Gents Mag 1851 part 2 p.507

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	Gentleman's Magazine 1851 part 2 p.507 one of these, called Old Carlisle, about two miles from Wigton. It is supposed to be the Roman Olenacum, but the confirmation of inscriptions is wanted to support this appropriation. Among the remains from this station which are preserved by Miss Matthews of Wigton, we noticed an altar dedicated to Jupiter and Vulcan, for the health of the emperor Gordian, which appears to me to be unpublished; and the following curious specimen of orthography:- TANCORIX MULLIER VIGSIT ANNOS SEGSAGINAT:- "Tancorix, a woman; she lived sixty yers (sic)." The memorial is also remarkable for the mode adopted to express the sex of Tancorix, a British or Gaulish name, which from its termination would have been considered masculine. I have in this slight sketch only been able to allude to the inscriptions which have strewed the ground from Bowness to Wallsend. They form a chapter in the history of our country which has been but little consulted by the historical antiquary, and is altogether unknown to the public in general. Referring for the present to the most limited range of these records, I may observe that they very clearly explain the origin of the wall itself, and settle the questions which have so long been raised as to its date. They prove that to Hadrian this honour is due, and that Severus, who has shared the credit with Hadrian, did nothing more than repair the fortresses and the public buildings which had become dilapidated; that Hadrain brought together for this work the entire military force of the province, and that the British states or communities also contributed workmen. The mythology of the wall, as shewn by inscriptions, is another highly interesting subject of inquiry. We find a considerable number of deities, apparently both of Celtic and Teutonic parentage, incorporated with the well-known gods and goddesses of Greece and Rome; and topical divinities, whose influence was restricted to particular localities, are also very numerous. The latter seem to have held an intermediate place, and to have exercised a mediatorial or connecting relation between the higher gods and their worshippers, and every where we trace marks of the popularity in which they were held.* But it is rather singular that in no instance do we recognise any monument or inscription bearing reference to Christianity; a fact which, coupled with a similar void in the early monuments of the south of Britain, tends to iinduce us to place the general diffusion of the gospel in Britain at a much later date than is commonly assigned.
	* A monument of this class, found on the line of the wall near Burgh by Sands, has been communicated to me by my friend Mr. Rooke, of Wigton, since my return. It reads: MATRI . D . O . M . V . E . X . VI . Matribus Domesticus, Vexillatio. leg. vi. It has been noticed, I see, by Mr. Hodgson.
	gazetteer links
	-- Hadrian's Wall
	-- Maglona

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