|
Gentleman's Magazine 1853 part 1 p.125
IMP[ERATORI] CAE[SARI]
P[IO F[ELICI]
C[O]H[ORS] I F[IDA] VARD[VLORVM]
BALLIS A SOLO REST[ITVIT]
SVB C[AIO] CL[AVDIO] APELLINI[O] LEG[ATO] AVG[VSTALI]
INSTANTE AVR[ELIO] QVINTO TR[IBVNO].
In honour of the Emperor Caesar,
Pious, happy,
The first Cohort of the Varduli, styled the
Faithful,
--- from the ground restored,
under Claudius Apellinus, imperial legate;
Aurelius Quintus, the Tribune, superintending the work.
Capitolinus says, built the upper barrier or Antonine Wall.
The station Bremenium, now High Rochester, where the
precited inscriptions have been found, lies about twenty-two
miles north of the wall, upon Watling Street. As it is now
being excavated a fuller account of the discoveries cannot
be unacceptable to our readers, especially as many of them,
on a late occasion, visited the site. Mr. Bruce thus
describes it:-
It (the station) has evidently been placed here for the
protection of the road. When viewed in relation to the
ground in its immediate vicinity, the station seems to stand
high, and to be very much exposed to the weather; but, if it
be looked upon from the hills to the east of it, it will be
seen to occupy a defile in the mountain chain, through which
the Military Way is very skilfully taken in its progress to
the north. Watling Street passes the station on its eastern
side, and shoots boldly forward towards Chew Green. The
pavement of the road may be traced in a very complete state
for miles together, though there are portions of it which
seem never to have been paved at all. South of the station
the road may in most places be distinguished, until, on the
southern rim of the basin of the Rede Water, the modern
turnpike coalesces with it. Several pieces of black oak,
perfectly sound, have been got out of the river near to the
place where the road crossed it, and some portions are
imbedded in the bank in such a way as to encourage the
belief that the road was here supported on timbers.
In a military point of view the site of the station is very
strong. On all sides, excepting near the south-east corner,
the ground slopes from it; and on the north side, it sinks
so rapidly as to give the camp the protection of a bold
breast-work. The walls of the station are stronger than
those of the forts on the line of the Wall; they are not
only thicker, but are composed of larger stones. In one
place the station wall measures seventeen feet in thickness;
the interior of it seems to have been filled with clay. The
wall, at the north-west corner, has been laid bare; seven
courses of stones are standing in position. Here some
repairs have evidently been effected after the original
erection of the station, the newer part being composed of
stones of a larger size than the rest of the wall. Between
the walls of the station and the moat a space of ground, of
twelve or fifteen feet in width, has been levelled and
bedded over with clay and gravel, as if to form a platform
for military operations. The position of the gateways in the
north and south ramparts may easily be discerned; some
portions of their masonry remain. There have probably been
two gateways on the eastern and western sides of the
station. One gate, on the western side, has recently been
cleared. It stands upwards of six feet high. The entrance is
a single one; it is wider on the outer than the inner
margin,
|