Hadrian's Wall

by Jessie Mothersole

But excavation has resulted in the discovery of the east gate, lying just north of Hadrian's Wall, on the edge of the main road, which represents roughly the via principalis. Stone barrack-buildings were also traced, running north and south, and the fort was proved to have lain across the line of Hadrian's Wall, as did Cilurnum. The main road is a cutting, below the level of any Roman remains. The stones of some of the fort walls had rotted so completely that the spade cut quite through them, and thus my scepticism about "perishing stones" in the neighbourhood was rebuked (p. 207). The Church at Burgh probably occupies the site of one of the central buildings, perhaps of a granary, the massive stones from which would be very handy for the Church-builders.

Hadrian's Wall was found to join the main road a little to the east of the Vicarage, from which point the road is laid partly on the Wall's foundations, and partly on its berm, up to the junction of Wall and fort.

A site known as Old Castle, about 200 yards eastward from the fort, marks the position of the mediæval castle of Sir Hugh de Morville, built, no doubt, of stones from the Wall and fort. The remains of a small Roman bridge, which carried the Military Way over the Powburgh Beck, are to be seen some 300 yards east of the Old Castle.

At Rudchester, Mr. Parker Brewis, F.S.A., has directed excavations of the fort of Vindobala. It was found to be similar in plan to Cilurnum, lying across the Wall, and with six gates. Three out of the five chambers of the headquarters buildings were uncovered, including the Chapel of the Standards with the treasury beneath; and there was also found the largest granary yet known in the north of England.

Both portals of the double west gate, and also the west portal of the south gate, were found to have been built up as early as the middle of the second century.

The Excavation Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-on-Tyne, appointed in February 1924, has been enlarged into "The North of England Excavation Committee," which hopes to open up other sites on the Wall during 1925, with Mr. Parker Brewis still as Director. A detailed report of the work at Rudchester will shortly be published.

Below Birdoswald, Dr. R. C. Shaw, of Manchester University, is, as I write, completing the excavation of the bridge over the Irthing, referred to on [page 163]. No trace has been discovered of any western abutment, and it has therefore presumably been washed away by the strong current of the river; but on the eastern side a whole series of abutments has been uncovered. The course of the river is now much farther west than it was in Roman times, and it was evidently necessary in their day to rebuild the abutments farther and farther west as the river receded in that direction.

The remains of these abutments are most impressive, and Hadrian's Wall has been found standing up to nine courses of stones.

The stages of the work appear to be as follows:

I. A very interesting feature, and one likely to give rise to much discussion, is the discovery of a 10-foot thick wall, of earlier date than the Great Wall, and ending in an abutment which is also 10 feet thick. The bridge starting from this abutment could only have been wide enough to carry the rampart-walk. Farther inland this wall has been found to a height of one or two courses of stone above the foundations.