Gents Mag 1852 part 1 p.482

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	list, 3rd qtr 19th century
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	Gentleman's Magazine 1852 part 1 p.482 is called Pelaw Hill. Here stands a farm-house, which was formerly a border fortress or peel. We may readily suppose that in Roman times it was the site of a look-out or beacon-tower connected with the station. list, The Maiden Way is but doubtfully traceable in the northern vicinage of the camp; but southwards the remains of it are distinctly visible for a considerable distance, as it crosses the high grounds of Side Fell and Gillilee's Beacon. Under the guidance of the incumbent of the parish, we tracked the interesting work. When first met with, it is only to be distinguished by the "trail" of the stones that have composed it, most of the neighbouring fences having been made at its expence. For nearly a qtr of a mile it is in a perfect state, which is the more remarkable as all the neighbouring ground is a peaty bog. After crossing the crown of the hill we came to what is undoubtedly the foundation of a Roman watch-tower. It stands close by the edge of the road on its western side. It is eighteen feet square, and has walls four feet thick. The doorway seems to have been on its north side. Its wall are formed of regular masonry; the stones possessing the characteristics of those uniformly employed in constructing the stations on the line of the Roman wall. If the rubbish were removed the building would probably stand five feet high. No one who is familiar with the masonry of the wall-district can for a moment doubt that it is of Roman construction. On the Watling-street - the Roman road which twenty miles to the east of this intersects the mural region from north to south - some traces of wayside towers have been noticed; but none, I believe, to be at all compared with this in distinctness. The Romans have had a more thorough grasp of the Lower Isthmus than we are apt to imagine. Besides the wall, which merely forms the base line of their operations, and the stations to the north and south of it, to intercept the progress of an enemy in either direction, there seems reason to believe that picket camps were planted on advanced points and beacon-towers stationed on the most elevated summits. The watch-tower which I have now described has a very extensive prospect in every direction except the north. The line of the wall is distinctly in view all the way from Sewingshields to the Solway. Signals could therefore be communicated with the stations of Borcovicus, AEsica, Amboglanna, and others to the west. The Maiden Way, in its progress south, is in view for miles. Even now its track can be clearly made out, as after having crossed the wall it boldly ascends the heathy heights of Knaresdale. On the western slope of the hill on which this Roman turret stands are some earthworks which we took to be temporary camps. They are of limited size, and may have been occupied by the troops whilst superintending the construction of the road. BEWCASTLE MEN. - Traditional stories often outlive the manners they depict. The following anecdote is still told in the north country. A stranger visiting Bewcastle noticed that the tombstones in the churchyard commemorated the decease of females only, and expressing his astonishment to a woman who accompanied him as his guide, received the response, most feelingly uttered, "Oh, Sir! they're a' buried at that weary Caerl (Carlisle)!" The fit of grief being over, the vistor elicited from her the startling information that every "mother's son" of the district was sooner or later hanged at the border city. At the union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland the hardy warriors of the "debateable land" could not at once betake themselves to the occupations of quiet industry; and, as the best substitute for the practices of war, addicted themselves to sheep and horse stealing, crimes at that time punishable with death. The little intercourse which we had with the rustics whom we met upon the road convinced us that a vast moral change had been effected upon the district since the days of border warfare. To every question which we put we received a distinct and satisfactory answer, expressed in language which even a southern might understand. Still we felt curious to know what the testimony of the churchyard was as to the character of past generations. It was most satisfactory, and proved that the anecdote in question, if not altogether calumny, refers to a very remote period. Many of the tombstones commemorate the departure (no doubt in a natural way, for when you say of a man that he died you do not mean that he was hanged) of persons whose youth was spent in the latter part of the seventeenth century. For example there is one to George Nixon, who died 1732-3, aged 83 years; another to Thomas Nixon, who died in 1719, aged 26; one to Francis Forester, who died in 1760 at the age of 72; one to Thomas Armstrong, who died in 1728, aged 77; and another to Adam Routledge, who in 1728 died at the age of 54 years. Let no one henceforward say that the men of Bewcastle do not some to an honest death. Besides observing that the names of these parties are regular border designations, the reader will perhaps note the age to which most
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	gazetteer links
	-- Bewcastle
	-- Maiden Way
	-- "Pelaw Hill" -- Peel O'Hill

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