The turnpike road, which usually runs upon the site of the Wall, uniformly swerves to the right when passing a village. The truth is, nearly every house and hamlet in the district has sprung out of the Wall. In many instances a mile-castle, slightly added to, has formed a mediæval dwelling of some strength. The nucleus thus provided, became, in the course of time, clustered round with contiguous habitations, so that when, after the last season of strife with which the borders were visited, the road came to be constructed, motives of economy required that these spots of increased value should be avoided.
Beyond the burn, the ground again rises, and the Wall, stretching onwards in a line with the road, forms a distinct, but turf-covered mound. At the distance of a field to the south of it, the Vallum is seen in greater distinctness than before. Both of the aggers and the intervening fosse may be clearly made out. Some young ash-trees grow in the ditch.
DENTON HALL.
Advancing a little further, we have Denton-hall, formerly the seat of the literary Mrs. Montague, on the right; attracted by her influence, many of the great spirits of the age were occasionally found to be assembled within its walls. Very nearly opposite the hall, a larger mass of ruin than usual betokens the site of a mile-castle.
Ascending the hill from West Denton, the fosse of the Murus is very distinctly seen. The road is elevated two or three feet above the natural level of the ground, the Wall, probably some courses high, forming its nucleus.
On the left hand, the lines of the Vallum are feebly indicated, but by extending our glance some distance backwards and forwards, we can, with tolerable certainty, distinguish the artificial mounds from the natural heavings of the surface.
CHAPEL-HOUSE.
Passing the fourth mile-stone, we arrive at Chapel-houses. This name is of sufficiently frequent occurrence along the line to suggest a momentary inquiry into its origin. In the early ages of Christianity, a mile-castle may have occasionally been the resort of the worshippers of the true God; or in the ‘troublesome times’ of border warfare, when the church not unfrequently shared in the general devastation, it may have been set apart as a place for the confirmation of matrimonial vows, and for the performance of religious rites.
From the crown of this hill we have one of the finest views which Northumberland can afford. The Tyne, in all its glittering beauty, stretches far before us. Its southern bank is crowned by the pretty village of Ryton, its left is variegated with the once beautiful, but now furnace-fuming, Wylam. An amphitheatre of hills shuts in the distant scene.[[71]]
Horsley describes some ruined ramparts, called the Castle-steads near Chapel-houses, to the south of both Vallum and Wall. They were probably temporary encampments and have now disappeared.