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

LICINIO PRISCO

LEG. AVG. PR. PR.

In Gough’s Camden, a stone, inscribed to Hadrian by the second legion, is stated to have been found at Middleby; and at Moresby we have the fine slab now at Whitehaven castle (p. [367]).

It will perhaps be said that these inscriptions prove nothing beyond the universally admitted facts, that many of the stations existed in Hadrian’s day, and that the Vallum was raised by him. The reply to this is, that several of them have been found at a distance from any station, and on the line of the Wall itself, and that too, in positions where it is farther removed than usual from the Vallum. The occurrence of three or four of them in mile-castles, seems to prove that they owed their position there to no accidental circumstance, and no one will deny that these mile-towers were contemporaneous with the Wall.

INSCRIPTIONS TO SEVERUS.

The force of these remarks will more clearly appear after ascertaining what inscriptions bear the name of Severus. If we turn to the inquiry with the impression that he built the more important member of the Barrier, we might expect to find the evidences of the activity which prevailed in his day more abundant than in the time of Hadrian. Such, however, is not the fact. The one at Hexham (p. [340]) was the only inscription to Severus which was known to Gordon and Horsley. Well might Gordon, who maintained the Septimian theory, denominate it—‘a very precious jewel of antiquity.’ Hexham is nearly four miles south of the Wall. To this must be added the altar discovered at Old Carlisle (p. [360]), which is about ten miles distant from the Wall; and another in a dilapidated state, found at the same place; and the gateway slab found at Habitancum (p. [315]), one of the castra exploratorum nearly ten miles in advance of the Wall, recording the restoration of part of the fortifications there. Besides these, I know not of any inscriptions to Severus. I purposely omit all reference to an altar, said to have been discovered at Netherby, bearing the inscription SEPT. SEVERO IMP. QVI MVRVM HVNC CONDIDIT, because, both Gordon and Horsley pronounce it to be spurious.

THE GELT QUARRY.

Much importance is attached by those who advocate the claims of Severus to the inscription on the face of the ancient quarry, on the river Gelt. Here, it may be said, is the very spot from which the stones of the Wall were taken, and the precise date is fixed—the consulship of Aper and Maximus. That the quarry was used by the Romans at this period, is not a matter of dispute, but it is very questionable whether much of the stone from it was used in the building of the Wall, because, suitable materials could be procured nearer at hand. The year in which Aper and Maximus were consuls was A.D. 207; the year in which, according to the received reckoning, Severus came to Britain, was that in which Geta and Caracalla were consuls, A.D. 208.[^[136]] It is not likely that Severus would order the stones to be quarried before his arrival in Britain. But, allowing that the chronology of Severus’ reign is to be received with some latitude, and granting that he had landed in Britain in A.D. 207, some time would necessarily elapse in making inquiries into the state of the country, and no inconsiderable period would be occupied in making surveys, even after the construction of the Wall had been determined on. The quarry has probably been wrought for some ordinary purpose, perhaps for the erection of some buildings in the station near Brampton, at the period in question.

HADRIAN’S QUARRIES.

Evidence is not wanting to prove, on the other hand, that quarries near the line of the Roman Wall were wrought in the time of Hadrian. In an old quarry near the top of Borcum, or Barcombe (a hill near the village of Thorngrafton, and opposite to the station of Borcovicus), a large number of Roman coins was found. They are described and figured in the last Part of this work. Since none of the pieces of this hoard were later than the time of Hadrian, and the coins of his reign and Trajan’s were peculiarly fresh, it is agreed that the treasure must have been deposited in Hadrian’s time. The quarry on Haltwhistle-fell (p. [81]), it will also be remembered, bore the name of the sixth legion, which, if the reasoning in the next paragraph be admitted, will appear to have been inscribed before the arrival of Severus in Britain.