Hadrian's Wall

by Jessie Mothersole

PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION

Since the first appearance of this book, a very important event has occurred in the history of Hadrian's Wall. It has been definitely recognized as a monument of national importance, to be scheduled and protected under the authority of the Office of Works. This means that owners and occupiers of the lands over which it extends will be powerless to interfere with it, unless by the authority of the Department, and that they will be liable for the repair of any damage that may be done to it.

It is not too much to say that this marks the greatest epoch in the history of the Wall since, at the end of the fourth century, it ceased to be garrisoned, and was allowed to fall into disrepair. Neglect or wanton destruction fell to its share for fourteen hundred years. Now the Office of Works has set the seal on the tireless efforts of Mr. John Clayton and Dr. Collingwood Bruce, who would indeed have rejoiced to see this day.

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Important discoveries have been made at several points along the line of the Wall during the last three years.

The site of the fort at Burgh-by-sands was definitely located by Mr. W. G. Collingwood, F.S.A., and Mr. R. G. Collingwood, F.S.A., in 1922. Since 1903, when the main road was "up" for drainage purposes and no Roman remains were found, the very existence of the fort had been questioned.

But excavation has resulted in the discovery of the east gate, lying just north of Hadrian's Wall, on the edge of the main road, which represents roughly the via principalis. Stone barrack-buildings were also traced, running north and south, and the fort was proved to have lain across the line of Hadrian's Wall, as did Cilurnum. The main road is a cutting, below the level of any Roman remains. The stones of some of the fort walls had rotted so completely that the spade cut quite through them, and thus my scepticism about "perishing stones" in the neighbourhood was rebuked (p. 207). The Church at Burgh probably occupies the site of one of the central buildings, perhaps of a granary, the massive stones from which would be very handy for the Church-builders.

Hadrian's Wall was found to join the main road a little to the east of the Vicarage, from which point the road is laid partly on the Wall's foundations, and partly on its berm, up to the junction of Wall and fort.

A site known as Old Castle, about 200 yards eastward from the fort, marks the position of the mediæval castle of Sir Hugh de Morville, built, no doubt, of stones from the Wall and fort. The remains of a small Roman bridge, which carried the Military Way over the Powburgh Beck, are to be seen some 300 yards east of the Old Castle.

At Rudchester, Mr. Parker Brewis, F.S.A., has directed excavations of the fort of Vindobala. It was found to be similar in plan to Cilurnum, lying across the Wall, and with six gates. Three out of the five chambers of the headquarters buildings were uncovered, including the Chapel of the Standards with the treasury beneath; and there was also found the largest granary yet known in the north of England.

Both portals of the double west gate, and also the west portal of the south gate, were found to have been built up as early as the middle of the second century.

The Excavation Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-on-Tyne, appointed in February 1924, has been enlarged into "The North of England Excavation Committee," which hopes to open up other sites on the Wall during 1925, with Mr. Parker Brewis still as Director. A detailed report of the work at Rudchester will shortly be published.

Below Birdoswald, Dr. R. C. Shaw, of Manchester University, is, as I write, completing the excavation of the bridge over the Irthing, referred to on [page 163]. No trace has been discovered of any western abutment, and it has therefore presumably been washed away by the strong current of the river; but on the eastern side a whole series of abutments has been uncovered. The course of the river is now much farther west than it was in Roman times, and it was evidently necessary in their day to rebuild the abutments farther and farther west as the river receded in that direction.

The remains of these abutments are most impressive, and Hadrian's Wall has been found standing up to nine courses of stones.

The stages of the work appear to be as follows:

I. A very interesting feature, and one likely to give rise to much discussion, is the discovery of a 10-foot thick wall, of earlier date than the Great Wall, and ending in an abutment which is also 10 feet thick. The bridge starting from this abutment could only have been wide enough to carry the rampart-walk. Farther inland this wall has been found to a height of one or two courses of stone above the foundations.

II. Here a wall of superior masonry, of the character usually associated with Hadrian's Wall, has been built, 7½ feet wide, on the lower courses of the earlier wall, the original wall having been allowed to remain near the water. The new wall was found to be accompanied by a road about 14 feet wide, which was carried up to an abutment of large masonry blocks—re-used material, apparently taken from the breastwork of the earlier abutment. The road has a gravel surface and a foundation of cobbles.

III. A tower, larger than the one at Chesters, was built on the top of the aforesaid road-abutment. Of its two floor-levels, the earlier, of clay, was Hadrianic or Antonine, later than the Wall, and earlier than the late Antonine rising. The second floor, of sand, was also probably second century, the two floors agreeing approximately with what are known as the 1aand 1b levels.

A new length of wall, westwards towards the river, was added when the tower was built, the abutment was reconstructed, and buttressed on the south side by a massive tapering breastwork.

IV. Possibly a rectangular abutment was added to the face of the tapering breastwork, but this phase is not yet clear.

V. A very massive curved abutment and a Water-pier, with stone pavement between them, were constructed still farther west, forming an open sluice. The character of this work suggests the time of Severus or later in the third century.

VI. The open sluice was filled with gravel and stones, sealed down with a layer of lime; probably in the fourth century.

Since the work is still in progress, these notes can only indicate the stage reached up to 17th November 1924.

Dr. Shaw has also excavated two Wall-turrets, one behind the byre of Willowford farm-house, which has been left uncovered, and another nearer Gilsland. The Wall was found to have been thickened to 10 feet in width in the neighbourhood of the turrets.

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The question has often been raised as to whether it is better to walk the Wall from east to west (as I did) or from west to east. I am an "East-to-Wester" all the time. It is far pleasanter to end the walk on the seashore of a picturesque fishing-village than in the smoky suburbs of a great industrial city.

And has not the trend of humanity always been westward? ... "A kind of heavenly destiny," says Wordsworth in his "Stepping Westward."

It is almost certain that the Romans worked westward in building the Wall. As their first fine enthusiasm began perhaps to wane, they found it necessary to call in the help of tribes from Devon and Cornwall, and from near London, and also of men of the fleet. Inscribed stones have been found at Netherby near Carlisle, and at Triermain near Birdoswald, giving evidence that men of the Classis Britannica worked on the Wall at the western end; and other stones, at Holmhead and at Howgill, give the names of two southern tribes, the Dumnonii and the Catuvellauni, suggesting that they also helped at this end.

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Following Dr. Collingwood Bruce, I have called the road from Newcastle to Carlisle "Wade's Road." This is a mistake, for General Wade died in 1748, as his monument in Westminster Abbey shows, and the road was not made until 1753. The Act of Parliament authorizing it was passed in 1750.

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In conclusion, I must add a few words about the purpose of the Wall. On [page 23], I have said: "No one ever doubts what it was meant to be or to do." This is true, in the sense that the Wall, in its perfect condition, would cry aloud to all comers, "Thus far and no farther." It was essentially a barrier. But the old idea that it was intended to be used as a fighting-ground is exploded. It had been built two centuries before the Romans could have practised bow-and-arrow warfare, such as Kipling describes in "Puck of Pook's Hill." The auxiliaries were then armed only with the usual short sword and heavy throwing-spear, quite unsuitable weapons for warfare from a wall; and the width of the Wall was insufficient for the use of catapults and ballistæ.

No; the Wall was an elevated sentry-walk, a continuous look-out tower; it was a guarantee that no one could enter Roman territory without Roman permission. When the sentries on the Wall gave warning of an attack from the north, the cohorts from the forts would not line up on the Wall; they would fling wide the northern gates, and march out to meet the enemy in the open. The whole question is very interestingly discussed in an article on "The Purpose of the Roman Wall," by Mr. R. G. Collingwood, in No. VIII. of The Vasculum.