WALBOTTLE-DEAN.
Before crossing Walbottle[[72]]-dean, the Vallum, which is very distinct, and the Wall (i. e. the road) approach each other, apparently for mutual support. There are no traces of a bridge across the ravine.
As we ascend the next hill, and pass Throckley,[[73]] we have, for the most part, the fosse on the right hand, and the mounds of the Vallum on the left, very boldly developed. By the time the traveller has advanced thus far, he will have learnt the necessity of bearing in mind that he is in a mining district. If he overlook this circumstance, he will be in danger of mistaking the track of some old ‘waggon way’ for the terraced lines of Roman cultivation, or an old ‘pit-heap’ for an indubitable British barrow.
Chas Richardson, Delt.John Storey. Lith.
THE WORKS AT HEDDON-ON-THE WALL
After passing Throckley, just where a gate on the left hand enters the field from the road, a mound covered, in winter at least, with greener herbage than the contiguous ground indicates the site of a mile-castle. A little further on, a range of houses of peculiar appearance, called the Frenchman’s-row, attracts the eye. It was the residence, after the first French revolution, of a number of refugees. The dial which ornaments the Row is of their fabrication. The building is now used as a poor-house.
HEDDON-ON-THE-WALL.
On the top of the little eminence, at which we arrive before reaching Heddon-on-the-Wall, the north fosse is deeper and bolder than it has hitherto appeared; it must be nearly in its original perfection. The works of the Vallum, about fifty yards to the south, are also finely developed. The ditch, in both cases, is cut through the free-stone rock. Here, also, if the traveller will forsake the turnpike, for the road, as usual, diverges to the right in order to avoid the village, he may see a fragment of the Wall much longer and somewhat higher than the one at Denton. Its north face is destroyed, but about five courses of the southern face are perfect. The accompanying lithograph shews the present state of the Barrier here. The Wall is in the foreground, while in the distance (looking eastward) the section of the north fosse, and of the works of the Vallum, is distinctly seen.
About a mile north of the village is a striking prominence called Heddon-law. Horsley remarks—‘Not far from Heddon-on-the-Wall have been some remarkable tumuli.’
The ditch of the Vallum cuts right through the village, its lowest dip forming the village pond; it is rather remarkable that in such a situation, it should not long ago have been obliterated.