Northumberland Yesterday And To Day by Jean F. Terry (read aloud books .txt) 📖
- Author: Jean F. Terry
Book online «Northumberland Yesterday And To Day by Jean F. Terry (read aloud books .txt) 📖». Author Jean F. Terry
The Tribune Of The First Cohort Of Dacians, Styled Aelia, 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 Lingones At Congavata.
The Tribune Of The First Cohort Of Spaniards At Axelodunum.
The Tribune Of The Second Cohort Of The Thracians At Gabrosentum.
The Tribune Of The First Marine Cohort, Styled Aelia, At Tunnocelum.
The Tribune Of The First Cohort Of The Morini At Glannibanta.
The Tribune Of The Third Cohort Of The Nervians 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 Nervians At Virosidum.
Of These Stations, With Their Officers And Troops, Only Those As Far As
Magna Are In Northumberland; The Rest Continue The Chain Of Defences
Across Cumberland To The Solway Firth. Besides These Stations, There
Were _Castella_ At The Distance Of Every Roman Mile (Seven Furlongs)
Along The Wall, From Which Circumstance They Are Known As
"Mile-Castles." They Provided Accommodation For The Troops Necessary
Between The Stations, Which Were At Some Distance From Each Other; And
Between Each Two _Castella_ There Were Also Erected Two Turrets, So That
Communication From One End Of The Wall To The Other Was Speedy And
Certain.
All Traces Of The Station Of Segedunum (Wallsend) Have Long Since
Disappeared; The Wall From There, Beginning Actually In The Bed Of The
River, Ran Almost Parallel With The N.E.R. Tynemouth Branch, A Little To
The South Of It, And Climbing The Hill To Byker, Went Down The Slope To
The Ouseburn Parallel With Shields Road, Crossing The Burn Just A Little
To The South Of Byker Bridge. From There Its Course Has Been Traced To
Red Barns, Where St. Dominic's Now Stands, To The Sallyport Gate, And
Over The Wall Knoll To Pilgrim Street; Thence To The West Door Of The
Cathedral, And On Past St. John's Church, Up Westgate Road.
The Station At Pons Aelii, It Is Generally Agreed, Occupied The Ground
Between The Cathedral Church Of St. Nicholas And The Premises Of The
Lit. And Phil. Society. Following The Wall Up Westgate Road, We Are Now
Out Upon The Highway From Newcastle To Carlisle, Which, As We Have Seen,
Is Upon The Very Line Of The Wall For Nearly A Score Of Miles. At
Condercum (Benwell) The Next Station, Garrisoned By A Cavalry Corps Of
Asturians From Spain, A Small Temple Was Uncovered In The Course Of
Excavating, And Two Altars Found Still Standing In Their Original
Position. Both Of These Were To A Deity Unknown Elsewhere, Given As
Antenociticus On One, And As Anociticus On The Other. The Former Was
Erected By A Centurion Of The Twentieth Legion, The Valerian And
Victorious, Whose Crest, The Running Boar, We Shall Meet With More Than
Once In Our Journey.
Westward From Here, Near West Denton Lodge, Faint Indications Of The
Turf Wall (Generally Called The Vallum, To Distinguish It From The
Murus, Or Stone Wall), Come Into Sight, And Traces Of A Mile-Castle To
The Left Of The Road. After This The Vallum And Murus Accompany Each
Other For The Rest Of Their Journey, With But Little Intermission. The
Next Mile-Castle Was At Walbottle, From Which Point A Delightful View Of
The Tyne Valley And The Surrounding Country Can Be Obtained. Passing
Throckley And Heddon-On-The-Wall, Where The Fosse On The Northern Side
Of The Wall Is Well Seen, And Also The Vallum And Its Fosse, Vindolana
(Rutchester) Is Reached; But There Is Little Evidence Here That It Is
The Site Of A Once Busy And Bustling Garrison Station. Indeed, Up To
This Point And For A Considerable Distance Further, A Few Courses Of
Stones Here And There Are All That Is To Be Seen Of The Roman Wall, Its
Material Having For The Most Part Been Swallowed Up In The Construction
Of The Turnpike Road On Which We Are Travelling. This Road Was Made In
1745 Because There Was No Road By Which General Wade Could Convey His
Troops From Newcastle To Carlisle, When "Bonnie Prince Charlie" Marched
So Gaily To That City On His Way Southward, And So Sadly, In A Month,
Returned Again.
The Wall Now Makes For The Ridge Of Harlow Hill, While The Vallum Goes
On In A Perfectly Straight Line Past The Picturesque Whittle Dene And
The Waterworks, Until The Wall Joins It Again Near Welton, Where The
Old Pele-Tower Is Entirely Built Of Roman Stones. After Matfen Piers,
Where A Road To The Northward Leads To The Beautiful Little Village Of
Matfen, And One To The Southward To Corbridge, The Wall Passes Wall
Houses And Halton Shields, Where The Various Lines Of The Wall, Road,
And Earthworks, As Well As The Fosse Of Each, Can Be Distinctly Seen.
Passing Carr Hill, The Wall Leads Up To The Station Of Hunnum (Halton
Chesters), Where Parnesius Was Stationed When Maximus Gave Him His
Commission On The Wall. It Is Not Easy To Recognise The Site Now, But As
We Follow The Road We May Comfort Ourselves With The Reflection That At
Least We Have Walked Right Across It From The Eastern Gate To The
Western.
A Short Distance Further On Is Stagshawbank, Famed For Its Fairs, The
Glory Of Which, However, Has Greatly Departed Since The Days When Dandie
Dinmont Had Such Adventures On Returning From "Staneshiebank." It Stands
Just Where The Wall Crosses The Watling Street, Which Enters
Northumberland At Ebchester, And Crossing The Moors To Whittonstall,
Leads Down The Long Descent To Riding Mill; There Turning Westward To
Corbridge, It Comes Straight On To Stagshawbank, Leading Thence
Northwestward Past The Wall Through Redesdale To The Borders, Which It
Reaches At Ad Fines Camp, Or Chew Green, Where The Solitudes Of The
Cheviots And The Silence Of The Deserted Camp Are Soon To Be Startled By
The Rifle-Shots Of Territorials At Practice. West Of Stagshawbank The
Earthen Ramparts Are To Be Seen In Great Perfection.
As The Wall Nears Chollerford, One May See, A Little To The Northward,
The Little Chapel Of St. Oswald, Which, As We Have Seen In A Former
Chapter, Marks The Site Of The Battle Of Heavenfield. Just Before
Reaching This Point, There Is A Quarry To The South Of The Wall From
Which The Romans Obtained Much Building-Stone, And One Of Them Has Left
His Name Carved On One Of The Stones Left Lying There, Thus--(P)Etra
Flavi(I) Carantini--_The Stone Of Flavius Carantinus_.
At Plane Trees Field And At Brunton There Are Larger Pieces Of The Wall
Standing Than We Have Yet Seen. The Wall Now Parts Company With The
Highroad, Which Swerves A Little To The North In Order To Cross The Tyne
By Chollerford Bridge, While The Course Of The Wall Is Straight Ahead,
For The Present Bridge Is Not The One Built And Used By The Romans. That
Is In A Line With The Wall, And Therefore South Of The Present One; And
As We Have Already Noticed, Its Piers Can Be Seen Near The River Banks
When The River Is Low. A Diagram Of Its Position Is Given In Dr. Bruce's
_Handbook_.
The Wall Now Leads Up To The Gateway Of Cilurnum, Which We Have Already
Visited; And After Leaving The Park, It Goes On Up The Hill To Walwick.
Here It Is Rejoined By The Road, Which Now For Some Little Distance
Proceeds Actually On The Line Of The Wall, The Stones Of Which Can
Sometimes Be Seen In The Roadway. The Tower A Little Further On, On The
Hill Called Tower Tye, Or Taye, Was Not Built By The Romans, Although
Roman Stones Were Used In Its Erection; It Is Only About Two Hundred
Years Old.
At Black Carts Farm, Which The Wall Now Passes, The First Turret
Discovered On The Line Of The Wall After The Excavations Had Begun, And
Interest In The Subject Was Revived, Was Here Laid Bare By Mr. Clayton
In 1873. At Limestone Bank, Not Much Further On, The Fosse North Of The
Wall, And Also That Of The Vallum, Show A Skill In Engineering Such As
We Are Apt To Fancy Belongs Only To These Days Of Powerful Machinery,
And Explosives For Rending A Way Through The Hardest Rock. The Ditches
Have Both Been Cut Through The Solid Basalt, And Great Boulders Of It
Are Strewn Around; One Huge Mass, Weighing Many Tons, Has Been Hoisted
Out--By What Means, We Are Left To Wonder; And Another, Still In The
Ditch, Has The Holes, Intended For The Wedges Still Discernible.
A Mile Or So Further On Is Procolitia (Carrawburgh), Where Is The Famous
Well Presided Over By The Goddess Coventina, Whose Acquaintance We Have
Already Made At Cilurnum. The Remains Of The Station At Procolitia Are
By No Means To Be Compared With Those At Borcovicus Or Cilurnum; Very
Few Of Its Stones Are Yet Remaining. The Well Was The Most Interesting
Find At Procolitia. It Was Known To Be There, For Horsley Had Mentioned
It; But The Waters Which Supplied It Were Diverted In Consequence Of
Some Lead-Mining Operations. Then The Stream Formed By Its Overflow
Dried Up, Grass Grew Over Its Course And Over The Well, And It Was Lost
Sight Of Entirely. But The Same Thing Which Had Led To Its Disappearance
Was The Means Of Finding It Again. Some Lead Miners, Prospecting For
Another Vein Of Ore In The Neighbourhood, Happened To Dig In This Very
Spot, And Soon Struck The Stones Round The Mouth Of The Well. Mr.
Clayton Had It Properly Excavated, And Was Rewarded By Coming Not Only
Upon The Well, But A Rich Find Of Roman Relics Of All Kinds, Which Had
Either Been Thrown Pell-Mell Into It For Concealment In A Moment Of
Danger, Or, What Is More Likely, Been Thrown In During The Course Of
Ages As Votive Offerings To The Presiding Goddess Of The Well. There
Were Thousands Of Coins, Mostly Silver And Copper, With Four Gold Pieces
Among Them; And A Large Collection Of Miscellaneous Objects, Including
Vases, Shoes, Pearls, Ornaments, Altars And Inscribed Stones, All Of
Which Were Taken To Chesters. The Next Point Of Interest On The Wall Is
The Farmhouse Of Carraw, Which The Priors Of Hexham Abbey Once Used As A
Summer Retreat. A Little Further On, At Shield-On-The-Wall, Wade's Road
Crosses To The South Of The Earthen Lines, And Parts Company With The
Wall For A Little While, For The Latter Bends Northward To Take The High
Ridge, As Usual, While The Road And Vallum Continue In A Straight Line.
The Fragments Of A Mile-Castle Are Standing Just At The Point Where The
Wall Swerves Northward; Indeed, We Have Been Passing The Sites Of These
_Castella_, With Fragments More Or Less In Evidence All Along The Route,
But Those Which We Shall Now Encounter Are Much More Distinctly To Be
Seen Than Their Fellows On The Eastern Part Of The Journey, Many Of
Which Have Disappeared Altogether.
The High Crags Which Here Shoulder The Wall Are Part Of The Great Whin
Sill, An Intrusive Dyke Of Dolerite Which Stretches From Greenhead
Northeastward Across The County Nearly To Berwick. The Military Road
Here Leaves The Wall, With Which It Does Not Again Come Into Close
Contact Until Both Are Near Carlisle, Though In Several Places The Roman
Road Will Be Encountered Near The Wall In A Well-Preserved Condition.
The Wall Now Climbs Another Ascent To The Farmhouse Of Sewingshields,
Which Name Is Variously Explained As "Seven Shields," And As "The Shiels
(Shielings, Or Little Huts) By The Seugh" Or Hollow--The Hollow Being
The Fosse. Sewingshields Castle, Long Since Disappeared, Is The Scene Of
The Knight's Adventures In Sir Walter Scott's "Harold The Dauntless."
And Tradition Asserts That King Arthur, With Queen Guinevere And All The
Court, Lies In An Enchanted Sleep Beneath The Castle, Or At Least Its
Site. Not Only Is There No Castle, But The Wall Also Has Been Despoiled
To Supply The Material For Building The Farmhouse And Other Buildings In
The Neighbourhood. The Wall Climbs Unfalteringly Over The Crags, One
After The Other, Until The Wide Opening Of Busy Gap Is Reached. This
Being Such A Convenient Pass From North To South, It Was Naturally Used
Constantly By Raiders And Thieves; And Such An Unenviable Notoriety Did
It Possess, That To Call A Person A "Busy Gap Rogue" Was Sufficient To
Lay Oneself Open To An Action For Libel. Climbing The Next Slope We Look
Down On Broomlee Lough And Reach The Portion Of The Wall We Have Already
Noted--Borcovicus (Housesteads), Cuddy's Crag, Hot Bank Farmhouse, And
Crag; Lough.
The Course Of The Wall Continues, Past Milking Gap, Along The Rugged
Heights Of Steel Rig, Cat's Stairs, And Peel Crag, Till On Reaching
Winshields We Are At The Highest Point On The Line, 1,230 Feet Above The
Sea-Level. Dipping Down To Green Slack, The Wall Crosses The Valley
Called Lodham Slack,
Comments (0)