Chapter XIII: Part III: Local Description of the Works (4)

All the gateways, except the north, have been explored, and present very interesting subjects of study to the antiquary. The western[Sidenote: WEST GATEWAY OF BORCOVICUS.] is in the best condition, and is specially worthy of attention. Its arrangements will readily be understood by an inspection of the ground plan which is here introduced, together with the views of it as seen from the outside and inside of the station, on the next page. This gateway, as well as the others which have been explored, is, in every sense of the word, double. Two walls must be passed before the camp can be entered; each is provided with two portals, and each portal has been closed with two-leaved gates. The southern entrance of the outside wall has alone, as yet, been entirely cleared of the masonry that closed it. The jambs and pillars are formed of massive stones of rustic masonry. The doors, if we may judge from the fragments of corroded iron which have been lately picked up, were of wood, strengthened with iron plates and studs; they moved, as is apparent from the pivot-holes, upon pivots of iron. In the centre of each portal stands a strong upright stone, against which the gates have shut. Some of the large projecting stones of the exterior wall are worn as if by the sharpening of knives upon them; this has probably been done by the occupants of the suburban buildings after the closing of the gateway. The guard-chambers on each side are in a state of choice preservation, one of the walls standing fourteen courses high. Were a roof put on them, the antiquary might here stand guard, as the Tungrians did of old, and, for a while, forget that the world is sixteen centuries older than it was when these chambers were reared. At least two of the chambers in this part of the camp have been warmed by U shaped flues running round three of their sides beneath the floor.[102] These chambers, when recently excavated, were found to be filled with rubbish so highly charged with animal matter as painfully to affect the sensibilities of the labourers. The teeth and bones of oxen, horns resembling those of the red-deer, but larger, and boars’ tusks were very abundant; there was the usual quantity of all the kinds of pottery used by the Romans. It is not improbable that this rubbish may have been derived from some dunghill outside the walls, and thrown here when the gateway was walled up; it is, however, a remarkable fact, that the soil of the interior area of the stations on the Wall is, for the most part, thickly mingled with bones. Is it possible that the Romans have thrown on the floors of their apartments, and suffered to remain amongst the straw or rushes which may have covered them, the refuse of their food?

The view of Housesteads in the accompanying lithograph, is taken from beside the eastern gateway, and gives a general idea of the scene of desolation which it presents.[103] The only habitation near is a shepherd’s cottage to the south of the station. A peculiarity in the upper division of the eastern gateway requires attention; the lower division, as seen in the lithograph, has been walled up at an early period. A rut, nearly nine inches deep, appears in the threshold, on each side of the central stone against which the gates closed. Grooves, similar in character, are seen in the gateways of the camps at Birdoswald and Maryport. Were it not for the central stone, which presents an impediment to the passage of chariots, no one would doubt that these hollows have been occasioned by the action of their wheels. The following extract, explanatory of the condition of the city of Pompeii, will probably throw light upon this and other things belonging to the camp.

H. Burdon Richardson, Delt. John Storey, Lith.
HOUSESTEADS (BORCOVICUS) FROM THE EAST.
Printed by W Monkhouse, York
]

[Sidenote: RUTS IN THE GATEWAY.]

The Domitian way which led to it was narrow, the carriage-way seldom
exceeding ten feet in width. The streets of the city itself are paved
with large irregular pieces of lava, joined neatly together, in which
the chariot wheels have worn ruts, still discernible; in some places
they are an inch and a half deep, and in narrow streets follow one
track.... In most places, the streets are so narrow, that they may be
crossed at one stride; where they are wider, a raised stepping-stone
has been placed in the centre of the crossing. This, though in the
middle of the carriage-way, did not much inconvenience those who drove
about in the _biga_, or two-horsed chariot, because the width of these
streets being only sufficient to admit the carriage, the wheels passed
freely in the spaces left between the curb on either side, and the
stone in the centre.[104]

The stone in the centre of the doorway would not be a greater impediment than the stepping stones in the streets of Pompeii.

The remains of the gateways of BORCOVICUS shew that in plan and construction they must have resembled the Roman Gateway which, under the name of the ‘Porta nera,’ is preserved entire at Treves, AUGUSTA TREVIRORUM, once the seat of government of the Western Empire.

In examining this and other Roman camps, the spectator will, perhaps, be struck with the narrowness of the streets, and the very small capacity of the the dwellings. It is well to recollect that in their encampments the Romans studiously avoided occupying a larger space than was absolutely necessary. Gibbon observes that a modern army would present to the enemy a front three times as extended as a Roman one of the same force. In the field, ten men were apportioned to a tent, ten feet square;[105] a similar proportion would without doubt be followed in the stationary camp.

[Sidenote: BORCOVICUS.]

It is not easy to ascertain the precise character of the dwellings of the soldiers; the more perfect of the ruins in this and other forts, induce the belief that they were dark, bare, and cheerless. The roofs were probably formed of free-stone slate. Several thin slabs of this kind, with nail-holes in them, as well as some of the nails themselves, have been found in this and other stations.[106] On Plate XIII, figs. 1, 7, are drawn some door or window heads, found here; these most likely belonged to buildings of a superior class. The entrance into a chamber at HABITANCUM, recently excavated, was found to be only fourteen inches wide; it was rudely ‘stepped over’ at the top. Fragments of a sort of window glass are frequently found in some of the stations; this would probably be a rare luxury.[107]

[Sidenote: THE CHAMBERS OF THE STATION.]

At Housesteads, two or three of the ruined chambers will, above the rest, attract the attention of the visitor. Near the centre of the northern division is one which is seventy feet long and eight broad; it must have been a place of public concourse. In the front of it is a kiln which has probably been used for drying corn; near the southern gateway is another which was nearly destroyed in the endeavour made to extricate a cow which had fallen into it, and, in struggling to relieve herself, had thrust her head and neck into the flue. The Romans seem to have kiln-dried their corn at the close of the harvest; it would not have been safe to stack it in the open fields. They would the more readily do this, as it is still by no means unusual, in the central and southern parts of Europe, to thrash the corn at the close of harvest on the field where it grew.

Three hypocausts have been found here, two within the station, and another to the east of it, on the Knag-burn; the flues of the latter were full of soot; very slight traces of any of them now remain.

In this and most other stations, writes Hodgson, ‘there are found considerable quantities of limestone, having partly the character of stalagmite, and partly that of such cellular stone as forms about the mouths of petrifying wells. Some of it is in amorphous lumps; but the greatest part of it has been either sawn into rectangular pieces, or formed in a fluid state in moulds.’ They are probably artificial; at HABITANCUM, where this calcareous substance is abundant, it seems to have acquired its porosity by being mixed with straw. The use to which it has been applied is by no means obvious. Hodgson thought that it had been inserted in the side walls of the hypocausts, to allow heat to arise from below without smoke. This is doubtful. At HABITANCUM, the blocks, I am told, have been used as ordinary stones. In the construction of the Pharos at Dover, (where building stone is scarce) the calcareous composition has been largely used. Why it should have been employed at HABITANCUM, and other places, where free-stone is abundant, does not appear.

[Sidenote: BORCOVICUS]

The suburbs of BORCOVICUS have been very extensive, the ruins of them distinctly appearing on the east, south, and west sides of the station. A little to the south of it, and stretching westward, the ground has been thrown up in long terraced lines, a mode of cultivation much practised in Italy and in the east. Similar terraces, more feebly developed, appear at Bradley; I have seen them very distinctly marked on the banks of the Rede-water, Old Carlisle and other places.

A well, cased with Roman masonry, is in front of the shepherd’s house, south of the station; a spring, yielding excellent water, is at the bottom of the same field; the Knag-burn washes the station on its eastern side, and there is ‘a fine well under the high basaltic cliff’ on which the northern wall of the station stands, ‘which is still well walled round,’ and has occasionally been used as a bath. None has been discovered within the station itself.

_PLATE XI_

_PLATE XII_

_PLATE XIII_

[Sidenote: ARCHITECTURAL REMAINS.]

In the valley below is a small sandstone ridge, called Chapel-hill, from the idea that a temple stood upon it. Two fine altars have been found here.[108] The ruins that contained the Mithraic antiquities, to which reference will be made afterwards, stood a little to the west of this hill. All traces of the small, dark temple, where the horrid mysteries of the god were performed, are now nearly obliterated.

The fragments of columns which are engraved in Plate XI, enable us to imagine the original grandeur of the place.[109] With some of the certainty with which a comparative anatomist decides upon the character and habits of an animal, from an inspection of a fragment of its osseous system, an architect determines the size and style of a building from an examination of some of its parts. Thus, the circular column, of which one of the stones (Plate XI.) that now lies in the valley below the station, has formed a part, was probably not less than twenty feet high; how imposing must the entire temple have been!

Plates XII and XIII exhibit several of the carved figures which formerly lay in confusion among the ruins of the station. They are interesting, as exhibiting the state of the arts in Britain at that time, the mode of dress adopted by the Romans, and the high degree of attention which they paid to the decoration of their stations. Roman art in Britain has surely been rated too low.

The figure introduced on this page was found here. It represents one of old Rome’s most favourite deities,—Victory, careering, with outstretched wings, over the globe. How strong must the passion for conquest have been in the breast of a people, who, though nurtured in a southern climate, braved for more than three centuries, the fogs, and storms, and desolation of this wild region! Wherever the winged goddess led, they followed, and, most pertinaciously too, maintained their ground. But, there is a tide in the affairs of men.

A Roman poet, in the fulness of his heart, sang—

Urbs oritur (quis tunc hoc ulli credere posset?)
Victorem terris impositura pedem.
Cuncta regas: et sis magno sub Cæsare semper
Sæpe etiam plures nominis hujus habe.
Et quoties steteris domito sublimis in orbe,
Omnia sint humeris inferiora tuis.

How different the strains which, in a distant age, and in another clime, were to flow from the lyre of a brother bard, and how appropriate to the present condition of the deserted BORCOVICUS!—

Where is Rome?
She lives but in the tale of other times;
Her proud pavilions are the hermit’s home,
And her long colonnades, her public walks
Now faintly echo to the pilgrim’s feet,
Who comes to muse in solitude, and trace,
Through the rank moss revealed, her honoured dust.

That Housesteads is the BORCOVICUS of the empire, appears plain from the numerous inscriptions that allude to the first cohort of the Tungrians, which, according to the Notitia, was quartered there. One of these inscriptions is shewn on page 63; another, a sepulchral stone, is here presented. The figure on the top of the slab I take to be a rabbit, and suspect that it had some reference to the worship of the obscene god, Priapus. The inscription is usually read in the following manner, though, perhaps, _ordinario_ might with equal propriety be read _ordinato_:—

D[IIS] M[ANIBVS]
ANICIO
INGENVO
MEDICO
ORDI[NARIO] COH[ORTIS]
PRIMÆ TVNGR[ORVM]
VIX[IT] AN[NIS] XXV

_Sacred_ to the gods of the shades below.
To Anicius
Ingenuus,
physician
in ordinary, of cohort
the first of the Tungrians.
He lived twenty-five years.

From an inscription found at Castlecary, it appears that this cohort of Tungrians built one thousand paces of the Antonine Wall in Scotland. They were from about Tongres, on the banks of the Mæse, in Belgic Gaul. Their rank, as a milliary cohort, conferred on them the dangerous honour of advancing in the van of the army to battle, and their acknowledged valour probably procured for them the appointment to this exposed and dangerous post.

[Sidenote: THE NAME ASCERTAINED.]

The etymology of _Borcovicus_ is easy. A high hill to the south of the station is called Borcum or Barcomb, a neighbouring stream is designated Bardon-burn, and a village near its confluence with the Tyne, Bardon-mill. _Bar_, in Celtic, means a height, and probably forms the root of all these names; the termination, _vicus_, is a Latin word, signifying a village.

The stone used in the inside of the walls of the station, and for other ordinary purposes, has been quarried out of the cliffs in the sandstone ridge, along which the present military road passes. 'The altars, columns, and quoins, and much of the ashlar work, have been taken from a stratum of freestone on the north side of the Wall, and similar to that in which the recesses, called the King and Queen’s Caves, on the south side of Broomlee-lough, are formed.'[110]

[Sidenote: THE VALLUM COMMANDED BY THE CRAGS.]

Again taking the Wall as our guide, we will pursue our course westward. For the greater part of the way along the high ground, the Wall is in a sufficiently good state of preservation to make it a varied and interesting study; it not unfrequently exhibits five, six, and even seven courses of facing-stones. The Northumbrian lakes also lend a charm to the scene. Though appearing in native simplicity and rude grandeur, they will not on that account be less appreciated by men of taste. The Vallum is generally very boldly developed, and runs for several miles in the valley below, completely commanded by the hill on which the Wall stands, as is shewn in the section, Plate IV. This fact is surely fatal to the theory of its having been erected to withstand the brunt of a northern foe. It would have been impolitic to allow the enemy to occupy these heights even as a post of observation. It is true, that the Vallum is occasionally commanded by the rising ground on the south: opposite Sewingshields it is so, and opposite Hot-bank, a little to the west of where we now are, it is overlooked on both sides. This difficulty is not a very formidable one. The engineer of the Barrier has drawn the Vallum chiefly in straight lines from one point to another, and has not thought it necessary to guard with excessive jealousy every little rising ground to the south; he never, however, departs from his course to go round the north of a hill, as he does to go round the south of that one near Halton-chesters. The cases, moreover, in which the Vallum is exposed to observation from the south, are very few. Horsley’s own testimony upon this point is decided. He writes—

It must be owned, that the southern prospect of Hadrian’s work, and
the defence on that side, is generally better than on the north;
whereas the northern prospect and defence have been principally, or
only taken care of in the Wall of Severus.[111]

[Sidenote: RAPISHAW-GAP.]

After passing a mile-castle we come to a depression in the ridge of basalt, that places us opposite the west end of Broomlee-lough; the crag on the west side of this slack is called Cuddy’s-crag. A little farther on, we reach a more extensive pass, called Rapishaw-gap; a road passes through it under the same circumstances as that through Busy-gap, a little above the bottom of the valley. The traveller may here with advantage go to the north of the Wall, in order to examine the geological character of the cliffs he has passed; they are seen ‘to rise in rude and pillared majesty.’

Regaining the high grounds, the Wall for a short space is found to possess less than its usual interest; the ground on the east side of the Bradley estate was formerly common, and the object of our study was every man’s prey. Other objects of inquiry, however, abundantly relieve the attention. Langley castle, on the south bank of the Tyne, is in sight, and during our western journey will long continue to be so. It is a square building strengthened by rectangular towers at the corners. Formerly a seat of the Percys, it became afterwards the property of the Radcliffes. It passed, on the rebellion of 1715, along with the other possessions of the earl of Derwentwater, into the hands of the commissioners of Greenwich Hospital, who at present retain it. Destroyed by fire at an early period, it has never been repaired; its masonry is notwithstanding in excellent preservation. On a clear day the singularly strong tongue of land on which are the ruins of Staward-le-peel, may also be discerned to the south. But, more to our present purpose, the high, brown hill of Borcum, from which the Romans obtained much of the stone used in the construction of this part of the Wall, is in the foreground. [Sidenote: ANCIENT QUARRY] An interesting discovery was made here in 1837, to which subsequent reference will be made. On opening an ancient quarry on the top of it, near the ‘longstone,’ a workman found a small copper vessel, containing a large number of Roman coins; four of these were of the time of Hadrian, and all the rest, of previous reigns. Those of Trajan and Hadrian were as fresh as if new from the die. The conclusion is natural, that the quarry had been last wrought in the time of Hadrian, the Wall itself being possibly of the same date. An extensive earthen camp is on the summit of the hill, probably raised by the soldiers who were engaged in quarrying the rock.

Greenlee-lough is to the north; on its western margin is a modern structure, Bonny-rig, the property of sir Edward Blackett.

Proceeding westward, the Wall again rises into notice. ‘Much of it remains of very various thicknesses, the whole of the perpendicular outsets and insets being on the south side.’

[Sidenote: HADRIAN SLAB.]

On the tail of the crag on which we now are, the farm-house of Bradley stands. Built up in the doorway of its old kitchen, was a stone, now at Matfen, bearing the fragment of an inscription. Another fractured slab, formerly in the possession of the ‘judicious’ Warburton, and now at Durham, when joined to it, gives an inscription precisely similar to one immediately to be noticed, with the exception of a letter or two in the line of the fracture. The fragments, doubtless, as Hodgson conjectures, formed one stone, deposited in the foundation of some castellum in this neighbourhood, as a memorial of its erection by Hadrian. The wood-cut annexed has been prepared from drawings carefully made of the two portions in their separate localities.

[Sidenote: BRADLEY HALL.]

Once, at least, since the days of Hadrian, this central region of the Wall has been honoured with the presence of royalty. Hodgson says,—

On the authority of documents in Rymer, Prynne, and the Calender of
Patent Rolls, I find Edward the First testing records in the presence
of several great officers of state, at Lanchester, on Aug. 10; at
Corbridge, Aug. 14; at Newburgh, Aug. 28, 30, 31, and Sep. 4; at
Bradley ‘in Marchia Scotiæ,’ Sep. 6 and 7; at Haltwhistle on the 11th,
and at Thirlwall on the 20th of the same month; and at Lanercost on
Oct. 4, A.D. 1306, at which last house he continued all winter. The
Bradley here mentioned is probably Bradley-hall, on the right bank of
Craglough-burn, and a little south both of Vallum and Wall, not the
farm-house of Bradley, which is between the two barriers.—_Northd._
II. iii. 288.

The exigencies of war have again and again drawn to this secluded spot the mightiest potentates of earth; as yet this imperial ground has not been trodden by the feet of Majesty, attracted by the sweet allurements of peace.

On the margin of the military road, opposite to us, is the only Inn in the district, which is known by no other name than that of _Twice Brewed_. Before the construction of the Railway it was much resorted to by the carriers who conducted the traffic between the eastern and western portions of the island. As many as fifty horses and about twenty men would be put up here for the night. Now, it is nearly forsaken. Hutton took up his abode here on a carrier’s night. The difficulty he had in procuring an exclusive bed was compensated by the amusement of observing the carriers at their meal—he soon perceived that they had ‘no barricade in the throat; and became convinced that eating was the chief end of man!’

[Sidenote: MILKING-GAP.]

The next break in the basaltic ridge, is the Milking-gap. As we approach it, Crag-lough is seen laving the base of the perpendicular cliff along which the Wall runs. In order to take the high ground, westward of the gap, the Wall here turns at a considerable angle. In this valley, the north fosse again comes to the help of the structure. In front of the farm-house, called Hot-bank, are distinct traces of a mile-castle. In taking up its foundations, the slab, of which the annexed drawing is a faithful copy, was found, which would seem to be a tablet precisely similar to that which is formed by the junction of the two fragments referred to above.

IMP[ERATORIS] CAES[ARIS] TRAIAN[I].
HADRIANI AVG[VSTI]
LEG[IO] SECVNDA AVG[VSTA]
AVLO PLATORIO NEPOTE LEG[ATO] PR[O]PR[ÆTORE.]

Of the Emperor Cæsar Trajanus
Hadrianus Augustus,
The second legion, styled the August,
Aulus Platorius Nepos, being legate and proprætor.

Of all the inscriptions discovered in Britain, Hodgson pronounces this to be of the greatest historical importance, inasmuch as it leads to the true reading of several fragments of similar inscriptions throwing[Sidenote: MILKING-GAP INSCRIPTION.] light upon the authorship of the Wall. One of these was known to Horsley, and seems to have puzzled that great antiquary. It and other fragments which have since been found in different mile-castles, tend to produce the conviction, that the mile-castles, (which are on the line of the Wall, ascribed to Severus,) were built by Hadrian. The simplicity of the inscription will strike the classical reader, who will not fail also to observe the peculiarity of the name of the emperor being in the genitive case.

Although the station of _Vindolana_ lies considerably to the south of the lines of the Barrier, it is ranked by the Notitia among the stations _per lineam valli_, and as such, must be examined by us in our mural peregrination. Leaving Milking-gap with this view, and crossing the low grounds to the south of the Wall, the Vallum is observed, contrary to its usual tendency, making two rapid curves, something in the form of the letter S, to avoid, apparently, the swellings of the contiguous marsh. At High-shields, a cottage on the little ridge south of the turnpike-road, the station comes into view. It stands upon a partially detached eminence, surrounded, though not so closely as to be commanded, by hills of superior elevation. On all sides, except the western, it is naturally defended, whilst the summits of the surrounding heights afford it a degree of shelter which would be peculiarly grateful to the natives of southern Europe. The Chineley-burn flows past it, and the situation is altogether one of peculiar beauty. In modern times, the place has been variously designated Little Chesters, the Bowers, and Chesterholm.

[Sidenote: VINDOLANA.]

VINDOLANA.—As this station is detached from the Wall, and lies upon the line of the ancient road which ran from CILURNUM to MAGNA, it is not improbable that it was one of Agricola’s forts. The road which connected it with the Wall may yet be distinctly traced between High Shields and the farm-house of Chesterholm.

The walls, ditches, and gateways of the station are all discernible. The northern gateway would be the one chiefly used by the garrison, as it opens directly upon the Great Military Way. An examination of the western gateway, some years ago, led to the belief that it had been walled up at an early period; this is the most exposed side of the camp. A portion of the wall of the station near the north-east corner, when cleared by its late owner, Mr. Hedley, stood twelve courses high. In this case, as in many others, the researches of the antiquary have only facilitated the operations of the destroyer; much of it has since been removed. The size of the stones, which is considerable in the foundation course, gradually diminishes upwards.

[Sidenote: CHESTERHOLM.]

At least two buildings provided with hypocausts, have been discovered here. One of these stood about fifty yards beyond the western rampart, and when discovered, contained a square apartment, vaulted above. Some of the vaulting-stones are still preserved at Chesterholm; they are grooved near the lower extremity, apparently to allow of the joints being strengthened by the insertion between them of keys of slate or wood. The remains of this building were more complete when Hodgson wrote the following paragraph than at present:—

The pillars of the hypocaust are still very black with fire and soot;
and people say that the Bowers, from the Roman age till within the
last century, was the elysium of a colony of fairies; and this ruined
bath, the kitchen to one of their palaces, of which the soot among the
stones was undeniable evidence; and confident belief affirmed, that
long passages led from this laboratory of savoury messes to
subterranean halls that ever echoed to the festivities and music of
the Queen of the Bowers, and her aërial court.

The other hypocaust was partially explored by Warburton in 1717, but more fully by the rev. Ant. Hedley in 1831. It stood within the area of the camp not far from the eastern gateway. In its ruins, Warburton found the fine altar to Fortune, here engraved. It is now preserved in the Library of the Dean and Chapter at Durham, the ‘judicious’ antiquary not having been able to obtain his price for it of my lord Oxford.[112] Here also Mr. Hedley discovered the three noble altars which are still preserved at Chesterholm. The pillars which supported the floor of the hypocausts were of different shapes and diameters; some of them were portions of square columns, as in the annexed example, some circular, like the balusters of stairs, as may be seen by the specimens of them in the garden at Chesterholm. The Romans themselves, Hodgson remarks, seem to have treated the fallen works of their predecessors here with very little ceremony, when they cut down the handsome columns of halls and temples into pillars for sooty hypocausts.

About a furlong west of the camp is a copious spring, from which the water was taken by a channel formed of large stones into the station. The water still, in some measure, follows its ancient track, as the appearance of the herbage shews, and pours itself, by a covered passage, into the Chineley-burn on the opposite side.

H. Burdon Richardson, Delt. John Storey, Lith.
MILE STONE AT CHESTERHOLM.
]

In the vicinity of the camp is an object of peculiar interest. On the line of the ancient Roman road which skirts its northern rampart, stands a mile-stone at the spot where the soldiers of Agricola or Hadrian placed it. The opposite lithograph shews it in the foreground; the camp is in the distance. It is upwards of six feet high, and is nearly two feet in diameter. There are traces of an inscription on its western face, but scarcely a letter can now be deciphered.[Sidenote: ROMAN MILE-STONE.] Another mile-stone formerly stood to the west of this, but it was removed and split up by its tasteless owner, into two gate-posts. Horsley says that it bore the inscription—

BONO REIPVBLICÆ NATO.
To one born for the good of the republic—

an inscription which, supposing it to be perfect, though this is a little doubtful, is happily contrived to be complimentary to each successive emperor. The Romans, with wise policy, paid great attention to their roads; the stones which they erected at every mile were generally inscribed with the name of the consul or emperor under whose auspices they were made. Horsley mentions another mile-stone, which was to the east of the present one.

Close by the mile-stone is a tumulus of considerable size.

In the house and grounds of the late Mr. Hedley, are preserved some very valuable antiquarian remains. A very fine altar to Jupiter is reserved for subsequent description. Another, whose focus is reddened by the action of fire, is here introduced on account of the evidence which it affords, in corroboration of the conjecture of Horsley, that Little Chesters was the VINDOLANA of the Romans, where, according to the Notitia, the fourth cohort of the Gauls was stationed.

GENIO PRÆTORI[I] SACRVM PI TVANIVS SE CVNDVS PRÆ FECTVS COH[ORTIS] IV GALLOR[VM]

To the genius of the Prætorium sacred; Pi- tuanius Se- cundus præ- fect of the fourth cohort of the Gauls, _erects this_.

Several other inscriptions by the fourth cohort of the Gauls have been found here since the time of Horsley.

The altar to Fortune, given in a previous page, shews us that at least a detachment of the sixth legion had, at some period, its abode here. [Sidenote: THE TWENTIETH LEGION.] A stone, preserved at the place, and of which an engraving is here given, bears testimony to the presence of the twentieth legion also, which was surnamed V[ALENS] V[ICTRIX], ‘the valiant and victorious’, and of which the symbol was a boar. This legion was first sent over to Britain by Claudius, and remained in it until the island was abandoned by the Romans. Horsley conceives that this legion was concerned in the erection of the Vallum, though, he adds, we have no inscriptions to prove it. He suspects that it was no-way concerned in building the Wall, because, among all the centurial inscriptions which had come under his notice, not one mentioned this legion, or any cohort belonging to it. The discovery, since the publication of the Britannia Romana, of this and other memorials to be noticed as we proceed, renders it probable that the twentieth legion was engaged upon both the Wall and the Vallum; and as, according to Horsley, ‘it is evident that this legion was at Chester in the year 154,’ where it long continued, the probability is strengthened, that the Wall, as well as the Vallum, was built before that period. A fragment of an inscription, represented above, bears direct reference to Hadrian. The Milking-gap slab, to which it has a very close resemblance, enables us to supply the parts that are wanting. The only difference seems to be, that the emperor’s name is in the dative case instead of the genitive as in the other example.

_IMP CA_ES TRAIA_N_
_HAD_RIANO _AVG P P_
_LE_G II _AVG_
_A PLATORIO NEPOTE LEG PR PR._

The cottage which Mr. Hedley erected for his own residence is, with the exception of the quoins, entirely formed of stones procured from the station. In addition to the altars which stand in front of the house, several objects of considerable interest are built up in the covered passage which leads from the kitchen to the burn; among them is a range of Roman coping-stones, of the form shewn in the cut. The ‘broaching’ of the stones has been alluded to previously.

Near the stables attached to the house, is a Roman altar converted into a swine-trough; the figure on its side seems to have been intended for an eagle, the emblem of the imperial Jove. A foretaste this of the day when every idol shall be cast to the moles and to the bats. May it speedily arrive!

John Storey, Del. et Lith.
THE CRAGS, WEST OF CRAG LOUGH.
]

[Sidenote: VINDOLANA]

The probable meaning of the word VINDOLANA, is ‘the hill of arms;’ _vin_, with slight variations of pronunciation, signifying, in all the Celtic dialects, a height; and _lann_, in the Gaelic, weapons. The name well accords with those common in Ossian’s poems.

Rejoining the Wall at Milking-gap, and continuing our course westward, we soon arrive at a conspicuous gap, on the Steel-rig grounds. The Wall on the eastern declivity of this pass may be studied to great advantage. The courses are laid parallel to the horizon; the mortar of each course of the interior seems to have been smoothed over before the superincumbent mass was added. In order to give the in-door antiquary an idea of its condition, a drawing of it is here introduced.

[Sidenote: PEEL-CRAG.]

Mounting another hill, and again descending into the valley, we find another gap, in which the remains of a mile-castle will be noticed, from which it has received the name of the Castle-nick. A little farther removed is Peel-crag, one of the most precipitous faces which the Wall has had to traverse. The military way ingeniously avoids the sudden descent by winding round the southern projections of the rock. After passing a cottage, called the Peel, a modern road is encountered which leads to Keilder, and so into Scotland; in its progress northwards, however, it soon degenerates into a mere track. As this pass is more than usually open, the fosse again appears surmounted by a mound on its northern margin; the earth-works are strongly marked, but the Wall is gone.

The lithographic view represents the northern aspect of the crags, as they appear here.

On the western side of this, sheltered by a few trees, is the farm-house of Steel-rig. Attaining the next elevation—Winshields-crag—we are on ground reputed to be the highest between the two seas; a turf cairn has been erected on it for the purposes of the ordnance survey. From this lofty summit, the vessels navigating the Solway may easily be descried.

[Sidenote: BLOODY-GAP.]

Proceeding in the same direction, we reach another gap of wide dimensions, but very steep on both declivities. Here the Wall has been provided with a ditch, strengthened, as usual in dangerous situations, with a rampart on its outer margin. If the local vocabulary does not furnish this pass with a name (and I have not been able to find that it does), Bloody-gap, from the following circumstance, well befits it. Nearly direct north from it, is a rising ridge of ground, called Scotch-coulthard. When the moss-troopers, who abounded in these parts, succeeded in safely reaching it, their pursuers commonly considered farther chase useless. Between the Wall and this point of safety, therefore, the race and the conflict were necessarily of the most desperate character; that many deadly conflicts have taken place, is evidenced by the numerous skeletons which are turned up in draining the ground.

A lonely cottage, upon an exposed part of the ridge, is called Shield-on-the-Wall.

Near the modern military way, two large stones, called ‘the mare and foal,’ are standing. In Armstrong’s map of Northumberland, three are marked; they are probably remains of a Druidical circle.

H. Burdon Richardson, Delt. John Storey, Lith.
THE WALL AT STEEL-RIG.
Printed by W. Monkhouse, York
]

[Sidenote: ANCIENT TRADITIONS.]

Shortly afterwards we come to a gap of very bold proportions. Popular faith asserts it to have been the abode of evil spirits, and it is known by the ominous name of Bogle-hole. The sides of the gap are steep; on the western declivity the courses of the Wall are for the most part conformable to the ground, but they are stayed up by occasional steps parallel to the horizon. In the valley, to the south, the Vallum is seen bending up towards the Wall, apparently to assist in defending the pass; it would not have done so, had it been an independent fortification. The vicinity of Bogle-hole seems a fitting place for introducing the following passage from Procopius, a writer of the fifth century. We can readily conceive that at a period when the inroads of the Caledonians were still fresh in the memory of the inhabitants, the country north of the Wall would be regarded with superstitious dread. Doubtless, many who passed the boundary, found, to their cost, that in this region lay the pathway to the world of spirits:—

Moreover, in this isle of Brittia, men of ancient time built a long
wall, cutting off a great portion of it: for the soil, and the man,
and all other things, are not alike on both sides; for on the eastern
(southern) side of the Wall, there is a wholesomeness of air in
conformity with the seasons, moderately warm in summer, and cool in
winter. Many men inhabit here, living much as other men. The trees,
with their appropriate fruits, flourish in season, and their corn
lands are as productive as others; and the district appears
sufficiently fertilized by streams. But on the western (northern) side
all is different, insomuch indeed, that it would be impossible for a
man to live there, even half an hour. Vipers and serpents innumerable,
with all other kinds of wild beasts, infest that place; and, what is
most strange, the natives affirm, that if any one, passing the Wall,
should proceed to the other side, he would die immediately, unable to
endure the unwholesomeness of the atmosphere. Death also, attacking
such beasts as go thither, forthwith destroys them.... They say that
the souls of men departed are always conducted to this place; but in
what manner I will explain immediately, having frequently heard it
from men of that region relating it most seriously, although I would
rather ascribe their asseverations to a certain dreamy faculty which
possesses them.—_Giles’s Ancient Britons_, I. 404.

[Sidenote: CAW-GAP.]

The next defile is Caw-gap; some ruined cottages, formed of Wall-stones, stand in it. The extreme jealousy with which the Romans defended an exposed situation is well shewn here. The fosse, which guards the pass through the low ground, is discontinued on the western side as soon as the Wall attains a sufficient elevation, but upon the the ground drooping, though only for the space of a few yards, it re-appears for that short distance.

A road runs through this pass to the north, which soon becomes a mere track. It passes a solitary house, called Burn Deviot, nearly due north from the gap, which was long the resort of smugglers and sheep-stealers. The memory of its last tenants, Nell Nichol and her two daughters, who were a pest to the country, is still fresh in the district. Though many years have elapsed since any one occupied the dwelling, lights are said often to be seen at the windows at night, visible tokens of the presence of the spirits of the murdered children of Nell’s daughters.

[Sidenote: CAWFIELDS CRAGS.]

The crags along which we soon find ourselves to be proceeding, possess a perpendicular elevation of nearly five hundred feet above the plains below. Passing another small gap, called the Thorny Doors, we come to a tract of Wall in an excellent state of preservation. The lower courses have lately been freed from the rubbish which for centuries has covered them, and the fallen stones replaced in their proper order. The whole face of the Wall has a remarkably fresh appearance, and nowhere can the tooling of the stones be examined with more advantage. Amongst the fallen stones, one was lately found which furnishes us with additional evidence, that the twentieth legion was engaged in the erection of this part of the Wall. It is preserved amongst the antiquities at Chesters, and is represented in the adjoining cut. This sculpture cannot have been derived from the Vallum, in the construction of which, in the time of Hadrian, the twentieth legion is acknowledged to have been employed; for the Vallum is here distant more than three hundred yards from the Wall. The reader will of course perceive the bearing which this fact has upon the question of the contemporaneous origin of the two structures, and the construction of the Wall, as well as the Vallum, by Hadrian.

While the antiquary is eagerly scrutinizing indentations in stones which were chiselled sixteen centuries ago, his eye will occasionally rest upon the memorials of an antiquity so indefinite as to throw into the shade even his primeval records. Lepidodendra, and other fossils of the mill-stone-grit and coal series, are of occasional occurrence. Who shall tell when these giant plants flourished, how they were enveloped in their sandy bed, and how hardened into the flinty stone made use of by the Roman soldiers? Imagination reels at the questions suggested.

[Sidenote: PILGRIMS'-GAP.]

We are now arrived at the most perfect mile-castle remaining on the line, generally named, from the farm-house to the north of it, the Cawfields Castle. The gap which it guarded was denominated by the peripatetic party of 1849, in commemoration of their visit, the Pilgrims’-gap, a name which is beginning to be recognised by the inhabitants of the neighbourhood.

[Sidenote: THE CAWFIELDS CASTELLUM.]

Until recently, the castellum was nearly covered with its own ruins. Since the annexed drawing was taken, the rubbish has been entirely removed from the inside, as well as the out.

The building is a parallelogram, but the corners at its lower side are rounded off. It measures, inside, sixty-three feet from east to west, and forty-nine feet from north to south. The great Wall forms its northern side. The stones used in the construction of this building are of the same size and character as those employed in the Wall itself; the mortar has disappeared from between the courses of the facing-stones, but portions of lime are seen in the grout of the interior. In the western wall, nine courses of stones are standing. The side walls of the castle have not been tied to the great Wall, but have been brought close up to it, and the junction cemented with mortar.

H. Burdon Richardson Delt. John Storey, Lith.
MILE-CASTLE NEAR CAW-FIELDS
Printed by W. Monkhouse York.
]

It is provided with a gateway of large dimensions, both on its northern and southern side. In Horsley’s day, it was a matter of doubt whether there was any opening through the Wall, excepting at the points where the Watling-street and the Maiden-way crossed it; the disinterment of this mile-castle sets the question at rest, and justifies us in believing that the passages at Busy-gap, Rapishaw-gap, and other places, are of Roman formation.

The gateways are formed of large slabs of rustic masonry, and to give them full development, the walls are thicker here than in other parts. The width of the wall at the lower gateway is nine feet three inches; at the upper, which was, of course, the more exposed, ten feet six inches. The opening of each gateway is ten feet. Two folding-doors have closed the entrance, which, when thrown back, have fallen into recesses prepared for them. Some of the pivot holes of the doors remain, which exhibit a circular chafing, and are slightly tinged with the oxide of iron. The security of the northern gateway did not entirely depend upon the solidity of its masonry, or the strength of its doors. It opens upon a sort of cliff, and the road from it does not lead directly away, but runs for a little distance under the Wall, so as to give an opportunity of more readily acting against an enemy.

The masonry of the whole building, but particularly of the gateways, is peculiarly fresh. The lines that have been lightly chiselled on some of the large rustic slabs of the gateways, in order to guide the workmen in correctly placing those above which project less than than the others, are still quite distinct. The stone is of a very durable nature, but it is difficult to conceive how such slender markings, particularly when in a horizontal position, could long resist the action of the weather. Were we to judge only from the appearance of the masonry, we might be led to suppose that the building had been enveloped in its own ruins not long after its erection—perhaps in that dreadful irruption of the Caledonians which brought Severus to this country—and that it was never afterwards repaired.

In clearing out the interior of this building, no traces of party-walls, of a substantial character at least, were found. It stands upon a slope of about one foot in five, and, towards the hanging side of it, the ground has been rendered horizontal by ‘made earth.’ Some fragments of gray slate, pierced for roofing, were found among the rubbish; it is therefore not improbable that a shed was laid against the southern wall for the protection of the soldiers. At about the elevation which the raised floor would reach, the Wall is, in one place, eaten away by the action of fire. Here, probably, was the hearth round which the shivering soldiers of the south clustered, to forget, in the recital of their country’s tales, the fierce Caledonians who prowled around them, or the still fiercer tempests, which all their valour and all their engineering skill could not exclude from their dwellings. With the exception of such sheds, or mere temporary erections, the whole building seems to have been open above. Two large fragments of funereal slabs were found in the castellum; one of them has been roughly shaped into a circular form, and is reddened by fire; the letters which remain are distinct and well formed. Has it been the hearth? The inscription has been erased from the other. Another stone of still greater interest was found here, furnishing additional evidence of the erection of the mile-castles by Hadrian. From the annexed cut, it will at once be perceived that it is a duplicate of the inscription, already described, in which the second legion endeavours to perpetuate its name, and those of its emperor, Hadrian, and Aulus Platorius Nepos, his legate. There cannot be a doubt that the castellum and the Wall were built at the same time, and by the same parties; if Hadrian therefore built the one, the other is erroneously ascribed to Severus.

Two small silver coins were found amongst the rubbish within the castellum, one of Vespasian, the other of Marcus Aurelius. Although their testimony is of a negative character, it will be observed, that it is not inconsistent with the idea, that the castle was erected in the time of Hadrian, and with the opinion already hazarded, that it was dismantled at an early period. There were also found large pieces of earthen-ware, chiefly of the coarser kinds, and fragments of millstones formed of lava, which shew that culinary operations were carried on within these cold, bare walls, and a solitary oyster-shell among the rubbish bore testimony to the attachment of the Romans to this article of luxury. The mile-castle is very nearly midway between the seas.

Besides the articles already enumerated, there were picked up within the castellum some large glass beads of somewhat singular appearance, (Plate VII., figs. 7, 8) and a fibula of brass. The whole of these relics are safely deposited in the collection of antiquities at Chesters. The interesting building is, happily, upon an estate belonging to John Clayton, esq.; the hand of the spoiler will therefore not be allowed to touch it.

About one hundred and fifty yards south of the castellum, is a spring of excellent water. Near it, about midway between the Vallum and the Wall, an altar to Apollo was lately discovered, which will afterwards be described.

[Sidenote: TEMPORARY CAMP.]

A road leads from the vicinity of the mile-castle to the town of Haltwhistle, in the sheltered valley of the Tyne, whither, should the shades of evening be approaching, the way-worn antiquary may be glad to bend his steps. At the point where the path joins the modern military road, a Roman camp will be observed. On the sides which are most exposed, double and triple lines of earth-works have been raised. The rock on the western face of the ground where the camp stands, has been wrought by the Romans for stones, and the camp has given them temporary protection. It was here that the inscription on the face of the rock, LEG. VI. V., was discovered in 1847, as already mentioned, page 81. The quarry, not being required for the use of the district, was shortly afterwards closed.

[Sidenote: HALTWHISTLE.]

The Castle-hill at Haltwhistle is, apparently, a diluvial deposit; ramparts, still quite distinct, run round the margin of its summit. Several peel-houses in the town and its vicinity, will interest the antiquary.[113]

To those who cherish the religious views of the early Anglican reformers, it will be interesting to remember, that this is the native district of Nicholas Ridley, bishop and martyr. Willimoteswick-castle, his reputed birth-place, is on the south bank of the Tyne, about three miles below Haltwhistle.[114]

[Sidenote: HALTWHISTLE-BURN-HEAD.]

Rejoining the Wall, Haltwhistle-burn-head is the first object of interest that we meet with in our course westward. The burn, to which important reference will presently be made, is derived from the overflowings of Greenlee-lough. Between its source, and the gap by which it passes the ridge on which the Wall stands, it is called the Caw-burn; below that point it bears the name of Haltwhistle-burn.

As the width of the defile, and the passage of the stream, render this a weak point in the barrier, the two lines of fortification approach very near to each other; they afterwards again diverge.

Westward of Burn-head farm-house, the fosse is boldly developed, but the Wall is traceable only in the ruins of its foundation. As we proceed onwards to Great Chesters, the foundations of a mile-castle which has stood half to the north of the Wall, and half within it, may be, though not without careful scrutiny, observed. The tower which formerly stood at Portgate is the only other known example of a similar arrangement.

[Sidenote: GREAT CHESTERS.]

ÆSICA, or Great Chesters, is the tenth stationary camp on the line of the Wall. Its superficial contents are 3 acres, 35 poles. The ramparts and fosse are clearly defined. The southern gateway may be traced; it is nearer the eastern than the western side. A double rampart of earth seems to have given additional security to the western side, which, by situation, is the weakest. A vaulted room in the centre of the camp still answers very correctly to the description given of it in 1800 by Dr. Lingard, (quoted by Hodgson, II. iii. 203.)

It is 6½ feet square, and 5 feet high. It was descended by steps, and
had, at the opposite end to its entrance, a sort of bench, raised on
mason work, 2½ feet wide and high, and covered with a slab of stone.
The roof consisted of six similar and contiguous arches of stone, each
15 inches broad. It had also one pillar. The floor had on it a great
quantity of ashes, was flagged, and on raising one of the stones, a
spring gushed out, which converted the vault into a well.

About one hundred and fifty yards south of the station, in a field which has for years been furrowed by the plough, the remains of a building of somewhat rude construction have just been discovered. Its floor, consisting, for the most part, of the usual compost, is nearly a foot thick. Further examination would probably disclose, in its vicinity, the foundations of numerous suburban buildings.

An ancient road leads from the southern gateway of the station to the great military way which ran from CILURNUM to MAGNA.

[Sidenote: ÆSICA.]