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,