The Wall in the neighbourhood of Sewingshields is not in good condition; its site is marked by the rubble which encumbers it, but the facing-stones are gone, having contributed to the erection of every building in the vicinity, from the time of Honorius to the present day. A considerable tract of it was removed lately. Thorough draining, the life of agriculture, is death to the Wall.
The aspect of the country in the immediate vicinity of the heights of Sewingshields is dreary enough, but the elevation enables the eye to revel in the fertility and beauty of the distant landscape. Hexham is distinctly discernible from the farm-house. On the flats to the north of the crags, there formerly stood the border fortress, Sewingshields castle.[[96]] It was at one time the property of the late Ralph Spearman, esq., the Monkbarns of The Antiquary.
MURAL TRADITIONS.
A situation so remote from the crowded haunts of men is favourable to the preservation of legendary lore. It occurred to me that here, if anywhere, I might ascertain the kind of ideas which the rude forefathers of the mural region entertained respecting the Wall and its builders. Although on the Antonine Wall all tradition of the Romans has been lost, this has certainly not been the case here; the recollection of them is still distinctly preserved, and some stories of them are told, which, though in several respects resembling written history, are not derived from this source. For the following scraps of traditional information, I am chiefly indebted to the master of Grindon school, in the immediate neighbourhood of Sewingshields, who says he has often heard them repeated. Though he denominates them ‘absurd,’ the learned in mediæval legends will probably think them worth preserving.
The Romans are said to have been remarkably lazy, so much so, that in the hot weather of summer, having almost nothing to do, they lay basking in the sun, on the south side of the Wall, almost in a state of torpor. The Scots were in the habit of watching their opportunity, and, throwing hooks, with lines attached to them, over the Wall, caught the poor Romans by their clothes or flesh, and by this means, dragging them to the other side, made them prisoners.
An old man in this neighbourhood told me, that he had often heard people say, that the Romans had remarkably broad feet, with still broader shoes, and that, when it rained, they lay on their backs, and holding up their feet in a perpendicular direction, protected, by this means, their persons from the weather.—This legend, under various modifications, seems to have been widely diffused in the middle ages. Sir John Maundevile, describing ‘Ethiope,’ says—‘In that contree, ben folk that han but o foot; and thei gon so fast, that it is marvaylle; and the foot is so large, that it schadewethe all the body azen the sonne, whan they wole lye and reste hem.’ Precisely similar to this is Pliny’s account—'Item hominum genus, qui Monoscelli vocarentur, singulis cruribus, miræ pernicitatis ad saltum: eosdemque Sciopodas vocari, quod in majori æstu, humi jacentes resupini, umbra se pedum protegant.'[[97]]
It is the tradition of the country that all the stones of the Wall were handed from one man to another by a set of labourers stationed in a line from the quarry to the place where they were required. Many will tell you, 'I have heard my mother say, that the Wall was built in a single night, and that no one was observed to be engaged upon it, save an old woman with an apron full of stones.'—This, however, is a tradition of almost universal application.
The people say that the Wall was hollow, or, as they express it, had a flue running the whole length of it, through which the sentinels communicated intelligence by a speaking trumpet.
Some of the people of this neighbourhood tell me that the Britons, tired, at length, of Roman oppression, rose in a body, and drove the garrison, with considerable slaughter, from all their stations. The Romans, when making their way to the sea to look for ships to carry them home, were met by a seer, who told them that if they returned home they would all be drowned; and if they went back to their old stations they would all be slain. This prophecy disconcerted them greatly, and they were at their wits’ end; however, after long consultation, they resolved to escape both calamities by marching direct to Wales. This they did, and there the pure, unadulterated Roman breed is to be found to this day.—Can this story refer to the passage of the second legion, at an early period, to Caerleon?
LEGENDS OF KING ARTHUR.