Chapter XI: Part III: Local Description of the Works (2)

Along with this altar, as Brand tells us, were found two stones resembling pine-apples. This is by no means an unusual ornament of the works along the line. The pine-apple ornament is frequently introduced in the stained-glass works of the middle ages. As the fruit to which it bears a resemblance could not be known in Europe until after the discovery of America, the origin of the figure is an interesting speculation. I am disposed to think it is of Mithraic origin, and that the prototype of it was a mass of flame proceeding from the torch usually represented in the statues of that deity. The other altar, here given, is inscribed—

ARTI
IENV
ANIV[S]
V[OTVM]

To the god
Mars
Jenu-
anius _erected this_
In performance of a vow.

Besides these and some other inscribed stones, many coins have been found here; amongst them, Brand mentions denarii of Trajan, Hadrian, Faustina senior, and Domitian; brass coins of Valentinian, Gratianus, Diocletian, Faustina, and Maxentius, with many others not legible. Obscene figures are frequently found in Roman stations. They were worn by females as a religious charm. Benwell has furnished one such example of a very remarkable kind. Before leaving the station, the inquiring traveller will do well to examine the stones of the park-wall. He will soon detect many of Roman mould, whose faces have been scarred by the blasts of many centuries. The larger ones have been derived from the Wall—the smaller, from the curtain wall of the station, or the dwellings erected within it.

[Sidenote: CONDERCUM.]

The pleasant village of Benwell lies a little to the south-west of the station. ‘The old tower of Benwell-hall,’ says Bourne, 'was the place where the prior of Tynemouth resided some part of the summer, and the chapel, which Mr. Shaftoe opens and supplies for the good of the people of his village, was the prior’s domestic chapel.' Who that visits the spot will say that the prior who made the selection was not a man of taste? Benwell, as Horsley remarks, is not improbably thought to have its name from the northern word _ben_, (Saxon _binnan_) signifying within, and _well_ for wall, as being seated within, or on the south side of the Wall.[69] Whitaker derives the Roman name of the station, CONDERCUM, from the Celtic _Cond ar gui_, the height upon the water.[70] The river being near, the description is apposite.

Leaving CONDERCUM, we again pursue our journey westward. The road for several miles running upon the base of the Wall, the facing stones may not unfrequently be seen for some distance together, protruding through the ‘metal.’ This used to be more the case formerly than at present, for since the diversion of the traffic from the road to the rail, motives of economy have induced the road surveyors to quarry, in some places, the last remnants of this great work of antiquity, for materials with which to repair the highway. The north fosse, as we pursue our journey, becomes more distinct on the right of the road.

[Sidenote: THE WALL AT DENTON.]

Descending Benwell-hill, the village of East Denton is reached. Here we meet for the first time with a fragment of the Wall. The accompanying wood-cut exhibits its present state. William Hutton describes the interesting relic with becoming reverence.

At Denton Dean, situated at the bottom of Benwell-hill, the great road
veers a few yards to the right, that is into Severus’ ditch, and gives
us for the first time a sight of that most venerable piece of
antiquity, THE WALL, which is six yards south of the road, and twenty
short of the brook I am going to pass. The fragment is thirty-six feet
long, has three courses of facing stones on one side, and four on the
other, and is exactly nine feet thick. An apple tree grows on the top.

It has lost a course of facing-stones since Hutton saw it, and the apple tree is but the shadow of what it was.

The turnpike road, which usually runs upon the site of the Wall, uniformly swerves to the right when passing a village. The truth is, nearly every house and hamlet in the district has sprung out of the Wall. In many instances a mile-castle, slightly added to, has formed a mediæval dwelling of some strength. The nucleus thus provided, became, in the course of time, clustered round with contiguous habitations, so that when, after the last season of strife with which the borders were visited, the road came to be constructed, motives of economy required that these spots of increased value should be avoided.

Beyond the burn, the ground again rises, and the Wall, stretching onwards in a line with the road, forms a distinct, but turf-covered mound. At the distance of a field to the south of it, the Vallum is seen in greater distinctness than before. Both of the aggers and the intervening fosse may be clearly made out. Some young ash-trees grow in the ditch.

[Sidenote: DENTON HALL.]

Advancing a little further, we have Denton-hall, formerly the seat of the literary Mrs. Montague, on the right; attracted by her influence, many of the great spirits of the age were occasionally found to be assembled within its walls. Very nearly opposite the hall, a larger mass of ruin than usual betokens the site of a mile-castle.

Ascending the hill from West Denton, the fosse of the Murus is very distinctly seen. The road is elevated two or three feet above the natural level of the ground, the Wall, probably some courses high, forming its nucleus.

On the left hand, the lines of the Vallum are feebly indicated, but by extending our glance some distance backwards and forwards, we can, with tolerable certainty, distinguish the artificial mounds from the natural heavings of the surface.

[Sidenote: CHAPEL-HOUSE.]

Passing the fourth mile-stone, we arrive at Chapel-houses. This name is of sufficiently frequent occurrence along the line to suggest a momentary inquiry into its origin. In the early ages of Christianity, a mile-castle may have occasionally been the resort of the worshippers of the true God; or in the ‘troublesome times’ of border warfare, when the church not unfrequently shared in the general devastation, it may have been set apart as a place for the confirmation of matrimonial vows, and for the performance of religious rites.

From the crown of this hill we have one of the finest views which Northumberland can afford. The Tyne, in all its glittering beauty, stretches far before us. Its southern bank is crowned by the pretty village of Ryton, its left is variegated with the once beautiful, but now furnace-fuming, Wylam. An amphitheatre of hills shuts in the distant scene.[71]

Horsley describes some ruined ramparts, called the Castle-steads near Chapel-houses, to the south of both Vallum and Wall. They were probably temporary encampments and have now disappeared.

[Sidenote: WALBOTTLE-DEAN.]

Before crossing Walbottle[72]-dean, the Vallum, which is very distinct, and the Wall (_i. e._ the road) approach each other, apparently for mutual support. There are no traces of a bridge across the ravine.

As we ascend the next hill, and pass Throckley,[73] we have, for the most part, the fosse on the right hand, and the mounds of the Vallum on the left, very boldly developed. By the time the traveller has advanced thus far, he will have learnt the necessity of bearing in mind that he is in a mining district. If he overlook this circumstance, he will be in danger of mistaking the track of some old ‘waggon way’ for the terraced lines of Roman cultivation, or an old ‘pit-heap’ for an indubitable British barrow.

Cha^s Richardson, Delt. John Storey. Lith.
THE WORKS AT HEDDON-ON-THE WALL
]

After passing Throckley, just where a gate on the left hand enters the field from the road, a mound covered, in winter at least, with greener herbage than the contiguous ground indicates the site of a mile-castle. A little further on, a range of houses of peculiar appearance, called the Frenchman’s-row, attracts the eye. It was the residence, after the first French revolution, of a number of refugees. The dial which ornaments the Row is of their fabrication. The building is now used as a poor-house.

[Sidenote: HEDDON-ON-THE-WALL.]

On the top of the little eminence, at which we arrive before reaching Heddon-on-the-Wall, the north fosse is deeper and bolder than it has hitherto appeared; it must be nearly in its original perfection. The works of the Vallum, about fifty yards to the south, are also finely developed. The ditch, in both cases, is cut through the free-stone rock. Here, also, if the traveller will forsake the turnpike, for the road, as usual, diverges to the right in order to avoid the village, he may see a fragment of the Wall much longer and somewhat higher than the one at Denton. Its north face is destroyed, but about five courses of the southern face are perfect. The accompanying lithograph shews the present state of the Barrier here. The Wall is in the foreground, while in the distance (looking eastward) the section of the north fosse, and of the works of the Vallum, is distinctly seen.

About a mile north of the village is a striking prominence called Heddon-law. Horsley remarks—‘Not far from Heddon-on-the-Wall have been some remarkable tumuli.’

The ditch of the Vallum cuts right through the village, its lowest dip forming the village pond; it is rather remarkable that in such a situation, it should not long ago have been obliterated.

Descending the hill on which Heddon-on-the-Wall stands, the lines of the Barrier keep close together, and not without reason. The crag on the south, now the scene of extensive quarrying operations, completely commands them. Surely a post must have been maintained on this eminence in the days of Roman occupation, though it had only been for the sake of a look-out.

Passing the eighth mile-stone, where the Vallum is in good condition, we approach the fourth great station of the Barrier. A road, crossing the turnpike at right angles, is close to its east rampart.

[Sidenote: VINDOBALA.]

VINDOBALA.—The station now called Rutchester, stands on flat ground, but commands a considerable prospect. The Notitia places here the tribune of the first cohort of the Frixagi, a people [Sidenote: RUTCHESTER.] whose country does not seem to be mentioned by any ancient geographer. The inside dimensions of this station, from north to south, are 178 yards, and from east to west, 135; it consequently contains nearly five acres. The Wall started each way from the north side of its east and west gates; so that a a greater portion of the station lay on the north than on the south side of it, as is shewn in the plan of it, Plate II. At present, the turnpike road runs between these portions; that on the north has been all ploughed, and three of its sides sloped into the ditch; its general outlines may, however, be distinguished; the southern part is irregular in its surface, with heaps of ruins, still covered with sward.[74] In Horsley’s time, the northern part was sufficiently perfect to enable him to discern six turrets in it, 'one at each corner, one at each side of the gate, and one between each corner, and those adjoining to the gate.'[75] The Vallum seems to have joined the station in a line with its southern rampart. The ditch on the western side is still tolerably distinct. The suburbs have been to the south of the station, but their site has recently been disturbed by the opening of an extensive quarry which has supplied large quantities of the stone used in carrying the railway over the Tyne, and through Newcastle.

On the brow of the hill, just west of the station, there is still to be seen, hewn out of the solid rock, what Wallis calls a coffin. It has more the appearance of a cistern. It is twelve feet long, four broad, and two deep, and has a hole close to the bottom at one end. When discovered, it had a partition of masonry across it, three feet from one end, and contained many decayed bones, teeth and vertebræ, and an iron implement resembling a three-footed candlestick. In the immediate vicinity of this spot, three fine Roman altars were discovered in 1844; they are now in the possession of Mr. James, of Otterburn, and are described in the Archæologia Æliana, iv. 5.

[Sidenote: VINDOBALA.]

The etymology of the name of this station seems to be tolerably plain. ‘VINDOBALA,’ says Whitaker, ‘signifies merely the fort upon the heights. _Bala_ remains, to the present period, the Welsh and Irish appellation of a town.’ I have received a similar account of the word from those acquainted with the Gaelic language. The station, however, though possessing the advantage of a gentle elevation above the contiguous ground, does not stand upon a lofty eminence.

No inscriptions have been found here mentioning the first cohort of the Frixagi, which, according to the Notitia, was quartered in VINDOBALA. This is of little consequence; the names of the contiguous stations both east and west having been ascertained, the order of the stations in the Notitia is sufficient evidence as to the identity of this with the ancient VINDOBALA.

The farm-house at Rutchester partly consists of an ancient building, possessing great strength of masonry. A gothic carving on the interior wall of its principal apartment shews that it is not of Roman construction. It was probably a mediæval stronghold, made out of the ruins of the station. It contains a well, now boarded over, which may be of Roman date.

Most of the stones of the farm buildings and adjacent fences are Roman, and one or two fragments of Roman inscriptions built up in the stables, besides some small altars preserved on the premises, give interest to the place.

[Sidenote: MURAL HOSPITALITY.]

Mr. Hutton is usually very particular in giving a detail of the kind of entertainment he met with at the various points of his journey. The recital of his reception at Rutchester kindles into poetry:

I saw old Sir at dinner sit,
Who ne'er said, "Stranger, take a bit,"
Yet might, although a poet said it,
Have saved his beef, and raised his credit.

His own appearance, he tells us, was a little peculiar, and archæological pursuits not being in vogue in that day, the farmer probably had grave doubts as to the propriety of tempting the enthusiastic old man to prolong his stay.

It has frequently been my lot to receive the kindly attentions of the inhabitants of the mural region. Often have my eyes, bedimmed with fatigue, been ‘enlightened’ by partaking of the barley cake of the cottager, (excellent food for a thirsty climb) as well as the costlier viands of the farm tenant, or proprietor. Never shall I forget visiting, on one occasion, a frail tenement near Chesterholm. Its only inmate, an old woman, in the spirit of regal hospitality, asked me to join with her in partaking of her only luxury—her pipe. I recently observed with regret, that the cottage was tenantless.

[Sidenote: NORTHUMBRIAN YEOMEN.]

The inhabitants of that part of the district which is remote from towns, do not affect the dress, or the speech, or the manners of polished citizens. They like to know a person before they welcome him, and make their approaches cautiously. But if slow in grasping the hand, they do it heartily and sincerely. There is scarcely a latch in the wilder regions of the country, that I would not freely lift in the assurance of a smiling welcome. Often as I have groaned under the toils to which my present undertaking has exposed me, I have reason to rejoice, that the Barrier of the Lower Isthmus has been the means of making me acquainted with many of the true-hearted and intelligent yeomen, both of my own county, and of Cumberland, whom I should not otherwise have known. Although their dialect may sound strangely to a southern ear, yet it is English in its native purity and strength; a great authority, Mr. Thorpe, having said, 'I believe the genuine Anglian dialect to be that which is usually denominated the Northumbrian.'[76]

Proceeding, now, after this long digression, on our journey, we pass, on the left hand side of the road, an inn generally called the Iron-sign. Some of the buildings are entirely composed of Roman stones. In the erection nearest the road are three centurial stones. One has on it COH VIII, another has the word LVPI, probably to announce the fact, that the portion of the Wall in which it was originally inserted had been built by the troop under the command of the centurion Lupus; the third is illegible.

[Sidenote: HARLOW-HILL.]

Passing the ninth milestone, we stand upon the top of an eminence from which there is a good view of Harlow-hill, and of the adjacent country. The Wall here slightly changes its course for the purpose of ascending the summit before it. The Vallum keeps company with the Wall for a short distance, but eventually swerves to the south with the design of passing along the base of the hill; it rejoins the Wall on the other side. This is an arrangement which we should not have encountered had the Vallum been intended for an independent barrier against a northern foe. The north fosse is here very distinct, forming a deep groove on the left of the road all the way to Harlow-hill.

Just before entering the village of Harlow-hill, some portions of the heart of the Wall may be seen, and a careful scrutiny will enable us to ascertain its course through the village, a part of its foundation, of the full width (nine feet), yet remaining. As usual, in passing through the village, the turnpike road leaves the Wall for a short distance. There was a mile-castle at Harlow-hill, which, Horsley says, had a high situation, and a large prospect; all traces of it are now gone. A field, about half a mile north of Harlow-hill, bears the ominous name of Grave-riggs; the traditionary account of its origin being, that after a bloody battle in ‘the troublesome times,’ it became the resting-place of slaughtered multitudes.

The village and ancient stronghold of Welton (a corruption no doubt of Wall-town) is about half a mile to the south of the road. The fortlet is entirely built of Roman stones. The adjoining mansion, at present occupied by the farm tenant, bears the date of 1616. Its large hall, with ample hearth and spacious bow-windows, is redolent of ancient hospitality. In the memory of the villagers, the freaks of a benevolent ghost, named Silky, which frequented the old tower, and the feats of strength performed by William of Welton, still survive the weekly intrusion of the newspaper.

[Sidenote: WALL-HOUSES.]

At Wall-houses, on the south side of the road, traces of a mile-castle are obscurely visible; between this point and the fourteenth mile-stone all the lines of the Barrier are developed in a degree that is quite inspiriting. The north fosse is, for a considerable distance, planted with trees, which will for some time save it from the envious plough.

H. Burdon Richardson, Delt. John Storey, Lith.
THE WORKS NEAR CARR HILL.
]

[Sidenote: THE VALLUM AT DOWN-HILL.]

Immediately after passing the farm house of Carr-hill, an appearance of great interest presents itself. The works of the Vallum are coming boldly forward in company with the Wall, when suddenly, and at a decided angle, they change their course, evidently to avoid mounting a small barrow-like elevation, called Down-hill.[77] The Wall pursues its course straightforward. The view, exhibited on the opposite page, taken from the edge of the hill, looking eastward, shews this arrangement. The road, with the ditch on its north side, is the representative of the Wall. The Vallum and Wall again converge as they approach HUNNUM. These appearances strongly corroborate the opinion that all the lines of the Barrier are but parts of one great engineering scheme. If the Vallum had been constructed as an independent defence against a northern foe, and nearly a century before the Wall, we cannot conceive that an elevation, which so entirely commands the Vallum, would have been left open to the enemy; especially as it would have been just as easy to take the Vallum along the north flank of the hill as along the south. Horsley, who advocates the opinion that the north agger is Agricola’s Military Way, that the southern aggers were the work of Hadrian, and that the Wall was not erected till the time of Severus, is rather at a loss to account for these appearances. He says:—

Before we come to Halton-chesters, somewhat appears that is pretty
remarkable. Hadrian’s Vallum running full upon a little hill, turns at
once round about the skirt of it, leaving the hill on the north, and
thereby, one would think, rendering the Vallum itself a weak defence
at that part. The north agger goes close to the south side of this
hill; so that they were also obliged to carry the Vallum round the
hill in order to preserve the parallelism. If the north agger was the
Old Military Way, and prior to the Vallum, there was nothing improper
in carrying it on the south skirts of the hill; and then when the
Vallum came afterwards to be built, (for a defence, or place of
retreat) they were under a kind of necessity to form it after this
manner.

Since so able a man as Horsley can devise no better defence of his theory, it may well be abandoned altogether. It cannot be conceived that, under a rule so vigorous as Hadrian’s, the builders of the Barrier would be allowed to give the enemy a material advantage, in order to save themselves the trouble of reconstructing the Military Way for a short space.

Down-hill bears marks of having been quarried at some distant period for its limestone. A little to the south of the Vallum are some circular lines, which an experienced observer tells me, are the remains of ‘sow-kilns.’ It would, perhaps, be rash to claim for them a primeval date, though in their appearance there is nothing inconsistent with the supposition.

[Sidenote: HALTON RED-HOUSE.]

Halton Red-house is next passed on the right hand. It is entirely built of stones taken from the neighbouring station; they have, however, been fresh dressed. In the farm-yard is a rectangular stone trough, which was found in the station, and which its owner describes as a ‘smiddy trow,’ and shews upon the edge the place which had been worn away by the attrition of the blacksmith’s irons. It might, indeed, serve very well for such a purpose, but troughs of this kind are of too frequent occurrence in the buildings along the line to allow us to suppose that this was their usual application. They are generally very rudely carved both outside and in, and not unfrequently are formed of an irregular unsquared block of stone. I think that they were used for domestic and culinary purposes. There is a fragment of one lying in the hypocaust at Chesters, the edge of which is worn down by the sharpening of knives upon it.

We now approach the fifth station of the line,

[Sidenote: Hunnum.]

HUNNUM.—This ancient abode of Rome’s warriors, with its walls, streets, temples, markets, and aqueducts, is nearly one unbroken sweep of luxuriant vegetation. The traveller may readily pass by it, as Hutton did, without discerning symptoms of Roman occupation. A small, half-ruined hut stands within its area, a fitting emblem of the surrounding desolation. It is almost needless to name a city, which has no existence, but for convenience sake,[Sidenote: HALTON-CHESTERS.] Horsley conferred upon it the style and title of Halton-chesters. The castle of Halton is close by.

The form of the station is peculiar, as is shewn in the plan of it, Plate II. The Wall joins the station at about one-third the distance between its northern and southern extremity. The portion of the station which is to the north of the Wall is not so broad as the part to the south of it. The only reason which has been assigned for this is, that, as Horsley observes, 'there is a descent or hollow ground joining to the west side of this part, so that the work could not be carried on any farther that way without much trouble and expense; though, it must be owned, the Romans don't usually seem to have valued either the one or the other'. It is remarkable that in adapting the station to the ground, they have not given to the wall, at the north east corner, a slanting direction, as would have been most convenient, but have, as usual, adhered to the rectangular form.

The turnpike road, keeping the line of the Wall, crosses the station from the site of the eastern to that of the western gateway. The section north of the road was brought under cultivation about twenty years ago, when immense quantities of stones were removed. It is now called the ‘Brunt-ha’penny field’ in consequence of the number of corroded copper coins which were found in it. The portion south of the road has a gentle slope and a fair exposure to the sun. It has not recently been ploughed, and consequently exhibits, with considerable distinctness, the lines of the outer entrenchments and ditches, as well as the contour of the ruined buildings and streets of the interior. The suburbs have covered a fine tract of pasture-ground to the south. The valley on the west side of the station would materially strengthen the position in this quarter.

The excavations made in the northern section, a few years ago, revealed several points of interest. The careful manner in which the stones, even of the foundation, were squared and chiselled, struck beholders with surprise. The thickness, of one part at least, of the west wall of the station I have been assured, by a person who superintended the work, was nine feet.[78] In the angle of the north-west portion of the station, just outside the Wall, was a large heap, containing numerous fragments of Roman pottery, the bones of animals, the horns of deer, and other refuse matter—it must, in short, have been the dung-hill of the camp. Even now, although the plough has passed repeatedly over it, its position is shewn by the darkness of the soil. On the same occasion, there was laid open an aqueduct of about three quarters of a mile in length, which seems to have conducted water from a spring or burn in the high ground north of the place where Stagshawbank fair is held. My informant, who traced it for between two and three hundred yards, says, that it was formed of stone, and was covered with flags.[79] In crossing the valley to the west of the fort, it must have been supported on pillars, or a mound. The most remarkable circumstance to be noticed respecting this water-course is, that it was on the north, or the enemy’s side of the Wall. It is scarcely probable that the Romans would depend for that portion of their daily supply, which was required for drinking and culinary purposes, on so precarious a source; but it is not unlikely that the water so introduced was meant to fill the fosse to the north of the station, and thus to give the additional security of a wet ditch to a portion of the camp, which, though much exposed, possessed no natural strength of situation.[80] Crossing the station diagonally from below the eastern gateway to the north-west angle, a sewer or drain was found, of considerable dimensions. My informant crept along it for about one hundred yards. The bottom of it was filled with hardened mud, imbedded in which, were found a lamp and many bone pins, such as those with which the Romans fastened their woollen garments.

The most interesting discovery made on this occasion, however, was a suite of apartments, which have been usually supposed to be ‘the Baths.’ The building was one hundred and thirty-two feet in length, and contained not fewer than eleven rooms. The first of these was forty-three feet long, and twenty wide, and was the place, it has been conjectured, ‘where the bathers waited, and employed themselves in walking and talking, till their turn came to bathe.’ The others beyond are supposed to have been set apart for the purposes of undressing, taking the cold, the tepid, and the hot-bath, sweating, anointing, and robing. If the Roman prefects allowed the most important buildings of their frontier camps to be devoted to the enjoyment of the bath in all its elaborate details, they were more indulgent than some modern generals would be. That one or two of the smaller rooms have been devoted to ablution is not unlikely, this range of buildings having contained two carefully constructed cisterns which may have been used as baths. Several of the rooms had hanging floors, with flues beneath; pipes of burnt clay, fixed to the walls by T-headed holdfasts, communicated with the flues below, and conveyed the hot air up the sides of the apartments. But no provision for heating large quantities of water was discovered, such as we might have expected to find, if the whole building had been used for bathing.

The whole of this interesting structure was removed as the process of exhumation proceeded. Our only consolation is, that a minute and able description of it has been left us by Mr. Hodgson.

Several inscribed and sculptured stones have been discovered here. Camden, in 1600, found a monumental slab, erected to the memory of a soldier of the Ala Sabiniana; the regiment which the Notitia represents as being quartered at HUNNUM. A stone, bearing the inscription, LEG. II. AVG. F., _Legio secunda Augusta fecit_, is at Alnwick castle, and belongs, I think, to this station. Wallis says 'as some labourers were turning up the foundations here, for the sake of the stones to mend the road, they met with a centurial stone with the above inscription, within a civic garland, the crest of the imperial eagle at each end, and that it was taken into the custody of Sir Edward Blackett. The one here shewn, though not a centurial stone, must be the one in question.[81] It is one of the most elegantly carved stones that have been found upon the line, and closely resembles the style of those erected by the same legion in the Barrier of the Upper Isthmus. The ornament in the upper margin, and at the sides, has probably formed the type of one that prevailed in the Transition Norman and Early English styles.

Several busts of emperors and empresses, preserved about the house and grounds of Matfen, shew the attention which the ancient inhabitants of HUNNUM have paid to the decoration of the camp.

A little to the west of the station, not far from the gateway, was recently found the slab which is here figured. Although the inscription is not deeply cut, it is very legible, and doubtless means—The lightning of the gods. When any spot was struck with lightning, it was immediately deemed sacred, and venerated as such by the Romans, being surrounded by a breastwork of masonry, similar to that put round the mouth of a well. Conscious guilt makes cowards of the most dauntless warriors! Perhaps some member of the Sabinian ala, hastening for shelter, and beseeching meanwhile the protection of Jupiter Tonans, was here arrested on life’s journey, and summoned to his great account.

Among the minor antiquities found at this station was a particularly massive finger ring of pure gold, set with an artificial stone, on which a full-length figure was engraved. It was stolen from lady Blackett, to whom it belonged, together with the rest of her jewellery.

An intelligent observer informs me, that an ancient road of Roman construction went direct north from HUNNUM. It, no doubt, soon joined the eastern branch of the Watling-street which Horsley lays down, part of whose course is represented in the map accompanying this volume.

[Sidenote: HALTON-CHESTERS.]

Halton-castle is to the south of the station. It is entirely composed of stones taken from the Roman Wall. In the farm-buildings attached to it, are some Roman mouldings, and a weathered figure of primeval aspect.

No probable etymological account of the word HUNNUM has yet been offered. If the word Halton can be supposed to have any affinity with HUNNUM, besides the initial breathing, this is one of the few instances in which there is any resemblance between the ancient and modern name of the stations.

Leaving HUNNUM, we soon reach Stagshawbank-gate, where the ancient Watling-street crosses the road at right-angles. This Roman Way was probably first constructed by Agricola, as a means of keeping up a communication with the garrisons in South Britain, while he was forcing his way into Scotland. A fort formerly stood here to guard the passage through the Wall; no trace of it now remains.

[Sidenote: VALLUM NEAR ST. OSWALD’S.]

The earth-works between this point and the crown of the hill descending to the North Tyne are remarkably perfect. The description which Hutton gives of them happily holds good at the present moment—

I now travel over a large common, still upon the Wall, with its trench
nearly complete. But what was my surprise when I beheld, thirty yards
on my left, the united works of Agricola and Hadrian, almost perfect!
I climbed over a stone wall to examine the wonder; measured the whole
in every direction; surveyed them with surprise, with delight; was
fascinated, and unable to proceed; forgot I was upon a wild common, a
stranger, and the evening approaching. I had the grandest works under
my eye of the greatest men of the age in which they lived, and of the
most eminent nation then existing; all of which had suffered but
little during the long course of sixteen hundred years. Even hunger
and fatigue were lost in the grandeur before me. If a man writes a
book upon a turnpike road, he cannot be expected to move quick; but,
lost in astonishment, I was not able to move at all.

The first time I visited the spot, this passage, through which there runs so fine a vein of youthful enthusiasm, was fresh in my recollection. The shades of evening were beginning to gather round me, and the blackness of the furze which covered the ground, gave additional solemnity to the scene. I looked for the venerable old man, as if expecting still to find him fixed in his enthusiastic trance; but he was not there. After all, he had moved on; and a few years more removed him from this scene, to sleep in the church-yard under a humbler and less durable mound than his favourite general and emperor had here raised!

The section given in page 52, exhibits the state of the works at this place. The north fosse is very boldly developed between the sixteenth and eighteenth milestone: the whole of its contents lie strewed on its outer margin. Near the eighteenth milestone, on the left of the road, is a mound, which I take to be the remains of a mile-castle. In one part near here, the Wall, as seen in the road, measures ten feet wide, but it speedily becomes narrower.

[Sidenote: ST. OSWALD’S CHAPEL.]

Where the ground begins to dip strongly to the North Tyne, St. Oswald’s chapel stands. On the north side of the road, is a field called Mould’s-close, in which a number of bones and implements of war have from time to time been turned up, and which is supposed to be the site of a battle. The tradition runs, that from the fight which was won here, England dates her advancing greatness, and that, from the fatal results of a conflict to be lost on the same ground, she will date her decline. [Sidenote: BATTLE OF HEAVEN-FIELD.]Hodgson says, ‘Was this the site of part of the battle of Heaven-field, which Bede says was fought just north of the Roman Wall, and in memory of which the chapel of St. Oswald was built?’ That it was, the narrative of the venerable historian will probably shew—

The place is shewn to this day, and held in much veneration, where
Oswald (A.D. 635), being about to engage (with the ferocious British
king Cadwalla), erected the sign of the holy cross, and on his knees
prayed to God that he would assist his worshippers in their great
distress. It is further reported, that the cross being made in haste,
and the hole dug in which it was to be fixed, the king himself, full
of faith, laid hold of it, and held it with both his hands, till it
was set fast by throwing in the earth; and this done, raising his
voice, he cried to his army, ‘Let us all kneel, and jointly beseech
the true and living God Almighty, in his mercy, to defend us from the
haughty and fierce enemy; for He knows that we have undertaken a just
war for the safety of our nation.’ All did as he had commanded, and
accordingly advancing towards the enemy with the first dawn of day,
they obtained the victory, as their faith deserved. In that place of
prayer very many miraculous cures are known to have been performed, as
a token and memorial of the king’s faith; for even to this day, many
are wont to cut off small chips of the wood of the holy cross, which
being put into water, men or cattle drinking of, or sprinkled with
that water, are immediately restored to health. The place in the
English tongue is called Hefenfeld, or the Heavenly Field.... The same
place is near the Wall with which the Romans formerly enclosed the
island from sea to sea, to restrain the fury of the barbarous nations,
as has been said before. Hither, also, the brothers of the church of
Hagulstad (Hexham), which is not far from thence (it is in the valley
directly below), repair yearly on the day before that on which king
Oswald was afterwards slain, to watch there for the health of his
soul, and having sung many psalms, to offer for him in the morning the
sacrifice of the holy oblation. And since that good custom has spread,
they have lately built and consecrated a church there, which has
attached additional sanctity and honour to that place.[82]

H. Burdon Richardson, Delt. John Storey, Lith.
THE WALL AT BRUNTON.
]

A little to the south of the road, at St. Oswald’s-hill-head, is Fallowfield-fell, where the Written-rock, of which an engraving is given, page 102, may yet be seen. The face of the rock occupied by the inscription is four feet long; the letters are distinct.[83] Continuing to descend the hill, we come to Plane-tree-field, where on the left of the road, a conspicuous piece of the Wall remains. It is about thirty-six yards long, and has, in some places, five courses of facing-stones entire; the grout of the interior which rises still higher, gives root to some fine old thorns. This sight may be rendered more interesting by the antiquary’s carrying his eye forward, and tracing the Wall in its onward course; in its modern representative, the turnpike road, it is seen, (having crossed the North Tyne, and passed the station of CILURNUM,) bounding up the opposite hill in its usual unflinching manner, and making for the wastes and mountains which it is speedily to traverse.

[Sidenote: THE WALL AT BRUNTON.]

In the grounds of Brunton, a little below this, a small piece of the Wall is to be seen in a state of very great perfection. It is seven feet high, and presents nine courses of facing-stones entire. The mortar of the five lower courses is good; the face of the south side is gone. The ditch also is here well developed. The opposite lithograph gives an accurate representation of what Hutton calls ‘this grand exhibition.’ The altar which, at present, stands as it is placed in the drawing, formerly discharged the office of a gate-post at the entry of the yard of St. Oswald’s chapel.

[Sidenote: BRIDGE OVER THE NORTH TYNE.]

For some reason, which it is hard to divine, the turnpike road now recedes from the Wall, and crosses the river at Chollerford, nearly half-a-mile above the spot where the Roman bridge spanned it.

_PLATE VI._

REMAINS OF ROMAN BRIDGE
OVER THE
NORTH TYNE.
_Reid Lith._
]

_PLATE VII._

The remains of this bridge may yet be seen when the water is low, and the surface smooth. There seem to have been three piers of considerable size and solidity, set diagonally to the stream. The stones composing them are large, regularly squared, and fastened with metallic cramps.[84] Luis-holes, indicating the mode in which they have been lowered into their bed, appear in several of them. The firmness with which these foundation courses still retain the position assigned to them by the soldiers of Hadrian is very remarkable; the rolling floods of sixteen hundred winters seem to have spent their rage upon them almost in vain. As the eastern side of the river is frequently overflowed, the Vallum is here obliterated, but probably both works approached the bridge in close companionship. On the western side, appearances still bear out Horsley’s statement, that the 'Wall falls upon the middle of the fort, and Hadrian’s Vallum, as usual, falls in with the south side of it.'

A plan of CILURNUM, and adjoining works, as figured by Warburton, is given in Plate II. Probably, few who examine it attentively will question the justness of the conclusion to which he has arrived, that the Wall, Vallum, stations, castles, and turrets, ‘by their mutual relation to one another, must have been one entire, united defence, or fortification.’

We are now arrived at the station called in the locality, Chesters, but by Horsley named, for the sake of distinction, Walwick-chesters. An attentive examination of it will well reward the antiquary.

[Sidenote: CILURNUM.]

CILURNUM.—This station has, as usual, the form of a parallelogram, the corners being slightly rounded off. It contains an area of fully six acres. In the latter part of the last century, when the mansion and estate of Chesters came into the possession of the family of Clayton, this area was covered with the ruins of buildings which had apparently stood in strait, narrow streets, and although the surface of the station has since been levelled and made smooth, in order to fit it for its use as part of the park, yet its ramparts and fosse, the Wall and Vallum as they approach and leave it, and the road leading to the river, may all be distinctly discerned; even the ruined dwellings of the interior area, as if dissatisfied with their lowly condition, struggle to rear themselves into notice. A portion of the Wall, near the north-west angle, has been freed from the encumbering soil; it is five feet thick, and exhibits four courses of masonry in excellent preservation.

Hutchinson was struck with the linear character which the ruined streets of this fort had in his time, and was reminded, by their appearance, of the arrangements of the Polybian camp. This will be observed in a greater or less degree in all the stations, and there cannot be a doubt but that the dwellings were arranged in rows parallel to the four sides of the stations, and hence, intersecting each other at right angles. It was necessary that the Roman camp, whether of a temporary or permanent character, should be nearly uniform in its plan. If the troops rested but for a night, each man knew the part he had to fill in preparing the fortification, and could set about it at once; in the event of a sudden attack in the darkness of the night, each knew his position, though he may never have rested upon the spot before.

Suburban buildings have occupied the space between the station and the river, and ruins more extensive than usual are spread over the ground to the south. There is no appearance of any habitations having been erected to the north of the Wall. Whenever the surface of the contiguous ground is broken, fragments of Samian ware and other marks of Roman occupation appear.

[Sidenote: CHESTERS.]

Two remains of great interest are found within the station. One of these is an underground vault near the middle. Its masonry is rough, and somewhat peculiar; the sides incline slightly inwards, but the roof, instead of being uniformly vaulted, is formed of three ribs arched in the usual manner, and the intervals between them are in technical language—‘stepped over,’ that is, the stones of each course are made to project inwards a little, until, at length, one laid on the top completes the junction. The woodcut, which is here introduced, together with the following extract from Hodgson’s description of it, will give a tolerably correct idea of this curious structure.

This vault, when it was first found, was supposed to have been the
Ærarium of the station. Between the joinings of the floor, which were
of thin free-stone flags, were found several counterfeit denarii, both
of copper and iron plated with silver. The approach to it was by four
steps downwards, the lowest of which was a large centurial stone,
which had borne an inscription, but nearly all of it had been
purposely erased. On the outside of the threshold was found, in a
sadly decayed state, its original door of wood, strongly sheathed with
plates of iron, and the whole firmly rivetted together with large
square nails. Within the door, which had opened inwards, the end wall
was two feet thick, plastered and painted. Its internal area is ten
feet by nine, and its height to the crown of the arch six feet four
inches.[85]

Some buildings situated near to the spot where the eastern gateway must be, and which have recently been freed from the earth and rubbish that have long enveloped them, are objects of still greater interest. Their general appearance, as seen from a slight elevation, is shewn in the adjoining wood-cut, while, for a more minute knowledge of their size and arrangements, reference may be made to the plan on the opposite page. Eight apartments have already been exposed, and a little more research would doubtless display others.

[Sidenote: THE HYPOCAUSTS.]

Descending a few steps (at L in the Plan), a street three feet wide at one extremity, and four at the other, is entered. Another, leading from it at right-angles, and which is paved with flag-stones, conducts to the grand entrance (D) of what appears to be the principal section of the building. The steps are very much worn down by the tread of feet, and even some of the stones, which have evidently been put in the place of others that have been too much abraded to be serviceable, exhibit partial wear. This saloon must have been a place of general concourse—can it have been the hall of justice, or the place where the commander of the station transacted the business of the district under his charge? The floor (E) is probably supported on pillars, and has been warmed by flues beneath; but this cannot be ascertained without injuring it. The upper covering is of flags, the fractured state of which induces the belief, that the walls of the surrounding building have been forcibly thrown down upon them. The northern enemies of Rome, knowing the importance of these stations, would not be slow in involving them in entire ruin, when permitted, by the withdrawal of the troops, to do so without molestation. Passages diverge from this saloon, to the right and left, into other apartments. In the room on the left was found, in good preservation, a cistern or bath (C), lined with red cement. A breach had been made in the street wall of this chamber (at B), and in the rubbish which encumbered the gap, was found the statue of a river-god, of which a correct sketch is here given. It is probably intended to represent the genius of the neighbouring river—the North Tyne. Although executed in coarse sand-stone, it is not without considerable gracefulness of attitude and proportion. It is preserved in the mansion at Chesters. Of the present state of the apartments beyond, the wood-cut in the previous page, and the lithograph here introduced, will give an accurate conception. The floors have been supported upon pillars, some of them being of stone, others of square flat bricks. The stone pillars are, for the most part, fragments of columns and balusters which have been used in a prior structure.[86] The student of mediæval architecture will probably recognise in some of them types of the Saxon style. The dilapidated state of the floor of this apartment allows of an easy examination of its mode of construction. Flags, about two inches thick, rest upon the pillars; a layer of compost, five inches thick, and formed of lime, sand, gravel, and burned clay or pounded tile, succeeds, and above that, another covering of thin flag-stones.[87] This apartment has been provided with a semicircular recess at its eastern extremity (G), and, at the angle next the street (A), has been supported by a buttress. A similar alcoved recess existed on the western side of one of the principal rooms of the ‘baths’ at HUNNUM, and the same arrangement may yet be observed in the corresponding building at Lanchester. All of these buildings have been strengthened with buttresses, but it is only in these and analogous cases, that the use of the buttress is admitted among the erections of the Barrier; it never occurs in the great Wall or the curtain-walls of the stations. In the circular recess[Sidenote: THE HYPOCAUSTS.] of this apartment is an aperture (G), which probably has served to regulate the current of air circulating in the hypocausts. The furnace which warmed the suite of apartments was situated near the south-east extremity of the building (at F); the pillars near the fire having been much acted upon by the heat, the whole of this part of the floor was reduced, on exposure to the frosts of winter, to the confused heap represented in the drawing. The soot in the flues was found as fresh as if it had been produced by fires lighted the day before.[88] The walls of this apartment were coated with plaster, and coloured dark red; exposure to the weather soon stripped them of this covering. An arched passage curiously turned with Roman tile took the heated air from the furnace through the party-wall (at X) into the chamber to the west of it. The rooms to the westward of the intersecting street (HD), seem to form an independent building, and have less of the aspect of a place of public concourse than the other portions. They may have been the private residence of the commander of the station. They, too, are heated by hypocausts.

H. Burdon Richardson, Delt. John Storey, Lith.
HYPOCAUST AT CHESTERS, (CILURNUM)
Printed by W. Monkhouse, York
]

[Sidenote: CILURNUM.]

In urging the conviction, that the hanging floors of these Roman buildings were meant to produce a comfortable warmth, rather than to generate steam, by having water sprinkled upon them, attention may be drawn to the thickness of their substance. At present, the floor of the principal apartment is nine inches thick, and when its upper surface was overlaid, as it no doubt was, with a tasteful concrete or mosaic pavement, it would be an inch or two more. It would require a very powerful furnace to raise this mass of matter to a considerable temperature. On the other hand, if the production of a genial and uniform warmth were the object in view, no contrivance could be more suitable. The heated air from a small furnace permeating the underground flues and the walls of a suite of apartments, and not passing off until, in its lengthened passage, it had given out the larger part of the warmth it had derived, would, in the lapse of some hours, give to the whole building a comfortable temperature, which it would not readily lose. Any inattention to the furnace, either by causing it to burn too fiercely or too feebly, would not be felt. The thickness of the floors would prevent the air from being scorched, and producing that disagreeable sensation which is experienced in rooms that are heated by the stoves in common use. It is not improbable that we may return to this method of warming our churches and public halls, even if we do not adopt it in our private buildings.[89]

[Sidenote: METHOD OF WARMING BUILDINGS.]

The door-ways of some of these apartments have been provided with double doors, probably for more effectually maintaining the warmth of the room.

The masonry of those portions of the walls which are standing, is in an excellent state of preservation. In the angle near the buttress (A), the action of the trowel in giving the finishing touch to the pointing may be perceived. The walls rest upon two strong basement courses, the angle of the uppermost being bevelled off with a neat moulding.