The Roman Wall / A historical, topographical, and descriptive account of the barrier of the lower isthmus, extending from the Tyne to the Solway, deduced from numerous personal surveys

by J. Collingwood Bruce

MONEY-HOLES.

The site of a mile-castle nearly opposite Lanercost Priory, is termed Money-holes, in consequence of the efforts made to discover some treasure supposed to be concealed in it. At Crag-hill the north ditch is very bold. At Hayton-gate, a drove road, probably an ancient pass, crosses the line of the Wall from north to south. At Randilands the north fosse is still well developed. After crossing the rivulet, called Burtholme-beck, a piece of the Wall is seen, which stands about seven feet high; its facing-stones are gone, but the rough pebbly mortar possesses its original tenacity. As is often the case, the ruin is tufted with hazel bushes and stunted specimens of the alder and oak. The Vallum is about seventy yards to the south of the Wall.

Approaching Low-wall,[^[126]] something like an out-work appears on the north side of the Barrier. Has there been a double line of wall here? After crossing a road, denominated Friar-wain-gate, which leads from Bewcastle to Lanercost, we reach another house called Wall; Roman masons might claim many of the stones as theirs. At How-gill is a cottage, where probably a mile-castle stood to defend the ‘beck,’ In the modern structure may be observed stones broached in the Roman fashion, and others variously tooled by Roman hands.

The farm-house of Dove-cote is on the eastern bank of the King-water. The fosse and the foundation of the Murus are seen crossing the hill on the northern side of the summit: the Vallum, which is indistinctly marked, probably took a corresponding position on the southern side.

WALTON.

The village of Walton, by its very name, bears testimony to its relationship with the great Barrier-line. Many of the stones of the Wall may be detected in its cottages. One of its dwellings furnishes a good specimen of the mode of cottage-building formerly prevalent in the North. The rafters of the house, which consist of large and rudely-shaped pieces of timber, instead of resting upon the walls, come down to the ground; they are tied together near the top by a transverse beam, and the mud walls, as well as the thatched roof, partially depend upon them for support. Horsley says, 'at Wal-town there seems to have been some fortification or encampment. One side of the square is yet very visible, and the ramparts pretty large, about eighty yards long. It is high ground and dry. Perhaps it has been a summer encampment or exploratory post for the garrison at Cambeck.'

At Sandysike farm-house the foundation of the Wall as well as abundant traces of mural vicinage are to be seen. The barn consists of Roman stones marked with the diamond-broaching. Several sculptured stones are built up in the garden-wall; amongst them is one which displays the thunderbolt of Jove; the wall-fruit peacefully rests upon it. Another, exhibiting the wheel of Nemesis, the emblem of swift justice, and which no doubt once formed part of an altar to Jupiter, is built into a pig-sty. A mill-stone of peculiar shape, and closely resembling one at Naworth Castle, is preserved on the grounds; it is probably Roman.

PETRIANA.

PETRIANA, the Cambeck-fort of Horsley, and the Castle-steads of the locality, is to the south of the Vallum and Wall. A deep scar separates it from the lines of the Barrier. The site of the station may be recognised, but it is long since its ramparts were overthrown, and the ruined buildings of the interior entirely obliterated.

Its rich soil and sunny exposure recommended it to the father of the present proprietor of Walton-house as a fitting site for a garden, and such it is at the present day. It has yielded many altars and|CAMBECK-FORT.| sculptured stones, some of which are still preserved upon the spot, and from time to time the spade still reveals to the numismatist, treasures, over the loss of which, Romans in ancient days may have mourned, though not in a degree proportioned to their present value. Wood-cuts of three of the coins which have been found at Castlesteads are here introduced, as they commemorate the family of a man whose name is intimately connected with the Wall. They are in the cabinet of Robert Bell, esq., of Irthington.