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 NAMES OF THE STATIONS.

It is not a little remarkable that the names of the stations, which must have been household words in the days of Roman occupation, have for the most part been obliterated from the local vocabulary; they are now only to be recalled, and that with difficulty, by exhuming the stony records of the past, and comparing them with the notices of contemporaneous geographers. The truth is, that military reasons dictated the choice of the stations,—commercial facilities gave rise to modern cities. Long may the mere military outpost be consigned to the shepherd’s use, whilst the wharf and the warehouse are beset by the busy crowd!

According to Horsley, the stations on the line of the Wall, were eighteen in number, besides some that were placed in its immediate vicinity, and lent to it important aid. Hodgson, conceiving that Horsley has in one instance mistaken a mere summer fortification for a stationary camp, reduces the number of stations on the line itself to seventeen.

THE STATIONS ACCORDING TO THE NOTITIA.

In ascertaining the number and the names of the stations, a most valuable document has come down to our times from the period of Roman occupation. The ‘Notitia Imperii’ was probably written about the end of the reign of Theodosius the younger, and was certainly composed before the Romans abandoned this island. It is a sort of list of the several military and civil officers and magistrates both in the eastern and western empires, with the places at which they were stationed. It may, in fact, be regarded as the roll-call of the Roman army. The sixty-ninth section of the work contains a list of the prefects and tribunes under the command of the Honourable the Duke of Britain. The portion of the section in which we are at present interested is headed, Item per lineam valli—Also along the line of the Wall—and contains the following list:—

• The Tribune of the fourth cohort of the Lingones[^[26]] at Segedunum.
• The Tribune of the cohort of the Cornovii at Pons Ælii.
• The Prefect of the first ala, or wing, of the Astures[^[27]] at Condercum.
• The Tribune of the first cohort of the Frixagi at Vindobala.
• The Prefect of the Savinian ala at Hunnum.
• The Prefect of the second ala of Astures at Cilurnum.
• The Tribune of the first cohort of the Batavians at Procolitia.
• The Tribune of the first cohort of the Tungri at Borcovicus.
• The Tribune of the fourth cohort of the Gauls at Vindolana.
• The Tribune of the first cohort of the Astures at Æsica.
• The Tribune of the second cohort of the Dalmatians at Magna.
• The Tribune of the first cohort of Dacians, styled Ælia, at Amboglanna.
• The Prefect of the ala, called Petriana, at Petriana.
• The Prefect of a detachment of Moors, styled Aureliani, at Aballaba.
• The Tribune of the second cohort of the Lergi at Congavata.
• The Tribune of the first cohort of the Spaniards at Axelodunum.
• The Tribune of the second cohort of the Thracians at Gabrosentis.
• The Tribune of the first marine cohort, styled Ælia, at Tunnocelum.
• The Tribune of the first cohort of the Morini at Glannibanta.
• The Tribune of the third cohort of the Nervii at Alionis.
• The Cuneus of men in armour at Bremetenracum.
• The Prefect of the first ala, styled Herculean, at Olenacum.
• The Tribune of the sixth cohort of the Nervii at Virosidum.

THE CORROBORATION OF LETTERED STONES.

It is not said, nor does it appear, that all these twenty-three stations were exactly upon the line of the Wall itself. It is very plain indeed, says Horsley, that according to the Notitia, Segedunum was the first, for that immediately follows the title per lineam valli; but he has not told us expressly at what place or station they end.[^[28]] Those stations which were not on the Wall were probably in its vicinity, and were connected with it by military ways. The stations in this list are manifestly, as this writer also observes, set down in some order, and those that were near to each other are placed together;[^[29]] so that if we ascertain the identity of some of them, we may form a pretty correct estimate of the position of the intermediate or neighbouring stations.

When, in the ruins of a station, inscribed stones are found bearing the name of a cohort mentioned in the Notitia, the inference is natural, that, in most cases at least, the imperial Notitia will furnish us with a key to the ancient designation of the station. The argument becomes irresistible, when, in several successive instances the designations thus obtained correspond exactly with the order of the places as given in the Notitia. Let us take an example. At the station of Chesters, on the North Tyne, several slabs have been found, bearing the name of the second ala, or wing, of the Astures. One of these is here represented.[^[30]] It is a sepulchral stone, and bears at the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth lines the words—