It has already been observed (p. [261]) that two aqueducts have brought water to the station from a distance of some miles. This is the more remarkable as several deep wells have been found near the camp, and there are open springs within fifty paces from the south and east wall.
The surrounding moor abounds in iron-stone; of this the Romans seem to have availed themselves, for immense heaps of slag, of ancient production, have been found in the neighbourhood.
BINCHESTER is still farther to the south, on the same line of road; but, on account of its distance, would have but little intercourse with the stations immediately connected with the Barrier. It contains some hypocausts, which are peculiarly worthy of careful examination.
Retracing our steps and again penetrating the region of fierce Caledonian onslaughts and border feuds, we find Bewcastle occupying a position north of the Wall, on the Maiden-way, corresponding with that which Risingham does on Watling-street.
BEWCASTLE.
BEWCASTLE stands in the bottom of a basin formed by a wide amphitheatre of bleak and lofty hills. The camp occupies a platform slightly elevated above the rivulet, the Kirkbeck, which washes its southern ramparts and permeates the valley. The northern side is the weakest part of the position, but even here there is a depression in the contour of the ground, which would render it more easily defensible. In this quarter too there are marks of artificial fortifications beyond the station wall. The fort, in order to suit the nature of the ground, is not of the usual square form, but is six-sided; it probably encloses an area of about four acres. The ground on which the camp stands is reckoned the most fertile in all Cumberland. It was in the depth of winter that I visited it (1, Jan. 1850) but even then the space occupied by the fortifications might be distinguished by its peculiar verdure. To the east of the camp are some barrow-like mounds, and on the west of it are terraced lines, bearing testimony to the agricultural industry of the Romans. On the eminence westward of the camp are the foundations of square buildings, probably posts of observation. On the lofty summits of some of the adjacent hills the concentric lines of British encampments plainly appear. They still seem to bid defiance to the Roman fort in the valley.
Within the lines of the camp, and protected by a moat of its own, is a dark and frowning castle; it is tersely described in an ancient manuscript, ‘as a strength against the Scots in time of warre.’ The captain of Bewcastle was a military chief of considerable power; he is frequently mentioned in Border minstrelsy. The castle is built with the stones of the station. Its masonry is very rude; the mortar which has been used is rough, containing, besides gravel and sand, pieces of coal, charcoal, burnt clay, and broken bricks. A tower, apparently added after the main structure was reared, guards the entrance-gateway.
This, or some previous building, gives name to Bewcastle—Bueth’s-castle.
Bueth was, before the conquest, lord of Bewcastle and Gilsland. After some previous changes, Henry II., by a grant, dated ‘apud Novum Castrum super Tynam,’ gave the manor of Gilsland to Hubert de Vallibus, one of his Norman retainers. The Saxons were not men quietly to submit to wrong. Gilbert Bueth, son of the dispossessed proprietor, collecting a band of followers, made frequent incursions into his ancient patrimony. Robert de Vallibus, son of Hubert, the former possessor, suggested a conference, at which he basely assassinated the unarmed Saxon. Expiation was easy; the|ORIGIN OF LANERCOST PRIORY.| priory of Lanercost was founded and richly endowed. It is traditionally said that part of the expiatory ceremony consisted in the demolition of the walls of his castle at Castle-steads (Cambeck-fort), and sowing the site with salt. The baronial residence was transferred to Irthington, where, as already observed, some traces of it remain. Robert de Vallibus was afterwards employed by Henry II. as a judge of assize. How lax must the state of morality have been, when a murderer was allowed to sit upon the bench! His ill-gotten lands were not permitted to descend to his posterity, William, his only child, dying before him.
The far-famed Runic cross, respecting which so much has been written, holds its ancient place in the church-yard of Bewcastle. The inscription, which is now hardly legible, is pronounced by Kemble (Archæologia xxviii. 347) to be an Anglo-Saxon, not a Norse one. Two Roman inscriptions, not now to be found, have been described as belonging to this station. One of them, which Camden saw used as a grave-stone, bore the letters,