And Hughie of Hawdon, and Will o’ the Wall,
Have set on Sir Albany Featherstonhaugh,
And taken his life at the Deadman’s-shaw.’—
It is not generally known that this ‘ancient ditty,’ which sir Walter Scott gives at length in a note as a genuine antique, is a modern fabrication, the production of his correspondent Surtees, the historian of Durham. The ballad, however, breathes the very spirit of the fierce borderers, or it would not have deceived so accomplished an antiquary as Scott.
The walls of the castle are nine feet thick, and are faced, both inside and outside, with stones taken from the Roman Wall. It is a singular thing to see a building, formed out of a prior structure, itself in ruins, and becoming a prey to yet more modern depredators. The stones remain meanwhile, whether in the primeval structure, or in those of mediæval and recent date, as good as ever. Brand observes—
There is built up near the inn at Glenwhelt, a most barbarous, gigantic head of stone, which is most certainly not Roman. It came from Thirlwall Castle, and has no doubt belonged to some of those hideous figures made use of anciently in such castles to frighten the distant enemy.
Brand’s original still graces the vicinity of the inn, and its effigy, this page. Its ugliness is no proof that it is not Roman; but, after all, whose beauty would not be tarnished by exposure such as it has endured?
CENTRAL REGION OF THE BARRIER.
That portion of the line which lies between the Tipalt and the Irthing is probably weaker than any other between Wallsend and Bowness. Not only is the ground flat, but it is destitute of the aid which copious rivers give it, both at its eastern and western extremities. Throughout the whole of this district, both barriers keep close together. Except in the neighbourhood of Rose-hill, no portion of the stone Wall remains in all this tract.