Chapter VII: Part II (1)

A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE LINE OF THE WALL.

Numerous are the appellations which the Great Barrier of the Lower Isthmus has obtained. 'It was called by ancient writers _vallum barbaricum_, _prætentura_ and _clusura_; by Dion διατειχισμα; by Herodian χωμα; by Antoninus and others _vallum_; by some of the Latin historians _murus_; by the English the Picts’-wall, or THE WALL; and by the Britons _gual Sever_, _gal Sever_, and _mur Sever_. The names _prætentura_ and _clusura_ are given to it upon account of its being stretched out against, and excluding the enemy.' To the names thus enumerated by Camden, must be added, the Thirl Wall, the Kepe Wall, and that by which it is best known at present, the ROMAN WALL.

[Sidenote: GENERAL VIEW OF THE WORKS.]

This great fortification consists of three parts.

I. A Stone Wall, strengthened by a ditch on its northern side.

II. A Turf Wall or Vallum, to the south of the stone wall.

III. Stations, Castles, Watch-towers, and Roads, for the accommodation of the soldiery who manned the Barrier, and for the transmission of military stores. These lie, for the most part, between the stone wall and the earthen rampart.

The whole of the works proceed from one side of the island to the other in a nearly direct line, and in comparatively close companionship. The stone wall and earthen rampart are generally within sixty or seventy yards of each other.[14] The distance between them, however, varies according to the nature of the country. Sometimes they are so close as barely to admit of the passage of the military way between them, whilst, in one or two instances, they are upwards of half-a-mile apart. It is in the high grounds of the central region that they are most widely separated. Midway between the seas, the country attains a considerable elevation; here the stone wall seeks the highest ridges, but the vallum, forsaking for a while its usual companion, runs along the adjacent valley. Both works are, however, so arranged as to afford each other the greatest amount of support which the nature of the country allows.

_PLATE II._

_A PLAN OF CILURNUM AFTER WARBURTON WITH PART OF THE PLAN OF THE STONE
WALL AND VALLUM._
_Shewing how they are connected at the Stations, and by their mutual
relation to one another must have been one entire united Defence or
Fortification._
]

_Reid Litho. 117 Pilgrim Street Newcastle_

The stone wall extends from Wall’s-end on the Tyne, to Bowness on the Solway, a space which Horsley estimates at sixty-eight miles and three furlongs—the turf wall falls short of this distance by about three miles at each end, terminating at Newcastle on the east side, and at Drumburgh on the west.

[Sidenote: GENERAL VIEW OF THE WORKS.]

The Map of the Wall, the more detailed Plans of several parts of it in Plate II, and the Sections given in a subsequent page, will afford a pretty correct idea of the general arrangement of the works.

Most writers who have treated of the Roman remains in Britain, have considered that the two lines of fortification are the works of different periods. The earth-wall, or Vallum, has generally been ascribed to Hadrian, but the stone wall, or Murus, to Septimius Severus. This is the opinion of Horsley, whose judgment is always deserving of the highest consideration. Deferring to a subsequent period the discussion of this question, it will be convenient, meanwhile, to speak of the works as being but different parts of one great engineering scheme.

[Sidenote: THE COURSE OF THE WALL.]

The most striking feature in the plan, both of the Murus and the Vallum, is the determinate manner in which they pursue their straight-forward course. The Vallum makes fewer deviations from a right line than the stone Wall; but as the Wall traverses higher ground, this remarkable tendency is more easily detected in it than in the other. Shooting over the country, in its onward course, it only swerves from a straight line to take in its route the boldest elevations. So far from declining a hill, it uniformly selects it. For nineteen miles out of Newcastle, the road to Carlisle runs upon the foundation of the Wall, and during the summer months its dusty surface contrasts well with the surrounding verdure. Often will the traveller, after attaining some of the steep acclivities of his path, observe the road stretching for miles in an undeviating course to the east and the west of him, resembling, as Hutton expresses it, a white ribbon on a green ground. But if it never moves from a right line, except to occupy the highest points, it never fails to seize them, as they occur, no matter how often it is compelled, with this view, to change its direction. It never bends in a curve, but always at an angle. Hence, along the craggy precipices between Sewingshields and Thirlwall, it is obliged to pursue a remarkably zig-zag course; for it takes in its range, with the utmost pertinacity, every projecting rock.

This mode of proceeding involves another peculiarity. It is compelled to accommodate itself to the depressions of the mountainous region over which it passes. Without flinching, it sinks into the ‘gap,’ or pass, which ever and anon occurs, and, having crossed the narrow valley, ascends unfalteringly the steep acclivity on the other side. The antiquary, in following it into these ravines, is often compelled to step with the utmost caution, and in clambering up the opposite ascent, he is as frequently constrained to pause for breath. After crossing the river Irthing, in Cumberland, the Wall is opposed in its course westward by a precipice of upwards of one hundred feet in height. It cannot now be ascertained, whether or not the Wall was taken up the edge of this cliff, for the stratum is of a soft and yielding nature, and is continually being removed by the river below. Certain, however, it is, that the Wall, accompanied by its ditch, is still to be seen on the very brink of its summit. If it did not climb this steep, it is the only one which, in the course of the line from sea to sea, it refused—and if it did ascend it, it would more nearly resemble a leaning tower than a barrier wall.

[Sidenote: THE HEIGHT OF THE WALL.]

In no part of its course is the Wall entirely perfect, and therefore it is difficult to ascertain what its original height has been. Bede, whose cherished home was the monastery of Jarrow, anciently part of the parish of Wall’s-end, is the earliest author who gives its dimensions. He says—‘It is eight feet in breadth, and twelve in height, in a straight line from east to west, as is still visible to beholders.’ Subsequent writers assign to it a greater elevation. It is not unlikely that the venerable monk, who was no traveller, describes it as it existed in his own neighbourhood; and we can readily conceive that in a flat country, and upon the border of a navigable river, it would, even then, have suffered more from the hand of the spoiler than in the wilder regions of the West.

In a letter written by Sir Christopher Ridley, is an account of the Wall as it stood about the year 1572. The writer says—

Rycht worschipfull, where as you spake unto me for a certayn knowledge
of one wall builded betwyxt the Brittons and Pightes (which we call
the KEPE WALL) builded by the Pightes, sure theyr is one. The length
whereof is about, I think, almost a C myles, bilded alwayis whar they
cold upon the hyghtes, whereon about the greatest cragis was, and
whare theyr was no cragis or hy placis theyr was a great stank cast of
other syd, the bredth iij yardis, the hyght remanith in sum placis yet
vij yardis, it goith from Bowlness in Cu'berland viij myles beyond
Carlell upon the west sea cost till it comes to a town called the
Wallis end besyd Tynemouth on the est sea.[15]

Samson Erdeswick, an English antiquary of some celebrity, visited the Wall, in the year 1574.[16] His account is here given—

As towching Hadrian’s[17] Wall, begyning abowt a town called Bonus
standing vppon the river Sulway now called Eden. The sea ebbeth and
floweth there. The forsaid Wall begynning there, and there yet
standing of the heyth of 16 fote, for almost a quarter of a myle
together, and so along the river syde estwards, they space of an eight
myle by the shew of the trench, as certayne ruynes of castills in that
wall, tyll a qwarter of a myle of Carlyole, and there passeth ower the
river of Eden; and then goeth straight estwards hard by a late abbey
called Lanvercost, and so crossing ower the mowntaynes toward
Newcastell.

[Sidenote: THE WIDTH OF THE WALL.]

Camden, who visited the Wall in 1599, says—

Within two furlongs of Carvoran, on a pretty high hill the Wall is
still standing fifteen feet in height, and nine in breadth.

These statements leave upon the mind an impression that the estimate of Bede is too low.

In all probability, the Wall would be surmounted by a battlement of not less than four feet in height, and as this part of the structure would be the first to fall into decay, Bede’s calculation was probably irrespective of it. This, however, only gives us a total elevation of sixteen feet. Unless we reject the evidence of Ridley and Erdeswick, we must admit, even after making due allowance for error and exaggeration, that the Wall, when in its integrity, was eighteen or nineteen feet high. This elevation would be in keeping with its breadth.

The thickness of the Wall varies considerably; in some places it is six feet, in others nine feet and a half.[18] Probably the prevailing width is eight feet, the measurement given by Bede.

The frequency with which the thickness of the Wall varies, favours the idea that numerous gangs of labourers were simultaneously employed upon the work, and that each superintending centurion was allowed to use his discretion as to its width. The northern face of the Wall is continuous, but the southern has numerous outsets and insets measuring from four to twelve inches, at the points, doubtless, where the sections of the different companies joined.

[Sidenote: THE NORTH FOSSE.]

Throughout the whole of its length, the Wall is accompanied on its northern margin by a broad and deep FOSSE, which, by increasing the comparative height of the Wall, would add greatly to its strength. This portion of the Barrier may yet be traced, with trifling interruptions, from sea to sea. Even in places where the Wall has quite disappeared, its more lowly companion, the fosse, remains. In some fertile districts the plough has been carried over it in vain; owing to the moisture of the site, the corn sown upon it springs up with undue luxuriance, and is almost uniformly laid prostrate before it can ripen. From this circumstance the ground is frequently retained in grass, while the neighbouring parts are under tillage.[19] The fosse thus more readily catches the eye, and is likely longer to retain its groove-like form than if subjected to the ordinary process of cultivation.

When the ditch traverses a flat or exposed country, a portion of the materials taken out of it has frequently been thrown upon its northern margin, so as to present to the enemy an additional rampart. In those positions, on the other hand, where its assistance could be of no avail, as along the edge of a cliff, the fosse does not appear.

No small amount of labour has been expended in the excavation of the ditch; it has been drawn indifferently through alluvial soil, and rocks of sandstone, limestone, and basalt. The patient exertion which this involved is well seen on Tepper Moor, where enormous blocks of whin lie just as they have been lifted out of the fosse. The fosse never leaves the Wall to avoid a mechanical difficulty.

The size of the ditch in several places is still considerable. To the east of Heddon-on-the-Wall, it measures thirty four feet across the top, and is nearly nine feet deep; as it descends the hill from Carvoran to Thirlwall, it measures forty feet across the top, fourteen across the bottom, and is ten feet deep. Westward of Tepper Moor is a portion which, reckoning from the top of the mound on its northern margin, has a depth of twenty feet.

The dimensions of the fosse were probably not uniform throughout the line; but these examples prepare us to receive, as tolerably correct, Hutton’s estimate of its average size. ‘The ditch to the north,’ he says 'was as near as convenient, thirty-six feet wide and fifteen feet deep.'[20]

The care with which the fosse was dressed, has varied with the taste of the overseer and the forbearance of the enemy. In some tracts, the work presents as smooth and trim an aspect as a modern railway cutting; in others, marks of haste, carelessness, or sudden surprise, appear. The curious circumstance which Hodgson describes in the following paragraph may be seen in more than one locality:—

'A little west of Portgate, the appearance of the fosse is still, to
the eye that loves and understands antiquity, very imposing and grand.
The earth taken out of it lies spread abroad to the north, in lines
just as the workmen wheeled it out and left it. The tracks of their
barrows, with a slight mound on each side remain unaltered in
form.'[21]

[Sidenote: THE VALLUM.]

The VALLUM or TURF WALL, is uniformly to the south of the stone Wall. It consists of three ramparts and a fosse. One of these ramparts is placed close upon the southern edge of the ditch, the two others of larger dimensions[22] stand, one to the north, and the other to the south of it, at the distance of about twenty-four feet. The annexed sections of the works exhibit their present condition. They are drawn to the scale of seventy-five feet to the inch. The Wall is in these parts, unhappily, entirely removed.

The ramparts, in some parts of the line, stand, even at present, six or seven feet above the level of the neighbouring ground.[23] They are composed of earth, mingled, not unfrequently, with masses of stone. Occasionally, the stone preponderates to such an extent as to yield to the hand of the modern spoiler, ready materials for the formation of stone dikes. In several places they are being quarried with this view.

The fosse of the Vallum is of a character similar to the fosse of the stone Wall; but, judging from present appearances, its dimensions have been rather less. It, too, has been frequently cut through beds of stone.

The question will occasionally occur to the wanderer by the Wall, whence were the materials obtained for constructing the mounds of the Vallum? With the exception of the fosse, there are no marks of excavation in the neighbourhood, and that the fosse of the Vallum would not yield materials sufficient for the purpose, is abundantly evident.[24]

[Sidenote: USE OF THE VALLUM.]

The contents of the ditch on the north of the Wall have probably gone to assist in the formation of these lines. This statement of course proceeds upon the supposition that the Wall and the Vallum were contemporaneous works. Upon the same assumption, it may be added that the ramparts of the Vallum are probably indebted for some portion of the stone which they contain, to the chippings of the Wall.

Although the distance between the stone Wall and the Vallum is, as already observed, perpetually varying, the lines of the Vallum maintain amongst themselves nearly the same relative position throughout their entire course.

No apparent paths of egress have been made through these southern lines of fortification. The only mode of communication with the country to the south, originally contemplated, seems to have been by the gateways of the stations.

If we adopt the theory that the Wall and the Vallum exhibit unity of design, a question of some importance arises—With what view was the Vallum constructed? Hodgson, with much probability, conceives that, whilst the Wall undertook the harder duty of warding off the professedly hostile tribes of Caledonia, the Vallum was intended as a protection against sudden surprise from the south. The natives of the country on the south side of the Wall, though conquered, were not to be depended upon; in the event of their kinsmen in the north gaining an advantage, they would be ready to avail themselves of it. The Romans knew this, and with characteristic prudence made themselves secure on both sides.

[Sidenote: PECULIAR CONSTRUCTION OF THE VALLUM.]

But, whatever we may conceive to have been the design of the Vallum, the peculiarity of its form will excite the attention of the enquirer, though probably without his arriving at any satisfactory explanation. Supposing, according to the common theory, that the Vallum was an independent fortification, erected long before the Wall, to resist a northern foe, why was not the ditch, as in the case of the stone Wall, drawn along the northern edge of the northern agger? I cannot supply an answer. A similar difficulty meets us on the supposition that it was meant to guard against attack from the other side. Again, what part did the smaller rampart on the south edge of the fosse perform? Possibly it may have been intended as a foot-hold for the soldiers when fighting on this platform against the revolted Britons south of the barrier.

The third, and perhaps the most important, part of the barrier line consisted of the structures that were formed for the accommodation of the soldiery, and for the ready transmission of troops and stores. Neither stone walls, nor ditches, nor earthen ramparts, would alone have proved material impediments to the incursions of the Caledonians—

An iron race, ...
Foes to the gentler genius of the plain.

It is reported that Agesilaus, when asked where were the walls of Sparta, pointed to his soldiers and said, ‘There.’ The Romans placed their chief reliance on the valour and discipline of their armies, though they did not despise the assistance of mural lines. In a foreign country, to which it was difficult to transmit relays of troops, it became a matter of great importance to economize the lives of the soldiery. Hence arose the Wall.

Those portions of the great barrier which yet await our consideration, are the STATIONS, the MILE-CASTLES, the TURRETS, and the ROADS.

[Sidenote: THE STATIONS.]

At distances along the line which average nearly four miles, STATIONARY CAMPS (_stationes_ or _castra stativa_) were erected. These received their distinctive appellation, in contradistinction from those temporary ramparts, which were thrown up when an army halted for a night or for some brief period.

The stations on the line of the Wall were military cities, adapted for the residence of the chief who commanded the district, and providing secure lodgment for the powerful body of soldiery he had under him. Here the commandant held his court; hence issued decrees which none might gainsay; here Roman arts, and literature, and luxury, struggled for existence, when all around was ignorance and barbarity.

Some of the stations, though connected with the Wall, have evidently, as will afterwards be shewn, been built before it: this does not prove that they did not form part of the great design. To secure a safe retreat for the soldiers employed upon the work would necessarily be the first care of the builder.

The stations are uniformly quadrangular in their shape, though somewhat rounded at the corners, and contain an area of from three to five acres. A stone wall, five feet thick, encloses them, and has probably in every instance been strengthened by a fosse, and one or more earthen ramparts. They usually stand upon ground which slopes to the south, and are naturally defended upon one side at least.

[Sidenote: THE PLACE OF THE STATIONS.]

The Wall, when it does not fall in with the northern wall of a station, usually comes up to the northern cheek of its eastern and western gateways. The Vallum, in like manner, usually approaches close to the southern wall of the station, or comes up to the defence of the southern side of the eastern and western portals. Examples of these arrangements are given in Plate II. At least three of the stations, it must, however, be observed, are quite detached from both lines of fortification, being situated to the south of them. They may have been members of Agricola’s chain of forts.

Probably all the stations have, on their erection, been provided, after the usual method of Roman castrametation, with four gateways; in several instances one or more of these portals have been walled up at an early period, in consequence, probably, of some natural weakness in the situation.

Narrow streets, intersecting each other at right angles, occupy the interior of the stations, and abundant ruins, outside the walls, indicate the fact that extensive suburbs have, in every instance, been required for the accommodation of the camp-followers.

[Sidenote: THE FERTILITY OF THE STATIONS.]

In selecting a spot for a station, care has been taken that an abundant supply of water should be at hand. The springs, rivulets, wells, and aqueducts, whence they procured the needful fluid, are still, in many places, to be traced; and never did water more limpid, more sparkling, more invigorating, lave the lips of man, than that which flows from these sources.

For the most part, the stations—cities which for centuries were the abodes of busy men, and which resounded with the hum of multitudes, and the clash of arms,—now present a scene of utter desolation. The wayfarer may pass through them without knowing it; the streets are levelled, the temples are overthrown, and the sons and daughters of Italy, Mauritania, and Spain, whose adopted homes they were, no longer encounter him. The sheep, depasturing the grass-grown ruins, look listlessly upon the passer-by, and the curlew, wheeling above his head, screams as at the presence of an intruder. Whether, or not, sites naturally fertile were chosen for the stations does not appear; but certain it is, that they are now for the most part coated with a sward more green and more luxuriant than that which covers the contiguous grounds. Centuries of occupation have given them a degree of fertility which, probably, they will never lose.[25] One can scarcely turn up the soil without meeting, not only with fragments of Roman pottery and other imperishable articles, but with the bones of oxen, the tusks of boars, the horns of deer, and other animal remains. The debris of some of these cities is considered to be more valuable for farm purposes, than the recent produce of the fold-yard, and is used as such.

[Sidenote: THE NAMES OF THE STATIONS.]

It is not a little remarkable that the names of the stations, which must have been household words in the days of Roman occupation, have for the most part been obliterated from the local vocabulary; they are now only to be recalled, and that with difficulty, by exhuming the stony records of the past, and comparing them with the notices of contemporaneous geographers. The truth is, that military reasons dictated the choice of the stations,—commercial facilities gave rise to modern cities. Long may the mere military outpost be consigned to the shepherd’s use, whilst the wharf and the warehouse are beset by the busy crowd!

According to Horsley, the stations on the line of the Wall, were eighteen in number, besides some that were placed in its immediate vicinity, and lent to it important aid. Hodgson, conceiving that Horsley has in one instance mistaken a mere summer fortification for a stationary camp, reduces the number of stations on the line itself to seventeen.

[Sidenote: THE STATIONS ACCORDING TO THE NOTITIA.]

In ascertaining the number and the names of the stations, a most valuable document has come down to our times from the period of Roman occupation. The ‘Notitia Imperii’ was probably written about the end of the reign of Theodosius the younger, and was certainly composed before the Romans abandoned this island. It is a sort of list of the several military and civil officers and magistrates both in the eastern and western empires, with the places at which they were stationed. It may, in fact, be regarded as the roll-call of the Roman army. The sixty-ninth section of the work contains a list of the prefects and tribunes under the command of the Honourable the Duke of Britain. The portion of the section in which we are at present interested is headed, _Item per lineam valli_—Also along the line of the Wall—and contains the following list:—

The Tribune of the fourth cohort of the Lingones[26] at Segedunum.
The Tribune of the cohort of the Cornovii at Pons Ælii.
The Prefect of the first ala, or wing, of the Astures[27] at
Condercum.
The Tribune of the first cohort of the Frixagi at Vindobala.
The Prefect of the Savinian ala at Hunnum.
The Prefect of the second ala of Astures at Cilurnum.
The Tribune of the first cohort of the Batavians at Procolitia.
The Tribune of the first cohort of the Tungri at Borcovicus.
The Tribune of the fourth cohort of the Gauls at Vindolana.
The Tribune of the first cohort of the Astures at Æsica.
The Tribune of the second cohort of the Dalmatians at Magna.
The Tribune of the first cohort of Dacians, styled Ælia, at
Amboglanna.
The Prefect of the ala, called Petriana, at Petriana.
The Prefect of a detachment of Moors, styled Aureliani, at
Aballaba.
The Tribune of the second cohort of the Lergi at Congavata.
The Tribune of the first cohort of the Spaniards at Axelodunum.
The Tribune of the second cohort of the Thracians at Gabrosentis.
The Tribune of the first marine cohort, styled Ælia, at
Tunnocelum.
The Tribune of the first cohort of the Morini at Glannibanta.
The Tribune of the third cohort of the Nervii at Alionis.
The Cuneus of men in armour at Bremetenracum.
The Prefect of the first ala, styled Herculean, at Olenacum.
The Tribune of the sixth cohort of the Nervii at Virosidum.

[Sidenote: THE CORROBORATION OF LETTERED STONES.]

It is not said, nor does it appear, that all these twenty-three stations were exactly upon the line of the Wall itself. It is very plain indeed, says Horsley, that according to the Notitia, SEGEDUNUM was the first, for that immediately follows the title _per lineam valli_; but he has not told us expressly at what place or station they end.[28] Those stations which were not on the Wall were probably in its vicinity, and were connected with it by military ways. The stations in this list are manifestly, as this writer also observes, set down in some order, and those that were near to each other are placed together;[29] so that if we ascertain the identity of some of them, we may form a pretty correct estimate of the position of the intermediate or neighbouring stations.

When, in the ruins of a station, inscribed stones are found bearing the name of a cohort mentioned in the Notitia, the inference is natural, that, in most cases at least, the imperial Notitia will furnish us with a key to the ancient designation of the station. The argument becomes irresistible, when, in several successive instances the designations thus obtained correspond exactly with the order of the places as given in the Notitia. Let us take an example. At the station of Chesters, on the North Tyne, several slabs have been found, bearing the name of the second ala, or wing, of the Astures. One of these is here represented.[30] It is a sepulchral stone, and bears at the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth lines the words—

· · · · · · ALAE
II ASTVR[UM]· · · ·

[Sidenote: CILURNUM APPROPRIATED.]

Now, as the Notitia represents this ala, or troop of cavalry, to have been stationed at Cilurnum, the probability is, that the camp on the west bank of the North Tyne is the CILURNUM of Roman Britain.

Immediately following ‘The second wing of the Astures at CILURNUM,’ on the Notitia list, is, ‘The first cohort of the Batavians at PROCOLITIA.’ Now the station immediately west of Chesters is Carrawburgh, and here a slab and an altar have been found, inscribed with the name of this very cohort. The woodcut represents one of them,[31] an altar to Fortune, which is thus inscribed—

FORTVNAE
COH I BATAVOR[UM]
CVI PRÆEST
MELACCINIVS
MARCELLUS PRÆ[FECTUS]

To Fortune
The first cohort of the Batavians
Commanded by
Melaccinius
Marcellus, Prefect.

The conclusion is natural,—Carrawburgh is the PROCOLITIA of the Notitia.

[Sidenote: BORCOVICUS ASCERTAINED.]

Moving westward, the next station we come to is Housesteads; here numerous inscribed stones have been discovered, which mention the first cohort of the Tungri. One of these, an altar to Jupiter, which is now in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and is preserved in their museum, is accurately given in the accompanying engraving.

I[OVI] O[PTIMO] M[AXIMO]
ET NVMINIBUS
AVG[USTI] COH[ORS] I TV-
NGRORVM
MIL[LIARIA] CVI PRÆE-
ST Q[UINTUS] VERIVS
SVPERSTIS
PRÆEFECTVS

To Jupiter, the greatest and best,
And the Deities
Of Augustus; the first cohort of the
Tungri,
A milliary one,[32] commanded by
Quintus Verius
Superstis,
Prefect.

The correspondence between the Notitia and the sculptures derived from this station, is again too striking to admit a doubt, that the Housesteads of the modern shepherd is the BORCOVICUS of the Roman hosts.

[Sidenote: THE FATE OF LETTERED STONES.]

In this way, the ancient designations of the stations from SEGEDUNUM, Wall’s-end, to AMBOGLANNA, Birdoswald, have been accurately ascertained; but no stony memorial of the past has arisen to confirm the Notitia account of the stations westward of this point. The peculiarly fertile nature of the soil between the river Irthing and the Solway has been inimical to the preservation of the Wall and its antiquities. The wants of a numerous population rendered stones of every kind valuable; and in an ignorant age, when anything in the shape of a letter was regarded as a thing of evil omen, those most precious to the historian were the first to be sacrificed.[33] [Sidenote: THE STATIONS WEST OF AMBOGLANNA.]Since the accuracy of the Notitia has been confirmed in so many instances, it is but fair to conclude, that it may be safely taken as a guide in fixing the Roman designations of the remaining stations along the line. Cambeck Fort is the station next to Birdoswald; the Notitia places PETRIANA next in order to AMBOGLANNA, which has been ascertained to be Birdoswald—doubtless, according to this reasoning, Cambeck Fort is the ancient PETRIANA. In this way, could it be certainly ascertained which were the stations _per lineam valli_, each station might have its Roman name restored, though not a syllable of the ancient designation be retained in the modern cognomen. We should have but to read over the roll-call, and let each camp in succession answer to its name. Unhappily, there is some doubt as to which are the stations along the line of the Wall. Horsley conceives that Watch Cross is the station next in order to Cambeck Fort, and, accordingly, calls it ABALLABA; Stanwix, Burgh, Drumburgh, and Bowness, he successively denominates, after the Notitia, CONGAVATA, AXELODUNUM, GABROSENTIS, and TUNNOCELUM. Subsequent inquirers, and, in particular, the Rev. John Hodgson, have seen reason to suspect that Watch Cross was not a station _per lineam valli_. It probably was destitute of stone walls, and was surrounded only by a rampart of earth.[34] It seems to have been a mere _castra æstiva_—a summer encampment, and consequently, was not entitled to rank with those strongholds that were intended to withstand all foes at all seasons. Should Watch Cross be laid aside, the whole of Horsley’s subsequent allocation of the Notitia names is thrown out of course. It is much to be desired that some ‘Witch Stone’ would start from its hiding-place in the foundation of some cottage or castle in the neighbourhood of any one of the stations west of Cambeck Fort, and resolve the interesting question. Until such an event does occur, some doubt must hang upon the subject. The reader will now understand how it is, that, according to some authorities, the stations immediately dependent upon the Wall are said to be eighteen in number, and according to others only seventeen. For the reason just referred to, the Notitia names of the stations are not given on the Map of the Wall westward of PETRIANA.

The remainder of the stations of the Notitia were probably out-posts, intended to give support to the whole structure. The difficulty of rightly appropriating the Notitia appellations to such of these as have not yielded inscribed stones, is even greater than in the case of those which follow more closely the line of the Wall.

[Sidenote: THE EXTINCTION OF ROMAN NAMES.]

Before leaving this subject, the reader will do well to compare the ancient with the modern names of the stations, as far as they are ascertained; in doing so, he will be struck with the almost total absence of any similarity between them. So complete, it would appear, has been the subversion by Pict, and Saxon, and Dane, of the Roman domination in the north of England, that the very names of the cities which were occupied by the empire for centuries have perished,

And, like this unsubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind.

[Sidenote: THE CASTELLA OR MILE-CASTLES.]

In addition to the Stations, CASTELLA or MILE-CASTLES were provided for the use of the troops which garrisoned the Wall. They derive their modern name from the circumstance of their being usually placed at the distance of a Roman mile from each other. They were quadrangular buildings, differing somewhat in size, but usually measuring from sixty to seventy feet in each direction. With two exceptions, they have been placed against the southern face of the Wall; the castle at Portgate, every trace of which is now obliterated, and another near ÆSICA, the foundations of which may, with some difficulty, still be traced, seem to have projected equally to the north and south of the Wall. Though generally placed about seven furlongs from each other, the nature of the ground, independently of distance, has frequently determined the spot of their location. Whenever the Wall has had occasion to traverse a river or a mountain pass, a mile-castle has uniformly been placed on the one side or other to guard the defile. The mile-towers have generally had but one gate of entrance, which was of very substantial masonry, and was uniformly placed in the centre of the south wall; the most perfect specimen now remaining, however, has a northern, as well as a southern gateway. It is not easy to conjecture what were the internal arrangements of these buildings; probably they afforded little accommodation beyond what their four strong walls and well-barred gates gave. Hodgson states that when the foundations of the castle northeast of Housesteads were removed in 1832, the remains of an inner wall were seen, all round, parallel to the outer walls. He hence infers that the space between the walls has been roofed, and the centre uncovered. Deferring the further discussion of this subject until, in the course of our local description, we arrive at the most perfect specimen remaining—the mile-castle near Cawfields—the reader is meanwhile referred to the lithograph which depicts this interesting remain.

[Sidenote: THE TURRETS OR WATCH TOWERS.]

Between the mile-castles, four subsidiary buildings, generally denominated TURRETS or WATCH TOWERS, were placed. They were little more than stone sentry-boxes. It is with much difficulty that they can now be traced. Horsley, in his day, complained that ‘scarce three of them could be made out in succession.’ Would that the modern antiquary could make the same lamentation! Scarcely one along the whole line can with certainty be determined. They contained an interior space of eight or ten feet square. Horsley states the distance between them to have been three hundred and eight yards—the whole number would consequently be three hundred and twenty. Though small buildings, they were, like all the works of the Romans, built for perpetuity. Hodgson found the walls of one near Birdoswald to be nearly three feet thick. Such were the buildings provided for the lodgement and security of the cohorts, whose hard lot it was to guard this frontier barrier. A plan of Cilurnum, and the works in its vicinity, taken from Warburton’s Vallum Romanum, in Plate II., exhibits these arrangements, and shews, as he remarks, how the Wall and the Vallum, the stations, turrets, and castles, yielded mutual assistance to each other.

[Sidenote: THE MILITARY WAY.]

But all these arrangements were not enough; without ROADS, one important element in the strength of the Great Barrier would have been wanting. Nothing economizes military force more effectually than the possession of means for quickly concentrating all available resources upon any point that the enemy may select for attack. The advance of Roman armies, and the formation of roads, were uniformly contemporaneous. The Barrier had its MILITARY WAY. It is impossible to over-estimate the importance of this part of the works. Without it, all the rest would have been useless. It would not, perhaps, be incorrect to say that both Vallum and Wall were subsidiary to it, and that the chief use of these structures was to guard the road, and to protect and conceal from view, both on the north and south, the troops that marched along it. The modern history of the district traversed by the Wall furnishes a singular corroboration of this opinion. In the rebellion of 1715, the operations of the royalist forces were greatly impeded by the absence of a good road between Newcastle and Carlisle. In the rebellion of 1745, a similar inconvenience was experienced. Marshal Wade was at Newcastle when the Pretender appeared before the city of Carlisle. The commandant of the city immediately sent an express to inform him of his position. The general’s answer contained these words:—

Newcastle, November 10th, 1745, 7 o’clock.

GENTLEMEN,

I have just now the favour of your letter by express, with an account
of the Rebels’ approach near your city. The spirit and resolution with
which you exert yourselves is very commendable, and I hope will
contribute to disappoint the Rebels of any design they may have formed
against you. ..... _I cannot follow them, the way they may probably
take being impassable for Artillery_ ..... but I hope to meet them in
Lancashire, and make them repent of their rashness. ... I wish you all
imaginable success,

And am, Gentlemen, your
Most obedient humble servant,
GEORGE WADE.[35]

[Sidenote: THE IMPORTANCE OF MILITARY ROADS.]

Thus, for want of a military road across the Isthmus, the importance of which had been perceived by the Romans sixteen centuries previously, the safety of the kingdom was perilled, and a hostile force permitted to pour itself into the heart of England. After such terrible warnings, government at last interfered, and an act of Parliament was passed which set forth in the preamble:—

Whereas the making and keeping a free and open communication between
the city of Carlisle and the town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, by a road
for the passage of troops, horses, and carriages, at all times of the
year, would be of great use and service to the public, and it hath
been found by experience, that the want of such road, passage, and
communication, hath been attended with great inconvenience and danger
to this kingdom. ....: Be it enacted, &c.

The road now known in the district by the name of the Military Road was accordingly made at the public expense. It is not a little remarkable that it takes precisely the track which the engineers of Rome had so many centuries before selected. In the map of the Wall which accompanies this work, the modern military road is delineated.

The importance of a good road, protected by military posts at short intervals, in securing the tranquillity of a turbulent district, is strikingly shewn in another instance. That part of the great highway between Madrid and Cadiz which crosses the wild hills of the Sierra barrier, was formerly left to the robber and the wolf, without roads or villages. A road, admirably planned, was at length executed by Charles Le Maur, an able engineer in the service of Charles III. The task of guarding it was the difficulty next to be overcome. For this purpose, Spain, who had colonized the new world, and expelled her rich Jews and industrious Moors, was compelled to resort to foreign assistance. In 1768, a colony of Germans and Swiss settled upon the line on condition of maintaining a constant guard.[36] This is done to the present day. Several consecutive towns, such as Carolina, in Andalusia, are occupied by people speaking nothing but the German language, and regular patrols are constantly on the move from one town to another. These Germans have their land in better order and cultivation than the Spaniards. This Spanish highway, with its stations at regular intervals, with its foreign guards, who from generation to generation maintain the tongue and the habits of their fatherland, presents too many points of resemblance to the manner in which the northern frontier of Roman power in Britain was defended, to be passed over without obtaining at least this brief notice.

[Sidenote: MILITARY ROADS.]

Gordon, in his Itinerarium Septentrionale, says, that two military ways belonged to the Barrier; a small Military Way a little to the south of the Wall, and, beyond it, the Great Military Way. In addition to these, Horsley enumerates a third, which he calls the Old Military Way. Horsley conceives that the north rampart of the Vallum constitutes the road which was used by Agricola and Hadrian in transporting their troops from station to station, and that when Severus built the Wall, he formed a new road—the great military way—which pursued an independent course, sometimes coinciding with the old road, but more frequently keeping nearer to the Wall. That there may have been a path-way immediately under the Wall which went from turret to turret, on which the Roman sentries marched with slow and measured pace, when they did not choose to expose themselves upon the parapets of the Wall, is not improbable; though we now look in vain for any traces of it. But that the north agger of the Vallum was thrown up either by Agricola or Hadrian to serve the purposes of a road, is a proposition too startling to be received even on the authority of the learned Horsley. In some places, indeed, it is sufficiently flattened to admit of the passage of traffic along it, but in the greater part of the course where the works of the Vallum are not under cultivation, the rampart is too conical, too narrow, and too ragged, to admit of such a use. Excepting in those situations, where stones are mingled with the whole mass of the agger, it exhibits no signs of having been paved.[37] The manner in which all the ramparts of the Vallum on Tepper Moor are encumbered with blocks of basalt, clearly shews, that here at least there has been no road. Besides, few who trace the lines of the Vallum from sea to sea, and observe their complete parallelism, will be able to resist the conclusion, that the whole of the works were contemporaneous; whereas, Horsley’s theory ascribes part to Agricola, and part to Hadrian: moreover, it may be added, that so much do the northern and the southernmost aggers resemble each other, that unbiassed observers will scarcely entertain a doubt, that they have been thrown up to serve a precisely similar purpose.

[Sidenote: THE MILITARY WAY.]

Happily, there is no room for doubt respecting the other road, which Horsley calls Severus’ Greater Military Way, as in the untilled districts of the country it may be traced for several consecutive miles; and if we receive the theory, that the Murus and Vallum are one work, there is no need to seek for any other.

[Sidenote: CONSTRUCTION OF THE ROAD.]

THE MILITARY WAY is usually about seventeen feet wide, and is composed of rubble so arranged as to present a rounded surface, elevated in its centre a foot or eighteen inches above the adjoining ground. When carried along the slope of a hill, the hanging side is made up by large kerb-stones. In most places where it still remains, it is completely grass-grown, but may, notwithstanding, be easily distinguished from the neighbouring ground by the colour of its herbage, the dryness of its substratum allowing the growth of a finer description of plant. For the same reason, a sheep-track generally runs along it. For the accommodation of the soldiery, the road went from castle to castle, and so, from station to station. In doing this, it did not always keep close to the Wall, but took the easiest path between the required points. In traversing the precipitous grounds between Sewingshields and Thirlwall, the ingenuity of the engineer has been severely tried; but most successfully has he performed his task. Whilst, as previously observed, the Wall shoots over the highest and steepest summits, the road pursues its tortuous course from one platform of the rock to another, so as to bring the traveller from mile-castle to mile-castle by the easiest possible gradients. Often has it been my lot to notice how naturally, towards the close of a fatiguing day’s march, the less zealous of our exploring party, more anxious to select an easy track than to keep close companionship with the Wall, have, most unconsciously, pursued the route of the Roman way. But, notwithstanding all the art of the engineer, the steepness of the road in some places is such, that most of our modern carmen, with all their boasted skill, would be greatly puzzled if required to traverse it with a waggon laden with military stores.[38]

[Sidenote: ADDITIONAL ROAD.]

Although the road now described has probably been the only carriage-way between the two great lines of fortification, another, situated to the south of them, has afforded direct communication between some of the inland stations. From CILURNUM to MAGNA, the Wall forms a curved line, in order to gain the highest hills of the district. For the accommodation of those whose business did not require them to call at any intermediate point, a road went, like the string of a bow, direct from the one station to the other. This road, which is shewn in Plate II., went near the modern village of Newburgh, where Roman remains are occasionally found, and passed by the north gate of VINDOLANA, Chesterholm, near to which a Roman mile-stone still stands. Some portions of the ancient pavement still remain near Morwood. It is probable that this Roman Military Way was further continued, south of the Wall, direct to Stanwix.

[Sidenote: SPEAKING TUBES IN THE WALL.]

If tradition is to be credited, the Romans were not satisfied with roads as a means of rapidly communicating information; speaking-trumpets or pipes, we are told, ran along the whole length of the Wall. Of this, Drayton, long ago, sang in his Polyolbion—

Townes stood upon my length, where garrisons were laid Their limits to
defend; and for my greater aid, With turrets I was built, where
sentinels were plac’d To watch upon the Pict; so me my makers grac’d
With hollow pipes of brasse, along me still they went, By which they
in one fort still to another sent, By speaking in the same, to tell
them what to doe, And soe from sea to sea could I be whispered
through.

Sir Christopher Ridley, in his letter tells us, that—

In this Wall was theyr a trunck of brass, or whatever kynd of mettal,
which went from one place to another along the Wall, and came into the
Captaynes chamber, whereat they had watchers for the same, and yf
theyr had bene stryfe or business betwyxt the enemies, and that the
watchmen did blow a horn in at the end of the truncke that came into
the chamber, and so from one to one; there was certayn money payed
yearly to the mantenance of this trunck by the inhabitants theyrabout,
and doith yet pay to some gentilmen in Northymberland, the which money
is called horn-geld money.[39]

[Sidenote: THE THEORY PROBABLY INCORRECT.]

Camden also refers to this curious tradition. Once, but only once, have I met with this story in my own rambles. Such myths will not long outlive the introduction of the electric telegraph. ‘There are no old people upon the Wall now,’ as a man of three-score lately said to me, when I was endeavouring to persuade him to gather up from his still more ancient neighbour the fire-side lore of by-gone times.

It is curious to observe that a similar statement is made respecting the BARRIER of the UPPER ISTHMUS. A correspondent writes—

One old man told me, that when he was young, on digging through one of
the wall stations—at Upper Croy—they came upon stone pipes, laid
horizontally in the soil, and joined at the ends like those for water.
From the elevation of the place, it is quite obvious that they could
not be water conduits. This old person said that the idea he had heard
‘learned people’ give of these pipes, was, that they were for speaking
through. That the pipes were found, and made of stone, not clay, is
certain.

Pipes of lead are occasionally met with in the ruins of the stations, and pipes of burnt clay are of very frequent occurrence. To this circumstance the tradition probably owes its rise. They are not, however, found in the Wall, and when placed in the stations, seem to have served a different purpose. One use to which the tile-tubes have been put has been the transmission of warm air throughout an apartment. The walls of one of the chambers of the ‘baths’ at HUNNUM were lined with them. Others may have been used, especially in high situations, for collecting rain-water from the roofs of the dwellings, and conveying it to cisterns. Besides, the inutility of the contrivance militates against the probability of its adoption: the sentinels at their posts could easily transmit hasty intelligence from end to end, by the voice or by horns, without pipes imbedded in the Wall, which, even if constructed, would probably be useless for such a purpose.

This traditionary fiction is probably of more than mediæval antiquity. Xiphiline, in his life of Severus, tells some such marvellous tale about the towers of Byzantium.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: THE MASONRY OF THE WALL.]

A description of the MASONRY of the erections which have passed in review before us will conclude this general examination of the Barrier.

The following extract of a letter with which I have been favoured by Robert Rawlinson, esq., Inspector of the Board of Health, will form an excellent introduction to the subject.

I have several times thought over the subject of the Roman Wall since
I had the pleasure of seeing you. The Romans constructed works with
many different kinds of masonry; no doubt all chosen to suit the
material used, the place, and the skill of the builders. In Rome, and
Italy generally, works of great magnificence were constructed, when
the art displayed was equal to the grandeur of the design. Such a work
was the famed Arch of Trajan, the Arch of Septimius Severus, the Arch
of Constantine, the Baths of Diocletian, and others. In these works,
construction of the highest order was used, and the sculptor emulated
the architect. The lettered altars and sculptured figures found on the
line of ‘the Wall’ must not be compared with the best workmanship of
Rome.

[Sidenote: NATIVE LABOURERS EMPLOYED.]

I am quite satisfied, in my own mind, that the general character of
the work on the Wall was adapted to suit the time, the country, and
more especially, the labourers employed on the work. The Wall, being a
work of defence, had to be constructed in haste; the country was wild,
rude, and without roads, excepting such as the Romans caused to be
made. This ‘caused to be made’ is I think, the key to the character of
the masonry chosen.... The form of construction is the easiest and
strongest which rude, uneducated men could accomplish; and, with good
mortar, such as the Romans knew so well how to make, is the kind of
work calculated to endure for centuries, as we find it has done....
The works of the Wall I consider to have been chiefly constructed by
the natives, under the armed superintendence and teaching of the
soldier. The Roman knew no right but that of the conqueror; his object
was conquest for use; use of the land, and the labour that was upon
it. The Roman soldier was a fighting animal, and was so far civilized
as to know how to make the comparative savage do his work upon his
plan, and this was shaped to suit the labour used. Consider the length
of the Wall, and the extent of the works upon it, and it will be seen
that for the army to have constructed it, would have been to have kept
them constantly working instead of watching and fighting.