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

It may well be doubted whether the important station of Pons Ælii would be subjected to the ordinary rules of castrametation. I am strongly disposed to think, that it would partake of the features of a commercial as well as of a military capital, and that its walls would not only embrace a wider range than ordinary camps, but would be allowed to adapt themselves more freely to the nature of the ground.

The wants of the immense body of troops required to garrison the Wall, and man its out-posts, would create a considerable amount of commerce. The inhabitants of Italy, Gaul, and Spain, would be unwilling all at once to forego the comforts and luxuries of their sunny climes, and to be entirely cut off from intercourse with the land of their nativity. The fragments of amphoræ, which are so abundantly met with on the line of the Wall, shew that the soldiers sometimes gladdened their hearts with the wine of their native hills; and the innumerable sherds of Samian ware, which usually bestrew the camps of Roman occupation, prove that a continual intercourse was kept up with the continent. To the sea, as a means of communication between many of the stations of Roman Britain, frequent recourse would be had.

The exports from this island to the continent were considerable. Camden tells us, that every year not less than eight hundred vessels laden with corn alone were sent out of it. Certain it is, that the imperial government would expect an adequate return for the expenditure occasioned by the troops in this country, and that the commodities of the continent would not be transmitted to the occupants of the Wall from motives of mere benevolence. Lead, which is now so abundant in the three northern counties, would probably form one article of export, and corn another. Those who have noticed the fertility of some portions of the region watered by the Tyne, will be able to conceive how luxuriant were the harvests which its alluvial soil produced when first turned up by the plough. It is certain that coal has been wrought to some extent in Roman times, and some of it may have been exported.

No place in the north of England was so well fitted as Newcastle to be the emporium of the commerce of the North. Situated upon a noble river, at about ten miles from its mouth, it combined the naval advantages of the coast, with the security of an inland situation. The wealth arising from the commerce of the port would increase its importance, and the facility with which foreign news and foreign luxuries could be obtained, would render it the frequent resort of those prefects and tribunes whose usual posts were in bleaker and more inhospitable regions. The fact that the river was at this part spanned by a bridge of many arches, is a striking indication of the importance of the place even in the days of the emperor Hadrian.

No account has come down to us of the state of Newcastle in the days of Roman occupation, but if, after it had been deprived of the advantages which the residence of the mural garrison conferred upon it, the venerable Bede calls it 'an illustrious royal city'—'vico regis illustri'—we must conclude that it was a place of considerable importance. The natural advantages of the situation struck the eye of Camden; ‘Now’, says he, ‘where the Wall and Tine almost meet together, Newcastle sheweth itself gloriously the very eye of all the townes in these parts.’

Under these circumstances, there seems to be no reason why the walls of Pons Ælii should form the usual military parallelogram any more than Roman Rochester, or Pompeii, or Rome itself, much less that the station should occupy an area of little more than three acres.

The contour of the ground on which the modern Newcastle stands, is peculiar. It consists of three tongues of land, separated by natural valleys permeated by rivulets. The westernmost of these presents the boldest front to the river, and is that on which the Castle stands; the Skinner-burn bounds it on the west, and the valley of the Lort-burn, the present Dean-street, on the east. The contiguous tongue lies between the Lort-burn and Pandon-dean; and that still further removed, has for its eastern boundary the Ouse-burn. The same natural advantages which recommended the heights of the most westerly of these strips of ground to the Normans for the erection of their stronghold, would no doubt previously induce the Romans to select it as their chief position. They probably enclosed nearly the whole of it within their walls. Horsley, indeed, places his camp in this division, but in the least advantageous part of it, whether considered in a military or in a commercial point of view. The Romans would surely not overlook the importance of the ravine of Dean-street as a defence on the east, especially at a time when the tide flowed up it as far as the Painter-heugh, and of the cliff that descends from the Castle to the river on the south. The necessity of defending the bridge, and commanding the Tyne would not be forgotten. Taking all these things into account, we may fairly suppose the walls of Pons Ælii to have been thus defined:—The Wall, passing through the site of St. Nicholas’-church, would, of course, be its northern boundary; a line coming from the church, and adapting itself to the crest of the hill that overhangs Dean-street, crossing the Head-of-the-Side and stretching as far as the elevated angle on which the County-courts now stand, will probably mark its eastern boundary; the southern rampart would run from this angle along the edge of the cliff overhanging the Close, as far as the site of the White-friar-tower, which stood at the head of the present Hanover-street; the western wall may have run in the line of the Town-wall as far as Neville-tower, and then have struck up in a straight line to meet the great Wall. Westward of this boundary, the ground slopes down to the Skinner-burn. If these lines are correctly drawn, Roman Newcastle would contain upwards of sixteen acres.

Although the camp of Pons Ælii occupied this tongue of land, there is no reason to suppose that suburban buildings were not erected on the other two, both of which are well protected by their natural situation. There is good ground to believe that Pandon, which was formerly a separate town from Newcastle, and is seated on the middle strip, was of Roman origin. Villas and gardens probably extended as far as the Ouse-burn.

In order to render the preceding description intelligible to persons unacquainted with the topography of Newcastle, a plan of the town ([Plate V].) and a lithographic view of Pons Ælii are appended. In the plan of the town, Horsley’s demarkation of the station, as well as the one here proposed, is laid down. For the view of Pons Ælii, the frontispiece, I am indebted to the pencil of Mr. G. Bouchier Richardson; the contour of the ground is very accurately delineated, and the probable outline of the station marked; the details of the picture are of course filled up according to the artist’s fancy—a fancy regulated by his antiquarian knowledge.