The Towns of Roman Britain

by J. O. Bevan

The Roman Wall.

THE WALL OF HADRIAN.

It may be of interest to insert here a few directions for any investigator who wishes to track out the Roman Wall. Such a traveller might profitably visit first the Museum at Newcastle, where many memorials are preserved. There might be included the Castle Keep and Chapel, with its richly-moulded Norman arches and the Black Gate, with the collection of Roman inscribed and sculptured stones from the eastern fortresses on the Wall between Bowness and Wallsend. The numerous carved altars are especially noticeable. From Newcastle the road can be taken alongside the Wall to Chollerford, by way of Denton Burn, Wallbottle, Heddon on the Wall, Vindobala, Harlow Hill, Wallhouses, Halton Shields Hunnum, Stagshaw Bank, and so, by a steep descent, into Chollerford. If the train be taken, it is expedient to break the journey at Prudhoe to view the ruins of the Castle, built in the reign of Henry II. The curious old bridge over a ravine is one of the oldest in the North. From Prudhoe to Corbridge is twenty minutes or so by rail. The buried city of Corstopitum lies to the west of Corbridge. There can be traced the Forum, streets, granaries, baths, and fountain. The excavations conducted during 1908 and the two following years are deeply interesting. There are Roman altars and monuments to be seen at Hexham. Close to Chollerford are the remains of the remarkable Roman bridge over the Tyne. Cilurnum (Chesters), the largest station on the Wall, lies on the river bank. In the Museum by the gates are deposited sculptured stones, vases, etc., discovered hereabouts. Journeying from Brunton to Limestone Bank, one finds the fosses and vallum exceptionally perfect. On the whole there are said to have been about 23 important stations on the Wall, named as follows:—Segedunum (Wallsend), Pons Ælii (Newcastle), Condercum (Benwell Hill), Vindobala (Rutchester), Hunnum (Halton Chester), Cilurnum (Chesters), Procolitia (Carrawburgh), Borcovicus (House-steads), Vindolana (Chesterholm), Æsica (Great Chesters), Magna (Carvoran), Amboglanna (Birdoswald), Petriana, Aballaba, Congovata, Axelodunum, Gabrosentum, Tunocelum, Glannibanta, Alionis, Bremetenracum, Olenacum, and Virosidum. It is noteworthy that not a trace of the original names survives in the local nomenclature of to-day, though the exact position of most of the stations has been made out from other indications.

It will be seen that one Wall extended from Wallsend on the Tyne to Bowness on the Solway Firth, a distance of 73 miles. It would have been about 12 feet high and 6 feet thick, in parts 9½ feet thick. Probably about 10 years were expended in the building. About 10,000 men would be required adequately to garrison its stations. It is difficult to believe that it was constructed de novo, or all at one time. Probably a line of stations, suggested by the lie of the country, existed here before Roman times, which line was extended and consolidated by successive Roman generals and emperors.

The Wall now bears the name of Hadrian, Emperor from 117 to 138, but other names associated with it are Agricola (37-93), Severus (193-211), Theodosius (346-395) and Stilicho (d. 408).

To complete, or, rather round off, our account, a few words ought to be added as to the Northern Wall. The Wall of Antoninus, or Graham's Dyke (perhaps from C. greim—a place of strength, and that which is dug—a rampart) extends across the island from the Firth of Clyde to the Firth of Forth—a distance of about 36 miles. It consisted of an immense ditch, behind which was raised a rampart of intermingled stone and earth, surmounted by a parapet, behind which ran a level platform for the accommodation of the defenders. South of the whole ran the military way—a regular causeway about 20 feet wide. Commencing in the west on a height called Chapel Hill, near the village of Old Kilpatrick, in Dumbartonshire, it ran eastwards, passing in succession Kirkintilloch, Crory, Castlecary, and Falkirk, terminating at Bridgeness, a rocky promontory that projects into the Firth of Forth, south of Borrowstonness in Linlithgowshire. A writer of the life of the Emperor Antoninus Pius (138-161) states that Lollius Urbicus, a legate of that sovereign, erected, after several victories over the Britons, "another rampart of turf" to check their incursions, but what has been said with reference to the builders of Hadrian's Wall may be repeated with reference to that of Antonine.¹

¹ [Appendix C].

DORCHESTER (Dorsetshire).—130 miles S.W. from London. On the right bank of the Frome. Dorcestre (Dwr—a portion of the name of the Durotriges, or dwellers upon the dwr or water).