Gents Mag 1851 part 2 p.386

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	Gentleman's Magazine 1851 part 2 p.386 the wall has been so effectually pulled down that Mr. Bruce's volume is particularly useful, enabling the traveller to recognize the sites of stations which he must else necessarily pass by without noticing, for they are now either covered with the greensward or with the annual produce of the husbandman. Condercum, the third station of the line, adjoins the village of Benwell, about two miles from Newcastle. Here was found among others a dedicatory inscription to the Matres Campestres and the genius of the first wing of the Astures, on the restoration of a temple. The inscription also confirms the Notitia, in which valuable muster-roll we find this body of troops stationed at Condercum. At East Denton, a little beyond Benwell, the first glimpse of a fragment of the wall is to be seen on the left of the road. This and a few more similar vestiges have been preserved, owing to some insurmountable obstructions having caused the engineers of the Government road to swerve a little from the straight line. All along the course of the wall the traveller may recognize the facing stones worked into walls of modern houses. Indeed it is not exaggeration to say that most of the farm-houses and villages are almost wholly constructed of Roman materials taken either from the wall itself or from the stations and their buildings. A close examination of every house, stable, cow-shed, and hut on the line would doubtless repay the search for inscribed stones, as some of the most important we now possess have been recovered from such "vile uses;" others still continually detected, while it is known from experience that altars and votive tablets are often built up in the houses with the inscribed sides concealed. At West Denton, Mr. G. Clayton Atkinson pointed out to us in his garden wall an inscription which he had discovered a short time previous to our visit, recording the termination of an allotment of work in the construction of the great wall by a body of soldiers under the command of one Julius Primus. Similar commemorations are to be noticed at intervals throughout the entire line. At Rutchester, a little beyond the eighth mile-stone, we observed in a wall part of a sepulchral inscription and a stone inscribed COH. VI. APRILIS, in two lines, with the usual centurial mark prefixed to the word Aprilis. Rutchester is supposed to be the Vindobala of the Notitia, where a chort of the Frisians* was located. Here were found a few years since by the tenant of the property while searching for building materials, the four altars published by Mr. Bell and the late Mr. Hodgson, in the Archaeologia AEliana, vol.iv. They are exceedingly interesting as referring to the prevalence in Britain of the worship of Mithras, to whom a temple was also erected at Vindabala. The dedications commence severally "Deo Soli Invicto," "Deo Invicto Mythrae," "Soli Apollini," and "Deo," simply; the last having been dedicated by a soldier of the sixth legion.† Mr. Bell considers that if further search were made other inscriptions would probably be found. Rutchester is the scene of one of the amusing incidents in Hutton's pedestrian Tour of the Wall, made at the commencement of the present century, in a spirit of enthusiasm, and with a physical energy, seldom united in a man of eighty years. His personal appearance often subjected him to suspicion in the inmates of the few and scattered houses of this wild district, but good humour and a little philosophy soon dispelled distrust, and the veteran, if he had some difficulty in making his object understood, usually succeeded in leaving friends behind him. Our friend and companion, who, in his more laborious researches tested the hospitality of the inhabitants of the farmhouses and cottages, observes, "there is scarcely a latch in the wilder regions of the country that I would not freely lift, in the assurannce of a smiling welcome." Beyond Rutchester we noticed in the walls of an inn, called the Iron Sign, some inscribed stones, two of which I read V OS.LVPI, and CON.VIII. BRIT, the century of Hostilius Luus,
	* Frixagi. † These altars are now in the possession of Mr.James of Otterburn. A hope is entertained that he will present them to the valuable collection of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, for as Otterburn is upwards of forty miles distant the relics are almost inaccessible.
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	-- Hadrian's Wall
	-- Tynemouth to Carlisle
	-- Condercum
	-- Vindobala

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