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

The Tribune,

Erected this.

A plain, square, but now partially fractured, pillar, inscribed, ROMAE AETERNAE ET FORTVNAE REDVCI, is reserved to form the concluding cut on the last page of this volume. It is a striking memorial at once of the aspiring pretensions and blighted prospects of the imperial city. A boar, the symbol of the twentieth legion, exhibiting more than the usual spirit, forms the vignette at the close of this Part; and the slab which bears testimony to the labours which the second, and twentieth, legion underwent in constructing the works of this station, is introduced at the close of the Part devoted to the discussion of the question ‘Who built the Wall?’ There is preserved in the piazza at Nether Hall, a carving in relief of a warrior on horseback trampling on a fallen enemy; the drawing is not strictly correct, but is very spirited, and the foreshortening of the horse’s head remarkably good. Besides these, there are several large and instructive altars and funereal slabs, as well as a tablet having a Greek inscription to this effect—Aulus Egnatius Pastor set up this to Æsculapius.

The minor antiquities consist of fragments of tiles, one of which bears the stamp of the first cohort of the Spaniards, a bronze pot bearing a marked resemblance to some which are in modern use, several earthenware vessels of large size, and quite perfect, implements of iron, and weapons of war. Amongst the coins which have been found in the station, are a great many forged denarii of Trajan and Hadrian. They are chiefly formed of lead, and are badly made; in some instances the metal has not reached the centre of the mould, and in scarcely any have the edges of the casting been properly dressed. Genuine coin must have been exceedingly scarce among the soldiery of the camp, and their credulity very great, to allow of the circulation of such base imitations.

ANCIENT BARROW.

A large artificial mound or barrow is to the left of the station. The inhabitants had an old tradition respecting it; they conceived it to be the sepulchre of a king. It was opened in 1763; near its centre ‘the pole and shank bones of an ox’ were found, but neither urns, burnt bones, nor coins, were discovered.

There is great uncertainty about the ancient name of this fort. Camden pronounced it to be Olenacum, chiefly influenced by the resemblance in sound between it and the name of the neighbouring village of Ellenborough (Maryport is but of recent origin). This supposition gathers force from the fact that in ancient documents the river Ellen, which gives name to the place, is written ‘Alne’ and ‘Olne.’

PAPCASTLE is about six miles south-east of Maryport. Numerous relics of antiquity have been found here, but little now remains to mark it out as the site of a Roman station except its extraordinary fertility. The town of Cockermouth, a mile to the south of the fort, is supposed to have risen from its ruins.

The forts which we have already examined may be thought sufficient to support the line of the Wall. The peculiar circumstances of its western extremity will perhaps justify us in reckoning Moresby, notwithstanding its distance from the Wall, among the out-stations of the Barrier. Not only does the Scottish coast, by projecting considerably beyond the western termination of the Wall, facilitate the invasion of the intra-mural portion of the island—but Ireland, the native land of the Scoto-Celts, is nigh at hand. It was necessary to prevent, not only the inhabitants of Caledonia landing on the coast of Cumberland, but the ‘Scots,’ also, who at that time ‘poured out of Ireland.’ Another sea-port station, south of Maryport, was therefore requisite.

CAMP AT MORESBY.