vexillations made .... during the time that Severus and his two sons were emperors, works of importance were prosecuted in Hexham. Two inscribed stones, taken from buildings recently demolished, have been rescued by the vigilance of Mr. Fairless, of Hexham, a kind- INSTAKTB PJXJ.a'LMlXii; L LEG[I0NIS] VI. V. rhlfj 1 "vi- T ' i J Under the superintendence of Flavius Hyginns [centurion | of the VI. legion the victorious. i ft. 7 in. by i ft. size, to luetics Dy 7 tnctles. hearted and enthusiastic antiquary, to whom the author is under great obligations. One of them affords evidence of the presence of the sixth legion in Hexham ; the other is too fragmentary to yield us any special information, but it helps to swell the evidence in favour of Hexham being a Roman post. We have no record of its Roman name. Camden, guided chiefly by the sound of the word, conjectured it to be Axelodunum, which we now know must have been situated near the western extremity of the Wall. Horsley thinks it may have been Ptolemy's Epeiacum. Ebchester. — The first station south of the Tyne, upon the line of 7. ■/. /. 274 THE STATION AT EBCHESTER. the Watling Street, is Ebchester, which is ten miles distant from Cor- chester. The walls of the station are taken down, but their foundations may be traced. The parish church, built of Roman stones, stands within it. near its south-west corner. The north rampart of the station has stood upon a bold escarpment, at the foot of which the river Derwent flows. At a short distance from its western rampart is a valley, tra- versed by a streamlet, which would, on that side, add materially to the strength of the position. The Roman way lias probably gone along this side of the station, though the traces of its course are now obliterated. The modern turnpike road, between Newcastle and Shotley Bridge, crosses the station from east to west, probably on the very line of its " Via Principalis." The area of the station is about four acres; VlNDOMORA is the name Horsley gives it. The ill-used altar shown in the woodcut be- longs to this station. 1 It miner]- (.') v.i: ivl. ger[ma] N VS AC 'TAli"l\ s ill. 1111. br[ittonvm (.') axtoxixia'xjs] V. S. I.L. M. To Miner- va Julius ( Jerma- nus actarius tit' the fourth cohort of Brittones [styled] Antoniniana [dedicates this. &c. is now at Durham. The cohort named on it. and also the cohort named on the fragment of tile here shown, which was found in this station, consisted probably of Brittones 3 or Breuci. Native Britons were usually sent to do battle for their masters in distant parts. 1 A few sculptured stones, built into adjacent walls, give additional interest to a, visit to Ebchester. Laxciiestek. — Six miles and a half south of Ebchester is the im- portant Roman station of Lanchester. It occupies a lofty brow, to the west of the village, on a tongue of land formed by the junction of the river Brownev with a feeder of the Smallhope Beck. The station is a large one, containing about six acres. The walls may be distinguished 1 Horslev was uncertain where it came from, but places it under the head of Carvoran. Mr. Gale inserted the following 1 MS. note in his copy of Horsley, now in the possession of Mr. Roach Smith : — -"This imperfect stone (i.xxvi. X.) was taken out of a wall of a barn at Ebchester l»v the direction of the Honhle. and Rev. Dr. Montague, Dean of Durham, to be preserved in the library of Durham." 2 More frequently Aettiariiis, the clerk of the commissariat, store-keeper. s It is uncertain from what part of the continent the Brittones came. That they are not identical with the Britons is rendered certain by the fact that a cohort of Brittones and a cohort of Britons are both mentioned on a rescript issued by the Emperor Domitian. Henzen, J\o. 5430. lu The first cohort of the Britons, in the reigns of Titus and Domitian, was stationed in Pannonia. In the reign of Antoninus Pius it appears among the auxiliary troops distributed in Egvpt and Cyrenaica. .... A sixth cohort appears to have served under Trajan in the Dacian wars."— Mr. Roach Smith's Illustrations of Roman London, p. 32. Illi: CAMP AT LANCHESTER. 27.-) on all sides. The south wall, though deprived of its facing stones, stands eight feet high, and shows nine courses of thin rubble stones, arranged edgewise, in a leaning direction. A layer of very rough mortar has been thrown on each course of stones after they had been placed in their bed. The apertures of the east and west gateways are discernible. The stone which is here figured may, from its size and Size, 4 feci 6 inches by i feet. form, be supposed to have been affixed to one of these portals. Two Victories support a wreath, within which is an inscription that ascribes the erection of the structure to the twentieth legion, the Valerian and victorious : the boar, the badge of the legion, is not forgotten. Near the south-east corner of the station, some buildings, exhibiting several courses of peculiarly solid masonry, were recently uncovered ; but stone being wanted for a neighbouring mansion, they were removed. The remains of what is supposed to have been part of the Prffitorium may still be seen in the interior of the station, at no great dis- tance from the north rampart. The stone which is here repre- sented, and is now in the library of the Dean and Chap- ter, at Durham, was probably derived from this part of the camp. Gordian ID., during whose reign these important IMP. C2ESAR M. ANTON1VS GORDIANVS p[lVS] f[eLIxJ AVG. PRIXCIPIA ET ARMAMEN- TARIA CONLAP8A RESTITV- IT PER MAECIXIVM FY.-t YM LEG. AVG. PR. PH. CYRANTE M. AYR. QVIKINO PR. COH. I. I,[iNG]. GOB. b.ze, z feet 10 inches by l foot 1 1 inches. The Emperor Caesar Marcus Antonius Gordianus pious happy august the officers' barracks and arsenals that had fallen down restored by Maecilius Puscus imperial legate and proprietor under the direction of Marcus Aurelius Quirinus prefect of the 1st cohort of Ling-ones the Gordian. restorations were made, wore the purple from a.d. 238 to a.d. 244. "Without dealing unduly in conjecture, it may readily be imagined 276 THE BUILDINGS IX Till: CAM I'. that the sculptured slab and the inscribed stone, here drawn, belonged to this part of the station, and added to its decoration and its sacred- ness. The figure in bas-relief represents a genius, probably the guardian deity of the camp or the prsetorium, sacri- ficing to the higher powers; the inscribed stone forms a base on which the sculptured !*"■"' GLEPAWRQWTVS tfKfwfkm/j m,»M, ot 8 inchc supposition that it was dedicated to the Sun. or Mithras, or Apollo. STATIONS NORTH OF THE WESTERN EXTREMITY OF THE WALL. Netherby. — The camp, within whose area is the castellated seat of Sir Frederick Ulrick Graham, baronet, would prove a powerful barrier in repelling invasion from the district which is now traversed by the Scottish border line. The ramparts and fosse of the station are now 'This position Mr. Hodp-son Hinrle strong-ly disputes. — Arch. .TA.. Vol. IV.. p. 115, o.s 282 DEDICATION TO SEVERUS ALEXANDER. obliterated; but Stukeley, who visited it in 1725, had no difficulty in detecting its site ; he says :— " The foundations of the Roman castrnm at Netherby appear round the house or present castle ; it stood on an eminence near the river. Many antiquities are here dug up every day. The foundations of houses and the streets are visible. ... A little lower down has been some monumental edifice, or burial place, where they find many urns and sepulchral antiquities." — Iter Boreale, 58. The picture which he draws of the surrounding country is far from being brilliant ; he would depict a very different scene were he writing now. " This valley by the river side is very good land, with some shadow of nature's beautiful face left; but everywhere else about us is the most melancholy, dreary view I ever beheld, and as the back-door of creation ; here and there a castellated house by the river, whither at night the cattle are all driven for security from the borderers. As for the houses of the cottagers, they are mean beyond imagination ; made of mud, and thatched with turf, without windows, only one story; the people almost naked." The Romans who planted themselves here must have had stout hearts. Often, however, would the Spaniards, who for some time garrisoned the fAES REE : . bVEKOAtEXANDRORIQEEJ I ONT^XlM0TRBfOrc6SflP€;PHl'AFiL } i hispanorv'm^eq de vqtan v» j aieswiovee nsbaseucam ;■ fiQVEOTEMEXERC!TAT0RIA ^R[DEMASGLOGOEPTy\M"> : .'SVMMVITQY ■ \ GVEAMRI ■ VALER!ANiLEG>' :I R ''JNSTRNJEi- r REL(6 :.VIO | TK1RE): ' '"'iEiteROALE'^ (OPfGFFj Size, 2 feet lo inches by 2 feel S inches. IMP. CAES. M. AYRELIO SEVERO ALEXANDRA PIO FEL. AVi;. PONT. MAXIMO TRl[l]B. POT. COS. P.P. [COH. I. AEL. UISPAXORVM (X) EQ. DEVOTA XYMINI MAIESTATIQVE EIVS BASILICAil EQVESTREJI EXERCITATORIAM IAMPRIDEM A SOLO COEPTAM AEDIFICAVIT COXSVSIJIAVITQVE SVB CVRA MARl[l] VALERIAXI LEO. avg. tr.pr. ixstaxte m. avrelio balvio trie. coh. imp. d[omino] x'[ostro] severo alexandro pio pbl[lce] avg[vsto] co[n]s[vle.] To the Emperor Caesar JIarcus Aurelius Severus Alexander, pious, happy, august, chief-priest, having the tribunitian power, consul, father of his [country. The first cohort the ^Elian, of Spaniards, a thousand strong, provided with horse, devoted to his and majesty, this basilica [deity fi iv exercising horses, long ago from the ground commenced, built and completed, by direction .if Marius Valerianus imperial legate and propraetor and under the inspection of Mar. Aurelius Salvias tribune of the cohort the emperor our lord Severus Alexander, pious, happy, august, being consul. fort, long for the sunny skies and the advanced civilization which they had left behind them, probably for ever. THE COHORS NERVANA. 283 The inscriptions found here are very numerous and very important. Camden records a stone containing a dedication by the second legion to Hadrian. This inscription, which is now lost, is sufficient to assure us that the fort was in existence about the year 120. The large slab which is figured opposite, and which is preserved upon the spot, affords evidence that the buildings of the station were effectually maintained a century afterwards. This inscription is of the date a.d. 222. The consuls for that year were Elagabalus, for the fourth time, and Alexander. As Alexander alone is mentioned upon the slab, it is probable that the dedication did not take place until after the assassination of Elagabalus, an event which took place DEO SAN'CTO COCIDIO PATEKXIVS MATERXYS TRIBVMVS COH. I. nebvan[a]e EX EVOCATO PALATIXO V. S. L. M. To the od the h. ily Cocidius Paternius Maternus tribune of the first cohort [styled] Nervana a veteran of the body guard devotes [this altar.] &c. ..'■t KIN i1| TRfBMWWH ; ''WEftVAlvPF, early in the year. The first cohort of Spaniards were in Britain in the time of Trajan. One memorial, which they have left of themselves, at Maryport, is of the time of Hadrian. The altar shown in the woodcut in- troduces us to another body of troops who size, 2 feet r, m.* by ■ E» t i have been in residence here. The cohort referred to is probably a body of Germans, 1 the epithet nervana being derived from the emperor Nerva. We have traces of both the second and sixth legions at Netherby. The slab here figured, now preserved on the spot, and probably originally found there, displays the badges of the second legion, the sea-horse and Pegasus. But the finest piece of sculpture, belonging to this station, is the one which is figured on the next It represents the Genius of the castrum page. wearing the mural crown, and engaged in the grateful task of presenting an offering to the superior powers. The lower part of the stone is not shown. I fool 6 inches by 9 inches. A number of unclaimed heads, preserved in the collection of 1 Two altars, found at the neighbouring station of Middleby, have con. i. nervana GERmanorvm. See the subject fully discussed by Mr. Roach Smith in his Collectanea Antiqua, Vol. III., p. "202. Mr. Roach Smith takes nervana to indicate that the cohort consisted of a body of Nervii, a tribe who were proud of their Germanic origin. T 11 H GENIUS o F T II K CAM 1' Pfe Size, 7 feel 3 inches (the lower part is not h re rcpn itcd bj i fijei z inche: \IIHULEBY AXIt M/RXSW A UK. 285 antiquities at Netherby, show us that the same rink' vengeance that we have noticed elsewhere has been manifested here on the withdrawal of the Roman garrison. A--. &< For reasons which will presently appear, the Roman name of this camp is supposed to be Castra Exploratorum. Middleby. — To the south of Middleby Kirk, in the county of Dumfries, are the evident traces of a Roman station. It has yielded a number of important inscriptions, several of which are now preserved in the neighbouring castle of Hoddam. It contains an area of three acres and three quarters. About three miles to the north-west of the camp of Middleby is a solitary flat-topped hill called Burnswark. It rises to the height of nearly seven hundred and forty feet above the sea. and commands a view extending from the Nine-Nicks of Thirlwall to the Isle of Man, and occasionally even the coast of Ireland. The Romans would not neglect so favourable a position for an exploratory post, and some remains of a building, on its summit, have been noticed, which have been ascribed to that people. At the foot of the hill, on its south side, are the remains of a legionary camp in a state of excellent preservation. Judging from its size and mode of construction, General Roy was of opinion that its ramparts had been reared by the sixth legion. On the northern face of the hill are the lines of a similar entrenchment, but they are much less distinct than those on the south. The second "Iter" in the Antonine Itinerary consists of the route from the Wall to the port of Rituple, the modern Richborough in Kent, a distance of four hundred and eighty-one miles. The first stages of the journey are thus set down : — From Blatum Bulgittm t<> the Castra Exploratorum, m. p. XII. To LiUGUVALLIUM, 11). ]>. XII. To V"OREDA 3 ill. p. XIII. To Brovonac*:, in. p. XIII. It being generally agreed that Luguvallium is the modern Carlisle, the other places named must be in its vicinity. Horsley"s opinion is. there- fore, generally acquiesced in. that Middleby is Blatum Bulgium, and Netherby Castra Exploratorum. ''The Roman way." he observes, "from Middleby to Netherby, and from thence to Carlisle, is very certain : and the distances, according to the numbers in the Itinerary, 286 THE STATION OF PLUMPTOX. 1 believe to be very exact." We naturally look for an exploratory troop in the region to the north rather than to the south of the Wall. STATIONS SOUTH OF CARLISLE. Plumptox. — Several camps south of the line, and at nearly equal distances from the Wall and from one another, added security to the fortification in the western district. Plumpton, or Old Penrith, called in the locality by the common name of Castlesteads, is a large station about thirteen miles south of Carlisle. The conjecture of Horsley ascribed to it the name of Bremetenracum. 1 The modern road runs past it. as did the ancient way leading from Luguvallium to the south of Britain. The station presents the usual characteristics of a Roman camp. Its ramparts are boldly marked, and the interior of the station is filled up to their level by a mass of prostrate habitations. The fosse is well defined on the north, south, and west sides. Enough of the eastern gate remains to show that it has been a double portal. A stone forming the threshold yet retains its position ; it is worn by the feet of the ancient tenants of the city, and chafed by the action of the door in opening and shutting. Several very large stones, used in the construction of the south gateway, lie near their original site. Tin 1 lines of some of the streets are visible. Extensive remains of ancient foundations have been found in the field on the east of the station ; here, according to tradition. Old Penrith stood. There are also in- dications of suburban buildings, probably of the Roman period, on the west of the station. About a quarter of a mile south of the I. O. M. G E N I LOCI S[EXTVS \ ILERIVs] AP- OLLINA- RIS PRIN- ckp[s] c[astrorvm](?) F ECIT-] To Jupiter besl mid gTeatest and the genius of the place Sextus Valerius Ap- ollina- ris the princeps ot' the camp made tins. station is a well cased with 1 toman masonry. Among the more recent of the discoveries in this neigh- bourhood is the altar which is here figured. It was found at Clifton, Scale, I^ inch to foot. 'Mr. Hodgson Hinde is disposed to transfer this name to Ribchester, in Lancashire. Arch. Miann, Vol. IV.. p. 109. 'HE STATION OF OLD CARLISLE. 2N- a village which lies about two miles to the south of the Roman station at Brougham. The letters br, between the third and fourth lines, look like a subsequent insertion; they probably indicate the name of the place presided over by the Genius that was invoked. In connection with this view, it may be remarked that the station of Brougham is identified by Horsley with the Brocavum of the fifth Iter. ( >].D ( Jarlisle is nearly two miles south of Wigton. The station is a large one ; the ruins of its ramparts and interior buildings are boldly marked; its four gateways are well defined. A double ditch, with an intervening vallum, has surrounded the fort. The rivulet Wiza runs in a deep ravine immediately below the camp on I. O. M. AL.Y avg[vsta] ob virtvte[m] [a]pPELLATA CVI PliAE- I>T l>. AEL. PVB. F[lLIVSj SER- GIA MAGNVS D[OM()] MVRSA EX PANNONfiA] INFERIORE PRAEFEqTVs] APRONIANO [ET] BI«a[dvAJ [CONSVLIBVS.J To Jupiter best and greatest the a la Augusta on account of its valour [so] named, commanded by ublius yElius Magnus the son of Publius of tlie Sergian trilie a native of Mursa in Pannonia tlie Lower, prefect, Apronianus and Bradua being consuls. Scale, I^ inch to Joot. its west side, and at a remoter distance on its south also, thereby lending to it additional strength. The remains of suburban build- ings may still be seen outside the Avails, on the north and east. Within the fort a street may be distinctly traced from the north to the south gate, and another from the east towards the west. Near the centre of the station is a moist spot of ground where Ave may conceive a reservoir of water to have been. Several inscribed stones have been found here. The most interesting of them is the altar here represented, which is now in the collection at Lowther Castle. Though JElius Magnus gives us much of his oavii history, he unfortu- nately neglects to inform us of the nationality of his cohort, Had he done so, the Roman name of the station might have been ascertained Avith some degree of certainty, which has not yet been done. The altar 288 THE INSCRIPTIONS FOUND AT OLD CARLISLE. ^» belongs to the time of Commodus; Apronianus and Bradua being consuls in the year a.d. 191. The modern name of Mursa, the birthplace of our pre- fect, is Essek, the capital of Slavonia. At Netherby is an altar which was found here that has 1 >een erected to Jupiter by Egnatius Verecun- dus, for the safety of Septimius Severus ; r ! '--NAtoy Rf>r% TANCORIX MVHEH VIGSIT (vixit) ANNOS SECSAGINTA ( S E X A G I N T A ). Tancorix the woman lived years sixtv. i>izc, I foot 6 inches by z feet. time, and Balbinus, for the second time, were consuls. The fractured funereal slab, here shown, is at Wigton Hall. It records a name which may be British but is certainly not Roman. The phraseology of the inscription and its orthography are peculiar. Some skill has been exhi- bited in the adornment of the station if the stone here figured may be taken as a specimen. It is now at Wigton Hall. A similar carving, which m is believed to have come from this station, is now in the museum at Keswick. The sides of some of the hills in the vicinity of the station are lOrmed illtO ter- Size, if. ot io inches by I feet j inches. races. This was a mode of cultivation much practised by the Romans. MARYPORT. 289 STATIONS O.N THE WESTERN COAST. The coast line of Cumberland from Bowness, where the Wall terminates, to the projecting headland of St. Bees, seems to have been carefully guarded by a range of forts. " Wheresoever," says Camden, "there was easie landing, it hath beene fortified all along by the Romans, as it appeareth by the heaps of rubbish; for it was the utmost bound of the Roman empire, and the Scots lay sorest upon this coast, and infested it most when they flowed and flocked hither by heapes out of Ireland." — Holland, p. 766. A military way ran along the shore, connecting these forts, while branch roads communicated with the stations of the interior. 1 Skinburness is a village lying a little to the south of the modern port of Silloth. It was formerly a considerable market town, and is said to have been " a chief place for the king's magazines on Scotch expeditions." 5 An inroad of the sea, sometime prior to the year 1301, greatly injured the town, and destroyed the harbour, a disaster from the effects of which Skinburness never recovered. It is not likely that the Romans would neglect so impor- tant a post ; and that they did not is • l l T MATRIBVS rendered almost certain bv the dis- r _, r covery on the beach in its vicinity, last summer, of the altar shown in xo the Mothers the margin. It is in the possession of Mr. Wilkinson, of Kendal, the gentleman who found it. Malbray. — Further south, and about two miles north of Allonby, is the site of a small camp, near the village of Malbray. " It is now a ploughed field, but old men still speak of its having been walled round," and it has yielded an inscription mentioning the second cohort of Pannonians. 8 Maryport. — On the high ground north of the modern town of Maryport are the manifest remains of a large Roman station. The camp is naturally defended on every side except the east, and here it has been protected by a double ditch. Its position gives it a command- ing view of the Solway Firth and Irish Channel. The Scottish Hills are full in sight, and Skiddaw and the Lorton mountains grandly close the prospect towards the south. The ramparts of the station are strongly developed, and most of its gateways may be distinguished. The sill of the eastern gateway is grooved by the action of chariot wheels. Within the station is a well encased with circular masonry. 4 In Lysons' 1 See Stukelev, Iter Boreale, p. 50. a Hutchinson's Cumberland, Vol. II., p. 840. :: Lvsons' Cumberland, p. cxlvii. 'Wells are not usually met with inside the stations. This well is now nearly filled up with stones, hut it has hecn examined and found to he of considerable depth. D * 290 HOSPITAL ('AMI' AT XT.TUKR HALL. berland we have the following account of an examination which was made of the interior of the station a century ago : — " The Senhouse family, to whom the estate belongs, laid open the whole area in 17GG, with the laudable spirit of antiquarian curiosity so long inherent in their name. They found the arch of the gate beat violently down and broken; and, on entering the U'reat street, discovered evident marks of the houses having been more than once burnt to the ground and rebuilt — an event not unlikely to have happened on so exposed a frontier. The streets had been paved with broad flag stones, much worn by use, particu- larly the steps into a vaulted room, supposed to have been a temple. The houses have been roofed by Scotch slates, which, with the pegs which fastened them, lay confusedly in the streets. Glass vessels and even mirrors were found, and coals had evidently been used in the fire-places. Foundations of buildings were round the fort on all sides." Close by the banks of the river Ellen, and in the grounds of Nether Hall, the seat of J. Pocklington Senhouse, Esq., is a small entrenchment, containing an area of about an acre and a half; it is in a low and sheltered position, and has probably been a retreat for invalids. Ancient roads have diverged from this station, leading to Bowness. Wigton, and Papcastle. The lithographic view here intro- duced will enable the reader to appre- ciate the commanding nature of the position of this camp. It stands upon the hill which is seen to rise above the northern margin of the town. iovi avg[vstoJ SlfARCVS CENSORIVS M W.'c I F[lLIVSj VOI.T1MA TUIUV'j CoRNELIANVS / LE(j[lONIsl [X FRET |ENSIS l>RAE- i'kcjtvs coh[ohtis] I. II I-- panorvm] ex provincia narbone[nsi] domo \ EMAVSJENSl] V.S.T..M. To Jupiter the august Marcus < lensorius Corneliauus the son of Marcus of the Voltinian tribe, centurion of leg the tenth, styled the Pretensian, pre- fect of the first cohort of Spaniards, of the province of Narhonne, a native of Nismes, dedicates this altar, dec. Very numerous and important are the remains of antiquity which this station has yielded, and which, with few exceptions, are preserved at Nether Hall. The fine altar to Jupiter, shown in the accompanying woodcut, was first described by Alexander Gordon, in the Appendix to his '• Itinerarium." Soon after his noticing it, it was removed to the Isle Srze, j feci 5 inches by 1 foot 5 r si i im >" . MAia'l S M.KNK S AttUIPPA. 291 of Man, where it now is — adorning the green in front of the Govern- ment House ( Jastleton. Two altars to Jupiter, of smaller size but elegant form, found in the station, are now in the portico of Nether Hall. Marcus Maenius I. ". M. . OH. T. HI: [PANOBVM] ('VI pb.ve[bst] M. MAENI- fs ageip[pa] tkibv[nvs] POs[ ■ IT.] To Jupiter best a i I *rea c< the first cohort "I" Spania 'I- coramancle i by Marcus Msenius tribune, crec'.e 1 this. I. o. M. ac1lianys piiaefect[vs.] To Jupiter best and grea c Acilianus prefect. feet 8 inches by i fo::t 6 inches, exclusive of the broad fldt base, which is a separate st.^ie. Size of shaft, 2 ft. II in by lo in. Agrippa, whose name occurs on the first of these altars, was an impor- tant man. From an inscription. 1 found near the modern city of Camerino, in central Italy, we learn that he was a friend of the father of Hadrian, prefect of the first cohort of Spaniards, prelect of the ala i »f ( iauls. also of the Pannonians, imperial procurator of Achaia, admiral of the British fleet, of equestrian rank, and patron of the municipality which erected the monument, This is one of the many proofs which we have that Rome sent some of her most distinguished men to Britain. A N T ( I Vf VS'PJF PA LA . ; ; i \y -fie i.. .-rm-.l:!'. The altar on which this prefect's name oc- curs must necessarily have been erected durinsr the rei°;n of Hadrian. We meet with the name of Acili- anus. the dedicator of I 1 X PBO SA[LVTE . . .] antonin[i] AVG. I'll. P.P. PAVLVS P. F. I'AI.ATINA I OSTVMIVS A( [LIANVS PBAEF. COH. I. DELMATARlvM. For the safetj of .... Antoninus august pious father of lus country Paulus Postumius Acilianus son of Paulus and of the Palatine trihe i ct of the Hr>t cohort of Dalmatians. the other altar, upon a large but much injured slab, belonging to this station. From it it appears that he was prefect of the first Dalmatian It is given iu Orelli, No. si 14. 292 THE SPANISH AND DALMATIAN COHORTS. COH. I. HISPA[NORVMJ [NDVCIVS FEC[lT.] Inducius of the first Spanish cohort made it. cohort, and that he flourished in the time of Antoninus Pius. 1 We have before met with the first Spanish cohort at Netherby, page 282, and with the first Dalmatian at Carvoran, pages 5-4 and 191. The Spanish cohort have also left their name upon a roofing tile which is preserved on the spot. Besides the Dal- matians and Spanish the first cohort of Bsetasians have at one time been re- size,. foot 4 inches by . «.o t . sident at Maryport, their prefect having here dedicated an altar to Mars, of which a drawing- will be found in our last chapter. 8 The station was not left entirely to the care of auxiliary troops. Both the second and the twentieth legions have left memorials of their presence. The woodcuts re- present stones which have probably been affixed to buildings erected by detach- ments of these legions. The slab bearing the boar, the IvlLlEC li AV ' El O, V x 7 - v >7--''/;'R\ V 'I 2 feet by l foat 2 inches. { inches by 7 inches. badge of the twentieth legion, the Valerian and victorious, has on it the letters ord. Has the legion, at the time this stone was carved, taken the additional epithet of [<;]ord[iaxa] ? The rude inscription here shown is interesting as revealing a name which, like that of Tan- corix. has a Cel- tie aspeet. One more inscription be- longing to this station must be introduced ; it is a Greek one, mMmmm r'A+rwioc<- § . feet 5 inches by 2 feet 2 inches. IUANORIX ViXIT ANN OS . . Rianorix (.') lived years . . I foot 5 inches by 9 inches. ASKAHHIQ A. ErNATIOS IIASTOP EOIIKEN. To /Esculapius Aulus Eg'natius Pastor set up this.] forming the fourth in that language that we have met with in the course of our mural peregrinations. The dedicator, it is not improbable, was a physician, 'The stone is so much weathered, tin' letters can only he seen to advantage on careful inspection. From their size, their boldness, and beauty of form, the writer is persuaded that the Antonine mentioned is the first of that name, the immediate successor of Hadrian. '-'The Baetasii occupied a district of Belgium of which Tirussels is the modern centre. The first cohort is mentioned in the rescript of Trajan found at Malpas, and in the Riveling rescript of the time ol Hadrian. With the exception of the altar already referred to, they are not again mentioned on any memorial found in Britain. \\ hen the Notitia was compiled they were in garrison at Reculver. See the Antiquities of Richborough, Reculver, ami l.ymne. by C. Roach Smith, p. 181. THE COINS OF THE STATION*. 293 in which case it is nothing wonderful that he should affect the language of Hippocrates and Galen. Some of the uninscribed sculptures found in the camp are very interesting. The broken slab, shown in the woodcut, is probably part of a funereal monument. A robed figure is offering sacrifice; the incense box (if such it be) which he holds in his left hand reminds us of the square basket held by the king-priests of the Assyrian sculptures. The head shown in the next cut is generally ascribed to Jupiter ; it has, however, some- thing of the appear- ance of a marine deity. Notwithstanding the injuries which it has received, it manifests Wj considerable vigour. A large number of coins have been i toot 3 inches by i mchK. Amongst them are several forged denarii of Nerva, Trajan, and Hadrian. False coins were systematically intro- duced into the provinces by Rome at a very early period." There is great uncertainty respecting the ancient name of this camp. Camden, 3 seeing that the river Ellen here flows into the sea. and led by the similarity of sound, called it Olenacum, where, accord- ing, to the Notitia, the first ala, styled the Herculean, were, stationed. Horsley concurs with him. The Rev. John Hodgson thinks it was Virosidum, the last of the stations "per lineam Valli," where the sixth cohort of Nervii were in garrison. No inscriptions have been found to } feel by z feet 7 inches. found in this station. 'The coins found in the station are preserved at Aether Hall. The)' are chiefly denarii, and have been carefully classified by the late Mr. Senhouse. The following is a list of the emperors represented, together with the number belonging to each : — Marc Antony, 1 ; Nero, 3; Vespasian, 'i; Titus, 1 ; Domitian, 2; Nerva, 4; Trajan, IS; Plotina, 1 : Hadrian, 6; Sabina, 2; Antoninus Pius, (i; Faustina, 1; Marcus Aurelius, 1; Pertinax, 1: Julia Domna, 1; Geta, 1; Julia Mamsea, 1; Philip, 1; Postumus, 1; Victorinus, ■>: Gallienus, 5; Claudius, 2; Tetricus, 7 ; Carausius, 1; Licinius, 4; Constantine the Great, 13; Pausta, 1 ; PI. Julius Crispus, 5; Constan- tine II., -1; Magnentius, 7 ; Constantius II., 4; Valentinian II., 1; Theodosius, 1; Honorius, 1 ; Three of the coins of Nerva, seven of Trajan, one of Hadrian, both of those of Sabina, and four of Antoninus Pius seemed to the writer to be forged denarii ; some others have a suspicious appearance. The latest coin, that of Honorius, appeared to the writer to be one belonging to a.d. 417, soon after which period the station was probably abandoned. '-' " By far the larger portion of denarii found in the Thames consist of lead and brass plated with silver." — Illustrations of Roman London, p. 104. 3 The words of Camden must here be given as they are rendered by Philemon Holland, his contemporary: — "Many altars, stones with inscriptions, and statues are here gotten out. of the ground, which J. Sinhous, a very honest man, in whose grounds they are digged up, keepeth charily, and hath placed orderly about his house." He proceeds to say that the "draught" of an altar, then at Nether Hall, which he presents to his readers. " was most likely taken out by the hand of Sir Robert Cotton, of Connington, knight, a singular lover of antiquity, what time as he and I together of an affectionate love to illustrate our native countrey, made a survey of those coasts in the yeere id' our redemption, 1599; not without sweet food and contentment of our mindes." And then he adds : — " And 1 cannot chuse but with thankful] heart remember that very good and worthy gentleman, not only in this reagard that most kindly he gave us right courteous ,- * 294 POST AT BARROW WALLS confirm cither conjecture. Mr. Hodgson Hinde is disposed to place both stations considerably farther south. 4 Moresby. — Proceeding along the coast from Maryport to Moresby, ;i place called Barrow Walls is reached, standing: near the north bank Scale, i } 2 inch to foot- The of the river Derwent, and about half a mile from Workington fractured and much weathered altar, shown in the cut, was found here, in 1857, encouraging the supposition that a look-out post was main- tained on the spot for the purpose of commanding the passage of the river. The inscription has not been satisfactorily read. Still further to the south, and not far from Whitehaven, is the small village of Moresby. Here are the well-defined remains of a Roman station. occupying a strong and commanding position. A small natural harbour formerly existed at the foot of the cliff, but modern railway works have destroyed it. Some excavations were carried on in the and friendly entertainment, but also for that being himselfe well learned he is a lover of ancient literature, and most diligently preserveth these inscriptions, which by others that are unskilful] •.mil unlettered he straight waies defaced, broken, and converted to other uses, to exceeding great prejudice and detriment of antiquity." The present writer, though a very humble follower of the gTeat nourice of antiquity, has pleasant reminiscences of his visits to Aether Hall. 'He concludes his paper on Bremetenkacum thus: — "If we are wan-anted in placing Olenaci'm at llklev, it is at least a feasible conjecture that Virosidum was at Adel." — Arch. /EL, Vol. IV., p. 118, O.S. THE STATU iX AT MORESBY. 2& camp, in I860, by the Earl of Lonsdale, under the direction of the late Rev. George Wilkinson, but nothing of importance was discovered. The area of the camp was found to be about three acres and a half: the interior contained the foundations of numerous dwellings, lviiv' in considerable disorder. There is a well in the hollow south of the I Ml' ERATORIS] CAES Aliis TRAIAN I HADRI- ANI AVGfvSTl] P[ATRIS] I' A'l'lll \i leg[ioJ xx. v : aleria] V [ictrix.] [Iii honour of] the Emperor Caesar Trajan Hadri- an august the father of his countrv the twentieth legion Valerian ami victorious. station, called the Holy Well, which is said never to run dry. even in f ,„, , fca , „,ci.« b> >i t« t ,, „, C h„. the hottest summers. In the year 1N21 the large slab figured above was found about twenty feet eastward of the eastern gate fOH ORSj II. t ii rai \ vi : i:c "it. The second cohort of Thracians made it. way of the fort. The occurrence of memo- rials like this, in so many and such distant parts, shows how comprehensive were the plans of Hadrian. More recently the centurial stone exhibited in the engraving was found here. According to the Xotitia the second cohort of Thra- cians was in garrison at Gabrosentis, one of the stations on the Wall itself, near its western extremity. Camden recognised in this station the Morbium of the Notitia ; Horsley thought it was Arbeia. Papcastle. — The nearly obliter- ated outlines of a Roman camp may be discerned near the village of Pap- castle, about six miles south-east of Maryport. The town of Cockermouth. which is a little to the south of the fort, is supposed to have risen from its ruins. The older parts of Cocker- mouth Castle are composed of Roman stones. One of these rescued from the fclW « X^P-Xlii FTXIUKALIMl: c L QRDANQLffON? [TANor ' •&&FT-' Scale, i j inch io foot. wilding, and shown in the engraving, appears to be part of an altar. It refers to some event whicl 296 PAl'CASTLE. took place on the thirteenth of the kalends of November, in the year when Gordian, a second time, and Pompeianus, were consuls, that is on Oct. 19, 241. Another altar has more recently been found, bearing a similar date, and dedicated by a nvmeevs frisionvm aballavensivm, a designation which it is exceedingly difficult to comprehend. Papcastle would give support to the camps at Maryport and Moresby, in case of disaster. We have now examined in detail the stations north and south of the Wall, which may lie supposed to have co-operated with the garri- sons of that structure in supporting the Roman domination of the district. The reader will perhaps be struck with the thoroughness with which that rule was upheld, and with the number of the nationalities employed in effecting it. The vast work is creditable alike to the energy of the conqueror and the spirit of the rude islanders who could not be taught, by centuries of discipline, to bear patiently a foreign yoke CHAPTER V. WHO BUILT THE WALL ?— THE QUESTION DISCUSSED. UR course hitherto has consisted of a detail of facts, we now enter upon the region of speculation. The building of the Wall has been ascribed to different ages and to different individuals. Although the weight of evidence has of late years greatly preponderated in favour of Hadrian, there are those who yet maintain the claims of Severus ; and others who believe that the Wall was not built until the Romans had renounced possession of the island. These points must be investigated. The opinion which Grildas, Beda, and most mediaeval writers adopt is. that the Mums was built near the middle of the fifth century, after the withdrawal of the Roman forces, and that the troops engaged in its erection were a legion which was sent back for a brief period, in answer to the importunate cries of the miserable people. Several circumstances militate against this view. The Wall could not have been built in so short space of time as the statements of these writers imply, especially if a single legion only were employed upon it. The grandeur of the design, and the amount of labour and skill involved in the execution of the Wall, indicate a period of Rome's greatest vigour, not of its decrepitude. Numerous inscriptions are found on the Wall, mentioning many of the emperors of Rome and imperial legates ; not one has been discovered which belongs to the fifth century, or the latter years even of the fourth. The series of coins found in the stations also ends before the period when Gildas and Beda tell us the Murus was built. This view, therefore, seems to be quite untenable. The theory of Horsley, the author of the Britannia Romana, cannot be so easily dismissed. He thought that most of the stations of the Wall were built by Agricola. He considered that the north agger of the Vallum was also the work of that general, and that it was the military way by which his garrisons held communication with each other. The fosse of the Vallum and its southern ramparts he ascribed to Hadrian, whom he represents as taking for his military way the previously existing 298 THE VIEWS OF HORSLEY. north agger — the military way of Agricola. The stone wall, with its ditch, mile-towers, and turrets, he considered to be the work of Severus. That Agricola built some of the stations —those especially which command the passes between the north and the south — is more than pro- bable ; but there is nothing to warrant the supposition that he threw a closely connected chain of forts across the island. 1 Many of the forts, especially those in the central district of the line, could only have been placed where they are in order to accommodate the garrisons which were to man the Wall. When Agricola was about to attempt the conquest of Caledonia, he would not weaken his forces to such an extent as to garrison a numerous series of camps on the Lower Isthmus. The view that the north a^srer of the Vallum was Agricola's military way is exceedingly improbable. It is but ill adapted to such a purpose ; in form and composition it does not differ from the other mounds of the Vallum, and in no part of its course has it been paved. Besides, the other lines of the Vallum run perfectly parallel with the north agger, from the one side of the island to the other. Is it likely that Hadrian, when throwing up ramparts to act as a military bulwark, would follow exactly the line which Agricola, forty years before, had marked out for the purposes of transit ? Laying aside, therefore, the claims of Agricola, the questions remaining to be discussed are — Do the Vallum and the Murus form separate works? If so, to whom are they severally to be ascribed ? Or, are they but parts of the same great engineering scheme, and if this be proved, to whom is the honour of designing it to be ascribed? Stukeley was the first person who distinctly propounded the opinion that both Vallum and Murus " were made at the same time, and by the same persons, and with intent that the Vallum should be a counter- guard to the other, the whole included space being military ground.*' The Rev. John Hodgson, the historian of Northumberland, to whom in the course of this treatise such frequent reference has been made, main- tained the same view. Near the close of the last volume of his great work which he lived to publish, he says : — " In the progress of the preceding investigations I have gradually and slowly come to the conviction that the whole harrier between the Tyne and the Solway, and consisting of the Vallum and the Murus, with all the castella and towers of the latter, and many of the stations on their line, were planned and executed by Hadrian ; and I have endeavoured to show that in this whole there is unity of design, and a fitness for the general purposes for which it was intended, which I think could not have heen accomplished if part of the Vallum had heen done by Agricola, the rest of it by Hadrian, and the Murus, with its castella, towers, and military way, by Severus." This opinion Mr. Hodgson maintains at considerable length, and with 1 The passage from Tacitus which has given rise to this view has been already quoted, p. 8. THE STATEMENTS OF HISTORIANS. 299 so much force and clearness, that whoever enters upon the same field of investigation must necessarily be greatly his debtor. In the discussion of this question the historians of Rome lend us but little assistance. Their statements, however, must be examined. The earliest writers who make any mention of a Wall in England are Herodian and Dion Cassius. Both of them, as we have seen in the introductory chapter, were contemporary with Severus, and both describe the expedition of Severus into Britain ; Dion does so at con- siderable length. If Severus, therefore, built the Wall, we may expect them to acquaint us with the fact. Both mention the Wall, but neither of them tells us that Severus erected it. The inference is that he did not. In two passages Dion Cassius refers to the Wall. Speaking of the insurrection in the time of Commodus he says : — " Some of the nations within that island having passed over the Wall (to tu\o^) which divided them from the Roman stations . . . Commodus became alarmed." The other passage belongs to the reign of Severus : — " Among the Britons the two greatest tribes are the Caledonians and the Majatae. . . . . The Ma3ataj dwell close to the Wall (avrif) r<£ SiaTti\l(TfiaTi) which divides the island into two parts." The passage in which Herodian refers to the Wall is the following : — " Severus's army having passed beyond the rivers and fortresses (\wfia.Ta) which defended the Roman territory, there were frequent attacks and skirmishes." 1 These passages are quite consistent with the idea that the Wall was built by Hadrian; and that it was a well known object when Severus landed in Britain. The next writer who mentions the object of our inquiry is Spartian, a Latin author of no great authority, who flourished at the close of the third century. Speaking of Hadrian he says : — He went to Britain, where he corrected many things, and there first drew a Wall (murum), eighty miles in length, in order to divide the barbarians from the Romans. a Speaking of Severus he says : — He secured Bi'itain, which is the chief glory of his reign, by a Wall (muro), drawn across the island to the boundary of the ocean on either side ; whence he also received the name of Britannicus. 3 These two extracts to a considerable extent neutralize each other. It is upon the latter passage that those authors who maintain that Severus built the Wall chiefly rest his claims. They do this the more 1 These quotations are taken from the translation given in the Historica Monumenta — an unbiassed authority. 8 The original of this passage is given p. 13. 3 The original passage is — "Britanniam (quod maximum ejus imperii decus est) muro per transversam insulam ducto, utrimque ad finem Oceani munivit : unde etiam Britannici nomen accepit." 300 THE TESTIMONY OF HISTORIANS. readily, because, as they suppose, Spartian regards this act to be the great glory of his reign. It is more probable, however, that it was the subjection of Britain, not the construction of the barrier line, which he regards as the crowning event in the life of this warlike emperor. In another passage Spartian mentions the Wall in connection with Severus : — After the Emperor had passed the Wall or Vallum in Britain, and was returning to the nearest station, ... an Ethiopian soldier confronted him. 1 Julius Capitolinus. who flourished at the close of the third century, in recording the erection of the Wall in Scotland, refers to a previously existing structure : — " Antoninus carried on many wars by his legates ; for he conquered even the Britons by his legate, Lollius Urbicus ; having, after driving back the barbarians, con- structed another "Wall composed of turf." The whole force of this passage depends upon the turn that is given to the phrase "alio muro cespiticio." The advocates of the claims of Severus render it " another turf Wall," and maintain that the only wall then existing in the Lower Isthmus was of the same nature as that erected by Lollius Urbicus in the Upper, a mere earthen rampart. Although not obliged to remove every difficulty, it may be remarked, that if we read the passage " another Wall, of turf," the meaning will be — he built another Wall, which was not like that already reared of stone, but of turf. Subsequent writers all ascribe the Wall to Severus ; they write, however, so long after the event that their testimony is of little value. The ecclesiastical historian, Eusebius, who died a.d. 340, says : — " Severus transfers the war to the Britons, where, that he might make the provinces he had recovered more secure from the invasion of the barbarians, he drew a rampart, one hundred and thirty-two miles long, from sea to sea." Sextos Aurelius Victor, who flourished about a.d. 360, says :— " He achieved greater things than these, for after repulsing the enemy he secured Britain, which was convenient for such things, by a Wall drawn across the island." Eutropius, who also flourished about a.d. 360. says : — " He waced his last war in Britain, and that he might render the provinces which he acquired as secure as possible, he drew a rampart from sea to sea, thirty-two miles in length." Cassiodorus lived in the sixth century ; he says : — " In the consulship of Aper and Maximus he made war upon the Britons, and to render the provinces which submitted to him secure against barbaric invasion, he drew a Vallum from sea to sea, one hundred and thirty-two miles in length." 1 " Post murum aut vallum missum in Britannia, quuin ad proximam mansionem rediret, . . iEtkiops . . occurrit." Some copies read " murum apud vallum." 2 " Nam et Britannos per Lollium Urbicum legatum vicit, alio muro cespiticio submotis barbaris ducto." SEVERUS ENGROSSED WITH Till: WAR IX SCOTLAND. 301 Such are the most important passages bearing upon the subject of our inquiry in the writings of Greek and Latin authors. As those writers, who were contemporary with Severus, do not give him the credit of building the Wall, we are at liberty to suppose that their successors. who do so have (owing to the lapse of time, their distance from the scene of operations, and the general disorder of the period) mistaken the reparation of the Wall for its original construction. At all events we may fairly cite in opposition to their statements the circumstances in which Severus was placed during his stay in Britain, and which render it extremely improbable that he should have effected so great a work. What time had Severus for building the Wall, and what troops could he spare for effecting so great an undertaking? Dion Cassius tells us expressly that " he returned not from the British expedition. but died three years after he undertook it."" A perusal of Herodian's account of his war against the Caledonians leaves the impression upon the mind that it occupied the whole of the time between his arrival in Britain and his death. Dion Cassius, indeed, speaks of a peace which lie compelled the Caledonians to submit to. and of a second insurrec- tion which broke out before his death ; but the account which he gives us of the "indescribable labours of Severus in cutting down woods, levelling hills, making marshes passable, and constructing bridges over rivers ; " of the havoc committed upon his troops, not less than " fifty thousand of them perishing ; '" and of the emperor's dogged perseve- rance, pressing on in defiance of all difficulties, " until he had nearly reached the extremity of the island, and most carefully examined the parallax of the sun, and the length of days and nights both in summer and winter," may well induce us to suppose that the greater portion of the last three years of his life was spent in the northern division of Britain. Horsley admits this. He says, " There was perhaps scarce time for him to begin and finish the Wall between the conclusion of the peace and his death, and much less between the conclusion of the peace and his going to York." If he did not construct the Wall on his return from, his Scottish expedition, when did he do it ? Not surely when he set out. He had made up his mind to subjugate the whole of Caledonia ; the erection of a barrier line a hundred miles to the south of the Wall of Antonine would, in such circumstances, have seemed an enormous waste of time and power. Not certainly during the con- tinuance of the struggle. He was evidently engaged in a desperate venture, and had neither time nor disposable force for the construction of an extensive work like the Roman Wall. He set in order the stations on his line of inarch, and probably repaired much of the Wall ; the circumstances of the case do not warrant us insupposing that he was able to effect anything beyond this. We turn now to the next branch of our inquiry, the evidence which the works themselves furnish as to their nature and their origin. 302 THE EVIDENCE FURNISHED BY THE WORKS. One circumstance, admitted b) T all writers on the Wall, argues very strongly in favour of the theory that both Murus and Vallum are but parts of one great engineering scheme : it is that the Wall is almost uniformly taken over ground which gives the greatest advantage in repelling an attack from the north, and the Vallum occupies positions whence a southern foe could best be resisted. Horsley himself thus states the fact : — " And it must be owned that the southern prospect of Hadrian's work, and the defence on that side, is generally better than on the north : whereas the northern prospect and defence have been principally or only taken care of in the Wall of Severns." — Britannia Romana, p. 12.3. If we suppose that the Vallum was an independent work, reared without reference to the Wall, and yet that it was made with the view of repelling northern aggression, we must admit that its engineers have succeeded most admirably in doing their work as badly as possible. making the Roman defences as weak as the nature of the ground would allow, and giving the enemy every possible advantage. On the theory that the Wall and Vallum were but parts of one scheme, the Wall being intended to repel an attack from the Caledonian foe, and the Vallum to guard against a stealthy assault on the part of the half-subdued inhabitants of the country south of the Wall, all becomes plain. To use the words of Stukeley — " The true intent both of Vallum and Wall was in effect to make a camp extending across the kingdom, and. consequently, fortified both ways." The opinion of Horsley, that the north agger of the Vallum was a military way, constructed by Agricola, but afterwards adopted by Hadrian, is singularly untenable. Can it for a moment be supposed that Hadrian, in constructing his barrier, would be satisfied with a, road which lay outside his ramparts, or, in other words, open to the occupation of the enemy ; especially when it is considered that for a considerable space this road is commanded by the rising ground to the north of it? On the other theory all is consistent. According to it the north agger discharges the same functions as the other ramparts of the Vallum, and Hadrian's military way. miles of which still exist, runs on the south side of the Wall from castellum to ( •astcllum, and from station to station. Lying between the Wall and Vallum it is protected not only from attack but almost from observation on both sides. A similar observation applies to the relation subsisting between the lines of fortification and the stations. In a very few instances the stations are to the south both of Wall and Vallum : but in the majority of cases the Vallum leaves the stations to a large extent or altogether unprotected. This is a state of things which no engineer of ancient or modem times would tolerate. View the whole as one work, and the difficulty vanishes. The Murus comes up to the north rampart of the WITHOUT THE WALL THE MILITARY WAV AND STATIONS EXPOSED. 303 stations, or the northern pier of their lateral gateways : the Vallum falls in with the southern rampart or southern pier of the gateways. Thus the Vallum and the Wall hind the whole fortification together, and enable it satisfactorily to resist aggression from whatever quarter it may come. In so extensive a work as the Wall, it is not to be supposed that there should be perfect consistency of plan, or that the rules generally observed should never he transgressed. Mr. McLauchlan, who is of opinion that the harrier is the work of three periods, points out three places on the line where the Wall and Vallum approach more closely than bethinks they would do if they had been constructed at the same time. He also gives two instances in which he considers that the "Wall has been bent in its onward course, for no other reason than to avoid running in upon the Vallum.. 1 Observations coming from so high and unbiassed an authority will command universal respect; but surely a few cases such as those named are not sufficient to overthrow the argument deducible from the design and execution of the works as a whole. Besides, might not a certain amount of latitude be allowed to the superintending engineer of each section of the work, the exercise of which would make itself felt at the points where the several parts joined? Mr. McLauchlan notices the tendency which the Vallum has to run long distances in a straight line, whereas the Wall changes its course with comparative frequency. The angles in the Wall, he also observes, are usually more acute than those in the line of the Vallum. Although it was necessary to guard against sudden surprise from the south, danger was not nearly so much to be apprehended in that quarter as in the opposite. On tins account probably it is that the northern line is constructed with so much scrupulous care. It adapts itself pertinaciously to each projecting crag and headland, regardless of the numerous angles which it is forced to make, or of the heights which it is constrained to climb. The Vallum, on the other hand, pursues a more independent course. It marches onward in a straight line, regard- less of occasional difficulties, which the other could not neglect. The difference of purpose and material seem sufficient to account for the difference of treatment in the two lines of the barrier. We now address ourselves to the concluding branch of the argument — the autograph statements of the builders of the Wall. In our examination of the ruins of the great structure, we have met with numerous dedicatory slabs, which establish the date of the buildings to which they were attached. In the time of Hadrian, the practice of carving these inscriptions was but just coming into vogue, and they are characterised by their 1 Memoir written during a Survey of the Roman Wall, p. 90. 304 THE TESTIMONY OF [NSCRIPTIONS. brevity and simplicity. In the reigns of his successors they were more freely used, and they are, comparatively, elaborate in their details. If, therefore, Severus built the Wall, we should expect to find frequent intimations of the fact in the stations and mile-castles of the Munis. The truth, however, is that from Wallsend to Bowness.we do not meet with a single inscription belonging to the reign of Severus, while we meet with several belonging; to that of Hadrian. At the station of Procolitia we have a slab containing the name of Aulus Platorius Nepos, the friend and legate of Hadrian f at Vindo- lana we have a stone bearing the name of Hadrian himself;" at 2Esica Ave have another ; s at Magna is an altar raised for the welfare of his adopted son, Lucius iElius. who died before Hadrian ; 4 and at the station at Walton House we have an altar which undoubtedly belongs to the reie little doubt that the emperors ,| ' ,, » of Rome, even before their death, were worshipped as gods. WW WM0B& IXf 1 J V-4 I. O. M. ET vik[anisJ pro sa- I.VTE D. N. M, ANToLNlNl] oordiaxi p. f. avg. vik[orvm] mag[istri] aua[m] col. avi 1 (or r). To Jupiter and the village deities for the safety of our lord Marcus Antoninus Gordianus pious happy august the village wardens this altar [erect.] The Mantuan bard, addressing Augustus, says he has no doubt of his divinity, though he knows not what region to assign to his especial care. Ovid assures Tiberius that there is in his house an altar not only to him, but to each member of his family, on which he offers frankincense, whilst breathing forth his supplications, every morning. When the people of Lyons wished to rear an altar to Augustus, that politic emperor declined the honour unless the goddess Roma were associated with him. The revolt of the Britons under Boadicea was accelerated by the conduct of the priests who ministered in the temple of the god Claudius, the reigning emperor, at Colchester. The city of Cyzicus was deprived of its freedom because its inhabitants neglected the worship of the god Tiberius. Suetonius informs us that Domitian required all who approached him to style him " our lord and god." It will also be remembered that when in the time of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, Polycarp was accused of being a Christian, the tests applied to him were — " Say Lord Cassar, and sacrifice," " Swear by Csesar's fortune," " Swear by the genius of Csesar." Rather than do this the venerable man submitted to the flames of martyrdom. Rome herself was regarded as a goddess, and was worshipped as Size, 3 feci by I foot 5 inches. ALTARS TO FORTUNE AND ROME. 311 such. Several altars dedicated to her have been found in the mural district, one of which, from the station of Mary port, is copied in the woodcut. When we consider that front the city of the seven hills the armies marched which held the world in subjection, and that into her lap was poured the wealth of countless provinces, we cannot he sur- prised that her citizens were tempted to regard her with feelings partaking more of idolatry than admiration. Next to Jupiter, Fortune seems to have been the favourite deity of the 3 r. j ». by » a.. Roman soldier. To her he looked for success in battle, and for a sate return to his home, when the period of service was over. The altar here figured was found at Hai;itanF£CT\/S : tiW-ii..W'lliifeiill,il''. l '!.i'.:'. l Size, 3 feet I inch by I foot 6 inches. MAKTI MILITARI (OH. I. BAETASI- OHVM C[vi] praees't] [cai-] (?) vs tvtor [prae-] FECTVS V. S. LI.. M. To Mars the warlike the first cohort of Bfeta- sians commanded by (Alius Tutor prefect dedicate most willinfflr, etc Several altars found upon the Wall are dedicated to Silvanus. the god of woods and gardens, the protector of flocks, and the guardian of boundaries. There must have been something warlike in his character, or he would not have been so popular with the Roman garrisons. " Cato calls him Mars Silvanus, from which it is clear that lie must have been connected with the Italian Mars." 1 Even Mars himself seems originally to have partaken of the agrarian character," so that the two deities might easily be interchanged. 1 Dr. Leonhard Schmitz in Dr. W. Smith's Dictionary. 2 "Mars is to be found in three different aspects at Rome: as Mars Gradivus, the war-god proper; the agrarian Mars, or Silvanus: and a Mars Quirinus." — DoUinffer's The Gentile and the Jew, by Darnell, Vol. II.. p. 42. ALTARS TO SILVANUS AND BELATUCADER. 313 The most remarkable of the altars to Silvanus which have been found in the North of England is the one here figured. It was found in the vicinity of Stanhope, where, in days subse- quent to the Roman period, the bishops of Durham held their great forest hunt; it is now preserved in the rectory at Stan- S J]^NOiNViGR}^C SILVANO I.VYJi TO - LcfRVM] c[aIYS TETIVS VETVRIVS MICIA- XVS PRAEf[eCTVs] AI.AE SEBOSIA- N \F. OB APRVM EXIMIAE FORMAE CAPTVM (JVEM MVLTI ANTECESSO- RES EIVS PRAEDARI \i>\ POTVERVNT V. S. L. M. I'n Silvanus the invincible sacred Cains Tetius Veturius Micia- mis prefect of the Sebosian cavalry on account of a boar of enormous size taken which many of his predeci s- sors were not able to destroy [erected this] in discharge of a vow. hope. From the Malpas rescript we learn that the Ala Sebosiana was in Britain in the time of Trajan, and was composed of Gauls. Two deities, Cocidius and Belatucader, whose altars are oulv found on the western section of the Wall, are supposed to be local gods, some- what akin to Mars. The engraving FGRMAECAPMGV ; AWiTIANTKE^ •Wlfi Size, j feet by I foot J inches. £_ £_ Lm'Liim\s LwZa.\miAL nJ I DEO MARTI BELATVCAD- RO ET NVMI- NIBJVS] AVG[VST0RVM IVLIVS AV- GVSTALIS \< Till! IYI.'lI LV- i'i pr[a]e[fecti] f[ecit.] To the god Mais 1 It latuca- der and the deities of the emperors Julius A«- gus talis the agent | .' i of Julius Lu- pus prefect made this. irmrr here given represents an altar found at Plumpton, and now in the museum at Manchester. As in this instance. scale, i£ lii^n tw tuut. and in some others. Mars and Belatucader are associated, it is generally supposed that the Romans recognised in the local god a representative 314 BELINUS, BELLONA, AND THE STANDARDS. Size, z feet 6 inches by I foot. BELI,1NV[S.] of their own martial deity. For the same reason Cocidins and Mars and Silvanus are thought to have had much in common. The epithet. " sanctus," which is not unfrequcntly applied to Mars, is also applied to Ins two local representatives. The word. Belatucader, appears to have some affinity with the name of the great eastern deity, Baal. Whether the frag- ment of an inscrip- tion here engraved gives us a more di- rect reference to the Phoenician god or not is doubtful. It is, however, certain that Baal was worshipped at Aquileia and in southern Gaul under the Latinised name of Belinus. This stone Avas found at Binchester, and is now in the museum of the Antiquarian Society, Newcas- rle-npon-Tyne. Bellonawasthe female personifi- cation of martial prowess. Only one altar to this deity has been found in England; it was discovered IH'.AE BEL- LON.2E RVFI- nvs in ief[ectvs] EQJViTVM] AL.E AVli'vST.i: et lainia- nvs fil[ivs. 'In the goddess !!<•]- lona Ruti- niis, prefect of the ryofthe wing [styled the Augustan nnd Lainia- nus his son [erected this.] 5i£C, 1 led hes by I lout c i near the station of Old Carlisle, and is represented in the woodcut. It is well known that the Roman soldiers worshipped their standards. Taci- tus calls the Roman eagles "Bellornm Dei." They were placed in a chapel in the camp, genio et signis coh[ortis] i. f[id^e] vahdvi.ji.orvm] ( ivivm] RiIimaxoevm] eq[vitat.e] m ii.ua hi. i: TflTVS] LICINIVS VALEI1I- anvs [t]rib[vnvs.] To the g - enius find standards of the first cohort the faithful of the Varduli Roman citizens cavalry a thousand strong Titus Licinius Valeri- anus tribune [erected this.] and. along with the other deities, received the religious worship of the troops. 1 The altar here introduced is Scale, | inch to foot. Milman's Gibbon, Vol. I., p. 1/ HERCULES AND MINERVA. 315 illustrative of this practice; it was found at Bremenium, and is now at Alnwick Castle. The demi-god, Hercules, the impersonation of physical strength, had some votaries ainongst the garrisons of the Wall. The fine altar exhibited in the drawing on the left hand was found at Borcovicus, and is now at Newcastle. 3? II .~- lOi DmsKNm MINERVA fl^MIVSSE ..VE.RINVS."; RIBAR' DEDi Size, i feet 7 inches bv I foot 9 inches. Size, j feet 9 inches by I foot 9 inches. hercvi.i To Hercules coh. I. tvxgror[vji] the first cohort of Tungrians mil[liaria] a thousand strong 1. vi praeest P. AEL[lVB] commanded by Publius- Eli us Hi idestvs prae[fectvs.] Mi idestus prefect. DE.E SANVT.K To the holy goddess MINERVA Minerva FLAVIVS SE- Flavin- - VET3XSVS verinus TRIB[vX\'s] ARAM tribune this altar PEDIT. dedicated. Neither was the wisdom which often prevails over physical force neglected. Minerva had her votaries, especially in the exposed fortress of Bremenium. One fine altar has already been figured, another, also in %/ *-■ ' the museum at Alnwick ( iastle, is now presented. 316 ALTARS TO APOLLO. 1 ►edications to Apollo are not common in the mural region. One small altar found at Chester-le-Street has already been given ; that which is now introduced was found on Haltwhistle Fell, near the Cawfields mile- castle. It is preserved in the museum at ( Jhesters. DEO AI'OL- l1ni melonivs senilis ex prpuvincia] ( .') oer[maniae] svp[eriokis. P. s. L. L. M. To the god Apol- lo Melonius Senilis from tin/ province nt' Upper Germans discharges his vow must willingly and deservedly. V .... One ol the most curious inscriptions found in the district traversed by the Wall, 5.ze,i foot 4 inches by 6 inches. IS that wlik'll is sllOWll in tllC llCXt CI I gl'aVl 1 1 g. It was found at Housestcads. and is now in the museum at Newcastle. ( )n some occasion of great perplexity, the ij garrison at Housesteads seem to have sought fi direction from the oracular god, and in HI IS DEABVSQVE SE- CVNDVM INTERPRE- TATIONEM ORACV- 1,1 (LA I! I ' APOLLINIS COH. I. TVNQRORVM. To the gods and goddesses ac- cording to the interpre- tation of the oracle of the illustrious Apollo the first cohort of Tungrians. )bedience to the response to have carved [ this inscription, or, more probably, erected & the temple to which it was affixed. Size, J feet 7 niches by 2 feet 7 niches. 1 Apollo in Ins eastern aspect, as the Sun, or Mithras, was a very general object of worship, especially towards the decline of the Roman domination in Britain. The worship of Mithras seems to have been in reality the worship of nature. As the sun is, instrumentally, the pro- moter of all vegetable life, and the stimulator of human energy, he. in the person of Mithras, became the object of general regard. The bull was sacred to Mithras, and the spilling of its blood was supposed to 'Dr. McCaul prefers reading "Clarii," from the well-known epithet which Apollo derived from Clarus in Ionia. — Brit. Rom. Ins., p. 154. MITIlliAIC TABLET. 31' communicate fertility to the earth. Before initiation into the mysteries of Mithraism, austerities of the severest nature had to be endured. In consequence of the cruelty and impurity connected with this eastern form of worship, Hadrian passed decrees repressing it. Notwithstand- ing, it made rapid progress, and, ac- cording to some of the fathers of the church, rendered it- self antagonistic to Christianity, not only 1 >y its rejection of polytheism, of which the world was tired, and the adoption of a ration- alistic creed, but by the imitation of some of its peculiar rites. Traces of Mithraic worship are abundant in the mural resrion. The most interesting re- mains are those which were disco- vered at Boecovicus in the summer of 1S22. Some work- men were building a fence in the valley SOUth Of the Station. S.ze, 4 f water on the spot, from which the stream which usually ran through a Mithraic cave might easily have been supplied. The curious tablet shown in the engraving stood against the western wall of the temple facing the entrance, having an altar to Mithras on each side of it. It represents Mithras surrounded by an egg-shaped zone, on which are carved the si^ns of the zodiac. In the middle of the cave, face downwards, were some fragments of a tablet representing Mithras slaying the bull ; and in a corner near the entrance was a small altar to the sun. The 318 TIIK SYRIAN GODDESS. contents of the cave are now preserved in the museum at Newcastle. The largest of the altars found on this occasion is shown in the drawinir. 1 ^Ol.lTN'y 0WMT^ h ; C-S-PRG li ffl ■ 1 ' 1 . ' " 'r ssfe g DEO SOLI INVI- CTO MYTR.E SAECVLARI LITORIVS PACATIANVS b[ene f[iciarivs] co[nsvlari]s PHO se et svis v[otvm] - oi.vit] T.[[lBEN^ m[eRIT()" To tile god tbc Sun the in- vincible Mithras enduring for nuc- Litorius Pacatianus a consular beneficiary for himself and family discharges a vow willingly and deservedly. The Mithraic was not the only form of worship which was intro- duced from the east inti i the north of England. The Bona Dea or Syrian Goddess had many votaries amongst the garrisons of the Wall. At Magna, which was at one time occupied by the Hamii,a Syrian people, some impor- tant traces of this speeies of worship have been found. The altar here shown, and which is now at Cam- bridge, was derived from this place. The inscription was nearly perfect when Camden copied it ; a great por- tion of it is now lost through the exfoliation of the stone. The restored letters are printed in shadow. DEAE 5VRI- AE SVE CALP- YHNIO AGR- ICOLA LEc;. ATG. I'll. PR. A. LICINIVS CLEMENS PIIAEF. COH. I. HAMIORVM. To the Syrian God- dess under < lalpur- nius Agri- cola imperial legate and proproetor Aulus Licinius Clemens prefect of the first cohort of Hamii [dedicates this.] 1 In the first volume, old series, of the Archoeologia /Eliann. is a most interesting account of the Mithraic cave at Housesteads, from the pen of the Rev. John Hodgson. [XSCRIPTION TO THE BONA DEA. 319 The small altar in the margin was found at Magna, where a cohort of Hamii were at one time in garrison. Mr. Swinhow, who drew attention to it in the Gentleman's Magazine for 17">2. says: — "I at first thought it to have been the name of some local deity, but that the Syrian Goddess, or Mother of the gods, is intended by it I do not now at all question." The altar is now at Somerset House. Still more important is the inscribed tablet shown in the next ensravins;, which was found at Carvoran in 1816, and is now at Newcastle. The inscription, which is an unusually long one. is without contractions, and is arranged in Iambic verse. It evidently consists of an exposition of the faith of the soldier dedicating it, and, as Mr. Hodgson observes, was probably ''composed on the occasion of his being admitted into the mysteries of Ceres." However unintelligible, we cannot but admire the humility and teachable disposition of the tribune. Dollinger observes respecting the Bona Dea : — "Her nature was so many-sided, or rather so little concrete, and. therefore. IMMIXET LEONI VIRGO CAELES- TI SITV SPK'IFEKA IVSTI IX- VENTRIX VJIB1VM (J0XIUTIUX EX QYIS MVNERIBVS NOSSE I'llX- TIGIT DEOS ERGOEADEM MATER DIVVM PAX VIRTVS CERES DEA SYRIA LAME VITAM ET IVRA PENSITANS IN CAELO VI-VM SYRIA SIDVS EDI- DIT LIBYAE COLEXDVM IXDE (T.ViTI DIDK IMVS ITA IXTEI.L1.XIT NVMINE INDVCTVS TVO MAH( YS CAECILIVS DO- XATINYS MILITANS TRIBVXYS IX PRAEFECTO DOXO PRINCIPIS. The Virgin, in her celestial seat over- hangs the Lion, Producer of corn, In- ventress of right, Foundress of cities, by which functions it lias been our s'ood fortune to know the deities. Therefore the >ame "is the Mother of the g-ods, "is Peace, " L isj Virtue, [is] Ceres, [is] the Syrian Goddess, poising life and laws in a balance. The constellation beheld in the sky hath Syria sent forth to Ly- bia, to he worshipped, thence have all ct'u> learnt it: thus hath understood, overspread by thy protecting influence, Marcus ( 'secilius Dunatinus, a warfaring tribune, acting- as prefect. 1 by favour of the emperor. Size, 2 feet 2 inches by } feet 4 inches. capable of so many interpretations, that she seems to be akin or identical with a number of Greek or Italian deities. She passed for an earth goddess, Maia; she was taken for fi-SlfV ^nCIFFRAlVSiNivl 'vFNT'KfX'VRSiVAAfON; 'Mmvnm D:Af[;<"A : LM\fCEV!UMEriVRAPtM^]TAN^i :i MCAROVISVA\STi? /y\ 5 [ DV.5 : :D1T ,.. LIBYAE CO LETn DVM I M D E ■ CVNCT!DlD]Ci/v\V5 Em/V'MlNEirvDYCm! /AARCVSC/iCi'LIVSDO MATIANl/S'MJIirANS rRlBVNVj INPRAEFECTOD- JQPli .0 '"Holding- the brevet rank of ' tribunus legionis,' whilst still acting as a prrefectus etpii- tum." — Dr. McCauPs Brit-Rom. His., p. 287. 320 ALTARS TO THE NYMPHS. ;i Juno; or she might he a Proserpine, or the Hecate of the lower world. The Greeks distinguished her generally as the deity of woman, and even a Cybele was detected in her." Hence it is that Csecilius Donatinus knows not how to address her. We pass, by an easy transition, from the Syrian Goddess to the nameless nymphs who presided over the rills and fountains of the North of England. The garrisons of the "Wall have left abundant evidence of their devotion to these deities. The altar represented on the left hand is an example. It was found near the little river Ti- palt, which flows into the South Tyne, in the vi- cinity of Blenkin- sop Castle ; it is now at Carlisle. A still more interesting and remarkable altar is that which is next presented. It was found, a ihw years ago, by the side of a spring overlooking the station of Habi- tancum, and is now in the museum at Alnwick Castle. The inscription forms two hexameter verses :— SOMNIO PKAEMONITVS MILES HANC PONERE JVSSIT ARAM QVAE FABIO NVPTA EST NYMPHIS VENERANDIS. The construction of the sentence is peculiar, and the rendering of it is not unattended with difficulty. It may be translated : — A soldier, warned in a dream, directed her ("earn" supplied) who is married to Faliius (the wife of Fabius), to erect this altar to the nymphs to whom worship is due. The principal objection to this interpretation is the apparent absurdity of one person being influenced in an act of worship by the dreams of another. This absurdity is not without precedent both in ancient and mediaeval times. The last altar we considered introduces us to one person vowing and another performing. The poet Martial complains that in consequence of the dreams of his friend. Nasidienus, he had offered up victim after victim until his flocks were entirely consumed ; he accordingly bids his friend "either to keep awake or dream for himself." Erasmus, in his colloquy on religious pilgrimages, introduces us to Ogygius, who visited St. James of Compostella, in obedience to a vow DEABV.S N\'[m - THIS veti[a] MANSVETA V[OVIt] CLAVDIA TVH[Bl]- NILLA FIL[lA] V. S. L. To tlie divine nymphs Vetia Mansueta vowed ( llaudia Turhinilla [vow. her daughter willingly discharged the THE M0THEB GODDESSES. 321 made by his wife's mother. Another translation of the inscription has been suggested ; dividing it into two sentences we have :— SOMNIO PRAEMOXITVS MILES IIANC PONEKE JVSSIT ARAM. [illa] QVAE FAISIO NVPTA EST NYMPHIS VENEKANDIS [pOSVIt]. A soldier warned in a dream directed this altar to be erected. The wife of Fabius erected it to the nymphs worthy of being worshipped. ;in to the nymphs. Size, j feet j inches by i feet 3 inches. Another class of subordinate divinities, nearby demands our at- tention — the Dead Matres or mother goddesses. We learn little respec- ting them from Size, 8 inches by 6 inches. O classical writers ; and they seem chiefly to have been wor- shipped in the provinces, especi- ally those of Ger- many. France, and Britain. When sculptured these deities are represented as triple, generally seated. though sometimes standing, clothed in flowing drapery, and bearing in their laps baskets of fruit. The woodcuts represent examples found at Netherby. No distinctive name was assigned to them excepting that of the district or country over which they exerted their spell. Their influence seems to have been of a benign character ; and they appear to have resem- bled, in most of their characteristics, "the ladies" or " good people " of the middle ages. The fragment of an altar here figured, and inscribed dearvs mateibvs — to the Mother goddesses — was found at Huxxum ; it is now at Matfen Hall. We have already met with a tablet, in- scribed to the Three Woodland Mothers, page 86 ; the fragment of an altar dedicated to the same deities — mateibvs campestbibvs — is shown on the next page. It was found, in 1856, at Gloster Hill, near Warkworth, and is now in the museum at Alnwick Castle. From its occurrence in such a locality, it may be presumed that the Romans used as a port the mouth of the Coquet. The nationality of the eohorl Size, 1 foot 1 inch by 1 1 inches. 322 THE TRANSMARINE MOTHERS. dedicating the altar does not appear ; the letters [c]on. i. alone remaining. "We have also met with an altar dedicated to the Domestic Mothers, page 237 ; the other altar here exhibited, which was found at Habi- tancdm, and is now at Alnwick, was inscribed to Mothers, from the ■ 3 ; V MAilrfe \/ > ^ss-. •> ■■■■ VJ m\ ^ ' N r ). S "4 rt r 4 ^ A' '4 >: '3 SV; 5 • r - I r AA\TRiBA ■""5 TRAM A, £TN 'I' Size, I foot 5 inches by I tool 5 inches. Size, 2 feet 1 inches by I foot 2 inches. MATRIBV- S TRAMA- RINIS IVL. VK TOR V. S. L M. To the trans- marine Mothers Julius Victor iu discharge of a vow, &c. region of whose influence the dedicatoi was separated by the broad bosom of the German Ocean. From an altar which is now lost it would appear that Julius Victor was tribune of the first cohort of Vangiones. Visitors to the antiquarian museums on the Rhine, the region from which the Vangiones came, will observe many dedications to the Mother goddesses. The sculpture of which the wood- cut is a copy is in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries, Newcastle. It was found in the premises formerly occupied as the Tyne Mercury office, in St. Nicholas' Churchyard, New- castle, but how it came there is not known. It is inscril ted DEABVS MATRIBVS TEAMAKINIS l'ATRl[l]s AYRELIVS IVVENALIS —to the Mother goddesses of our native land, beyond the sea, Aurelius Juvenalis. Size, z feet 1 inch by I foot 6 inches. TllCSC illdicatioilS, Oil tllC part of the soldiers who manned the Wall, of attachment to the land of their birth, are exceedingly interesting. Still more instructive is the THE MOTHERS OF ALL NATIONS. 323 large hearted dedication of the next drawing. It was found at the Walton House station, and is now in the collection at Netherby. m[at]hibvs OMNIVM GENTIVM TEMPLVM OLIM VETVS- TATE CONLAB- SVM G. n _ i.. CV- PITIANVS -1 [hOPBJA] rfECVNIA] RESTITVIT. To the Mothers of all nations this temple formerly through age dilapidated Gains Julius Cu- pitianus centurion at his own cost restored. Size, z feet 1 1 inches by I foot 7 niche: An altar found at the station of Condercum, and now at Somerset House, London, is inscribed, as here shown, lamiis tribvs — to the three Lamia?. These are supposed to be deities akin to the Mother goddesses. but of a malignant nature — the wily fomenters of jf'TIAFin' 2 ft. 8 tn. by 1 ic. 4 1 Size, 1 tcet 6 inches t>y i toot. evil. Some inscriptions found in Carlisle in 1861 serve to connect this class of goddesses with the Fates of the Greeks and Romans. The slab figured above probably formed the base on which rested a repre- sentation of the three ladies to whoni the destiny of each individual of the human family was committed. It is inscribed matrib[vs] par[cis] pro salvt[e] sanctiae geminae — to the Mothers the Fates, for the safety 324 MINOR DEITIES. of Sanctia Gemina. Another woodcut represents an altar found at the same time. The reader who may wish for farther information res- pecting the Mother goddesses will find much that is interesting in Mr. C. Roach Smith's " Eoman London" and " Collectanea Antiqua," and Mr. Wright's "The Celt, the Eoman, and the Saxon." As illustrative of the tendency to provide a separate deity for even- department of existence an altar to Epona, the goddess of horses, mules. and jockeys, is here introduced ; images to her were to he seen in most stables. It was found at Magna, and is now in the High School of Edinburgh, where it was taken by Dr. Adam, Size, l teet by I toot. PARCIS PRO BO[NO] DONATALIS PATER V. S. L. M. Size, I foot by DEAE EPON AE. P. SO. To the goddess Epona To the Fates for the welfare of Donatalis, his father erected this in discharge of a vow, &c. formerly rector of the school, and author 01 the " Roman Antiquities." The last letters of the inscription probably represent the name of the person making the dedication. The Romans were not a maritime people, and Neptune was $ not one of their favour- ite deities. Only one altar inscribed to this god has been found on the line of the Wall, and it is of very small size and rude work- DEAE .- E T L O - C E N I A E L. ABAR- EVS ce[ntviuo] V. *. L. M. To the goddess Setlo- cenia Lucius Ahar- eus centurion discharges a vow, &c. 5M1AEJ L'ABAft V-S'L'M manship. It was found at Chesterholm, a station nearly midway between the K ,»fc«5inch«byifbot»jncho. two seas, and is now in the possession of Mr. Fairless, of Hexham. It VITinis ami MOGON. 325 may be read — deo neptvno sarabo sino — to the god Neptune of the bay of Sarabus. The second line not being Ions; enough to hold the whole of Neptune's name, the last syllable of it has been added to the first. Several gods unknown to the mythology of Rome have already been presented to the reader; two or three more solicit his attention. The altar figured at the foot of the previous page was found at Maryport, and is now in the portico at Nether Hall. It introduces us to a new goddess, Setlocenia. Besides the altars which are inscribed dibvs veteribvs, to the ancient gods, there are a series of dedications to a god having as a proper name Vitiris, Yeteris, or Vetiris. 1 The example introduced on the left of the page is from the station of Cilurnum, where it still remains. The capital of the altar was found thirty years after the body of it. li id SANI - TO YITIKI TERn [VS V. S. L. M. To the holj god Vitiris Terivius in discharge of a vow. &< DEO BIOOUNTI VITIRI . . . 2E. SECVN D VE V. S. L. M. To the god Mogon Vitiris .T'.lius Seeundus in discharge of ;i vow, o mm ' )'t Size. I toot bv 6 inches. Size, z feet by I loot I inch. In the other altar here figured Vitiris seems to be associated with another deity — Mogon, whose name is apparently derived from Mogon- tiacum, the modern Mayence. The altar was found at Netherby, where it still remains. The goddess named on the small altar of which the next woodcut is a copy, and which was found at Cilurnum, is probably a local deity. connected with the im- portant town of PlAT.E. the modern Leicester. The Genii formed another class of minor deities. Every man had his Genius, , f00t by 8 j„ chcs . ift. 4 in. b y , *.!», who attended him from his birth to his death. Every place had its see ]> 5-1, L87. 326 C, KNII AND PENATES. Genius — every camp, house, and bath. We have already had several examples of altars dedicated to this order of beings. To these may be added the curious altars represented at the foot of the previous page, both of which are in the museum at Newcastle. One of them, addressed " to the gods of the mountains by Julius Firminus, a decurion." was found at Bremf.xhm ; the other, dedicated "to the gods, the fosterers of this place, by Julius Victor, a tribune." was found at Habitancum. Every Roman family had its " penates," or guardian gods. The images of these were placed near the hearth, on which offerings were made, the never-extinguished hearth-fire always burning in their honour. 1 On the Wall small bronze figures are occa- sionally found which are supposed t<> be penates. One of these is shown in the margin ; it was found near Burgh - upon-Sands. The woodcut on the right hand represents. of the full size, a terra-cotta figure of Venus at the bath. 5 It was found at Beemenium, and is now at Alnwick Castle a character similar to this were made largely in Gaul. 3 The reader, in examining the altars which have been submitted to his inspection, will have been struck with the frequency with which a multiplicity of deities are addressed on a single altar. In one instance Jupiter is invoiced in conjunction with all the immortal gods and the genius of the prsetorium. The example which is shown on the opposite page is still more remarkable ; and as the altar itself is one of the most ornate which has fallen under our observation, it is a fitting one with which to conclude the section of this chapter which treats of altars. It was found at Mary port, and is now in the possession of the Earl of Lonsdale. The lower lines of the inscription of this altar are so much injured as to be quite illegible. It would have been interesting to have learnt in what town of Barbary our tribune was born — possibly Sitifis. The question has often been asked — have no Christian memorials been found upon the Wall? Christianity was early introduced into Britain, and, probably, some soldiers in the Roman army were the first to herald the glad tidings in the Lower Isthmus; but they have Images of 1 Bollinger, Vol. II., p. 59. 2 One nearlv the same :is this is engraved in Barker's Lares and Penates, p. 193. 'See Collectanea Antiqua, Vol. A I. ALTA1I TO THE GENIUS OF THE PLACE". SMvrw.'/A"-/. cuRKi-.'sl m BERN 1 VY: PERES MRCOHOR iXPRQVlWS BCWs L s^c, > tect by l feet l inches. GENIO LOCI FORTVNiE REDVCI hum.t: aetkhn'.t; et fato bono esse> much interest, and could not with propriety be omitted. The obliter- ations in the stone, and other circumstances, lead to the conclusion that Elagabalus is the emperor intended; he was consul for the second time a.d. 219. We have before met with Modius Julius — on a stone at Birdoswald. The slab was found in the station at Xetherby, and is preserved in the museum of Sir Frederick Graham. FUNEREAL INSCRIPTIONS. The bodies of the dead were sometimes burnt and sometimes buried entire. When burnt the calcined fragments were put into a id ass bottle, earthenware jar, or other vessel of ordinary use, and this was with due care deposited in the ground. An earthen mound or a stone monument frequently marks the spot where the dead repose. In the vicinity of these burying-places gravestones are often found recording the names of the deceased persons and sometimes giving, what is sup- posed to be. a rough sketch of their appearance. The Romans entertained very vague ideas of the state of man after death. The departed were sometimes regarded as deities. " When 1 Mr. C. Roach Smith >tate> that what seems to be a cross is merely the ligature ti. See Collectanea Antiqua, Vol. I., PL L. DEDICATION Til ELAGABALUS l^cv'^B^ . .K- whom living and present to thee thou hast not cared for d[ii]s m[anibvs] s[acrvm] but despised ?" The monu- oratvs tribvn v 5 ; mental inscriptions usually begin with an invocation to the divine Manes — DTIS MANIBVS. This may frequently have a reference to the gods presiding over the shades, but it % feet j inches by i twt j mi a sometimes evidently refers to the departed persons themselves ; of this the above monument may be regarded as an instance. The stone before us. it will be observed, is an altar, not a mere slab. The tender expression with which the inscription closes will not fabi[a]e hoxoh- AT[AjE FABIVS HON- okatvs tribvx \ - c0h[0rtis] i. vangiox vmj et avrelia eglec- tiaxe fbcer- v\t kili[a]e dvlcissim|aJe. Sacred to the divine Manes of Pabia Honora- ta. Fabius Hon- oratus tribune of the first cohort of Vans'iones and Aurelia Eglee- tiane erected this to their most sweet daughter. i ; ^;Bl£.HiON0f? : WTfFAB'lMSHOiyl toTVSTRi-8V'l:" reQ.H'!-V:ANCJ-0!\i,| EC E:vf?.. .': IL1 ED',: :\ssm E 1 Dflis! M[ANIBVs] TITVLL1MA PVSSITTA Cl[vi]s(?) RAET X VIXSIT AXXOS XXXV. MENSES VIII. DIES XV. the divine Manes. Titullinia Pussitta a citizen of Leicester lived thirty-five years three months and fifteen days escape the attention of the reader. The Roman soldier have had a " fierce but he had a breast that heaved with human sympathies. The . ; :,u, ..„.,..... mi. altar was found in Cilur- num, and is preserved in the Dean and Chapter Library at Durham. FIR-CONE ORNAMENTS 331 No reference to death is made on the tombstones ; but the time that the individual lived is mentioned with great particularity. The stone represented at the foot of the opposite page, which was found at Netherby, and is preserved in the museum there, is an instance in point. Perhaps the most interesting sepulchral slab found on the Wall is the one shown in the next woodcut ; it came from Borcovicus, and is now at Newcastle. From the fact that an auxiliary cohort had a regu- larly appointed medical officer, we may judge of the efficiency of the Roman army in all departments of the service. No satisfactory explanation has been given of the animal, a rabbit probably, winch appears at the head of the stone. Amongst other modes of account- ing for it, it has s^,, *-*»*« 6 wsr- been suggested that the young man has been a native of Spain, of which country the rabbit was a badge. In the stations on the Wall ornaments resembling the cone of the Italian fir are of frequent occurrence. An exam- ine from Cilurnum is given in the margin. When at Volterra the writer was told by a person engaged in excavating the Etruscan tombs which abound in that vicinity that these objects were generally found near to a place of sepulture. As the fir-cone contains a considerable amount of resinous matter, and as the husk of it is much used in Italy for kindling fires, may not these ornaments be looked upon as emblematic of animal life, and their occurrence in a tomb expressive of a hope beyond the grave ? d[iis] m[aniisvs] ANIC'IO INGENVO MEDICO <>hd[inario] coh[ortis] I. TVNGlijniYMJ yixJit] an[nos] xxv. To the divine Manes. To Anicius Inge nuns the duly appointed physician of cohort the first of Tung-rians. He lived twenty-five years. CENTURIAL STONES. Numerous inscriptions record the names of the different centuries which have been employed upon the Wall. The official badge of a centurion — who possessed the power of inflicting corporal punishment 332 CENTURIAL STONES. upon his soldiers — was a vine sapling. The angular character, shown in the cut, which is used to express the word cextvrio or centvria, is probably a representation of this. Not unfrequently this centurial mark is rounded off so as to assume the appearance of a c reversed. Very few centurial stones have been found in their original position, but they have been picked up in the ruins of the Wall, throughout its whole length. The opinion generally entertained is that these stones point out the portions of work which Size, I foot by l foot. Size, I foot 5 inches by I foot I inch. PEI>[ATVIiA] CLA[SSIS] BIil[TANJNICAE.] The ground of the British fleet. have been done by each century. Not unfrequently two stones are met with bearing the same inscription as in the examples here shown from Cilurnum, one of them having, it is supposed, been placed at each extremity of the work done. Dr. McCaul tli inks that " the true explanation of such inscriptions is that they were intended to mark the space set apart for quarters in an encampment." This opinion is applicable to some of them but not the largest number. The stone figured in the woodcut, which is now at Netherby, has doubtless marked out a space of ground occupied by the troops which are named. 1 Again, the stones containing numerals, of which the next woodcut is an example. ) clavdi[i] may have been used for p - xxxx - such a purpose. The number of paces (pas- sus), or of feet (pedes), is too small to be appli- But as the great majority The century of ( 'hiudius paces forty. cable to the building of a section of the Wall. 1 It closely resembles one found in the garden wall at Naworth Castle, and figured in the Gent's Mag. for 1746. The writer does not know where the Netherby stone came from, or what has become of the Naworth stone. Though virtually the same, they are not identical. COINS OF THE ROMANS. 333 of the centum! stones are found at points on the Wall remote from encampments, it is more probable that they indicate the work done by the troop than the place of their lodgment. It is true that they seldom contain the word fecit, or any abridgment of it. but this is frequently omitted even on stones of greater pre tension. I OINS AMI ORNAMENTAL ARTICLES. Coins must be ranked next in importance to inscribed stones as a means of investigation in the hands of the antiquary. In artistic excel- lence the coins of the Romans are very remarkable ; and, as srivinc us a running commentary upon the leading events of the empire, they are worthy of study. The number of the pieces found in this distant part of the Roman dominions is such as to awaken surprise. It must be remembered, however, that the modern contrivances for relieving the metallic currency were then unknown, and that there was no public place of deposit, like our banks, where money could be kept. Each house- holder was obliged to carry on his person, or keep in his house, the money requisite for his wants. In time of danger the treasured store would often be buried in some retired place, and the secret of the deposit perish with its owner. The tight-fitting garments of the present day enable us to carry money on the person with comparative security : the civic dress of the Roman people was less favourable to its sate custody. Most of the coins found in the Xorth of England are much cor- roded, the nature of the soil not being favourable to their preservation. Some, however, are in a perfect condition. It is impossible in a work of this kind to give a complete account of the coins found upon the Wall. All that is here attempted is a description of a tew of the more important, and a detailed account of one of the "finds." as specimens of the whole. . Two of the most interestinu' medals which have recently come to light were found during the sewage excavations at Carlisle in 1857. The woodcut repre- sents one of these, a Greek medallion of Antoninus Pius,struck apparently at Magne- sia in Ionia. The let- tering on this piece is in part obliterated; but the design on the reverse. Ceres drawn in a car by winged serpents. is well preserved. The goddess holds in one hand a lighted torch, in the other a cornucopia. This medallion, in its numismatic relationship, is of high rarity; and. moreover, it is very unusual to find Greek coins 334 BRONZE ARM-PURSE. at all in this country. The other is a large brass coin of Vespasian, struck to commemorate the destruction of Jerusalem. It is in unusually good condition. On the obverse 111 <^, * s * ne P r °fi^ e °f the emperor, with his name and usual titles. On the reverse is a figure of the emperor dressed in a military habit : he stands erect, resting his left foot upon a helmet ; in his right hand is a hasta pura. in his left the parazoniurn sheathed. At his feet a female, representing Judaea, sits in a dejected posture. A palm tree indicates an eastern clime. The coin possesses peculiar interest to the student of Scripture. It gives unbiassed testimony to the literal fulfilment of a passage already quoted, page 4. in which the Israelites are threatened with overthrow by a nation of a fierce coun- tenance, from the end of the earth, and remarkable for the rapidity of its marches. Vespasian had fought thirty pitched battles in Britain, and there too his son, Titus, first fleshed his sword. Several hoards of coins have been found from time to time alono- the line of the Wall. As we have a complete and thoroughly accurate account of the "find" which took place near the village of Thorngrafton, it will be convenient to select it as an example. 1 The attention of the reader has already been turned to the hill of Barcombe, which lies about half a mile south of the Wall in the vicinity of the station of Borco- vicus. This hill, which chiefly consists of free- stone of excellent quali- ty, bears evident marks of having been quarried in ancient times. In the bottom of one of ^ the old quarries, buried amongst stone chip- pings, a peculiar skiff-shaped bronze vessel was hit upon in 1837. It was found to contain three imperial gold coins wrapped up in a piece of leather resembling kid, and sixty silver coins — being all 1 See " Treasure Trove in Northumberland, by John Fenwick ;" and " The Thorngrafton Find." by its present owner, in the Archneologia /Eliana, Vol. III., p. 269. HISTORICAL VALUE OF THE COIN?;. 335 denarii. Of the silver coins, nine belonged to the consular series, the rest were coins of the empire. The whole collection furnishes us with an interesting view of what the circulation of the country was at the time the Wall was built; and brings forcibly before the mind many of the most striking events in which Rome was engaged during the best periods of her history, both consular and imperial, down to the year a.d. 120. But the most important use of the treasure is the evidence it affords that the Wall was built by Hadrian. This quarry had not been touched from the time the purse was deposited until it was re-opened on the occasion of the formation of the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway. Now, as the coins of latest date belong to the reign of Hadrian, and as these are unworn by circulation, the conclusion is irresistible, that the Romans ceased in the reign of Hadrian to resort to this quarry. The woodcut on the preceding page represents the bronze purse which contained the coins. It was probably intended to be worn on the left arm — the right being left free to protect the treasure. A similar purse was found in the station of Amboglanna about the year 1820, and is now in the museum at Chesters ; another was found in 1849 at Farndale in Yorkshire. The vessel is about six inches long ; the lid has a hinge at one end, and it fastens with a spring at the other. The accurate list of the coins which follows has been kindly furnished by Mr. Clayton, in whose museum the treasure at last, and most appro- priately, reposes. 1 CONSULAR OIJ FAMILY COINS. No. l._The Family (if A.jnillia (Patrician). Obv. A helmeted head without beard, with the legend vnrrvs in.viR. Rev. A military figure (Manius Aquillius), holding a shield on his Left arm in an attitude of defence, whilst with his right he is raising a distressed woman from the ground. The letters AQV alone legible. No. 2.— The Family of Coelia (Plebeian). Obv. The bare and beardless head .if an elderly man, with the legend e. COKL. Rev. A radiated head of Phoebus — a round buckler in front and an oblong shield behind, with the legend CALDVS in. ah:. No. 3.— The Family .if Cordia (Plebeian). Obv. The diademed head of a female, looking to the right, with the legend RVFVS. Rev. The figure of Cupid, mounted on a. dolphin, and steering by a bridle, with the legend m.cordi vs. No, 4.— The Family of Furia. Obv. Head of Pallas. Rev. A horseman spearing victims. Legend illegible. 1 .Some of the woodcuts do not quite accurately represent the coins. They were prepared at a time when the find was in the possession of a countryman, who refused to allow the artist access to them. The drawings were made by Mr. John Storey, from sealing-wax impressions pro- cured by Mr. Fairless. A few of the pieces have been re-engraved for this edition. :',:})'> THE TTIORNGRAFTON FIND. No. 5. — The Family of Livineia (Plebeian). Obv. A bare and beardless head, sup- posed to be that of Regulus, but without legend. Rev. A gladiator, armed with a spear, contending against a lion, whilst another gladiator above, with a sword and buckler, is fighting a tiger ; between the combatants is a squatting bear. Legend l. REGVLV8. Nos. 6 and 7. — Obv. Head of Venus. Rev. ./Eneas hearino- his father, Anchises, and his household gods. Legend Caesar. No. 8. — Family of Marcia. Obv. The laureated head of Apollo, with a bare neck. Rev. A figure of Silenus, bald headed, and standing by the side of a column on which is a statuette of a female. His head and right hand raised to heaven, and a wine-skin on his left shoulder, with the legend L. censor. — Lucius Censorinus was Monetal Triumvir under Augustus. No. 9. — The Family of ./Emilia or Plautia. Obv. Head of Cybele turreted, and the legend l. salinatoe ai.d. cvr. s.c. Rev. A camel, '~^)f \ with a figure on his knees, wearing a pallium, holding the , camel by a halter, and presenting an olive branch, with the legend BACCHIVS ivdaevs. IMPERIAL COINS, GOLD. No. 10. — Obv. IT. (I. AVI). CAESAR AVG. GERM. P.M. TRIB.POT. P.P. Rev. NERO CLAVD. CAKS. DRVSYS GERM. PRINC. IVVENT. Head of young Nero. No. 11. — Obv. NERO CAESAR AVGVSTVS. Rer.A figure seated in a large chair, a patera in right hand. SALVS, below. No. 12. — Obv. [MP. CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG. Ji'rr. Victory crowning with laurel a Roman soldier; in his right hand a spear, in his left a sword, cos. vm. below. DENARII. No. 13. — Obv. IMP. NERO caesau avgvstvs. Rev. The same as No. 11. No. 14 — O/tr. IMP. SER. galbaavg. Rev. DIVA avgvsta. A figure standing — in right hand a garland, in left a spear. Nos. 15 and 16.— Obv. IMP. SER. GALBA CAESAR AVG. Rev. S.P.Q.R. OB C.S. in a wreath. THE THORXGRAFTOX FIND. 337 No. 17. — IMP. OTHO CAESAB AVG. Rev. PONT. max. A female figure; in right hand a branch, in left a cornucopia. No. 18.- Rev. IVDAEA. a trophy. Obv. IMP. CAESAB VESPASIANVS AVG. A female figure sitting desolate beside No. 19.— Obv. IMP. CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG. Rev. GENIVM p. B. A figure standing; in right hand a patera, in left hand a cornucopia. Nos. 20 and 21. — Obv. IMP. CAESAR VESPASIANA S AVG. Rev. imp. xix. A basket filled with ears of corn. Xos. 22 and 23. — Obv. IMP. CAESAB VESPASIANVS AVG. Rev. COS. ITER, tr.pot. A female figure standing; in right hand a branch, in left a caduceus. Xo. 24. — Obv. divvs A. vgvstvs vespasianvs. Rev. Two goats supporting a shield on which is s.C, with a globe below. No. 25.— Obv. IMP. CAES. VESP. AVG. CENS. Rev. PONTIF. MAXIM. A figure seated; in right hand a spear, in left a branch or flower. Xo. 26.— Obv. CAES. VESP. AVG. P.M. COS.IIII. Rev. CONCORDIA avgvsti. A female figure seated; in right hand a patera, in left a cornucopia. Nos. 27, 28, and 29.— imp. caesar vespasianvs avg. Rev. PON. max. tr.p. COS. vi. A figure seated; in right hand a branch. Xo. 30. -Obv. IMP. CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG. An eagle standing on a cippus. Rev. COS.Vii. Xo. 31.— Obv. IMP. CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG. Rev. COS XIII. or XXIII. Mars, having in right hand a spear slanting, in left spoils. 388 THE THORNGttAFTON FIND. f K ^M \ ^"' ■'"" — Obv. IMP. CAES. VEsr. AVG. COS. VIII. Rev. VESTA. A figure standing; in right hand a simpulum, in left a spear. No. 33. — [c]aes. VESP. AVG. T.M. COS.VIII. Rev. [victoria] avgvsti. A Victory placing a crown of laurel on a standard. No. 34. — CAES. AVG. F. DOMIT. COS. III. Rev. PRINCEPS IWENTVT. A female figure standing; having in right hand a flower, the left holding her drapery. Nos. 35 and 36. — CAESAB AVG. F. domitiaxvs. Rev. cos. mi. Pesasus. No. 37. — OH". CAES. DOSIITIANVS AVG. p.m. Rev. TR.POT.II. cos. Aim. DES.X. Pallas; in right hand a thunderbolt, in left hand a spear, with shield below. iiJ/iV.7 at her feet an owl. No. 38.— IMP. CAES. DOMITIANVS AVG.P.M. Rev. TK.POT.II. cos. vim. i>i:s.x. p.p. Pallas, armed, standing on the prow of a galley ; No. 39.— IMP. CAES. DOMIT. AVG. GERM. P.M. TR.P.XIII. Rev. imp. xxn. cos. xvi. cr.xs. r. p.p. A helmeted figure standing: in right hand a spear. No. 40. — CAES. DOMIT. AVG. GERM. P.M. TR.P.II. Rev. IMP. XXI. ' j COS. XVI. < ENS.P. P.P. Pallas, armed. No. 41. — IMP. CAES. DOMIT. AVG. GERM. P.M. IK. P. VII. Rev. IMP.XIIII. COS. XIII. CENS.P. P.P. A ^ figure standing; in right hand a spear. No. 42. — IMP. NERVA CAES. AVG. P.M. IP. P. COS.III. p.p. Rev. foutvx.v p.p. Fortune seated. No. 43. — IMP. NERVA TRAIAN. AVG. GERM. Rev. PONT.MAX. TR.POT. cos. u. A female figure ; in right hand ears of corn, in left a cornucopia. THE THORNGRAFTON FIND. 339 No. 44. — IMP. CAES. NEKVA TRAIAN. AVG. GERM. Rev. P.M. TR.P. cos. ii. p.p. A figure seated; holding in right hand a branch, left arm resting on the seat. No. 4.3. — IMI'. CAES. nerva traian. a\<;. germ. Rev. p.m. tr.p. COS. ii. p.p. A female figure seated; in right hand a patera, in left a torch. No. 46. — IMP. TRAIANO AVG. GER. DAC. P. M. TR.P. C'OS.Y. p.p. Rev. S.P.Q.R. OPTIMO PRINCIPI. A figure seated; in right hand a rudder. in left a cornucopia. No. 47. — IMP. TRAIANO AVG. GER. DAC. P.M. TR.P. Rev. COS.V. p.p. s.p.Q.R. optimo pitiNC. Roma seated ; in right hand a victoriola, in left a spear. Xo. 48. — IMP. TRAIANO AVG. GER. DAC. P.M. TR.P. Rev. COS.V. p.p. S.P.Q.R. optimo PRINC. Victory standing : in right hand a garland, in left a palm. No. 49. — IMP. TRAIANO AVG. GER. DAC. P.M. TR.P. COS.V. DKS.VI. Rev. S.P.Q.R. optimo principi. A figure of Peace standing ; in the exergue pax. Xo. 50. — IMP. TRAIANO AVG. GER. DAC. P.M. TR.P. Rev. COS.V. P.p. S.P.Q.R. optimo princ. A figure standing; in right hand scales, in left a cornucopia. Xo. .31. — IMP. TRAIANO AVG. GER, DAC. P.M. TR.P. Rev. COS.V. P.P. S.P.Q.R. OPTIMO PRINC. A figure standing; in right hand a branch, in left a cornucopia. Nos. 52 and 53.— imp. traiaxo avg. ger. dac P.M. TR.P. Rev. COS.V. P.P. S.P.Q.R. OPTIMO PRINC. A figure standing: in left hand a sceptre, in right a branch, beneath which stands a small camel. No. 54. — IMP. CAES. XER. TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG. GER. DAC. Rev. P.M. TR.P. COS. VI. P.P. S.P.Q.R. Mars: carrying in right hand a spear, in left a trophy. 340 TIIK THORNGRAFTON FIND. Nos. 55 and 56. — imp. caes. nek. tkaiano optimo ger. dac Rev. P.M. TR.P. COS. VI. P.P. S.P.Q.E the right hand a patera, in the left ears of corn. A naked figure standing; in No. 57. — IMP. TKAIANO AVG. GER. DAC. PARTH. P.M. TR.P. cos. vi. p.p. Rev. S.p.q.R. optimo principi. A sitting figure ; in right hand a rudder, in left a cornucopia ; below, FORT. RED. No. 58. — IMP. TKAIANO OPTIMO AVG. GER. DAC. P.M. TR.P. Rev. cos. vi. p.p. s.p.q.r. A figure stand- ing; in left hand a spear, the right hand stretching the toga over a small figure, in whose right is a twig. No.59. — IMP. CAES. NER. TKAIANO OPTIM. AVG. GER. DAC. PAR- thico. Rev. P.M. tr.p. cos. vi. p.p. s.p.q.r. A figure of Provi- dence; in left hand a spear, at her feet a globe, at which she points, and PROVII>. Nos. 60 and 61. —imp. caesak traian. hadrianvs AVG. Rev. p.m. tk.p. cos. in. A Victory, laden with spoils. No. 62. — IMP. CAESAR TRAIAN. HADRIANVS AVG. Rev. p.m. tr.p. COS. III. A figure seated; in right hand a patera, in left a cornucopia; below, fel. p.r. No. 63 IMP. CAESAR TRAIAN. HADRIANVS AVG. Rev. p.m. tr.p. cos. in. A female figure veiled; in right hand a patera ; PIETAS. The region of the Wall being; a constant scene of war and turmoil, articles of taste and luxury cannot be expected to abound in it. We do, however, meet with some indications of the wealth of Rome and of the taste of the Italian people. The Corbridge lanx has already been des- cribed. In 1745 a service of Roman plate, elaborately carved, was found near Capheaton, in Northumberland. A number of gold and silver articles were offered for sale in Newcastle in 1812, which the person disposing of them professed to have found at Backworth, a village near Newcastle. Most of them w r ere bought by Mr. Brumell, and are now in the British museum. 1 A gold chain, forming a part of this find, is This Hud is described in the Journal of the Archaeological Institute, Vol. VIII. GOLD AXL) SILVEE ARTICLES. 341 represented in the accompanying woodcut. 1 A magnificent gold chain, of a pattern similar to this, and weighing 2 oz. 15 dwts. 12 grs., was found upon the line of the Wall, a little to the west of Carlisle, in December, 1 1860. It is in the possession of William Forster, Esq., Stanwix, Carlisle, who was present at the time the discovery was made. Along with the chain were found two or three hundred Imperial denarii. 8 The silver fibula shown in the wood- cut was found near the station of iEsiCA, and is now in the possession of Mr. Clayton. It bears the aspect of a style subsequent to the Roman ; but it should be remarked that one precisely similar to it was found in the station at Netherby, and is figured in Lysons' Cumber- land. The small gold ornament here shown was found at the same place. Several finger rings have been found on the Wall, made of gold and other metals. Intaglios, deprived of their setting, are also dug up in considerable numbers. The setting has, in these cases, probably consisted of some base metal, which has perished through the lapse of time and the moisture of the soil. One example of an iron finger ring- occurs ; it was found at Borcovicus. and is in the possession of Mr. Clayton. 1 For which the writer is indebted to the Council of the Archaeological Institute. i Mr. Forster informs the writer that he secured sixty-two of these coins : the rest were dispersed. Those in his possession consist of the following : — Nero, 1 : Galba, 1 : Vitellius, 1 ; Vespasian, 10; Domitian. -A: Nerva, 1; Trajan, 12; Hadrian, i: Sabina, "J; Antoninus Pius, 5; Faustina, 7 : Aurelius, "2; illegible. 12. 342 RINGS AND INTAGLIOS. The small gold ring represented below is in the collection at Lazonby Hall ; the stone is a purple amethyst, and on it is engraved a figure of Mercurv. The cock pecking at a head of wheat was found at Chesters, where it remains ; the setting is of silver. The stone representing a lion is also at Chesters. The collection of antiquities at Walton House is peculiarly rich in intaglios ; some of them are here ^ figured. But perhaps the most remarkable work of art of this description which has been found upon the Wall is that which is represented in the subjoined cut. It was found, in 1850, at Stanwix, Carlisle. The medallion consists of a vitreous, lavender- coloured paste, exhibiting in high relief, and of admirable workmanship, the head, probably, of Antinous. When first dug up some traces of the metallic rim, in which it had been set, were visible. It is thus described in the catalogue of the museum formed at Carlisle on the occasion of the visit of the Archaeological Institute to that city : — "A round medallion of lavender coloured, opaque, vitreous paste. It is an object of great beauty and of very uncommon occurrence, unique possibly in England; it represents a bust in high relief, nearly full face turned towards the right : the hair long and flowing; it appears at first sight to represent a female, but the countenance partakes of an androgynous character, and the subject intended may have been the youthful Bacchus." BRONZE AND IRON IMPLEMENTS. Very few specimens of the arms and armour of the imperial masters of Britain have come down to our time. The bronze umbo of a shield found near Matfen, in the vi- cinity of the station of HuNNUM,is shown in the woodcut. On the rim there is a feebly punctured in- scription, which Mr. Franks takes to be 3 rvspi qvinti, the century of Ruspius Quintus. It appears that it was not unusual to order soldiers to inscribe their own and their centurions names on their Pft BRONZE ARTICLES. 343 shields, in order the more readily to detect acts of cowardice. 1 At Thorsbjerk, in Sleswick, several bosses have been found of the same form as this, and punctured in a similar manner. The four objects shown in the woodcuts above are of a military nature ; they are all of bronze and are all in the museum at Alnwick Castle. The one on the left hand is from the station of Bremenium ; it has the appearance of being a piece of plate armour. The next is believed to be part of a standard, and was found near the station of Hunnum. The hand, the emblem of power, is also supposed to have been part of a standard, and lias probably been inclosed in a circular rim of metal; it is not known where it was found. The other object is evidently part of a handle of a sword or dagger. During the excava- tions at Bremenium. a lump of corroded iron was dug up, which on close inspection was found to consist of a mass of chain mail. The figures on the base of Trajan's column prove that chain mail was in use at the close of the first century of the Christian era. During the sewage excavations at Carlisle a few of the ring's of a bronze coat of mail were exhumed ; they are represented in the margin above. Bronze bosses in the form of heads are sometimes found; they have probably been attached to the sword belts of the superior officers, or some part i »f their armour. Two examples are here given ; that on the left hand is at Lazonbv Hall, the other is at Carlisle. 'Journal of Archaeological Infinite. Vol. XV., p. 55. Denmark in the Early Iron Age, by Conrad Engelhardt, p. 19. 344 THE RUDGE CUP. The very elegantly chased piece of bronze also figured has formed part of a clasp of some kind. Fibula? or brooches are anions: the most common of the ornamental objects which reward the labour of the explorer. These sometimes consist of silver, and even of gold, but are more frequently made of bronze. The largest of the objects next introduced represents an enamelled bronze fibula, which was found at Habitancum, and is now in the museum at Newcastle. Instru- ments of this form were doubtless intended to bind together the parts of a thick woollen garment. Two smaller examples are also figured. Other modes of pinning together the edges of a garment were in use amongst the Romans ; the cuts represent studs not mud 1 unlike some that are in amongst us at vogue present. The face of the circular stud or small fibula, which forms one of the examples shown, is covered with enamel of various colours. It belongs to the Netherbv collection. The children of free- men at Rome usually wore suspended to their necks a circular bulla or ornamental box, containing an amulet. In the case of children of noble families, the bulla was made of gold : the children of freemen, on the other hand, wore one of leather attached to a thong of the same material. The woodcut represents, of the full size, a small box of bronze found at Netherby, where it still remains. It is doubtless a bulla, which has graced the neck of some Romano-British youth, sixteen or seven- teen centuries ago. The bulla usually was laid aside, together with the prsetexta, when the child attained the age of puberty, and it was dedicated to the tutelary gods of the family. A small bronze cup, elaborately chased, and still bearing some traces of enamel, was found last century in a well at Rudge in Wiltshire. An inscription, running round its rim, connects it with the Wall ; it is A MAIS ABALLAVA VXELOBVMC(?o) AMBOCLAXS BANNA. There Call be llO doubt that there is a reference here to Amboglanna, and some other stations near the western extremity of the Wall ; but the full import I. AMI'S AMi TOILET ARTICLES. 345 of the legend has not yet been ascertained. The vessel is now preserved in the museum of the Duke of Northumberland at Alnwick Castle. Can it have been intended to be dedicated to the nymphs presiding over the medicinal waters of Grilsland, which are in the immediate vicinity of Amboglanna ? The long nights of a north of England winter would sorely try the patience of troops reared on the shores of the Mediterranean. Small earthenware lamps are frequently met with amongst the ruins of the castella and the stations. More rarely, lamps of bronze are discovered, of which the woodcut fur- nishes a specimen, found at Carlisle. These, however, wi mid do but little to dispel the intense darkness of a moonless night. A slight reference to some articles of domestic use must close this branch of the subject. Pins for the hair '— -» i *g»^gqg»»BgH •*« (fc**-^ and the toilet, needles of various kinds, and styli for writing on waxen tablets have been found in some of the sta- tions. Specimens of these, obtained during the sewage excavations at Carlisle, are introduced. All of these are bronze except the one marked o. which is made of horn. A pin of jet, which i was found at Bremenium, is als.. figured of the actual size. The woodcut, c, represents a small spoon from Bremenium. Bells of various shapes are met with. One is here drawn of half its actual size ; it is hemi- spherical in form, and made of bronze. 346 METALLIC REMAINS. LEAD AND IRON IMPLEMENTS. Both lead and iron have been extensively wrought by the Romans in the North of England. The scoriae resulting from the smelting of both these metals are met with in considerable quantities in the mineral districts, especially in the vicinity of the Watling Street and the Maiden AVay. Leaden pipes of considerable weight and diameter have been dug up in the station of Corchester, and lead has been very freely used in fastening the cramps of the bridge at Cilurnum and in other works. In consequence of the tendency of iron to oxydize, most of the articles m 1 made of this metal that were left by the Romans must have disappeared ; many, however, remain. Specimens of their hammers, chisels, mattocks. and hoes have been picked up. The woodcuts represent some other articles — a is a knife, found at Carlisle ; b, c, d are spear heads from the collection at Chesters ; e is the spring catch of* a lock ; / is the key by which the spring was held down and the bolt disengaged. Some of the Roman locks exhibit ingenious contrivances, which have been made the subject of patents in recent times. A Roman key for wearing on the finger is here floured : it is of bronze, and, together with the articles e and /', is in the museum at Chesters. EARTHENWARE, GLASS, AND MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES. However frequently the site of a Roman station may be turned over by the spade or plough, it is scarcely possible entirely to deprive it of the fragments of pottery which have been deposited in it. As the pot- tery of the Romans possesses features different from those of any kind now in use. the circumstance referred to is frequently useful in ascertaining 348 FICTILE REMAINS. whether a plot of "'round has been occupied by the Romans or not. The finest kind is that which is called Samian. The manufacture of it was carried on in various parts of Gaul, Germany, and other places. Samian ware is of a bright coral-red colour, and is strongly glazed. Some vessels are quite plain, others are very tastefully embossed. On this and the previous page are some specimens of this beautiful manufacture. The potter's name, in the case of plain vessels, is generally stamped on the bottom of the inside : in the embossed varieties, when given at all. it appears in SV-J- -^ ^^^^t^ i relief on the /, relief c outside. The potters' stamps here appended, which are from plain varieties, read genialis feci[t], capelliv[s] f[ecit], and mvxtvlli m[anv]. In the embossed examples represented on the previous page the maker's mark appears in three instances — lastvca f[ecit] (put on the reverse way), cinnam[i], and divix. It not unfrequently happens that plain Samian vessels have an ornamental spout, formed after the model of a lion's mouth, or that of s line other ravenous beast ; the woodcuts furnish two examples. In some rare instances plain Samian bowls have been subjected to the wheel after the manner of cut glass, before being glazed. Two speci- mens are here given found in the station of Bremenium. All the Samian ware found in England has been brought from abroad, chiefly from Gaul. It has been very highly valued, for it is not uncommon to find fractured bowls which lane been carefully repaired by means of leaden rivets. Other kinds of earthenware were extensively used in Britain, of which specimens are given on the opposite page. These, for the most part, are of native manufacture. One species consists of vessels which are perfectly plain, and are of a gray or slate colour. The peculiar hue has been imparted to them by closing the kiln at a particular stage and causing the smoke to be absorbed by the glowing vessel. 350 &LASS VESSELS. Another variety consists of jars, the sides of which are indented ; these are generally of a dark colour, having a metallic gloss. Amongst the fragments shown on the previous page arc some that are adorned with representations of the human figure. One jar, the lower portion of which has been lost, has a cluster of heads about its rim — the projecting chins of two of them forming the handles. A fragment from Bsemenium has for its subject Faustulus standing over Romulus and Remus and the wolf. Another specimen presents the peculiarity of having a ring attached to it, which plays freely in its staple ; this was found at Cilurnum, and is now at Chesters. The specimen **'■>■„ s< -" tb ) ^W T H E G EOLO G Y <>F THE DISTRICT TRAVERSED BY THE ROMAN WALL. WITH GEOLOGICAL MAP AND SECTIONS. By GEORGE TATE, F.G.S.. &c. Wallsend was the eastern termination of the Roman Wall; but as there were subsidiary Roman stations at North .Shields and Tvnemouth, our geological survey may properly extend across the island, from the sea at Tvnemouth to the Solway Firth at Bowness. This is the narrowest part of England, the distance being' only seventy-four miles ; and, though the Wall passes over a series of rolling hills, the elevations rarely exceed 400 feet, excepting along- the basaltic clifls, one of which, Winshields, is about 1,000 feet above the sea level. Across this isthmus, the geologist finds many phenomena suggestive of important inquiries. In Tvnemouth cliffs, the magnesian limestone of the Permian formation is seen; the coal mea- sures occupy the low undulating land between Tvnemouth and Frenchmen's Row; in the higher grounds between this place and Harlow Hill, there are great beds of millstone grit; and the mountain limestone, from Harlow Hill to Lanercost, constitutes the bolder hills, which derive additional interest and picturesqueness from the basalt, which has been intruded among- the rocks, alimg- the line from Limestone Corner to Thirlwall ; the triassic formation, or new red sandstone, fills the plain of Cumberland; and near its western termination this sandstone is overlaid by beds belonging- to the lias. Over most of these rocky beds there is a covering of boulder clay and gravel. Strata older than the mountain limestone do not appear ; even the lowermost group of the carboniferous system is wanting-. There are no secondary beds later than the lias, and tin- tertiary beds are entirely absent. CARBONIFEROUS FORMATION. This important formation occupies the greater portion of our line of survey, and extends from the mouth of the Tyne to Lanercost in Cumberland ; it is the oldest we meet with, and is distinguished by the large amount of carbon locktd up in its beds of coal and limestone, and hence its name. Though it presents one great assemblage of strata, marked throughout by the occur- rence of certain fossil plants, especially the stigmanaficoid.es, yet then- are changes of condition indicated during the vast periods which lapsed while the various beds were in course of deposition. These beds in Northumberland may be conveniently arranged into the four following- groups, in descending order: — The coal measures, the millstone grit, the mountain limestone, and the Tuedian group. Anne of the beds, however, in the line of the Roman Wall is so low down in the series as this last group, but all the others are present. i IOAL ME \sn;ES. Starting at Tvnemouth, we enter at once on the uppermost group, which extends westward a distance of fourteen mile-. It is seen in the cliffs at Tynemouth below the magnesian linn- stone, and at Throcklev Colliery there is a coal about three feet in thickness, which is the lowest workable seam in the group. As we proceed, we pass over many alternations of sandstone, shale ironstone, and coal; the beds an- of various thickness, from one inch to more than 100 feet; the whole having an aggregate thickness of about -J. (Mill feet. The sandstones are numerous, and several of them of great thickness; the main post i- SI feet thick. Usually they are line 354 coal measures. grained, being formed of grains of sand, chiefly silica, and they furnish a beautiful building stone; but others of a more gritty texture, though not adapted for ornamental designs, are nevertheless more useful and durable for building purposes; and of such many portions of the Roman Wall have been built. The shales, interstratified with these sandstones, are also of considerable thickness, and although differing in their composition are all characterised by argillaceous matter, which is mixed with variable quantities of carbonaceous and siliceous ingredients; indeed they are usually mud-deposits, more or less indurated. Each variety passes insensibly into another; some have in them so much silica as to form a slaty sand-lied, and others so much carbon as to be capable of supporting combustion. Not a few or them are valuable in yielding the fire-clay from which fire-bricks are manufactured.. Ironstone forms, comparatively, but a small proportion of the strata ; it is an argillaceous carbonate of iron, and occurs in thin bands, but chiefly in hodules scattered throughout shales. In bestowing her mineral treasures, nature has dealt bountifully with the district — but her crowning gift is coal. There are in this held 57 different seams of coal, from 1 inch to 8 feet thick ; the thickness of the whole is about 80 feet ; but as many of them are thin and poor, only twelve are workable; but these yield to the daring and skill of the miner about 50 feet in thickness of good coal. Along the line of the Roman Wall, we pass over at least nine of these seams; the most important, the low main coal, which on an average is (i.i, feet thick, and one of the best for domestic use, crops out in the declivity of the hill leading to Denton Burn. The three-quarter coal, which is of poorer quality, crops out near Ouseburn; other good coals, such as the Bensham, the Beaumont, and Brockley, are worked in collieries west of Newcastle. The strata rise gently to the westward about one yard in twenty-seven. We pass over un- dulating ground of moderate elevation, and we perceive that the rocks beneath have left a charac- teristic impress on the surface. The round-topped hills are formed of the hard sandstones, while the intervening valleys have been scooped out of the softer shales by denuding agencies. So much is the country covered over with deposits of clay and gravel, that few good natural sections of the rocks are exposed. In the Ouseburn, and in Walbottle Dean, the character of the rocks may he studied, but the most instructive section is that seen in the sea cliffs from Tynemouth to Culler- coats. Wherever, however, they are exposed, whether in natural sections or in pit sinkings, we find embedded in them multitudes of the remains of land plants, some fragments of fish, ami . occasionally shells. Standing on Heddon Hill, let us trace the western boundary of these coal measures. To the north-east it ranges along the borders of a low undulating country to Stannington, thence to Morpeth; and then, in several serpentine curves, passes towards Acklington and the mouth of the Coquet. Southward, it wends its way to Whitton I Tall and Shotley. By a singular fault, these coal measures arc prolonged in a narrow tongue, from Hadley to Hnlton, a distance of twenty-seven miles. Thrust in here among mountain limestone rocks, by a series of slip dikes, which have thrown down the strata to the north, it is nowhere more than one mile broad, its average breadth being less than half a mile. The fault runs nearly parallel with the South Tvne ; and while it has lifted up and preserved coal seams of some value, it has impressed peculiar physical features on the district, which an observer, standing on the hanks of the river, cannot fail to notice as he casts an intelligent eye up the valley. Here, indeed, from this cause is the lowest level between sea and sea in the kingdom, along which the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway runs, the highest point being at Glenwhelt, which is only 440 feet above the height of the sea. Besides this, there are other faults which show that the strata, after their deposition, had been shaken, rent, and upheaved by powerful internal forces. Near to the eastern part of our section, there are three fractures and dikes near to each other ; the most easterly displaces the beds vertically 108 feet, the next 60 feet, and the third 54 feet. A little eastward of Newcastle, other dikes have caused similar displacements. The ninety-fathom dike, a secondary effect of the force which elevated the I'eiiine chain, ranges nearly at right angles to this chain, and it has dislocated the strata for a distance of fifty miles. It crosses the Roman Wall near to Denton, whence it trends north-eastward to Gosforth and Killingworth, and then goes eastwards to the sea at Cullercoats, where, on the south of the fault, the magnesian limestone is brought in. At Cullercoats and elsewhere, the relative displacement of the beds caused by this dike is about ninety fathoms, and hence its name; but at other points of its course the displacement is greater. At Gosforth, the beds on the south side are elevated 936 feet, and nearer the Penine chain the upheaval is near to 2,000 feet. These dikes, which dislocate and cut up a coal field are not unmitigated evils ; as Buddie has phrased it, they sometimes act as coffer dams, for being filled with clay they arrest the flow of water and help the drainage of mines ; others bring within the reach of the skill of man valuable minerals, which otherwise would have been lost altogether or placed at inaccessible depths; such is one effect of the ninety-fathom dike, for though the dip of the beds is slight yet some of the most valuable coal seams would have cropped nut near Newcastle and been lost; the low main, one of the best of all, crops out. in Denton Bum, but the fault brings it in again and causes it to extend westward beyond Walbottle. TIIK MILLSTONE GEIT. This gTOup need not detain us long 1 ; it underlies the coal measures, from which it differs not ill its organic contents; properly, it should be included in the coal measures, of which it is the base, foal tennis there are in it, but they are thin and of little value: it is distinguished by its thick beds id' grittj sandstone, which have sometimes supplied millstones, and hence it- mime. At Heddon-on-the-Wall, there are extensive quarries of this rock, which furnish a good building THE MILLSTONE GRIT. ."..V> stone, and which is there very gritty, being made up chiefly of rounded pebbles of quartz and felspar bound together by a siliceous cement: some of the pebbles are as large as a nut, ami some few we noticed as much as one inch in diameter. Large trunks of sigillariae occur in this quarry, and in some other beds there are casts and Tracks of worms. This group forms a narrow zone running nearly parallel with the direction of the coal measures. The breadth of the zone along- the line of the Roman Wall from near Frenchmen's How to Harlow Hill is about four miles, and the aggregate thickness of the beds may be estimated near to 500 feet. In some parts of the range, a- at Warkworth, the p are bound together by a calcareous cement, and occasionally we rind protoxide of iron ami garnets. Before entering on a new scene we may pause awhile in our progress, ami view the groups we have surveyed in their organic aspect. In the sandstones, and especially in the shales, there are embed led the remains of multitudes of plants, the wreck of the ancient forests, which furnished the carbonaceous matter of our coal seams. That such is the origin of coal is proved by con- clusive evidence, for many beds of coal retain the external forms and internal structure of the plants of which they are formed ; even the ashes of coal show vegetable tissues when examined bv the microscope: most coal seams rest on a fire-clay, which is permeated hy sthjmaiia fieoides, the root of the sigillaria ; this under-clay being the surface soil, on which the enormous vegetation grew of which coal is formed. This ancient flora (littered widely from that of the present period. There were no true dicotyledonous trees, such as adorn our forests. A few conifers clothed the higher grounds skirting the district, which, however, was for the most part low and swampy, ami covered with a vegetation of a dark hue and succulent texture. Sigillarke were most abundant — large branchless trees with fluted >tems crowned with long- pendant leaves ami springing from great roots (Stigmaria jicoides) immersed in swampy ground, and having- a remarkable quadri- partite arrangement ; and yet these huge forms were allied to the cycas and the humble club- moss (Lycopodiuni) which trails on our moors. Lepidodendra were also abundant, the stems ami branches being- covered with scale-like imbricated leaves, and the fruit, an oval or cylindrical cone, developed at the extremity of the branches ; though having- a near affinity to the club-moss, with only a distant relationship to the coniferae, the lepidodendra resembled in magnitude and appearam-e the stately araucaria. The graceful calamites were pretty numerous — tall reed-like trees, thirty or forty feet high, jointed and furrowed like the sugar-cane, and with whorls around the nodes or joints: their structure being a wonderful combination of characters connectintr them with the three great divisions of the vegetable king-dun. We catch a glimpse of a more singular form still — the ulodendron — a tree with the same kind of structure, stem, leaves, and rhomboidal leaf scars as the lepidodendron, but having two rows of large oval or round scars, one row on each side of the stem opposite to each other, arranged vertically, and continued even along the branches of the Tree; these appear to have been points of attachment of masses of inflorescence. or fruit, which had consisted of sessile cones of imbricated scales, similar to a fir-cone. The darker hues of the vegetation would be somewhat relieved by The bright green herbaceous ferns, which grew in rank abundance: while a i'ew Tree ferns appeared, crowned with long overarching fronds. Now, all these plants g-rew upon the land or in marshy ground ; thev occur more or less in every zone of the coal measures and millstone grit, and occasionally remains offish and molluscs are associated with Them of a genus indicating generally fresh water, and. in a few cases, estuarine conditions. MOUNTAIN' LIMESTONE. At Harlow Hill we enter upon the mountain limestone, which extends westward to Laner- cost in Cumberland. In This group we have sandstones, shales, rad ironstones almost identical in mineral character with those in the coal measures, and containing the same kind of plants. Coal, too, we have here, but neither so richly bituminous nor so abundant as in the coal measures. A few seams, such as that at Shilbottle, and others at Lowick and Scremerston, are of a good quality; but generally The seams are but poorly adapted for domestic purposes. Still, ir is useful and not to be despised when richer qualities are nor easily obtainable. This coal is, for The most part, light and slaty. Stigmaria rootlets, sigillaria?, lepidodendra, calamites, ulodendrons, and other plants appear; and specimens may readily be obtained in the channel of The Irthing, below Gilsland, out of blocks ot sandstone and shale, which have Tumbled down from cliffs forming the banks of the river. We miss, however, the beautiful ferns -,, abundant in the coal measures. None have we met with along- The line ot The "W all : indeed, excepting sphenopteris John&toniana, and a very few others at liudle. Lindisfarne, Kyloe, and Newton-on-tbe-Moor, we have not >cpii them in the mountain limestone id' Northumberland. A\ e '-an. however, scarcely venture to infer any climata change from this marked disproportion in The distribution of ferns in the two groups. The chief new feature we meet with i>. however, The intercalation of several bed- of lime- sTone and calcareous shale among the sandstone, shades, ami coal: and these contain undoubted marine organisms, furnishing evidence of repeated change- of condition ami of level. The sea at one Time rolling iTs deep waters over the dinner, at another estuaries were gradually filled up b\ detritus swept from the land: and afterwards the sea bottom was raised above the waters, and elntlied with the same dense and dark vegetation as grew during the era of the coal measures. Corals, entomostracans, crustaceans, encrinites, annelids, bivalve molluscs, especially brachio- pods, gasteropods, cephalopods, and ganoid fish abound in beds of This formation in Northumber- land; They synchronise these bed- with the sear or lower limestone of Yorkshire. At Harlow Hill, eleven and a-half mile- westward of Newcastle, the first limestone of The group appears, in a quarry south of the Wall near to the village, and ir is above twenty feer in thickness, dipping south-eastward, capped with i akes a good lime. Ma 35(3 MOUNTAIN LIMESTONE. fossils may be obtained here. We noticed tlie following : — Productus giganteus, a small variety ; producing latissimus, productus semireticulatus, and productus costatus ; of corals we found lit/w- dendron junceum and irregulare, species which formed great reefs in tliese ancient seas; but we were especially interested in finding lithostrotion Portlochii in large circular masses, attached by their base to the rock, in the same position as when those compound corals lived in the seas of the mountain limestone era. This limestone sill is traceable tor a considerable distance northwards, curving- towards Stamfordham, and thence north-eastward towards Alnmouth; it is known to extend southward from Harlow Hill to Newton-on-the-Tyne. Leaving Harlow Hill, we traverse undulating' ground, but few good sections are seen. On the summit of Carr's Hill is a. sandstone; and at Down Hill we find a limestone twenty feet in thickness, dipping south-eastward, hut only one of the beds yields good lime; the others are impure, and contain magnesia. Here we observed no fossils. Above it is an excellent sand- stone, well adapted for building purposes, and which, doubtless, furnished stones to the Roman builders. Southward of Stagshaw Hank another limestone, dipping south, runs parallel with the Wall, but is not seen crossing it, having apparently been twisted out of its regular course bv a fault. Between Down Hill and the North Tyne few rock sections are exposed in the line of the Wall ; but at Little Whittington, near to .Stagshaw Hank, a coal twenty-three inches in thickness is worked at the depth of twenty-three fathoms from the surface, and in sinking to it a limestone is passed through. At Bewclay, one mile northward, another limestone fifteen feet in thickness is quarried, having the ordinary smith-eastern dip of the district. Before reaching North Tyne, however, two interesting farts require notice. About seventeen and a-half miles westward of Newcastle, a vein of galena (sulphuret of lead) traverses the strata in a direction of north-east to south-west: and about two miles farther westward, a basaltic dike, sixteen feet in width, crosses the line of the Wall in a direction of N. 40° E., to 8. 4(1° W. These extraneous minerals fill fissures which have been caused by volcanic forces rending and displacing the strata ; for we find that, the beds on the northern side, both of the vein and the basalt, have been lifted up twenty feet above those on the other side. The basaltic dike is well exposed, in a field a little northward of Brunton Quarry, where its character and relation to the strata can be examined. \\ e turn aside before descending- the steep bank of the North Tyne to visit Brunton, when we shall see a characteristic mountain linn .-tone sill, pick up a few good fossils, and then examine an interesting- black band of ironstone. This limestone, which is locally called the " Big Lime- stone,'' is twenty-one feet in thickness, ami is one of the best and most important for a lime supply in the district. Here we found the cephalopod, nautilus globatus — the brachiopods, productus latissimus and punctatus, ami rkynchonella pleurodon — and the corals lithostrotion irregulare, and cyathonia cantata. This valuable sill is traceable for a considerable distance. Southwards it crosses the Tyne to Farnham Fells or Fourstones, thence to Allerwash, and afterwards it bends westward, following the course of the great basalt. The black iron band is les< than half a mile westward of the quarry, and is entitled to an examination, both from its economic value and peculiar organic contents. It is black, slaty, and carbonaceous, and resembles the celebrated iron band of Glasgow, which is valuable on account of the excellent metal it produces, and because the carbon it contains helps the fusion id' the rock. A large quantity of the Brunton band lead been quarried at. the time id' our visit, but its farther extraction had been suspended, as it was supposed that the smelting of the ore, in the place where it is found, evolved noxious vapours which damaged the vegetation of the fertile valley of the North Tyne. The new railway, however, will give facilities for conveying the ore to localities where its reduction to iron can be effected without much injury to vegetation. The intermingling of fresh water or estuarine with marine remains gives great, interest to this deposit. Here we have scales and other reliquiae offish of the ganoid order, allied to the lepidosteus osseus, the bony pike of rivers anil lakes; the small bivalved entomostracan Beyrichia Tatei(Jones), in great numbers ; anthrocosice, analagous to L T nio, a fresh water shell : and with these is associated lingula squamiformis, which belongs to a genus of brachiopods, still living in modern seas. A similar assemblage of organisms has been discovered in the coal measures at Ryhope, by Mr. Kirkby; and such a combination indicate- that the deposit was made under estuarine conditions, when the water wa- brackish anil fitted to support animals, whose organisation enabled them to live, even when the state of the water was to a certain extent changed from that which their ordinary habit required. This is a favourable point in our survey, before entering on the basaltic region, to view the physical features of the district and observe the succession of the beds. The scenery presented by the mountain limestone here differs but little from that of the coal measures and millstone grit; the vales are, however, deeper, and the hills somewhat higher. We pass over no mountains, ami the name of the formation is here not descriptive; ami this arises from the comparative thinness of the limestone beds, none much exceeding thirty feet in thickness; but in Derbyshire and York- shire the formation is true to its name, for limestones there, hundreds of feet in thickness, rise up like mountains and expose great cliffs to the storms, and give marvellous picturesqueness to the scenery. Section 3 on the Map, shows the succession of the strata from the level of the river to Fal- lowfield Fell, in a S.E. direction. These beds occupy the middle portion of the mountain limestone group, there being five or six other beds of limestone cropping out above them towards the S.E. The same strata, are con- tinued beyond Chollerford, in the west bank of the river, till we reach Limestone Corner, where the great basaltic range, called tin- Whin Sill, crosses the line of the Wall. The ditch is hen 1 cut out of this hard and tough basaltic rock, and on one side large blocks arc lying which have been excavated by the Romans. So durable is the rock, that sixteen centuries have effected but little change; and yet in some parts, the iron in the basalt has I n oxidised and a slight MOUNTAIN LIMESTONE. 357 decomposition has resulted, as it' to prove that even the most durable material objects must yield to the corroding influence of time. We soon lose the basalt as it curves away southward, while the Wall follows a straight course; and we pass over the usual mountain limestone rocks, and at Tepper ^loor see a limestone sill twelve feet in thickness, made up of several thin beds, and containing trochites or wlieelstones — the broken stems of encrinites. A little westward, however, of Shield-on-the-Wall, we come again upon the great basaltic range, and from this point to near Thirlwall, the Wall runs along its summit. Though deeply impressing the physiognomy of the district, and suggesting many speculations and inquiries, this basalt is hut an intruder into the formation, and. therefore, we leave it for a while, that we may trace the course, and mark the limits, of the characteristic strata. At the western extremity of the basalt there is a sandstone quarry, on the banks of the Tipalt, whence the Roman builders procured stones for the Wall in this neighbourhood. From the Tipait to the Poltross Burn, the Wall runs across a succession of low swelling hills, formed of gravel and rolled Mocks; but, in the Poltross, we see bard sandstones overlying limestone and calcareous shale, which contain the following characteristic fossils : — Productus giganteus and Martini, rhynchonella pleurodon, spirifer lineatus, and aoiculo-peeten varii-ornatus, a species found also at Bellingham. Gravel and boulder deposits till the space between this hum and the Irthing; the banks of the river present not only bold scenery, but instructive sections of the rocks. At Gilsland, it flows in a deep rocky gorge, with high precipitous hanks, in which are seen alternations of agillaceous shales, and thin cherty limestones, belonging to the lower portion of the group. The sandstones and shales contain many fragments of carboniferous plants, such as stigmaria fieoides, sir/illaria, lepidodendron, and calamites. Flaggy arenaceous beds show the tracks and fossilised forms of worms, which crawled and burrowed along the ancient shores. Lower down in it- course, the Irthing winds round a tongue of land, on which stands Birdoswald or Amboglanna, about six hundred feet above the sea level. The upper portion of the hanks is formed of drift; but as it flows in a gwg-e from this point till it escapes into more level land near Lanercost, the hed of the river, and the lower portion of the banks, present good sections of the strata. Opposite Birdoswald a good limestone, thirteen feet in thickness, is overlaid by shale, ironstone, and sandstone, dipping south eastward 10°; in the sandstones, stigmaria and sigillaria occur ; in the limestone, a small variety of productm giganteus; ami in the ironstone and shale-, rhynchonella pleurodon and spirifer trigonalis. The river runs over some of the limestone beds. ami shows the joints by which these beds are divided into large cubical blocks, the leading- joints being fr.ua E. 60 c S., to W. 60° X., with smaller joints at right angles. So regular are the forms, that the surface of the limestone, washed over by the river, has the appearance of an artificial pavement. Doubtless, every archaeologist will turn aside at Wall Bowers, to see the Roman inscription on Combe crag-; let him look, also, at the inscriptions nature has left on the rocks exposed in this beautiful and picturesque gorge of the Irthing-. The cliffs are firmed of sandstones, slaty sand-tone-, and a few arenaceous shales, of which there are one hundred feet or more dipping away S.S.E. 20°; beneath these i- an arenaceous shale, with ironstone nodules, twelve feet thick, and these overlie a limestone eighteen feet in thickness, hi the slaty sandstones there are tracks and easts of annelids, he-ides others, the crassipodia Ernblet'mia; the limestone abounds in productus giganteus, and yields larg-e masses of cyathophyllum basaltiforme, standing- up in the rock, in the position if occupied when a living coral. As the river has worn away the softer matrix surrounding- the fossils, the natural position of the organisms is instructively shown. Here we have, also, choetetes septosus, lithostrotion Portlockii, syringopora ramulosa, and a few remains of fish. These beds range further westward fur more than a mile, and the limestone crops out in the hill side, near to the Plough Inn, which is on the line of the Wall. Fine specimens of lithostrotion Maccoyii may readily be obtained out of a calcareous shale above the limestone. These beds are aiming- the upper strata of the mountain limestone group; the organisms are similar to those in a bed, well defined as to position, at Beadnell, and which is traceable from the sea shore at Chiswick, Northumberland, as far as fiofhley. Taking organisms as a means of synchronising deposits, we have, therefore, a particular limestone bed extending through the district, a distance of at least sixty miles, in a direct course. Another limestone, lower in the series, is seen in Banksburn associated with a coal seam two feet in thickness, hut divided by an intercalated shale. This limestone can be better examined in the same beck, where it has been quarried, not far from Ilarehill, close to which the high frag- ment of the Wall remains, and where it is thirty feet in thickness : but the lower beds only can be burnt into lime, the upper being- slaty and impure. It is fossiliferous. and we find productus giganteus in abundance, euomphatus tabulatus ami lithostrotion. The mountain limestone group extends as far westward as Lanercost Abbey, for we find strata belonging to it in the Irthing-, at the Abbey Bridge ; but the great I'enine fault here cuts off the group, ami, westward of Laner- cost, the plains of Cumberland are filled with new red sandstone. We must retrace our steps to Chesterholm, one mile southward of the Wall, which most archaeologists will be disposed to visit, as here was the Roman station of Vindolana. After examining the camp and other trace- of the Romans remaining here, we wander for a short distance down the Chineley Burn, and find in the rocks numerous remains of mountain limestone organisms. From Bardon INI ill to Chesterhoim, the rock- arc exposed in the cliff- and steep banks of a deep valley; the higher ground- are formed of thick sandstones, which extend to Borcum, where stones we're quarried by the Romans to build the Wall. A coal seam is interstratified with them, and below them i< a limestone. Other shales and sandstones in descending order succeed, and, close to Chesterholm, we have fossiliferous calcareous shales and limestone, the former being twelve feet and the latter thirty feet in thickness, and dipping- south-eastward 15°. In the lime- 358 BASALTIC WHIN SILL. stone we find the common form, productus gignnteus, lithostrotion sociale, and cyathophyllum fungites. lint here, as well as elsewhere, the calcareous shale yields the greatest variety of organisms. The following we procured: — Productus Urii, spirifer trigonalis, lineatus, and glaber, rhynchonella pleurodon, orthis resupinata, chonetes Hardrensis, lingula squamiformis, euomphalus carbonarius, orthoceras undulatum. The fossils synchronise these calcareous beds with others of the same character at Howick, Beadnell, and Lindisfarne. We must not leave unvisited the interesting flagstone quarry on the Haltwhistle Burn, which is less than a mile southward of the Wall. Five different limestone sills, and a coal seam two and a-half feet thick, with mterstratified sandstone and shale beds, lie below this flagstone, which is fifty feet in thickness. It is a hard, fine-grained sandstone, made up of numerous thin layers, which split readily into flagstones of an excellent quality. Now, on the surface of several of these layers, there air numerous tracks ami casts of worms. Two different forms have been particularly discriminated, crassipodia Embletonin and Eione annulnta ; the former is jointed and has fine seta' mi each side of tin' body, and the latter has articulations on the upper surface; and both are contorted, ami meander, as it were, over the rock in irregular loops. They are found, also, at Howick, Beadnell, Scremerston, and other places in Northumberland. Plants, such as sigillaria and lepidodendron Sternbergii occur in this remarkable deposit; and, in the lowermost bed, product-US Memingii, a marine shell. Here we have evidence of a shallow sea or estuary, in which lint a t'rw marine animals lived, and into which the wreck of the land vegetation was drifted, while worms crawled over or burrowed into the sandy shore and sea bottom. BASALTIC WHIN SILL. We must now turn to the wild craggy district, where the Wall runs along the basalt, and notice the character of the basaltic whin sill, its range, and its relation to the strata among which it has been intruded. No geological phenomenon in Northumberland has attracted more of the attention of scientific men. Sedgwick, Philips. Hutton, Gibson, and others, have described if. and indulged in different hypotheses as to its age and origin. Any one. with even a limited know- ledge of rocks, must perceive that the great rude pillared masses of basalt, forming the cliffs from near Shield-on-the-Wall to Thirlwall, are different in external features and mineral character from the other rocks along the line of the Wall. A fresh fracture of the basalt presents a dark grey colour and crystalline structure. It is both tough anil hard, and hence its excellence for making roads; and, where the mass is thirk.it is made up of irregularly formed angular pillars. Such characters, along with the effects produced on rocks in contact with it, in hardening them and rendering them crystalline, converting soft shales into hard cherts and jaspers, and common lime- stones into marbles, prove this basalt to he an igneous rock, which at a former period has been like lava, in a. molten state, but which in cooling down has assumed a crystalline structure, and a jointed and pillared external form. The lone- and tortuous range of this basalt is one of the wonders of its history. Southward, it is first seen in the Lune, not far from Brough, in Westmoreland. It winds its way in the upper parts of Teesdale ami Weardale, and sweeps round the western escarpment of the Penine chain, by f'ross Fell and the fell lands of Tynedale, and joins the Roman Wall at Thirlwall, whence it bends eastward to near Shield-on-the-Wall, where it curves away from the wall southward, but crosses it again at Lime-tune ('inner. Here it finally leaves the Wall, and proceeds in a north- east direction across the valley of the North Tvne to Gunnerton, where it forms a lofty cliff. .Near to Little Swinburn if divides, as it were, into two streams, one flowing on to Throckington and West Whelpington, and the other to Bavington and the Elf Hills; but from Hartington there is but one ridge, which extends to Ward's Hill and Maggleshurn, in the valley of the Coquet, where it is lost, probably, by denudation ; but it reappears in the high ground between the valleys of the Coquet and Aln, at Shieldykes, Rugley, and Swansfield, near to Alnwick. It is next seen near to the Aln at Lough House, and on the north bank of the Aln at Ratcheugh it forms a bold cliff, and presents one of the most instrnctiw sections; for here two pseudo-strata or dikes are seen intruded among limestones. From this if winds away to Longhoughton and Howick, where it enters the sea. and runs along the coast to Dunstanhurgh, forming another bold cliff, on which stand the ruins of a noble mediaeval castle : it then bends inland, keeping near the coast till it passes Embleton, and thence along the coast to Beadnell Lay. The range is pro- longed seaward, and reappears in the rocky islets of the Fame. and. bending thence to Bamhurgh, forms another towering cliff crested with a mediaeval castle. From this point it take- a north- westerly direction, and a succession of rocky eminences, in a broad belt, leads us past Spindleston, Belford, and Detchant, to its termination in a fine mural cliff at Kyloe. Throughout this long range the rock is essentially the same, being composed of felspar and augite ; the iron entering into its composition is usually in the state of protoxide, and hence it is magnetic, and, indeed occasionally, as at the Fame, it possesses polarity. At liudle it is amygdaloidal, and at Rat- cheugh some portions are porphyritic, having large felspar crystals embedded in it. In thickness the basalt is very variable, being only a i'ew feet in some places, and as many as two hundred feet in others. It appears at all elevations, from the sea. level to one thousand feet above it, as at Whin-Shields. The basaltic range along the line of the Roman Wall may be described as a succession of rugged precipices, with great caps or " nicks," as they are locally called, at intervals in the ridge, with cliff faces to the north or north-west, and with a rapid dip or slope to the south or south-east. The pillared structure of the rock is one of its most striking features. The columns are rude prisms, irregularly jointed; and yet some of them approach the symmetrical forms of the hexagonal pillars of Fingal's < lave. They are grand and impressive objects, massive, though rude; and towering majestically to a great height, one might imagine they had been piled up h\ the BASALTIC WHIN SILL. 359 fabled giants who charmed our youthful fancy. This wonderful mineral ridge overlooks wild and dreary moorlands which roll away northward in long- hills of tame outline; but these rocks when viewed from their base on a bright sunny day, present a combination of rude grandeur and picturesque beauty. The masses of grey columns are much varied in form and grouping ; some tower high upwards — others are broken and fragmentary — some are overhanging' and seem ready to tall — others are isolated and stand out from the mass: and others again resemble ruined towers and tottering walls. Lichens, for the most part grey, but sometimes greenish-yellow, spread over the rocks and give variety to the surface colouring; many rare and lovely plants find favourite habitats in crevices of the cliff and in debris at its base, so that the face of the crag's is adorned with small trees and shrubs and multitudes of herbaceous plants. More especially were we charmed with the effect of large tufts of the parsley fern, which with their vivid green and elegant fronds lighted up, as ir were, the dark masses with a peculiar life and beauty. We must now look at the relation of this basalt to the stratified rocks. Igneous rocks generally occur as perpendicular or highly inclined dikes ; or as cones with the strata through which they have pierced mantling- around them; but this basalt overlies or is intercalated with the mountain limestone beds, and for some distance has the same inclination as the beds among which it is intruded, and hence it has been called the "Whin Sill," the term sill meaning a bed or stratum, and whin being applied to hard rocks. It is, however, not a true stratum; for it is of irregular thickness, and the parallelism of its upper and under surface is preserved only for very short distance- ; and though, as we have noticed, its extension in the line of direction is great, ye1 its extension in the line of dip is, so far as has been observed, inconsiderable. The debits at the base of the cliffs and the covering- of soil above obscure the junction of the basalt with the stratified beds, yet in a few places this can be observed. At one of the "nicks," a little west- ward of Cockmount, a limestone at least twelve feet in thickness underlies the basalt; the upper layers are metamorphosed, being- buff, crystalline and magnesian; the lower, however, are blue and little altered. A shale is generally interposed between this limestone and the basalt; and the rocks are seen thus related near to Wall Town, at Hot Bank and Rapishaw (nip; the shale being always highly metamorphosed, hard and cherty at the point of contact. At OUalee a good blue limestone, about ten feet in thickness, lies above the basalt, and this stratum extends eastward along- the slope of the hill, and is seen near to Housesteads and Sewingshields; but at this last place a metamorphosed shall- comes between the basalt and the limestone. At Bradley, however, the basalt is overlaid by a sandstone. These facts, apparently trivial, have a direct bearing' on the question affecting- the origin of the Whin Sill. The mechanical effects of the basaltic eruption are less marked along- the line of the Wall ; but at the Fame Islands there are ninety feet of displaced limestones, sandstones, and shales, which have been torn from their original position and metamorphosed and crushed by this basaltic eruption; and at Dunstanburgh, Howick, and Bamburgh other beds have been dislocated by it. One very singular case, however, occurs between Hot Bank and Rapishaw Gap, where a limestone, eighteen teet m thickness, is seen in the cliff enveloped in the basalt, and dipping- as a stratum E.S.E. at the high angle of 40°. There are several layers of this limestone, but all of them are metamorphosed — in some parts being hard, crystalline and buff in colour, and in others dark grey and crumbling, and feeling- gritty like a sandstone. This bed has been torn from its place by the outburst of the basalt, and enclosed within it, when the igneous rock was in a plastic and molten state. At Wall Town Crag's there is a good section of the rocks. The great basaltic cliff is over- laid by a limestone, and beneath the basalt there are a metamorphosed shale, then a limestone, a soft shale bed forms a swampy hollow, and beneath this conies out another limestone, about twelve feet in thickness, and this is succeeded by a thick sandstone, which swells into a hill to the northward. Taking our stand on the cliffs at Housesteads or Borcovicus, we have a more favourable point for observation; and looking- across the country in the line of the rise and dip of the strata, we see on both sides of the basaltic outcrop, a succession of rolling hills with intervening hollows, ma iking- not only the lines of outcrop of the various strata, but also tin- character of the rocks below the surface: for the harder sandstones and limestones form the hills and rising grounds, while the valleys bave been scooped out of the softer shales by floods and currents. The diagramic Section 2, in the line of dip from near West Stone Fell to Borcum Hill, a distance of three miles, shows the succession of these beds. Thick sandstones predominate both above and below the basalt; three different sills of limestone come out from beneath it: and there is a coal seam among- the beds ranging from Scotch ( loulthard, where it is now^ worked. Above the basalt there are al>o three limestone sills, and a coal seam three feet in thickness. All these beds belong to the mountain limestone group, and remains of encrinites are found in the limestones. Now comes the question, what is the age of this basalt .' Was it erupted during- the mountain limestone era, and poured over the rocks below it before the other rocks above it were deposited .' or was it ejected subsequently to the deposition of the whole group, and forced among them as a dike, between the surfaces of stratification '. The former view is countenanced by the stratum-form of the rock, as seen in some places intercalated among the beds, and dipping with them; but still it is only a psuedo-stratum, one in appearance and not in reality, for the two surfaces preserve parallelism for only short distances, and it varies greatly in thickness, swelling- out from a few feet to upwards of two hundred. Indeed, the rock, as intruded among the strata, appears to be wedge-shaped, for at Ratcheugh, one of the basaltic masses, in the course of a few hundred yards, dwindles down from ninety feet to thirty inches in thickness, while a second mass overlaps the other, and is separated from it by twenty-two feet id' intervening- limestone ami shale. It has been supposed to occupy pretty nearly the same relative position among the strata throughout its course: but this is true only as respects great groups of rocks; it traverses no strata, save 360 THE PERMIAN FORMATION. those of the mountain limestone; and in Yorkshire, the basset edges of the basalt are among- the upper beds of the lower or scar limestone, but its position in the mountain limestone group of Northumberland alters very much in its course. Let us take, as a test, its relation to a limestone with well defined organisms, ami which can be traced a distance of more than thirty miles. Now, at Craster, this limestone is a little above, but at Dunstan, one mile northward, it is a little belorv the basalt. At Ruglev and Shieldykes, the basalt appears nearly two miles westward of the outcrop of this limestone; but at Ward's Hill, south of the Coquet, it rests upon it. From these facts it follows that the basalt cuts through the stratified beds among' which it is intruded, and was erupted subsequently to their formation ; and this conclusion is strengthened by the mechanical displacements of the strata, produced by the eruption, and by the metamorphic effects on the beds above, as well as on those below the basalt. Where, it may be asked, are the vomitaries of this igneous rock .' Along- the whole range no erateriform hollows or cones appear; but many perpendicular dikes of basalt cut through the beds in a direction transverse to that of the whin sill, and these, though never seen in actual junction with it, are, as Philips remarks, "geographically related to it." These dikes are too small to have been the vomitaries of the whin sill: and supposing they are of the same age. they do not help us much to determine the period of the eruption. The greenstone dike at Tynemouth cuts through the red and yellow sand, members of the coal measures, but is not seen to pass through the magnesian limestone. The whin sill, however, as Professor Philips has shown, is anterior to the east and west veins of Tynedale. for it is divided by these veins of fissure, and as these fissures have resulted from the Penine fault, the whin sill is older than the triassic or new red sandstone beds. Subsequently, then, to the carboniferous, and prior to the triassic era. this district was convulsed and rent by volcanic action, most probably while beneath the sea, and at remitting intervals, molten lava was poured out of fissures generally running from N.N.E. to S.S.W., partly over the bed of the sea, and partly thrust in among tin 1 stratified rocks, which it metamorphosed, and cooling- slowly, under the influence of considerable pressure, this lava assumed the stony crystalline character of basalt. Mr. Hopkins has shown how minor fissures are formed transverse to the chief line of fracture; and it is, therefore, highly probable that the transverse basaltic dikes are due to the same causes which produced the whin sill. THE TEKMLVN FORMATION. We must wander now far eastward to the sea-shore, to look at the Permian bed*, which end the Paheozoic system. Two small patches only are left — one capping the coal measures in the cliff on which Tynemouth Priory stands — the other is preserved at CuTlercoatS, by the downcast of the strata connected with the gnat ninety-fathom dike. So little is seen of this formation, that we shall be very brief in our exposition, especially as able descriptions of its physical characters have been given by Sedgwick, and of its organisms by Professor Xing-. Mr. Howse, and Mr. Kirkbv. The section, however, along- the sea-shore, from the mouth of theTyne to Cullercoats, is full of interest and instruction, and ought to be examined b\ every student of geology; for there we not only have a series of beds characteristic of the coal measures, but we can observe their relation to another newer formation: and we have, besides, examples of an intruded igneous rock, ami of a mighty fracture of the strata, which has displaced them vertically to the extent of five hundred and forty feet. Let us look at the section in the cliff below Tynemouth Priory. Beginning at the top. we have, in succession — First. A buff magnesian limestone conglomerate, in which are pebbles and fragments of compact magnesian limestone, of various size- : (his is about t\\ ent\ feet in thickness. Second. Slaty magnesian limestone, about eighl feet. Third. "Yellow sand" — usually incoherent anil yellow, lint sometimes grey, and of variable thickness, from ten to twenty feet. Fourth. lied sandstone, sometimes variegated, the roek being grey, and covered with red blotches: some of the beds are slaty, and ripple marked; of this there are about twenty feet. And below the whole the regular coal measures dip to the southward. These four beds have an extensive range through Durham, Yorkshire, and Nottinghamshire. The magnesian linn-tones are unquestionably Permian, and the "yellow sand" and red sandstone have usually been classed in the same formation; for it has been inferred that the red sandstone and the coal measures are unconformable, because the same coal seam is found at different depths below the red sandstone, along- the line of outcrop. Mr. Wm. Hutton considered that the total absence of vegetable organic remains distinguished the red sandstone from a coal grit. There is, however, no unconi'orniability between this bed and the coal measures at Tyne- mouth ; indeed, from the very variable thickness of the "yellow sand" within short distances, it would be more readily inferred that this was unconformable with the overlying- magnesian limestone; and yet this conclusion would be very doubtful, for the variation of thickness may have been occasioned by denuding- agents; and in like manner it is possible that currents in the ancient carboniferous waters may have denuded, in particular localities, portions of the strata. The argument, from the absence of organic remains, lias now no force. Professor King-, in his •• Monograph," records, as found in a quarry in the red sandstone, between South Shields and Westoe, Gyracanthvs J'ormosus, a fish spine common in carboniferous beds, and undetermined species of lepidodendron, calamites and sigillaria, genera abundant in the same beds. Fuller information, however, was obtained in 185(i, when the red sandstone was quarried for stones to civet a pier, for then, Mr. Armstrong, of Tynemouth, found a number of fossil plants in this bed, all of which have the general facies of coal measure plants, and such species as have been determined, are the same as those in the coal measures. Mr. Richard Howse, in his " Xotes on the Permian System" (1857), notices the following- species : — Pinites Brandling!, trigonocarpum TRIASSIC FORMATION. 361 Noggerathii, sigillaria reniformis, calamites approximatus. Stost of these species, as well as a few others, we a Iso have examined. From so many distinct coal measure plants being present in this bed, Mr. Howse, with g 1 reason, proposes to include the red sandstone and yellow sand in the carboniferous formation; and this accords with the view originally taken by Dr. Win. Smith, the lather of English geology. The magnesian limestone at Tynemouth is fossiliferous — product us horridus, and a frw other forms may be extracted, hut specimens tire not numerous : yef here, Professor King, after repeated visits, found twenty specie-, chiefly of molluscs, witli a few corals, and one crinoid. Before leaving- Tynemouth, a glance may lie given at the Greenstone Dike, which cuts perpendicularly through the red sandstone and yellow sand; it is twelve feet in width, hut con- tracts a little at the top, and runs in a direction of E. 40° S. to \Y. 40 N., which is somewhat different from the direction of the basaltic dikes in Northumberland, for they run pretty nearly from east to west. Little more than one mile and a-half northward the ninety-fathom dike has preserved on the sea shove, and at Whitley two other patches of magnesian limestone: they occur on the north side of the fault. The fracture is not perpendicular, but slopes or hades to the north 35°. At the bottom of the limestone at Whitley, there is a marl slate in which has been found a number of ganoid fish. The organisms of the magnesian limestone are similar, as a whole, to those of the mountain limestone; indeed, some six species of brachiopods are found in both. It is a marine, and for the most part a deep sea deposit. Striking' off from the Permian formation id' the north of England, both the red sandstone and yellow sand, it becomes reduced to insignificance : there will remain hut one hundred and fifty feet id' vertical thickness: and taking' in connection with this the analogy of its organisms to those of the mountain limestone, it ought not to rank as a distinct system, but to lie classed as the uppermost or fifth group of the carboniferous formation. TRIASSIC FORMATION. "We must away now from the eastern shore to the borders of Cumberland. The mountain limestone ends near Lanercost, and the ground from thence sinks to the westward, and stretches before us a plain with low undulating- hills. Rocks are rarely seen in xifii, for they are covered up by clay and gravel, of which the low hills are formed, and which were left by one of the last movements which moulded the surface of the earth. The substrata of this plain consist id' sandstones, conglomerates, and marls, which belong to a newer system. We here step from the palaeozoic into the mesozoic or secondary era. and enter upon the triassic formation, winch commences that era. In the direct line of the Wall, we however meet with but few sections of the rocks: they are exposed on the Cambeck, near new Irthington, at Stanwix. and below ( 'arlisle, on the Eden : but. between the Eden and the ( 'ambeck, all are concealed by gravel and sand deposits. There is not much to interest in any of the sections, but as every archaeologist will visit and linger over the " written rock." on the river Gelt, near to Brampton, where the Roman quarrymen left a record of their labours, he will also have an opportunity of examining- the triassic sandstone. The river runs here in a deep gorge, which has been hollowed out of the soft sandstone by the force of the water; the banks are formed of bright red rocks, which in some parts are broken into ledges, while others are steep and precipitous, but being clothed with trees and shrubs they present pleasing- and varied pictures. The sandstone is usually of a brick-red colour and rather -oft: sometimes it is blotched, and occasionally of a greenish hue. As a building- stone it is not so durable as the grits of the carboni- ferous formation, yet it was used to build the Roman Wall, and. as building- stone is rare in the plains of Cumberland, the Wall bus there been a quasi-quarry whence stones have been taken to erect houses, -tables, and even dikes. No fossils, so far as we know, have been found in the triassic beds of Cumberland ; but in the sandstone- of this formation in Warwickshire, there occur the footprints and some of the bones of the labyrintliodont — a strange extinct reptile, which resembled a gigantic toad. The formation in Cheshire is of great economical value, for rock salt is disseminated through some of the beds there in flattened irregular masses, some of them as much as ninety feet in thickness. The relation of the plains of Cumberland to the mountainous regions on the west is the most important phe- nomenon which appears in this part of our survey, and we at once ask what lias produced so great a change .' On the east side of the plain there is an immense disruption of the strata along a line ranging from near the \\ all and Brampton to Kirbv Lonsdale, a distance of fifty-five miles, and having- an average direction of north to south. The carboniferous beds are lifted up on the cast side of this line, and form a range of mountains and hill fells whose culminating- point is Cross Fell, where the relative displacement is three thousand feet above the beds on the west side. Now, this disruption took place after the Permian and before the triassic era : and we hence find the almost level beds of the Cumberland new red sandstone overlying- the depressed mountain lime- -tone beds, at the base of the elevated strata, and they thence -pnad over the plains of Cumberland. LIAS FORMATION". Until lately our survey of the rocky strata would have ended with the trias; but Mr. Richd. B. Brookbauk, in making search for coal in the neighbournood of Aikton and Oughterby, discovered, in 1859, shales in Thornby Brook, south-west of Aikton, belonging to the lias forma- tion. Until that time, no bed- later than the trias were known to exist in the west of England, farther north than Audlem. in Cheshire. Mr. Binney, along- with Mr. Brookbank, subsequently made farther investigations, and found evidence showiifg that the lias extended under the rising V* 362 SUPERFICIAL DEPOSITS. ground between Crofton and Orton on the south, and the Solway on the north. The Wall, therefore, passes over rocks of the liassic era for some distance westward of Carlisle ; hut these rocks are there concealed by the thick deposit of drift. Only a few feet of lias shales and argilla- ceous limestones are seen at Thornbrook and Quarry Gill, but they contain fossils determinate oi their ag-e. Besides ammonites communis, ostrea and other bivalve shells, gryphcea incurca occurs in abundance. SUPERFICIAL DETOSITS. No hard stratified rocks more recent than the lias appear; but over the whole district, excepting 1 on the summits of the higher hills, there are accumulations of clay, gravel, and sand in layers of irregular thickness and extent. Though these boulder, drift and superficial deposits have no certain or uniform sequence, we may recognise generally two divisions. The lower ]- usually a tough red or blue clay, sometimes exceeding- fifty feet in thickness; but either un- stratified or with an irreguilar or imperfect kind of stratification. Through this are distributed fragments of rock, both small and large, many of them weighing 1 several tons; and some, which are but little rounded, are polished and striated. Generally these blocks have been derived from rocks in situ in the district, but a i'evr, such as granite, have travelled a considerable distance. Sections of this boulder clay may lie seen in the valleys near Newcastle, and on the sea coast near Tynemouth ; both Newcastle and Shields are built upon it. The rocks, on which this clay rests, have been found polished like marble, striated, and grooved: this is the case at Belsav, Hawkhill near Ratcheugh, Dunstanburg-h, the Fame Islands. Abb's Head, and other places in Northumber- land and the borders; and the striations and other dressings evidence the movement of a powerful abrading 1 agent in a southerly direction. So far as is at present known, moving ice is the onlv natural ag-ent which produces such effects: and therefore it may lie inferred that during- the boulder clay period the North of England had an Arctic climate, and that the glaeiation of these rocks, and the accumulation of clay, had been produced either by glaciers protruding- from mountains, or by great icebergs moving- and grinding- over the sea bottom, or by an ice-covering-, nver an extensive area of land with a gentle slope, as in Greenland, moving slowly towards tin- sea. The upper division consists of irregular beds of gravel and sand, forming- marked features along the borders of the two counties and on the Irthing. The holm between Poltross Burn ami the h-thing- is a succession of low rolling- hills made up of such materials, which are cut through by the river, and a bold section is exposed where the Wall crosses it: at the base there are about ten feet of gravel, with a few larg-e rolled stones; next follows a stratum of similar g-ravel with many larger blocks embedded; and then succeed about twelve feet of sand and fine gravel beds, all distinctly evidencing 1 the action of water. Westward of Carlisle larg-e blocks of granite appear among- the superficial deposits, ami as we proceed westward we find their number to increase; especially are they abundant about Burgh-on-the-Sands. They are grey and of the common granitic type, and of the same character as that of Criffel, in Dumfriesshire, whence thej had been transported. This era gave the last finish to the general contour of the surface, and so reformed ami moulded it as to cover the naked skeleton of the rocks with soft materials which have imparted to it a rounded outline and pleasing 1 form. Since then there has been little change in its physiog- nomy. Some valleys have been deepened, and some shallow lakes and marshes drained. Where the condition of moisture has been combined with cold, peat has been formed; and near the Wall at Glasson there is a deep peat, in which many oak trees lie prostrate in a northerly direction. Such accumulations sugg-est how coal may have formed; for if this deposit were covered over with layers of mud and sand, and subject to pressure, the metamorphisms and chemical changes would gradually go on, which would, in the course of ages, convert the vegetable debris into mineral coal. A brief resume of the succession of events must now conclude our geological survey. Tin- long 1 era of the Cambro-Silurian system had passed away, leaving its records along- the flanks ot the Cheviots. The porphyry of that mountain range had been protruded from the depths of the earth, and a tumultuous sea had ceased to surge against its sides, and heap up old red sandstone conglomerates, when the carboniferous era dawned, and the border counties became the scene ot repeated oscillations of level. At one period it presented extensive swamps, and low-lying grounds, covered with a dense and sombre vegetation, and at another the land had sunk beneath a sea teeming- with animal life, into which, from distant lands, now partly covered by the Atlantic ocean, sediment was carried, ami deposited over the vegetable matter as beds of mud and sand, along- with other layers of calcareous matter precipitated out of the waters. After the lapse of a long- period, the sea bottom was lifted up and became dry land, on which again there was an abundant vegetation. Another chang-e succeeded — the land sunk again, and was covered by the sea ; and these changes often recurred during this era, but in the latter portion of it the vegetation was enormously abundant, and we lose the evidences of marine conditions; and the district. when beneath the waters, was covered with extensive lagoons and fresh water lakes. Materials fur affording- heat and lig-ht to later eras were then stored up, pressure consolidated, and various chemical actions transmuted, the wreck of ancient forests into lig-nite, and afterwards into bituminous coal, which remained in its dark recess till the skill and daring of man drew it forth to add to his comfort and power — to enable him successfully to battle with the winds and waves — to annihilate, as it were, distance — to set in motion his numberless mechanical con- trivances — ami tn bring- within the reach of millions the blessings and refinements of civilization. During the era which succeeds, volcanic power rends the whole district, long- fissures open, and molten rock pours from beneath and fills up the fissures, and partly overflows the surface, ami partly pierces laterally into the strata. A more powerful strain, in a line from north to south, PRESENT ARRANGEMENT OF THE SURFACE. 303 lends the rocks, and lifts up mountain masses to the height of three thousand feet. Tumultuous action and upheavals cease for a while. Northumberland becomes dry land, and continues so for many ages, while Cumberland is depressed and covered with the sea, beneath which are accumulated the sand)' beds of the triassic formation now filling- the plain of Carlisle. Along the south-west boundary of this plain, at a subsequent period, another sea breaks, in which lived the strange, fish-like reptiles — the ichthyosaurus and plesiosaurus. We have no records of the later secondary, or of the tertiary epocha, for the north of England appears then to have been above the sea. But, after the lapse of these long ages, we have evidences of an Arctic climate; ice either covered the whole land, or surrounded the little island shores, and icebergs floated in the seas, and strewed, when they grounded, irregular heaps of stones and gravel along the sea bottom. This glacial era too comes to an end, and the district emerges, slowly it may be, until hill and vale, mountain and plain, appear as we have them at present. All these successive revolutions seem preparatory for the advent of man. Coal had been stored up for him in the depths of the earth — minerals in the bosom of the mountains — repeated changes had broken and pulverised the hard and stubborn rocks to form a soil to yield for him an increase. He is the last of a series of great events; but. in his origin, he cannot be linked with any of the creatures which preceded, for, whatever modifications of bodily form may be made by physical conditions, natural selection, or any secondary law, such is the great gulf between the highest brute and man, that we can refer the introduction of an intellectual and moral being, capable of generalising, and of indefinite progression, and endowed with a sense of responsibility, io no other than to the divine Sovereignty. Pigeon Crig, on the Gelt. INDEX. Actor, 313. Aeilianus, prefect, 291. -Eliana, Epithet of First Cohort Daeians, 201. JCliomenus, decurion, 51. .Kliiis Fabius, tribune of First Cohort Daeians, 200. >Elius Flavinus, prefect, 100. .Elius Longinus, prefect of cavalry, 116. P. .Elius Magnus, 287. .Elius Martinus, princeps Second Cohort Tung., 220. P. iElius Modestus, prefect, 315. iElius Rufus, prefect of Fourth Cohort Lingones, 73. .Elius Secundus, 325. iElius Vibius, centurion, 80. L. iEmilius Salvianus, tribune, 266, 2G7. .Erariurn, supposed, Chesters, 122. .IvMiilapius, Altar to, Lanchester, 278; Inscription to Maryport, 292; Figure of, Carraw, 136. yEsicA, Great Chesters, 183. Age of persons on Roman Tombstones, 173. Agricola, Cnseus Julius, Imperial legate, 6. Agrippa, prefect of First Ala of Astures, 86. Ala Augusta, Old Carlisle, 314. Ala Augusta Petriana, 213. Ala Augusta ob virtutem appellate, 287. Ala I. Astur., Benwell, 86. Ala II. Asturum, Chesters, 51, 125. Ala Petriana, Rock Inscription, 213. Ala Sabiniana, Halton, 107. Ala Sebosiana, Stanhope, 313. Albinus, denarius of, 18. Albus Severus, prefect of Tungriaus, 221. Alfenius Senecio, 266. Alimentarius, 258. Axioms, 281. Allectus, 24. Alnwick Castle, Museum at, 51, 123. Altar to JJsculapius, Lanchester, 278; Maryport, 292. Altar to Anociticus, Benwell, 90. Altar to Antenociticus, Benwell, 89. Altar to Apollo, Chester-le-Street, 246 ; Whitley Cas- tle (?), 281; Haltwhistle Fell, 316. Altar to the Sun God Apollo, Rutchester, 101. Altar to the Ancient Gods, Great Chesters, 187. Altar to Astarte, Corchester, 269. Altar to Belatucader, Carvovan, 194; Longburgh, 238. Altar to Bellona, Old Carlisle, 314. Altar to Cocidius, Housestcads Mile-castle, 162; Hard- riding, 172; Banks Head, 211, 212 ; Bleatarn, 228. Altar, Deabus Veteribus, Chester-le-Street, 246. Altar, DeEe Rat., Chesters, 325. Altar to the Deities of the Emperors, 89, 313. Altar, inscribed DEO, Rutchester, 100. Altar, Deo Soli invic, Rutchester, 101. Altar, Deo Soli invictoMytrasajculari, Housesteads, 318. Altar, Dea; Syria?, Carvoran, 318. Altar, inscribed Deo Vanaunti, Walton House, 223. Altar, Deo Viteri, Carvoran, 195. Altar, Deo sancto Teteri, Carvoran, 54. Altar, Dis cultoribus hujus loci, Risingham, 325. Altar to Jupiter, Housesteads, 52, 153; Wallsend, 73; Benwell, 94; Housesteads Mile-castle, 162; Chester- holm, 109, 170; Birdoswald, 200, 201, 208; Un- derheugh, 207 ; Lanercost, 215 ; Walton House Station, 219, 221; Cambeck Hill, 225; Bowness, 240; Plumpton, 286; Old Carlisle, 287, 286, 310; Maryport, 291. Altar to Jupiter Augustus, Maryport, 290. Altar to Jupiter Dolichenus, Benwell, 87. Altar to Jupiter Heliopolis, Carvoran, 195. Altar, Diis Manibus, Chesters, 330. Altar, Dis Mountibus, High Rochester, 325. Altar to Epona, Carvoran, 324. Altar to the Fates, 289, 324. Altar, inscribed, the Discipline of Augustus, Walton House, 222. Altar to Fortune, Halton Chesters, 108 ; Carrawburgh, 134; Carvoran, 192,193; Birdoswald, 207 ; Rising- ham, 311. Altar to Fortuna Redux, Risingham, 265; Maryport, 311, 327. Altar, Fortune of the Roman People, Chesterholm, 167. Altar (slab), Genius of the Ala, Benwell, 86. Altar to Genius of Cohort, Lanchester, 277. Altar to the Genius of the College, High Rochester, 252. Altar to the Genius of the Emperor, Chesterholm, 170. Altar to the Genius of Emperor and Standards, High Rochester, 249. Altar to the Genius and Standards of Cohort, High Rochester, 314. Altar to the Genius of the Place, Plumpton, 286 ; Mary- port, 327. Altar to the Genius of the Pratoriurn, Chesterholm, 53, 109; Lanchester, 276. Altar to Hercules, Chesterholm, 171; Risingham, 267 . Housesteads, 315. Altar to Mars, Chesterholm, 172; Lanchester, 311. Altar to Mars Belatucader, 313. Altar to Mars Cocidius, Old Wall, 226. Altar to Mars Militaris, Maryport, 312. Altar to Matunus, Elsdon, 261. Altar to Minerva, High Rochester, 252, 315. Altar (slab) Matribus Campestribus, Benwell, 86; Gloster Hill, 322. Altar, Matribus Domesticis, Dykesfield, 237. Altar, Matribus omnium gentium, Netherby, 323. Altar, Matribus Parcis, Skinburness, 2S9 ; Carlisle, 323. 366 INDEX. Altar, Matribus Suis, Port Carlisle, 239. Altar, Matribus Tramarinis, Risingham, 322. Altar, Matribus Tramarinis patriis, 322. Altar to Mother Goddesses, Halton, 321. Altar to Mithras, Eutchester, 100. Altar to Mogon, High Rochester, 2G2 ; Netherby, 325. Altar to Neptune, Chesterholm, 324. Altar, Numinibus Augustor., Benwell, 89, 313. Altar, Nmninibus Aug., Housesteads, 52, 153; Benwell, 87; Walton House, 219, 223; Lanchester, 277. Altar to the Nymphs, Risingham, 320. Altar, Lamiis Tribus, Benwell, 323. Altar to other immortal gods, Chesterholm, 169. Altar to Roma iEtema, Maryport, 311, 327. Altar, Sancto C'oeidio, Netherby, 283. Altar to Setloceuia, Maryport, 324. Altar to Silvanus, Newcastle, 83; Birdoswald, 216. Altar, Silvano invicto, Stanhope, 313. Altar to Silvanus Cocidius, Housesteads, 152. Altar to the Standards, Birdoswald, 207. Altar to Tyrian Hercules, Corchester, 269. Altar Victoria; Augustas, Great Chesters, 187. Altar to Tillage Deities, Old Carlisle, 310. Altars to Vit iris, Chesters, 325. AMBOGLAJJNA, Birdoswald, 199. Amphitheatre, Chesters, 125; Housesteads, 150. Ancient British (?) Encampment, 137, 260. Andernach Stone, 181, 351. Anicius Ingenuus, physician, 331. Anociticus, Altar to, Benwell, 89. Antinous, Medallion of, 342. Antistius Adventus, Imperial legate. 277. Antoninus, M. Aurelius, slab to, 268, Antoninus Pius, dedication to, Bremejjittm, 14: Mary- port, 291 ; Altar for safety of, 87. Apollo, the Sun, Altar, Rutchester, 101. Apollo, Altar to, Chester-le- Street, 246; Haltwhistle Fell, 316. Aqueducts, value of, 103. Aqueduct at Halton Chesters, 105; Great Chesters, 1S4; Birdoswald, 205; Lanchester, 276. Aquitani, Inscription by, PROCOLITIA, 135. ARBEIA, 295. Areadius and Honorius, 27. Archers, Hamian, 192. Architectural peculiarities, 92. Arthur, King, Traditions of, 139. Astarte, Altar to, Corchester, 269. Astures, Firf Xervii, 187. G. Julius Cupitianus, centurion, 323. Julius Ferminus, decurion, 325. Julius Frontinus, Imp. legate, 5. Julius Lupus, prefect, 313. Q. Julius Maximus. prefect, 52. Julius Pastor, standard bearer, 54. C. Julius Ralticus, centurion, 167. 370 INDEX. Julius Rufus, ceDturion, 92. Julius Severus, recalled, 9. Julius Saturninus, tribune, 215. Julius Tertullianus, century of, 226. Julius Victor, 322, 325. L. Junius Victorinus, 235. Jupiter, Altar to, Wallsend, 73 ; Benwell, 94 ; House- steads, 153 ; Homesteads Mile-castle, 162 ; Chester- holm, 169, 170; Housesteads, 52; Birdoswald, 200, 201, 208 ; Underhcugh, 207 ; Lanercost, 215 ; Walton House Station, 219, 221; Cambeck Hill, 225; Bowness, 210; Maryport,. 291; Old Carlisle, 310. Jupiter Augustus, Altar to, Maryport, 290. Jupiter Dolichenus, Altar to, Benwell, 87. Jupiter Heliopolis, Altar to, Carvoran, 195. Jupiter and Hercules, Figures of, Lanercost, 216. Karrissima conjux, 230. Key, 346. King's Well, 189. Kirkandrews, 235. Knag Burn, 149. Knife, 346. Lainianus, 314. Lakes, the Northumbrian, 1 < '■ 4 . Lamiis Tribus, Altar, Benwell, 323. Lamp, found in Castellum, 178. Lamp, Bronze, 345. Lanchester," Station at, 274. Lanercost, 212. Lata claro exnrnat-us, 90. Lanx, Silver, 270. Lead, 346. Legionary Camps, 260. Leg. EL, arrival in Britain,;. it; Badges of, at Ches- ters, 129. Leg. II. and VI. withdrawn, 30. Leg. II. Aug., Memorials of, at Wallsend, 72 ; Benwell, 87, 91 ; Chester-le- Street, 246 ; Halton, 108 ; Sew- ingshields, 139; Housesteads Mile-castle, 159, &c. ; Chesterholm, 171; Castle-Nick, 13; Carvoran, 193 ; Banks Head, 212; Walton House Station, 222; Newtown of Irthington, 226 ; Old Wall, 226 ; Bew- castle, 281; Netherby, 283,329; Bowness, 241; Mary- port, 292. Leg. VI., Victrix, and sometimes Pia lidelis, comes to Britain, 10. Leg. VI. at Tynemouth, 243 ; Rutchester, 100; Hexham, 273; Corchester, 269; Vexillation of, Carraw, 136; Housesteads Mile-castle, 162; Chesterholm, 167: Haltwhistle Fell, 183 ; Carvoran, 193 ; Birdoswald, 20i; ; Vexillation of, Howgill, 212; Walton House Station. 222; Bleatarn, 228; Kirkandrews, 235; Dykesfield, 237; Vexillation of, High Rochester, 25s. Leg. IX., Arrival in Britain, 3 n ; Supposed Camp of, 197. Leg. X., Arrival in Britain, 3 n. Leg. XX., Valeria Victrix, Arrival in Britain, 3 n Withdrawn, 30 ; Memorials of, Benwell, 88, 89 Lanchester, 275 ; Chesterholm, 172 ; Carvoran, 193 near Cawfields, 181 ; Chapel House, 198 ; Banks Head, 212; Netherby, 329 ; Beaumont, 236; Vexilla- tion of, at Maryport, 292 : Moresby, 295. Lcland's Account of the Wall, 42. M. Liburnius Fronto, centurion, 87. Licinius Clemens. 16. A. Llcinius Clemens, prefect, 318. T. Licinius Valerianus, tribune, 314. Limestone Bank, 132. Lines, by Scott, to a Lady, 190. Lines addressed by Hadrian to his Soul, 305. Legates, Lnperial, in Britain, Aulus Plautius, 3 ; Ostorius Scapula, 4; Avitus Didius Gallus, 4; Sueto- nius Paulinus, 5 ; Petilius Cerealis, 5 ; Julius Fron- tinus, 5 ; C. Julius Agricola, 6 ; A. Plat. Nepos, 12 ; Julius Severus, 9 ; Q. Lollius Urbicus, 13 ; Cal- purnius Agricola, 16, 318; Antistius Adventus, 277; Virius Lupus, 19; C. Claudius Appellinius, 254; Tib. Claudius Paulinus, 251; Modius Julius, 204; Marius Valerianus, 125, 282; Coccianus (?), 51; C. Egnatius Lucilianus, 249, 276; Mtecilius Fuscus, 275; Theo- dosius, 25. Lingones, First Cohort of, High Rochester, 14; Lan- chester, 275, 276. Lingones, Fourth Cohort of, Tynemouth, 74. Lions, Figures of, probably Mithraic, 109. Litorius Pacatianus, 318. Little Chesters or Chesterholm, Vindolana, 165. Locks, 346. Q. Lollius Urbicus, Imperial legate, 13. Longburgh, 238. Lucanus, prefect of Ala Petriana, 213. Lucius, century of, 182. Lucius iElvus Ca'sar, 192. Lucius Verus, reign of, 16. Luguvallidm, Carlisle, 232. Luis-holes in Stones, 160. A. Lusima, 230. Lyons, Battle of, 18. Masatre, the, 22. Majcilius Fuscus, Imperial legate, 275. M. Msenius Agrippa, 10. M. Msenius Agrippa, tribune, 291 . Magna, Carvoran, 190. Magnentius, 25. Maiden Way, the, 62, 190, 208. Malbray, Fort at, 289. Marcus Aurelius, Reign of, 16. Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, Inscription to, Great Chesters, 186. Maridus, century of, 188. Mars, Altar to, Chesterholm, 172. Mars Militaris, Altar to, Maryport, 312. Marti Aug., on Gold Plate, 311. Marti Cocidio, Dedication of Altar, Old Wall, 226. Martins, centurion. 226. Marius Valerianus, Imperal legate, 125, 282. Maryport, Station at, 289. Masonry of Wall, 63. Matribus Campestribns, Dedication to, Benwell, 86 ; Gloster Hill, 322. Matribus Domesticis, Dykesfield, 237. Matribus Parcis, Altar, Carlisle, 323; Skinburness, 289. Matribus Suis, on Altar, Port Carlisle, 239. Matribus Tramarinis, Altar, Habitancum, 322. Matribus Tramarinis Patriis, Slab, 322. Matunus, Altar to, Elsdon, 261. Mathrianus, Inscribed on Rock, 210. Mauritania Cresariensis, a tribune from, 327. Maximus proclaimed Emperor in Britain, 27. Maxirninus, Dedication to, 51. C. Jul. Maxirninus, 2 I:'.. Malleus ord., 331. Melaccinius Marcellus, prefect Coh. I. Batavians, 134. Melonius Senilis, 316. Mercury, Figure of, S3; Chesterholm, 171. Messorius Magnus, a duplarius, 107. INDEX. 371 Middleby, 285. Mile-castles described, 57. Mile-castle, interior arrangements, 140. Mile-castle, Housesteads, 159; at Castle-Nick, 17*; at Cawfields, 181. Milestone, Roman, in position, 176. Military Way, Roman, 59, 137. Millstones, 350. Milliary Cohort, 153. miliaria equitata, 220. Milking Gap, 16-1. Minerva, Altarto, High Rochester, 252, 315 : Figure of, Carraw, 135. Mithras, Altar to, Rutchestcr, 100. Mithras, the god the Sun, Altar to, Housesteads, 318. Mithraic (supposed) Sculpture, Chesterholm, 171. Mithraic Temple at Rutchester, 100. Mithraic Cave, Housesteads, 151. Mithraic Worship, 317. Modius Julius, Imperial legate. 204. Modius Julius (.'). Netherby, 329. Mogon, Altar to, Risingham, 262 ; Netherby, 325. Money Holes, 217. Morbixtj, 295. Moresby, Station of, 294. Mortaria, 350. Mote Hills of Elsdon, 201. Mother Goddesses, High Rochester, 2.V.I. Mother Goddesses, Figures of, 321. Mothers of all Nations, Altar to, Netherby, 32:;. Moss Kennel, 141. Mueklebank Crag, 188. Mulier, 288. Mural Garrison, number of, 5G. Mtirsa, a Native of, 287. Muscle-shells in Stations, 109. Nails, Iron, 218. Navy, British, Rise of, 10. Naworth Castle, 217. Needles, 345. Nemesis, Wheel of, on Altars, 22!. Neptune, Figure of, at Carraw, 135. Neptune, Altar to, Chesterholm, 324. Nero, Britain during his Reign, 4. Nervana, Coh. I., Netherby, 2S3. Nervii, Coh. II., Hardriding, 172 ; Coh. III., Chester- holm, 172 ; Whitley Castle, 281 ; Coh. VI., Great Chesters, 181. Nether Hall, Maryport, 293. Netherby, Station at, 281. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Station of, 7S. Newbum, a Roman Post, 95. Nine-Nicks of Thirhvall, 189. Nismes, a Native of, 290. North Tyne. Remains of Bridge over, 113. Notitia, Account of, 50. Nurnerus Exploratorurn, High Rochester, 249. Numerus Frisionum AbaUavensium, 296. Numinibus Aug., Benwell, 87,89; Walton House, 219. N. Aug., Altar inscribed, Walton House, 223. Numinib. Angustor., Dedication to. Risingham, 263. Numin. August i, on Altar, Lanchester, 277. Numinibus August ovum, Altar to, 313. Nymphs at their Ablutions, 251. Nymphs, Altar to, Blenkinsop, 320. Nymphis Yenerandis, Altar, Risingham, 320. Oclatinius Adventns, 266. Offerings to Gods, scanty, 309. Offsets and Insets of Wall, 164. Old Carlisle, Station ..f, 287. Old Penrith, Station of, 286. Old Walker, 75. Old Wall, 226. Olexacum, 293. Ollalee, 188. Omnium fit. Hadr., on Slab, 215. Oracle of Apollo, Housesteads, 310. Orkneys, Roman Standard planted on, 6. Ostorius Scapula, Imperial legate, 4. Oswald, King, 112. Ouseburn, 77. Oystershells, 181. Paces marked on Centurial Stone, 140. Pan, Figures of (.'), High Rochester, 259. Pannonia, a Soldier of. 182. Pannonians, Second Cohort of, Malbray, 289. Papcastle, Station of, 295. Paternius Matemus, tribune, 283. Pedatura, 238. Pcdatura Classis Britannicie, 332. Peel Crag, 179. Penates, 320. Perpetuus and Cornelianus, consuls, 52. Pervica filia, on Tombstone, ls(. Petilius Cercalis, Imperial legate, 5. Petriana, 213. Q. Petronius Urbicus, prefect, 109. Pierse Bridge, Station at, 279. Pins, 345. Pituanius Secundus, prefect of Cohort IV. of Gauls, 53. Planetrees Field, 112. Plants, medicinal, 189. A. Platorius Nepos, Imperial legate, 12, 164. Plumpton, Station at, 286. Poltross Burn, 199. Pons jElii, Hadrian's Bridge, 11. Pojjs jElii, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 78. Port Carlisle, 239. Postumiana, Epithet of First Cohort of Dacians, 202. P. Postumius Acilianus, prefect, 291. Potters' Marks, 34S. Prineeps, 220, 221. 280. Probianus, century of, 208. Procolitia, Carrawburgh, 133. Publius Julius, 254. Pulcher, 269. Purse, Bronze, 334. Pusinna, the Wife of Dagvaldus, 1 82. Quaxtor designates, 90. Quarries, Roman, 63, 94, 104, 131. Quarry, Black Pasture, 112. Querns, 350. Randelands, 21 7. Rapishaw Gap, 10:!. Rescripts, the Sydenham, Malpas, ami Riveling, 153. Rescript, the Riveling, 135, 215. Restoration of Decayed Temple, 125. Rhartians, Cohort of, Great Chesters, 186. Rianorix, on Funereal Slab, 292. biding School at Netherby, 282. Ridley's, Sir Christopher, Account >>f the Wall. 12. Risingham, Habitanctm. 262, River God, North Tyne, 120. 372 INDEX. Road, Branch from BREMENIUM, 2G0. Rob of Risingham, 268. Rock Inscription, Gelt, 65; Fallowfield, 111; Halt- whistle Fell, 183 ; Banks Burn, 213 ; Wetheral, 229. Roma, a Goddess, 310. Romje iEtemae, Altar, Maryport, 327. Romana, Altar dedicated by, Great Chesters, 187. Roman Way, the Direct, 197. Romano-Gaulish Costume on Figures, 156. Rose Hill, 198. Rudge Cup, 341. Rufinus, prefect, 314. Rings, 342. Rutchester, Station of, 99. Ruts in Gateway at Housesteads, 145 ; Maryport, 289. Ruspius Quintus, century of, 312. Stecularis, 318. St. Cuthbert's Cross on Slab, 245. Salona, a City of Dalmatia, 191. Savinian Ala at Halton Chesters, 107. Saniian Ware, 347. Sanctia Gemina, 323. Sandysike, 217. Sandals, Roman, 278, 351. Sax< ins, Arrival of, in Britain, 35. Scene in Amphitheatre represented, 121. Sebosian Cavalry, near Stanhope, 313. Sea Goat and Pegasus, Badges of Leg. II., 91. Secsat/inta for Sexaginta, 288. SEGEDUNUM, Wallsend, 70. L. Sentius Castus, decurion, 100. Septimius Nilus, prefect, 125. Serpents on Altars, 74, 188. Setlocenia, a goddess, Maryport, 324. Severus, Sep., Arrival in Britain, 19. Severus and his Sons, Inscription to, 266, 273. Severus, Altar for safety of, Old Carlisle, 288. Severus, Memorials of, enumerated, 304. Severus's Restorations at Housesteads, ] 17. Beverns's Bridges, 116. Severus, Alexander, Inscriptions to, 125, 1S5, 282. S. A., Sever iana Alexandriana, 185. Sewer in Station at Halton, 106. P. Sextantius, 233. Sewingshields, 137. Shield-on-the-Wall, 136, 180. Shields Lawe, 244. Shildon Hill. lot. Shoes (see Sandals), Roman, 171. Signis, Altar dedicated to, 207. Signet Ring, Housesteads. 158. Signifer, 174. Silvanus, Altar to, Newcastle, S3 ; Birdoswald, 216. Silvanus invictus, Altar to, Stanhope, 313. Silvanus Cocidius, Altar to, 1 52. Silvius Priscus, century of, 195. Sine >tl In mac uhi, 191. Skinburness, Fori :it, 289. Soldiers, Figures of, 156, 157. Sorionus, century of, 195. Spaniards, First Cohort, Maryport, 290; Netherby, 329. Speaking Tube, 02. Spear Heads, 346. Spoon, small, 345. Stag, viewing Net, 158. Stag in a Wood, Sculpture, 175. Standards, portions of (?), 343. Stanwix, Station of. 231. Stations, Account of, 47. Stations, " Per lineam Valli,'' 50. Stations, how identified, 50. Station, largest on the Wall, 200. Steel-Rig Grounds, Wall at, 178. Stilicho, 27. Stones, enormous quantity of, in Stations, 144. Stones for Ballista:, 255. Storks on Altar, 169. Stote's Houses, 75. Stnkeley, opinion of the Design of Wall, 47, 298. S. T. T. L., sit till terra lerls, 204. Streets in camps, narrow, 204. Subcurator Via? Flaminise, 2" 7. Subterranean Forest, 239. Suburban Buildings, Housesteads, 150. Suetonius Paulinus, Imperial legate, 5. Sun, Altar to, Rutchester, 101. Sun the, companion of Emperor, Dedicated to, High Rochester, 253. Sulpicius Secundianus, 240. Supporting Stations, 242. Sword, Dacian, 204. Syrian Goddess, Altar to, Carvoran, 318. Tablet, Mithraic, 317. Tancorix, Monument to, 288. Tank for Water, Birdoswald, 205. Tanks, underground, 251. Tarraby, 230. Telesphorus, Figure of, 208. Temple Restored, 86. Termination of Wall at Bowness, 241. Terivius, 325. Terraces for cultivation, 150. I. TertulHanus, 227. C. Tetius Veturius Micianns, prefect, 313. Tetriciana, Epithet of First Cohort Dacians, 201. Theodosius arrives in Britain, 25. Thirlwall Castle, 196. Thorngrafton Find, the. 334. Thorny-Doors, 181. Thracians, First Cohort of. at Newcastle, 82. Thracians, Second Cohort of, Moresby, 295. Thunderbolt, on Altars, 221. Tineius Longus, prefect of cavalry, 90. Tipalt, the, 190, L96. Titullinia Pusitta, 330. Titirium posuit, 182. Titus in Britain, 4. Tombs, Roman, at Beeiiexium, 261. Torquata, Epithet of Ala Pet., 213. Tower Taye, 131. Trajan, State of the Empire at the death of, 9. Trajanopolis, 233. Trans Vallum prospere gestas, 235. Tribunus in prafeeto, 319. Trough in the Solid Rock, 100. Troy, View resembling Site of, 200. Tumuli near Great Chesters, 1S4. Tumulus at Bleatarn, 228. Tunic, Scale Armour of, 158. Tungri, Coh. I., Housesteads, 52, 152, 153, 315, 316, 331. Turrets. 58. Turret, Remains of, Birdoswald, 209 ; near Hare Hill, 217. Twentieth Legion, its part in Building the Wall, 1S1 n. Tynemouth, 243. Tijpum (.') rum bat., 243. INDEX. 873 Tyrants, the Thirty, 23. Ulpius Mareellus, Imperial legate. 17, 90. Umbo of Shield, 342. Vabrius, 162. Valentia, 26. Valentinian, 25. Valentinian II., 27. Valeria* elrtr'u; 89. Valeriamis, century of, 17". S. Valerius Apollinaris, princeps, 28G. Valerius Longinus, tribune, 311. Valerius Verus, century of, 188. Vallum, the, Account of, 45. Vallum, why Constructed, 17. Vallum at Moss Kennel Farm, 141. Vanauntis, Altar to, Walton House, 223. Vangiones, Coh. I., at Eisingham, 266, 267 ; Chesters, 330. Vardulli, Coh. I., High Rochester, 253, 254, 256, 314. Venatores Banna-, 216. Q. Verius Snperstis, prefect of Gauls, 153. Verulam, 4. Vespasian in Britain, 4. Veteris, Altar to, Carvoran, 54. Vetia Mansueta, 323. Vexillation of Leg. VI., Carraw, 136 ; High Rochester, 258 : Corbridge, 269; Leg. XX. at Bremenhm. 258. Vexillationes (?), Hexham, 273. Vianna, Vienna (.'), Vienne, 193. Victory, Figure of, Housesteads, 145, 155 ; Walton House, 221 : Stanwix, 231 ; (flying) Roschill. 198. Victory the August, Dedication to, Great Chesters, 187. Vig&U for vixit, 288. Viltorum magistri, 310. Vindomoruci (?), 238. Vine Branch, Badge of Centurion's Office, 332. ViNDOBALA, Rutchester, 99. VlNDOLANA, Chesterholm, 166. Violence done to Sculptures, 157. Virius Lupus, Imperial legate, 19. Virosidum, 293. Viteris, Altar to, Carvoran, 195. Viiiris, Altars to, ClLUKNUM, 325. Vixsit for vixit, 330. Walbottle Dean, 97. Walby, 229. Wall, the, repaired by Ulpius Marcellus, 17. Wall, the Parts of, 39. Wall. Names of, 39. Wall and Vallum, Characteristic Features of, 40. Wal'. Places named from it, 71. Wall, why built on the North Side of River, 96. Wallend. 19S. Wallfoot, 229. Wallhead, 229. Wallknoll, 77. Walltoxvn, 189. Walltown Mill, 184. Wallsend, Station of, 70. Walton, 217. Walton House Station, 218. Walwiek, 13i>. Warden Hill, 131. Watchcross, Station of, 227. Watch Hill, 237. Watch Tower on Maiden Way, 209. Water Courses, Lanchester (see Aqueduct), 276. Water Pipes, 351. Watling Street, the, 62, 109. Welton Hall, 103. Wheat Burnt in Station, 219. Wheel, Remains of Ancient, ISO re. Whitley Castle, Station at, 281. Willowford, 199. Winshields Crag, 179. ANDREW KEI1>, NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE. r . £-■ ;< S c c ec . Oc" «c<: V c I Cr'JPy e CrJV' cr <•*< rj .. cc CCC . C C c \ \ c c cc Cc ccr >_r c ^r C ,r\A LC cccj_ ^ccrcc recce ~ : ccc ce- re or ^c Z CTcc ggl c C^^C>-C ' ctSc c tsfec. ^c c- JC «3B I cc <^ cc gc ccc r< c c«r C OC C <3- tc: ^tjCZ C v r£< cc 9c