The course of the Wall continues, past Milking Gap, along the rugged heights of Steel Rig, Cat’s Stairs, and Peel Crag, till on reaching Winshields we are at the highest point on the line, 1,230 feet above the sea-level. Dipping down to Green Slack, the Wall crosses the valley called Lodham Slack, and begins to ascend once more. The local names of gaps and heights in this neighbourhood are highly descriptive, and sometimes weirdly suggestive; we have had Cat’s Stairs, and now we come to Bogle Hole, Bloody Gap, and Thorny Doors. A little further west from here the very considerable remains of a mile-castle may be seen, in which a tombstone was found doing duty as a hearth-stone. The inscription recorded that it had been erected by Pusinna to the memory of her husband Dagvaldus, a soldier of Pannonia.
Westward from this mile-castle the Wall climbs Burnhead Crag, on which the foundations of a building, similar to the turrets, were exposed a few years ago; then it dips down again to Haltwhistle Burn, which comes from Greenlee Lough, and is called, until it reaches the Wall, the Caw Burn. From the burn a winding watercourse supplied the Roman station of AEsica (Great Chesters) with water. Just here the Wall is in a very ruinous condition; and of the station of AEsica but little masonry remains, though the outlines of it can he clearly traced. Beyond AEsica, however, is a splendid portion of the Wall, standing some seven or eight courses high. Here it climbs again to the top of the crags which once more appear, bold and rugged, to culminate in the “Nine Nicks of Thirlwall,” so called from the number of separate heights into which the crags divide, and over which the Wall takes its way.
At Walltown, on this part of its course, is to be seen an old well, in which Paulinus is said to have baptised King Edwin; but the local name for it is King Arthur’s Well. Now the Wall descends to a level and pastoral country, leaving behind it the wild moorland and craggy heights across which it has travelled so long; but unfortunately much of it has been destroyed by the quarrying operations at Greenhead. Of the station of Magna (Caervoran) little can be seen at the present day. This station and Aesica are nearer to each other than are any other two stations on the Wall, and a line of camps, five in number, stand south of the Wall and Vallum, from Magna to Amboglanna, showing that a third line of defence was deemed necessary where the natural defences of moorland ridge, lough or crag were absent.
The Roman way called the Stanegate comes from the eastward almost up to the station of Magna, which stands a little to the south of both Wall and Vallum, between them and Wade’s road, which here approaches nearer to the Wall than it has done for many miles.
Another Roman road, the Maiden Way, comes from the South closely up to the Vallum, quite near to Thirlwall castle. The name “Thirlwals” was supposed to commemorate the “thirling” (drilling or piercing) of the Wall at this point by the barbarians, but this is extremely doubtful; though the difficulty of defending the wall on this level tract lends an air of likelihood to this supposition. Near here the little river Tipalt flows across the line of the Wall on its way southward to join the North Tyne.
Passing Wallend, Gap, and Rose Hill, where Gilsland railway station now stands, we follow the Wall to the deep dene of the Poltross Burn, which forms the boundary between Northumberland and Cumberland. The railway just beyond the burn crosses the line of the Wall; and, further on, an interesting portion, several courses high, takes its way through the Vicarage garden. Here we will leave it to continue its way through Cumberland, and turn our attention to the chief Roman ways which cross Northumberland, with other stations standing upon them.
The Watling Street or Dere Street, we have already noticed; and the chief station on it, which has also proved to be the largest in Northumberland, is Corstopitum, near Corbridge. The recent excavations since 1906 have resulted in the finding of many interesting relics, including some hundreds of coins, amongst which were forty-eight gold pieces, of later Roman date, ranging from those of Valentinian I. to those of Magnus Maximus. Pottery in large quantities has also been found, most of it, of course, in a fragmentary condition, but some pieces, notably bowls of Samian ware, almost perfect, and dating from the first century. Several interesting pieces of sculpture have been unearthed; one a finely sculptured lion standing over an animal which it has evidently just killed; this was, no doubt, used as an outlet for water at the fountain, judging by the projection of the lion’s lower lip. Another piece of sculpture represents a sun-god, the rays surrounding his face; and several altars and many inscribed stones are also amongst the treasures lately revealed. A clay mould of a human figure was also found, which is supposed to represent some Keltic deity; but as the figure wears a short tunic not unlike a kilt, and carries a crooked club, the workmen promptly christened it Harry Lauder! The buildings in this town, for it is much more than a military station, have been large and imposing, as is shown by each successive revelation made by the excavators’ spades. The portion of the Watling Street leading from Corstopitum to the river has also been laid bare.
The Roman road called the Stanegate runs westward from the North Tyne at Cilurnum, a little to the north of Fourstones railway station, through Newbrough, on past Grindon Hill, Grindon Lough, which it passes on the south, and Grindon Dykes, to Vindolana (Chesterholm) another Roman town, which lies a mile due south from Hot Bank farmhouse on the Wall. Vindolana stood on a most favourable site, a high platform protected on three sides, and it covered three and a half acres of ground. Here no excavations have yet been made, and the site is grass grown and desolate although the outlines of the station may be distinctly traced. A ruinous building to the west of this station was popularly called the Fairies’ Kitchen, a name given to it on account of the marks of fire and soot on the pillars. From the station several inscribed stones and altars have been taken to the museum at Chesters. One of them is dedicated to the Genius of the Camp by Pituanius Secundus, the Prefect of the fourth Cohort of the Gauls, which cohort, as we have already seen by the Votitia, was stationed here. In the valley below Vindolana a little cottage is standing. It is built entirely of Roman stones, and was erected by an enthusiastic antiquary, Mr. Anthony Hedley, for himself. Many of the stones used in its construction have inscriptions on them; and in the covered passage, leading from the cottage down to the burn, we come upon one of them inscribed with the name of our old friend the XXth Legion, and its crest, the running boar. The most interesting relic of all in the neighbourhood is a Roman mile-stone, standing in its original position on the Stanegate.
Leaving Vindolana, this road goes on westward to Magna, where it joins the Maiden Way, another important Roman road, which runs from north to south. Coming from the neighbourhood of Bewcastle Fells, it enters Northumberland at Gilsland, and leading eastward as far as Magna, then turns directly southward past Greenhead.
In concluding this chapter on the Roman remains in our county, apropos of the wholesale destruction of the Wall and larger stations which has taken place in the last century or two, I will quote the words of two historians on that subject. Dr. Thomas Hodgkin says: “In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Camden, the enthusiastic antiquary, dared not traverse the line of the wall by reason of the gangs of brigands by whom it was infested. The union of the two countries brought peace, and peace brought prosperity; prosperity, alas! more fatal to the Wall than centuries of Border warfare. For now the prosperous farmers of Northumberland and Cumberland awoke to the building facilities which lurked in these square green enclosures on their farms, treated them as their best quarries, and robbed them unmercifully of their fine well-hewn stones. Happily that work of demolition is now in great measure stayed, and at this day we visit the camps for a nobler purpose, to learn all they can teach us as to the past history of our country.”