Chapter X: Part III: Local Description of the Works (1)

Little did the Romans dream, when they fixed the eastern termination of their Wall at SEGEDUNUM, of the world-wide celebrity which its subsequent cognomen—Wallsend—would attain. Even Horsley, writing in 1731, and in what he lovingly terms 'my own county,'[54] did not foresee the extensive mining operations which shortly after his day were to take place in its immediate vicinity. In order to mark the site of the station, he fixes upon Cousin’s House, which is at some distance from the spot, whereas, the principal shaft of the celebrated mine is close beside its western rampart.

SEGEDUNUM, Wallsend, is admirably selected as the site of a Roman station, and as the eastern terminus of the Wall. Without being so much[Sidenote: SEGEDUNUM.] elevated as to give it a painful exposure to the blasts of the north and of the east, it commands a view, in every direction, of the adjacent country. The ground, in front of it, slopes rapidly down to the river’s brink, and has a full exposure to the mid-day sun. The beauty of its situation is considerable now; what must it have been when aged oaks crowned the contiguous heights, and the Tyne rolled by in the brilliancy and exuberance of its youth!

[Sidenote: WALLSEND.]

Eastward of Wallsend, the river acquires a sufficient magnitude to make it a barrier quite formidable enough to prevent the ready passage of a foe, and to render the erection of a wall unnecessary. Frequently, however, would it be needful for the watchful eye of the Roman prefect at SEGEDUNUM to traverse the expanse which lay between him and the sea. This he could easily do. The station stands upon a bend of the river, formed by two of the longest ‘reaches’ which it makes in the whole of its course. The Long-reach extends downwards as far as the high end of South Shields, and the Bill-reach stretches nearly two miles up the water. In both directions, therefore, any operations conducted on the river would be easily discerned from the station.

[Sidenote: SEGEDUNUM.]

Although it was not thought requisite to extend the Wall further along the northern bank of the Tyne than Wallsend, special precautions were taken to secure the mouth of the river from hostile occupation. A camp at Tynemouth, and another at North Shields, were garrisoned by troops from the head quarters at SEGEDUNUM; these frowned over the northern shore of the estuary. A subsidiary station at Tyne Lawe, near South Shields, and another at Jarrow, guarded its southern bank, whilst one at Wardley, opposite Wallsend, would effectually support, on that side of the river, the operations of the garrison in the principal encampment. All of these will be examined afterwards.

The evidence by which Wallsend is identified with the _Segedunum_ of the Notitia is not so direct as could be desired. First in the list of officers ‘along the line of the Wall,’ the Notitia places the Tribune of the fourth cohort of the Lergi at SEGEDUNUM. Now, no inscription has been found in Britain mentioning the Lergi, but inscriptions have been found which mention the second and fourth cohorts of the Lingones; on the other hand, the Lingones never occur in the Notitia, but the cohorts of the Lergi which are there recorded, are the second and the fourth. This being the case, and the difference in the form of the Latin words _Lergorum_ and _Lingonum_ being very slight, the probability is, as Mr. Thomas Hodgson, in an able paper in the Archæologia Æliana, conjectures, that some early transcriber of the Notitia has written the one in mistake for the other. Within the precincts of Tynemouth Castle, in the year 1783, an altar was found, which formed part of the foundation of an ancient church. It is now in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries of London. The adjoining wood-cut accurately delineates it. The inscription may be read as follows:

I[OVI] O[PTIMO] M[AXIMO]
AEL[IVS] RVFVS
PRAEF[ECTVS] COH[ORTIS]
IIII LINGO
NVM.

To Jupiter the best and greatest,
Ælius Rufus,
The Prefect of Cohort the
Fourth of the Lingo-
nes.

On the supposition, which is a natural one, that Tynemouth was a station subsidiary to Wallsend, this altar gives satisfactory proof that the first of the stations at the eastern extremity of the Wall is the SEGEDUNUM of the Notitia. On some occasion, when the prefect who commanded the estuary of the Tyne, was on a visit to this out-post, he erected to Jupiter, whom he ignorantly worshipped, the altar which still remains.

[Sidenote: ORIGIN OF THE NOTITIA NAMES.]

The etymology of the names of the stations is an interesting, but intricate subject. The new occupants of a country usually adopt the appellations bestowed by their predecessors upon its more prominent features. Thus, though in England the ancient Briton, Roman, Saxon, Norman, and modern English, have successively prevailed, many of our most familiar rivers, as the Thames, the Isis, and the Avon, have borne, as Whitaker shows, through each successive change, their present names. The appellations of cities are much more variable, but some even of these are indelible. Strange as a painted Briton of the first century would feel himself in the streets of modern London, its _name_ would fall on his ear as an accustomed sound.

The Romans were a minority in Britain; and, in their intercourse with the natives, would be compelled to adopt the nomenclature of the people. We may, therefore, expect to find that the names of the stations are essentially British, though somewhat altered by the imperfect pronunciation of the strangers, and by a ceaseless effort to recast the words in the mould of their own tongue. The change most frequently introduced consists in the addition of Latin terminations. The names given by the aborigines of a country are usually descriptive of the object to which they are attached: they are epithets changed into proper names. Accordingly, we find that the names of the stations, so far as they have been deciphered by the assistance of those modern representatives of the ancient British tongue—the Gaelic and native Irish—are descriptive of the locality.

[Sidenote: ETYMOLOGY OF SEGEDUNUM.]

SEGEDUNUM is an unfortunate example to begin with. There was a Segedunum in Aquitania, the modern Rodez—a Segodunum in Northern Germany, the modern Siegen. The camp at Wallsend may have received its name from some resemblence to one of these. Still the question remains, What was the common origin of the term? Wallis thinks it is derived from the Latin _seges_, corn, and the Celtic _dunum_, a hill; but, excepting in extreme cases, an etymology dependent upon two languages can scarcely be admitted. A more consistent derivation is found in the Celtic _sech_, (the root of the French _sec_) dry, and _dun_, a hill. The final syllable is a Latin affix. The elevation of the spot, and its rapid slope to the river, would render it comparatively free from moisture.[55]

[Sidenote: VILLAGE OF WALLSEND.]

Whatever doubt may hang over the Roman name of this station, none attaches to the modern—Wallsend

... Ab illo
Dicitur, æternumque tenet per sæcula nomen.

The number of places along the course of the Wall which have derived their names from this great work, is very striking, and proves the importance that has been attached to it. Without examining a map, and simply drawing upon the resources of my own memory and note-book, the following examples occur: In Northumberland, we have Wallsend, Walker, Wall-knoll in Newcastle, Benwell, Wallbottle, Heddon-on-the-Wall, Welton, Wall-houses, Wall, Walwick, Shields-on-the-Wall, Wall-mill, Walltown, Thirlwall, and Wall-end; in Cumberland, we have Walton, Wallbours, Old-Wall, High Wallhead, Middle Wallhead, Low Wallhead, Wallby, and Wallfoot.

The present village of Wallsend is about half a mile distant from the station, a little to the north of the turnpike road. It is, however, of modern erection. Brand says that ‘an old woman, still living, remembers when the site of the present Wallsend was an empty field.’ The traditional account of its erection is, that a plague having desolated the original town, which stood upon the site of the camp, and was built out of its ruins, the terrified inhabitants forsook the spot, and sought shelter in the new locality.

_PLATE IV._

_SECTION, after Warburton, of the Mountains at Bradley,
shewing the relation, in the hill-district, between the Wall
and the Vallum._
_REID. LITHO. NEWCASTLE._
]

[Sidenote: WALLSEND.]

A person unaccustomed to examine the remains of Roman forts, will probably be disappointed to find the ramparts of Wallsend so feebly marked; but one who brings to the task a practised eye, will give a good account of the land, and express his surprise that so much of the camp is left. The station, it must be remembered, is situated on the edge of a river the scene of an immense commerce, in the vicinity of a large town, and in the centre of a great mining district.

[Sidenote: SEGEDUNUM.]

The station of SEGEDUNUM has occupied an area of three acres and a half. The Wall, coming from the west, has struck the north cheek of its western gateway, and there terminated. The walls of the station would be a sufficient protection to the garrison against attack from the north or other quarters, but to prevent the enemy getting within the barrier, by passing between the station and the river, the eastern wall of the station has been brought down to the river, and continued into it to low-water mark.[56]

Drawn & Lithographed by John Storey
WALLSEND, LOOKING EAST.
]

[Sidenote: WALLSEND.]

In tracing the outline of the station it will be well to begin at Carville-hall, the 'Cousin’s-house,'[57] of Horsley. Between it and the Gosforth ‘waggon-way,’ the north fosse of the Wall is very distinct, a gravelled path, for some distance, occupies the site of the Wall.[58] Behind the Methodist-chapel the ditch may still be traced, but after that it disappears. The row of houses between the chapel and the station is manifestly very close upon the line of the Wall. The old engine-house, which Brand tells us was six yards north of the Wall, still remains. The whole of the ramparts of the northern section of the station are gone; the walls of the southern portion of it may, however, be traced rising in the form of a grassy mound above the general level of the soil. The continuation of the eastern wall of the station down the bank to the river’s edge, may also be recognised, not only by the gentle mound which it forms, but by the fragments of Roman mortar, Roman tile, and coarse-grained sandstone, not proper to the district, which may be picked up on it. This river-wall joins the Tyne at the spot where a jetty has recently been formed. Numerous swellings in the ground to the south, and to the east of the station, indicate the ruins of suburban buildings. These seem to have been invariable concomitants of stationary camps. Officers wishing to have more space than the fort allowed, the families of the soldiers, the camp followers, and others, who sought the protection of a fortified post, would occupy such dwellings. The sunny exposure of the streets on the south of the camp, would render them peculiarly acceptable to the Lingones who came from that part of Gaul where the Meuse and Marne have their source.[59] The fosse which protected the eastern rampart, is still distinctly visible, and generally contains a little water. The accompanying lithographic view is given chiefly with the intention of showing the extensive command which the station had of the river below it; the south-east angle of the rampart may be traced upon it, as well as the fosse beyond. The altar, represented in the foreground, was found in the vicinity of the station a few years ago, and is still preserved upon the spot, it is without an inscription, but has a hole drilled through its centre, which it had when found. An extensive natural valley protected the western side of the camp, which some years ago was partially filled up, in order to form the waggon-way. The house occupied by the late Mr. John Buddle, the eminent colliery viewer, is just within the western wall of the station, and that, formerly occupied by Mr. John Reay, is just within the eastern rampart. The waggon-way leading from the Wallsend pit seems to enter the station by its western portal, and to leave it by its eastern, and thus exactly traverses the _via principalis_ of the camp. The only trace of the northern division of the station that remains, consists [Sidenote: SEGEDUNUM.]of the road which has apparently led from SEGEDUNUM to the out-posts at Blake-chesters and Tyne-mouth. This causeway extends from the station to the north of the Shields railway; it is formed of a mass of rubble, about two feet deep, and is eleven yards wide. It cannot be ploughed, and nothing that requires any depth of earth will grow upon it.

Numerous proofs of Roman occupation have been discovered at various times in the station and its vicinity. Brand says, ‘I found a fibula, some Roman tegulæ, and coins, a ring, &c. Immense quantities of bones and teeth of animals are continually turning up. Stones with inscriptions were found, but the incurious masons built them up again in the new works of the colliery.’ Dr. Lingard was told, that in digging a cellar under the dining room of Mr. Buddle’s house, a deep well was found. I have been informed by Mr. John Reay, that another was discovered outside the station, at the spot shown on the plan of the station, Plate IV. A structure, which was conceived to be a bath, was struck upon about the same time, near the river’s brink; it was immediately removed, but its site is marked on the plan. Many coins have been found, but most of them in a very corroded state. A beautiful piece of Samian ware was got in sinking the shaft of the colliery, which is now in possession of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne; it is figured in a subsequent Plate.

[Sidenote: WALLSEND TO NEWCASTLE.]

Leaving Wallsend, and proceeding westward, the Wall is chiefly to be traced by the presence of its north fosse. This is very distinctly marked nearly all the way to Byker. In front of Stote’s-houses, the Beehouses of Horsley, it forms a pond, which is used for farm purposes. Some traces of the foundation of the Wall may be seen, but they are faint. Thirty years ago the Wall was standing, for a considerable distance, three and four feet high, covered with brushwood of hazel, oak, and alder. The tendency of the half-ruined Wall to give lodgement to the roots of these plants, is very remarkable; wherever the Wall is undisturbed they are found, and in regions where the hazel does not occur elsewhere, as in the neighbourhood of Bowness, it is to be met with abundantly upon the Wall.

A mound, a little more elevated than the neighbouring ground, near to Stote’s-houses, points out the site of the first mile-castle west of Wallsend. The tenant of the farm told me that he had got a great quantity of stones from it. In Horsley’s time, there were ‘two distinct tumuli remaining near the Bee-houses’; what I take to be the rudiments of them may yet be traced; one of them is just behind the stack-yard of the farm, the other, the least marked of the two, a little to the west of it.

The road that is seen stretching in a straight line up the hill to Byker indicates the direction of the Wall, and though the first, it is by no means the most remarkable instance that we shall meet with, of the unflinching and straightforward tendencies of this remarkable structure. The Wall stood on the south side of the present road. The facing-stones having already been removed, and it being desirable to have the rocky remnant entirely cleared away, the ground was let to parties without rent for a short term of years, on condition of their clearing it, and bringing it into cultivation. It is on this account that the site of the Wall and fosse, even yet, is portioned out in long narrow slips, which are, for the most part, used as potato gardens.

From the top of Byker-hill, an interesting view is obtained of the Tyne and the numerous hives of busy men which bestud its banks. This would be an important post for the Roman soldier, who could easily see from it the stations on either hand—SEGEDUNUM and PONS ÆLII—and all that was going on between them.

Between Byker and Newcastle, all traces of the Wall are now nearly destroyed. In 1725, it was, however, standing in a condition of imposing grandeur, as appears from Stukeley’s ‘Prospect’ of it in the Iter Boreale. He was induced to make this drawing because ‘the country being entirely undermined’ by colliery excavations, it might ‘some time or other sink, and so disorder the track of this stately work.’ He dreaded an imaginary evil, and overlooked a real one.

The north fosse was, till recently, very distinct within the wall of Heaton-park; it is now filled up; many of the stones in the park-wall, are to all appearance, Roman. Before descending the hill, a portion of it, boldly developed, may yet be seen at the end of a small row of houses called Howard-street.

[Sidenote: COURSE THROUGH NEWCASTLE.]

At the head of the bank overlooking the Ouse-burn stood a mile-castle, as was usual in such situations, to guard the pass. Two stones which, I am persuaded, formed part of the entrance gateway of this mile-tower, now stand upon the stairs leading to the grand entrance of the keep of the Castle of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. They measure two feet by one, and are of the form usually employed in the portals of mile castles. One of them bears a rude, and almost unintelligible, inscription. These stones were found built up in a structure on the west bank of the Ouseburn, were thence taken to Busy Cottage, afterwards removed to Heaton, and finally presented to the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

The Wall crossed the Ouse-burn very near the ancient bridge which is about a hundred and fifty yards south of the railway viaduct. In preparing the foundations of Mr. Beckinton’s steam-mill about the year 1800, the workmen came upon the Wall, and, with great good taste, built into the opposite quay three of the largest stones they met with, in order to mark its site; they may yet be seen at low water, and are evidently mile-castle stones.

[Sidenote: COURSE THROUGH NEWCASTLE.]

It is not possible to trace the Wall with minute accuracy through Newcastle, a town which has been the seat of a large and active population ever since the days of Roman occupation. In endeavouring to follow its route, I shall mainly depend upon the investigations of Mr. George Bouchier Richardson, who has for several years past made the antiquities of ‘the Metropolis of the North’ his especial study, and whose paper upon this subject, recently read before the Society of Antiquaries of this town, will doubtless speedily appear in the Archæologia Æliana.

[Sidenote: NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE.]

Rising from the western bank of the Ouse-burn, it traversed the north side of Stepney-bank, passed through the gardens at the Red Barns, along the site of the present Melbourne-street, and, proceeding behind the Keelmen’s Hospital, came to the Sallyport. This, which was one of the gates of the town, is sometimes described as a Roman building, but is of mediæval origin. Thence, the Wall went over the crest of the hill still called the Wall-knoll, where the foundations of it were turned up about the middle of the last century. It crossed Pandon-dean on the north side of the locality called the Stock-bridge, and, in its western course, ascended the steep hill, on the summit of which stands All Saints’ church. Brand tells us that the crypt of the old church had plainly been built of stones plundered from the adjacent Wall. A well of Roman masonry is said to have been discovered near the church when the foundations of the new building were prepared. Crossing Pilgrim-street a little above Silver-street, the course of the Wall is indicated by the present narrow street called the Low bridge. Until a comparatively recent period, the site of Dean-street formed the unenclosed bed of the Lort-burn, and was spanned by an arch called the Low-bridge. At the point where this mediæval viaduct stood, its Roman predecessor carried the Wall, with its attendant military way, across the gully. The church of St. Nicholas, according to Leland, whose statement is confirmed by subsequent writers, ‘stondithe on the very Picts Waulle.’ The Wall, leaving the church, crosses Collingwood-street in an oblique direction, and passing by St. John’s church, the Vicarage-house, and the Assembly-rooms, makes for the Town-wall somewhat to the north of the site of the West-gate. There can be little doubt that in its exit from the town, the Wall occupied the elevation on which Cumberland-row now stands.

[Sidenote: PONS ÆLII.]

PONS ÆLII.—Having tracked the Wall in its passage through the modern town, the site of the ancient station of PONS ÆLII next demands attention.

Horsley is the only writer who has attempted to define its limits, and he had but slender evidence to guide him. He takes, as his data, the three following facts:—1. The course of the Wall westward, which he conceives, and no doubt correctly, would form the northern boundary of the station; 2. The direction of the Vallum, some portions of which remained, in his day, just outside the West-gate; 3. 'A traditionary account of the Wall having passed through St. George’s porch, near the north-west corner of St. Nicholas’-church.' As this porch stands a little to the south of the line of the great Wall, as laid down by him, he conceives that this traditionary wall must have been the east wall of the station, and draws it upon his plan accordingly.[60] The western wall now only remained to be determined, and this point was easily settled, by supposing the station to have been square. According to the line assigned by him to the Vallum, six chains is the distance which would intervene between it and the Wall; he therefore places the western rampart of the station at the corresponding distance of six chains from the eastern, and encloses altogether an area of little more than three acres.

It may well be doubted whether the important station of PONS ÆLII would be subjected to the ordinary rules of castrametation. I am strongly disposed to think, that it would partake of the features of a commercial as well as of a military capital, and that its walls would not only embrace a wider range than ordinary camps, but would be allowed to adapt themselves more freely to the nature of the ground.

The wants of the immense body of troops required to garrison the Wall, and man its out-posts, would create a considerable amount of commerce. The inhabitants of Italy, Gaul, and Spain, would be unwilling all at once to forego the comforts and luxuries of their sunny climes, and to be entirely cut off from intercourse with the land of their nativity. The fragments of amphoræ, which are so abundantly met with on the line of the Wall, shew that the soldiers sometimes gladdened their hearts with the wine of their native hills; and the innumerable sherds of Samian ware, which usually bestrew the camps of Roman occupation, prove that a continual intercourse was kept up with the continent. To the sea, as a means of communication between many of the stations of Roman Britain, frequent recourse would be had.

The exports from this island to the continent were considerable. Camden tells us, that every year not less than eight hundred vessels laden with corn alone were sent out of it. Certain it is, that the imperial government would expect an adequate return for the expenditure occasioned by the troops in this country, and that the commodities of the continent would not be transmitted to the occupants of the Wall from motives of mere benevolence. Lead, which is now so abundant in the three northern counties, would probably form one article of export, and corn another. Those who have noticed the fertility of some portions of the region watered by the Tyne, will be able to conceive how luxuriant were the harvests which its alluvial soil produced when first turned up by the plough. It is certain that coal has been wrought to some extent in Roman times, and some of it may have been exported.

No place in the north of England was so well fitted as Newcastle to be the emporium of the commerce of the North. Situated upon a noble river, at about ten miles from its mouth, it combined the naval advantages of the coast, with the security of an inland situation. The wealth arising from the commerce of the port would increase its importance, and the facility with which foreign news and foreign luxuries could be obtained, would render it the frequent resort of those prefects and tribunes whose usual posts were in bleaker and more inhospitable regions. The fact that the river was at this part spanned by a bridge of many arches, is a striking indication of the importance of the place even in the days of the emperor Hadrian.

No account has come down to us of the state of Newcastle in the days of Roman occupation, but if, after it had been deprived of the advantages which the residence of the mural garrison conferred upon it, the venerable Bede calls it 'an illustrious royal city'—'_vico regis illustri_'—we must conclude that it was a place of considerable importance. The natural advantages of the situation struck the eye of Camden; ‘Now’, says he, ‘where the Wall and Tine almost meet together, Newcastle sheweth itself gloriously the very eye of all the townes in these parts.’

Under these circumstances, there seems to be no reason why the walls of PONS ÆLII should form the usual military parallelogram any more than Roman Rochester, or Pompeii, or Rome itself, much less that the station should occupy an area of little more than three acres.

The contour of the ground on which the modern Newcastle stands, is peculiar. It consists of three tongues of land, separated by natural valleys permeated by rivulets. The westernmost of these presents the boldest front to the river, and is that on which the Castle stands; the Skinner-burn bounds it on the west, and the valley of the Lort-burn, the present Dean-street, on the east. The contiguous tongue lies between the Lort-burn and Pandon-dean; and that still further removed, has for its eastern boundary the Ouse-burn. The same natural advantages which recommended the heights of the most westerly of these strips of ground to the Normans for the erection of their stronghold, would no doubt previously induce the Romans to select it as their chief position. They probably enclosed nearly the whole of it within their walls. Horsley, indeed, places his camp in this division, but in the least advantageous part of it, whether considered in a military or in a commercial point of view. The Romans would surely not overlook the importance of the ravine of Dean-street as a defence on the east, especially at a time when the tide flowed up it as far as the Painter-heugh, and of the cliff that descends from the Castle to the river on the south. The necessity of defending the bridge, and commanding the Tyne would not be forgotten. Taking all these things into account, we may fairly suppose the walls of PONS ÆLII to have been thus defined:—The Wall, passing through the site of St. Nicholas’-church, would, of course, be its northern boundary; a line coming from the church, and adapting itself to the crest of the hill that overhangs Dean-street, crossing the Head-of-the-Side and stretching as far as the elevated angle on which the County-courts now stand, will probably mark its eastern boundary; the southern rampart would run from this angle along the edge of the cliff overhanging the Close, as far as the site of the White-friar-tower, which stood at the head of the present Hanover-street; the western wall may have run in the line of the Town-wall as far as Neville-tower, and then have struck up in a straight line to meet the great Wall. Westward of this boundary, the ground slopes down to the Skinner-burn. If these lines are correctly drawn, Roman Newcastle would contain upwards of sixteen acres.

Although the camp of PONS ÆLII occupied this tongue of land, there is no reason to suppose that suburban buildings were not erected on the other two, both of which are well protected by their natural situation. There is good ground to believe that Pandon, which was formerly a separate town from Newcastle, and is seated on the middle strip, was of Roman origin. Villas and gardens probably extended as far as the Ouse-burn.

In order to render the preceding description intelligible to persons unacquainted with the topography of Newcastle, a plan of the town (Plate V.) and a lithographic view of PONS ÆLII are appended. In the plan of the town, Horsley’s demarkation of the station, as well as the one here proposed, is laid down. For the view of PONS ÆLII, the frontispiece, I am indebted to the pencil of Mr. G. Bouchier Richardson; the contour of the ground is very accurately delineated, and the probable outline of the station marked; the details of the picture are of course filled up according to the artist’s fancy—a fancy regulated by his antiquarian knowledge.

_PLATE V._

Plan of PONS ÆLII AND OF THE COURSE OF THE WALL THROUGH _NEWCASTLE ON
TYNE_.
And^w. Reid s.c.
]

[Sidenote: NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE.]

Roman antiquities, which, when they abound, are so serviceable in defining the seat of Roman occupation, are unfortunately here rather scanty and unimportant. This cannot be matter of surprise. In the middle ages, Newcastle abounded in churches and monastic buildings. To the erection of these and of the Castle, the Town-wall, and Gates, every stone whether lettered, sculptured, or plain, that could easily be obtained, would be appropriated.

[Sidenote: PONS ÆLII.]

The precincts of the Castle have afforded the most important discoveries of this kind. The present County-courts occupy the site of a building which used to be called the Half-moon-battery. This was probably the position of the south-east angle of the station of PONS ÆLII, and some of the lines of the octagonal face of the battery presented no doubt the actual curve of the station. To a certain extent the Norman builders may have converted to their own uses a portion of the labours of their imperial predecessors; appearances seemed to shew that the Castle wall between the Half-moon-battery and the Black-gate had rested upon a Roman foundation. When the County-courts were built, some important discoveries were made. Mr. Hodgson, who watched the progress of the excavations, has thus described them:—

In digging for the foundations for the Northumberland County
Court-house, in 1810, a well was found finely cased with Roman
masonry. It still remains below the centre part of the present
court-house. It had originally been a spring, or sunk low down on the
river bank, and its circular wall, raised within another strong wall
in the form of a trapezium to the height of the area of the station,
and the space between them traversed with strong connecting beams of
oak both horizontally and perpendicularly, and then tightly packed up
with pure blue clay. Some beams of this timber were taken up and
formed into the judges’ seats, and chairs for the grand-jury room, now
in use. Two of the perpendicular beams had very large stags’ horns at
their lower end, apparently to assist in steadying them till clay
sufficient was put around them to keep them upright. On the original
slope of the bank next the outer wall, there was a thick layer of
ferns, grasses, brambles, and twigs of birch and oak, closely matted
together, and evidently showing that before these works were
constructed, man had not tenanted the spot.[61] Here also were exposed
large remains of the foundations of other very thick and strong walls,
one of which rose into the eastern wall of the Old Moot-hall, which
was of exactly the same breadth, bearing, and style of building, and
doubtless of the same date as the Roman foundations of which it was a
continuance.

[Sidenote: ANTIQUITIES OF PONS ÆLII.]

The whole site of the Court-house, for several feet above the original
surface of the earth, was strewn with a chaos of Roman ruins. I was
frequently on the spot while the excavations were carrying on, and saw
dug up large quantities of Roman pottery, two bronze coins of
Antoninus Pius, parts of the shaft of a Corinthian pillar, fluted, and
of the finest workmanship; besides many millstones, and two altars,
one bearing an illegible inscription, and the other quite plain. The
altars were found near the north-east corner of the Court-house, and
near them a small axe, and a concave stone, which bore marks of fire,
was split, and had thin flakes of lead in its fissures. The broad
foundation walls were firm and impenetrable as the hardest rock. On
Aug. 11, 1812, when the foundations of the north portico were sinking,
a Roman coin was found (of what Emperor I have no minute,) and the
original surface of the ground was covered with a thick stratum of
small wood, some parts of which were wattled together in the form of
crates or the corfs of collieries, but in a decayed state, and cut as
easily with the workmen’s spades, as the brushwood found in peat
mosses does. As there was much horse or mules’ dung near them, and
some mules’ shoes amongst it, I thought they had been fixed there as
crates or racks to eat fodder out of.

Since that period, few important discoveries have been made. In cutting the crest of the hill in front of the Castle for one of the piers of the Railway viaduct, a small stone figure of Mercury, represented in the adjoining wood-cut,[62] was found. It is preserved, among other antiquities, in the Museum in the Castle.

Between the years 1840 and 1844, the White-friar-tower and the contiguous portions of the Town-wall of Newcastle were removed. Two Roman altars were discovered, which are now in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. One of them is destitute of an inscription, and the other seems to bear the word SILVANO. Several coins of the Roman and mediæval age were picked up in its immediate vicinity. The Roman coins were of both the upper and the lower empire.

From the manner in which the pieces of the middle and ancient periods were commingled, a thing of rare occurrence, it may be inferred that the tower was formed out of Roman materials, and that the Roman coins were re-imbedded without being noticed, whilst the workmen inadvertently added Nuremberg tokens and other contemporary pieces to the numismatic treasures of the spot.

But, perhaps, the structure which gave name to PONS ÆLII affords the most interesting foot-prints of Roman occupation in Newcastle.

[Sidenote: THE BRIDGE OF ÆLIUS.]

Horsley received sufficient evidence to convince him, that a Roman road had gone from the south bank of the Tyne to Chester-le-street, and thence to the south of England. A bridge was necessary to conduct the road across the river. In 1771, a flood having carried away several of the arches of the bridge which then existed, and materially damaged the rest of the structure, it was found necessary to erect a new one. In removing the old piers the distinguishing characteristics of Roman masonry were observed; and the workmen were led to believe that the arches of the mediæval structure had been placed upon the foundations which Hadrian laid. Several piles of fine black oak, which had supported the foundation, were drawn out of the bed of the river, and found to be in a state of excellent preservation.[63]

[Sidenote: COINS FOUND IN THE BRIDGE.]

The coins that were found imbedded in the piers give decided evidence of the Roman origin of the structure. To some of these, in the possession of George Rippon, esq., of Waterville, North Shields, I have had access; they are here represented.

_Obv._—HADRIANUS AUGUSTUS, CONSUL TERTIUM. PATER PATRIÆ. Bare head of Hadrian.

_Rev._—GERMANIA. The province personified as a female standing. In her right she holds a lance; her left hand rests upon a German-shaped shield.

_Obv._—IMPERATOR CÆSAR TRAJANUS HADRIANUS AUGUSTUS. Laureated head of Hadrian.

_Rev._—PONTIFEX MAXIMUS TRIBUNITIA POTESTATE CONSUL TERTIUM. A female figure, with helmet, standing, holding a lance in her left hand, and in her right a patera, under which is an object that appears to be an altar.

_Obv._—Same as the former; but CONSUL SECUNDUM.

_Rev._—Legend same as the former, but in the exergue JUSTITIA. A female seated; in her right hand a patera, in her left a spear.

_Obv._—Same as the two former.

_Rev._—Same as in the former, but in the exergue. FEL PR (Felicitas Populi Romani). A female seated; in her right hand a caduceus, in her left a cornucopia.

_Obv._—SEVERUS AUGUSTUS PARTHICUS MAXIMUS. Laureated head of the emperor.

_Rev._—PROVIDENTIA AUGUSTORUM. The figure of a female standing, with a globe at her feet.

The coins of Hadrian are remarkably bold and sharp, and cannot have been long in circulation before being deposited in the bed where sixteen centuries of repose awaited them; that of Severus is a good deal corroded. Besides these, other coins have been found. Brand had one of Trajan, and he engraves a copper coin of Hadrian; he also had in his possession one of Antoninus Pius. Pennant describes, amongst others, a coin of Faustina the Elder, and one of Lucius Verus. Hodgson saw coins of Gordian and Magnentius, all of which had been obtained from the same spot.

The coins posterior to the time of Hadrian were probably deposited during the repairs and alterations which the bridge received after its original construction in A.D. 120.

[Sidenote: CHARACTER OF THE BRIDGE.]

It is probable that the ancient bridge had no stone arches, but was provided with a horizontal road-way of timber. Pennant[64] who derived his information from the workmen, says, that ‘the old piers seem originally to have been formed without any springs for arches. This was a manner of building used by the Romans; witness the bridge built over the Danube by Trajan, at Severin, whose piers, I believe, still exist.’

The foundations of the piers of three Roman bridges in the region of the Wall, still remain—one across the Tyne, at CORSTOPITUM, one across the North Tyne, at CILURNUM, and another across the Reed-water, at HABITANCUM; an examination of these has induced me to believe that they, at least, had no arches. The piers are of a size and strength sufficient to withstand the thrust of the waters without the aid of an arch; and in one at least of these cases, the requisite spring of the arch would have raised the road to an inconvenient height. An experienced mason who examined carefully the ruins of the bridge at HABITANCUM told me that he observed that all the stones which encumbered the spot were square, none of them having the shape of stones used in building arches. It is certain that in the mediæval period the Newcastle bridge had a road-way of timber; for Matthew of Paris tells us that, A.D. 1248, it, and the greater part of the town were destroyed by fire.

[Sidenote: SUPPOSED MEDAL OF THE BRIDGE.]

Brand, misled by the early numismatists, conceived that the bridge across the Tyne had been honoured by a commemorative medal. He says—

Two coins appear to have been struck upon the building of two bridges
by this emperor; one is doubtless to be referred to that of Rome; may
not the other have been intended to commemorate the work we are now
considering? One of the bridges marked on these coins has seven, the
other five arches. The Tiber being a very inconsiderable river, when
compared with the Tyne, we must therefore claim that with seven
arches—especially as we find a view of the Pons Ælius at Rome in
Piranesi’s collection, without the modern ornaments, where it is
represented as consisting of exactly five arches.[65]

Alas! for a theory so beautiful and so grateful to the feelings of Newcastle antiquaries! Mr. Akerman, in his work on rare and inedited Roman coins, has pronounced the relentless verdict—‘The medallion with the _Pont Ælius_, quoted by the early numismatic writers, is a modern fabrication.’

It is perhaps too much to suppose that all the arches of the mediæval bridge rested upon Roman foundations, but it is more than probable that the piers of the original structure would be at least as numerous as those of its successor. The mediæval bridge had twelve arches.

[Sidenote: ORIGIN OF THE NAME PONS ÆLII.]

No altar or other inscribed stone has been found to confirm the opinion that Newcastle was the ancient PONS ÆLII. Brand was ‘of opinion that the inscriptions belonging to the station of PONS ÆLII are all built up in the old keep of the Castle, and that a rich treasure of this kind will some time or other be discovered, lurking in its almost impregnable walls, by future antiquaries.’ May the antiquary never be born that shall behold this treasure! Such evidence is, however, scarcely needed to lead us to the ancient designation of the place. The fact that PONS ÆLII occurs in the Notitia between SEGEDUNUM and CONDERCUM, and that Newcastle lies between the modern representatives of these two stations, Wallsend and Benwell, is strong presumption in favour of the theory, and the fact that a Roman bridge here crossed the Tyne, renders it almost indubitable. This structure took the name of the Bridge of Ælius, after Hadrian,[66] who was of the Ælian family, and the bridge gave name to the station. The Notitia informs us that PONS ÆLII was governed by the tribune of the cohort of the Cornovii, ‘a people,’ says Hodgson, ‘whose name is unnoticed by all the ancient geographers I have access to.’

[Sidenote: THE CASTLE OF NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE.]

Before leaving the station of PONS ÆLII, a reference to the mediæval structure—the Norman keep—which gives the town its modern name, may be allowed. It is the most perfect specimen of Norman castrametation in the kingdom; and a careful examination of its structure will yield a more correct view of the mode of warfare adopted at the time of its erection, and of the mournful condition of society then existing, than the fullest verbal description could give. Within a recent period its passages have been cleared and its portals opened, so as to afford the antiquary an opportunity of examining it thoroughly. The Corporation of Newcastle, whose property it is, have, in this respect, set an example which might with advantage be followed by the national government. To the student of the Wall, however, the collection of Roman antiquities which the castle contains, will be the object of greatest interest. In the number and importance of its altars and inscribed stones, it excels every other museum in Britain. As the Castle contains so many of the spoils of the Wall, it is much to be wished that it could be made the depository of all that have been discovered on the line. Numerous individual objects of interest are scattered over the country, and he who would examine them all must travel several hundred miles, and propitiate the favour of many private gentlemen, as well as public bodies. Documents illustrative of the history of a country may be regarded as the property of the country, so far at least, as to be made easily accessible to all. PONS ÆLII is the fitting place to deposit those antiquities of the Wall which cannot be carefully preserved on the spot where the Romans originally placed them.

[Sidenote: ROAD TO BENWELL.]

The reader will probably now be glad to disentangle himself from the intricacies of PONS ÆLII, and to pursue with rapid steps the course of the Wall westward.

Between Newcastle and Benwell-hill, the traces of the works are faint but interesting. The turnpike road runs upon the bed of the prostrate Wall, so that, except occasionally in a neighbouring building, not one stone of it is to be seen; its constant companion, the north fosse, may, however, be recognized in a kind of depression or slack, which runs nearly all the way parallel with the road on the traveller’s right hand. On his left, he will sometimes be able to discern with tolerable certainty the course of the Vallum. A small, but well defined portion of it, is met with immediately after leaving the town, behind a row of houses, appropriately termed Adrianople. Though the stone wall has perished, this humble earth-work has survived the accidents of seventeen eventful centuries! Its days, however, are now numbered; a contiguous quarry is making rapid encroachments upon it.

[Sidenote: CONDERCUM.]

CONDERCUM.—About two miles from Newcastle, and near the modern village of Benwell, stood the third station of the line, CONDERCUM.

The present turnpike road runs through it, occupying, in all probability, very nearly the site of its ancient _via principalis_. So feeble, however, are the traces of it which remain, that the wayfarer who does not scrutinize the spot very narrowly, will pass on his journey without knowing that he is treading ground once jealously guarded by imperial power—the scene, for centuries, of a crowded city’s joys and fears.

The situation of the camp is good; without being much exposed, it commands an extensive prospect in every direction. Northwards, looking over the grounds of Fenham, the Simonside hills appear in the distance, and still more remote, is the lofty range of Cheviot. To the south is the vale of Ravensworth, which is exceeded by the vale of Clwyd only in magnitude, not in beauty, and to the south-west, the lordly Tyne threads its way through the richest of landscapes.

The sunny slope, south of the station, was favourable for the erection of the suburban buildings of the occupants of the camp, the foundations of several having been discovered.

In Horsley’s days, the ramparts were large and distinct; now, their surface is chiefly marked by a general elevation, occasioned probably by the accumulated ruins of the ancient fort. It contains in all a space of nearly five acres. Gordon conceived that the Wall was continued right through the station. This would have divided it into two distinct parts. As Horsley and Brand prove, the Wall came up to its eastern and western ramparts, but did not pass through it. The northern wall of the station itself was a sufficient defence in that quarter. About a third of the station was to the north of the line of the Wall, the remaining two-thirds were within it. The Vallum, Horsley tells us, fell in with the southern rampart.

The portion north of the turnpike road is at present under tillage. In Brand’s days it was covered with a plantation. The man who first ploughed it told me that in doing so, his horse, on one occasion, sank up to its middle in traversing some chambers that had been insecurely covered. The quantity of Roman pottery which is found in this portion of the camp is remarkable. Fragments may be seen at every step. The peculiar character of the Roman earthenware, especially of the coral-coloured kind, denominated Samian, renders this an interesting evidence of Roman occupation.

The larger portion of the station, that to the south of the road, is enclosed within the walls of Benwell-park. The inequalities of its grassy surface indicate the lines of its streets, and the position of some of its principal buildings. Near its centre is a large mound, which would probably reward examination. The southern rampart, with its fosse, is very distinct.

[Sidenote: BENWELL.]

Two hypocausts have been discovered in connexion with this station; one within its walls, close to the south side of the road, and between forty and fifty yards from the eastern rampart, the other without them, and about three hundred yards to the south-west. Of the latter building a plan is given by Brand. It contained eight or nine apartments, five of which had floors supported upon pillars. The floors consisted of ‘flags covered with a composition of various hard ingredients, about eighteen inches thick, such as small pieces of brick and blue and red pots, mixed up with run lime.’ The pillars were all of stone, and were so arranged as to allow hot air to circulate beneath the apartments. The idea generally entertained of these arrangements is, that they were intended for hot baths and sudatories. In pursuance of this opinion, Mr. Shafto, who discovered this hypocaust, says: ‘Here were found many square bricks with holes in the middle, which were probably joined together by way of pipes, to conduct the water from the top of the hill, where there was also the appearance of other baths, and where, probably, springs had been, but since drained by the colliery.’ However much the Romans in their own luxurious city may have been addicted to the indulgence of the hot-bath and the sweating-room, it may well be doubted, whether, in this cold climate, they would have any great desire for it, or if they had, whether the dread realities of war would allow them to make, on an enemy’s frontier, erections so extensive as this has been, for such a purpose. Next to food, warmth would be their most urgent demand, and a more effectual mode of maintaining a uniform temperature in their dwellings could not be devised than that which the hypocaust supplied.

Brand tells us that great conduits or sewers, composed of large wrought stones, were discovered in the north part of the station at the depth of about a yard and a half.

Several inscribed slabs and small altars have been found in the station. The most important one of these, which is preserved in the parsonage at Ryton, is here represented. By comparing it with the Notitia, we learn the ancient name of the station, and the locality of its original occupants.

MATRIBVS CAMPEST[RIBVS]
ET GENIO ALÆ PRI[MÆ] HISPANORVM
ASTVRVM [OB VIRTVTEM]
[APPELLATÆ] GORDIANÆ TITVS]
AGRIPPA PRÆ[FECTVS] TEMPLVM A S[OLO]
[RES]TITVIT.

To the Campestral Mothers,
and to the Genius of the first wing of Spanish
Astures, on account of their valour,
styled Gordiana, Titus
Agrippa, their prefect, this temple, from the ground,
rebuilt.

The Notitia records that the præfect ‘_alæ primæ Astorum_’ was stationed at CONDERCUM. This slab, reads Ast_u_rum, not Ast_o_rum. At two other stations the same people resided; at CILURNUM, the Notitia places the præfect ‘_alæ secundæ Astorum_,’ and at Æsica, the tribune ‘_cohortis primæ Astorum_.’ At both these forts, as well as in the case immediately before us, inscriptions have been found which are written Ast_u_rum; the probability, therefore, is, that a clerical error has crept into the Notitia, and that it was the Astures, not the Asti (a people of Liguria), who garrisoned these posts. The Astures were a people from the eastern part of the modern Asturias, in Spain. 'Under the empire, the term _ala_ was applied to regiments of horse, raised, it would seem, with very few exceptions, in the provinces.'[67] This fractured slab, therefore, furnishes us with the information that the camp at Benwell was anciently named CONDERCUM, and that it was garrisoned by a Spanish cavalry regiment. It supplies other facts. This regiment was styled, probably on account of some illustrious achievement, Gordiana. The emperor Gordian, from whom this title is derived, began his reign in the year 238. We have thus a proof of the continued occupation of the camp until a date subsequent to this period. The event recorded by the inscription is to the same effect. A temple which had been erected, probably at the first formation of the station, had through time or the chances of war, become so entirely dilapidated, as to require rebuilding, and Titus Agrippa accomplished the work. The Romans, although they had at this time been long in the occupation of the isthmus, had then no thoughts of relinquishing it. The woodland deities, to whom the temple was dedicated, will require separate discussion afterwards. To the same occasion will be referred a remarkable altar inscribed to the three Lamiæ, which was discovered at this station. Two altars[68] of less importance, which were found here, may at once be disposed of. They are dedicated to one of the favourite deities of Rome—Mars. The focus, or place for burning the offering, is deep and well marked in each of them. They are small domestic altars, before which the soldier would perform his private devotions. As such, they give us a little insight into the heart and feelings of the worshipper.

DEO M
ARTI V
ICTOR[I]
VINDI[CI]
V[OTVM]

To the god
Mars
The Conqueror _and_
Avenger
In performance of a vow.