I left Borcovicium by the north gate, and followed along the north wall till I came to a little wood, which begins just where the fort ends. The track of the Wall runs through this little wood, almost hidden in lush and lusty grass, on the extreme edge of the basalt cliffs, which are very steep again here. With slight breaks, the best walking is along the top of the Wall all the way from this little wood to Rapishaw Gap; and then again from Cat Stairs to the west end of Peel Crag. A splendid piece of Wall is this that we are now traversing!
A quarter of a mile from Borcovicium is what is known as the Housesteads mile-castle, the most perfect specimen of a mile-castle that can be seen to-day above ground.
As usual the Wall forms its northern wall, and here it stands fourteen courses, or 9½ feet, high. The thickness of the Wall at the north gateway is not less than 10 feet. The original opening was 10 feet wide, and spanned by an arch, the springers of which are in position still, as also one of the voussoirs; and one of the voussoirs of the arch of the inner gateway is placed on the impost of the outer, as shown in the picture facing this page. Broomlee Lough is seen in the distance.
THE NORTH GATE OF HOUSESTEADS MILE-CASTLE SHOWING HOW
THE GATEWAY WAS NARROWED IN LATTER ROMAN TIMES
The inner gateway has been made, at a later period, by walling up the original one, and so reducing the width from 10 feet to 3¾ feet, and the floor has been raised 3½ feet above the original level. Everything goes to indicate that the gateway has been destroyed several times, and that the Romans have built it up again without removing the débris. This partial walling-up of the gateways seems to have been done in the case of most of the forts and mile-castles, in the later period of Roman occupation, when Rome could not spare many soldiers for this outlying province.
If we examine the north gateway from the north side it is clear that one of the piers has been partly overthrown when the enemy was in occupation. Something has been inserted in the bar-holes, and the whole Wall has been levered out. This would make the arch collapse. In Severus's reconstruction the pier has been left thus, pushed out of place, and has been built round.
Severus's reconstructions are much better work than some of the later ones.
Still walking on the Wall, I came to Cuddy's Crag (Cuddy is a pet name for St. Cuthbert), the Wall maintaining its full breadth of 8 feet and a height of 5 or 6 feet for a long distance. The picture which faces [page 28] shows the Wall as seen from Cuddy's Crag, looking eastwards, along the way we have come. Wade's Road is seen like a white ribbon to the left of the trees. Just below it is the gateway through the Wall referred to on [page 122]. The hollowed line on the extreme left of the picture, near the horizon, where the Wall makes a great dip down, is Busy Gap.