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

Of Augustus; the first cohort of the

Tungri,

A milliary one,[^[32]] commanded by

Quintus Verius

Superstis,

Prefect.

The correspondence between the Notitia and the sculptures derived from this station, is again too striking to admit a doubt, that the Housesteads of the modern shepherd is the Borcovicus of the Roman hosts.

THE FATE OF LETTERED STONES.

In this way, the ancient designations of the stations from Segedunum, Wall’s-end, to Amboglanna, Birdoswald, have been accurately ascertained; but no stony memorial of the past has arisen to confirm the Notitia account of the stations westward of this point. The peculiarly fertile nature of the soil between the river Irthing and the Solway has been inimical to the preservation of the Wall and its antiquities. The wants of a numerous population rendered stones of every kind valuable; and in an ignorant age, when anything in the shape of a letter was regarded as a thing of evil omen, those most precious to the historian were the first to be sacrificed.[^[33]] |THE STATIONS WEST OF AMBOGLANNA.|Since the accuracy of the Notitia has been confirmed in so many instances, it is but fair to conclude, that it may be safely taken as a guide in fixing the Roman designations of the remaining stations along the line. Cambeck Fort is the station next to Birdoswald; the Notitia places Petriana next in order to Amboglanna, which has been ascertained to be Birdoswald—doubtless, according to this reasoning, Cambeck Fort is the ancient Petriana. In this way, could it be certainly ascertained which were the stations per lineam valli, each station might have its Roman name restored, though not a syllable of the ancient designation be retained in the modern cognomen. We should have but to read over the roll-call, and let each camp in succession answer to its name. Unhappily, there is some doubt as to which are the stations along the line of the Wall. Horsley conceives that Watch Cross is the station next in order to Cambeck Fort, and, accordingly, calls it Aballaba; Stanwix, Burgh, Drumburgh, and Bowness, he successively denominates, after the Notitia, Congavata, Axelodunum, Gabrosentis, and Tunnocelum. Subsequent inquirers, and, in particular, the Rev. John Hodgson, have seen reason to suspect that Watch Cross was not a station per lineam valli. It probably was destitute of stone walls, and was surrounded only by a rampart of earth.[^[34]] It seems to have been a mere castra æstiva—a summer encampment, and consequently, was not entitled to rank with those strongholds that were intended to withstand all foes at all seasons. Should Watch Cross be laid aside, the whole of Horsley’s subsequent allocation of the Notitia names is thrown out of course. It is much to be desired that some ‘Witch Stone’ would start from its hiding-place in the foundation of some cottage or castle in the neighbourhood of any one of the stations west of Cambeck Fort, and resolve the interesting question. Until such an event does occur, some doubt must hang upon the subject. The reader will now understand how it is, that, according to some authorities, the stations immediately dependent upon the Wall are said to be eighteen in number, and according to others only seventeen. For the reason just referred to, the Notitia names of the stations are not given on the Map of the Wall westward of Petriana.

The remainder of the stations of the Notitia were probably out-posts, intended to give support to the whole structure. The difficulty of rightly appropriating the Notitia appellations to such of these as have not yielded inscribed stones, is even greater than in the case of those which follow more closely the line of the Wall.