Old Cumbria Gazetteer - Hadrian's Wall: GentsMag 1851 part 2


included in:-	Hadrian's Wall
	Hadrian's Wall: GentsMag 1851 part 2
evidence:-	old text:- Gents Mag placename:- Roman Wall, The item:- Notes of a Tour along the Roman Wall
source data:-	Magazine, The Gentleman's Magazine or Monthly Intelligencer or Historical Chronicle, published by Edward Cave under the pseudonym Sylvanus Urban, and by other publishers, London, monthly from 1731 to 1922. goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1851 part 2 p.383 Text about particular roman sites is to be found in those records "NOTES OF A TOUR ALONG THE ROMAN WALL." "BY CHARLES ROACH SMITH, F.S.A." "MR. URBAN," "AS the Roman Wall has been lately brought before your readers in a review of the Rev. J. C. Bruce's volume on that remarkable work, and as the subject is one of real national importance, invested with novel interest by the popular manner in which it has been treated by the author of the book referred to, I venture to offer you the result of a tour I have recently made along the line of the remains, in company of the Rev. Mr. Bruce and Mr. E. B. Price." "Although the brief space of one week was all the time I could afford to an investigation which would well have repaid a much more extended survey, I was enabled practically to test the accuracy of Mr. Bruce's examination, to derive the greatest assistance from his labours (taking his book as my guide), and to concur with him in the conclusions to which his researches have led, as to the period at which this gigantic fortification was constructed. Much is due to Mr. Bruce for the honest and earnest manner in which he has collated the testimony of preceding writers, and compared it with existing remains, following the wall step by step, and only diverging when it was necessary to seek in private collections inscriptions and monuments which had in past times been discovered in the district, and which so materially serve in support of his main argument, which is that the wall and the great earthworks, running parallel on the north and south, were not constructed, as has generally been supposed, at different times, but that they were conceived and executed at one and the same period, namely, during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian." "Camden, Stukeley, Horsley, Hodgson, and others who have preceded Mr. Bruce, have zealously laboured on this classic ground. To the last mentioned historian belongs the credit of smoothing the path of the present generation of antiquaries, and of guiding them along the entire line of the wall, by easy stages, from Wallsend to Bowness. Such an index as his book was wanted; for, although the student by his fireside could read and study the inscriptions collected by Horsley and others, the tourist must necessarily have passed by many interesting localities, and many portions of the wall itself, and have been ignorant of the whereabouts of numerous remains, which have luckily been preserved in private mansions, had he not been furnished with the details given by Mr. Bruce. Now, with this book in his pocket, with time at his command, and a moderate share of strength of constitution, he may study, as it can only properly be studied, the grandest and most valuable in the entire range of our ancient national monuments." "It is quite impossible to convey by the most elaborate description a correct notion of this stupendous undertaking. The mere wall itself, extending from sixty to seventy miles, of the width of from ten to twelve feet, and of the probable height of from fifteen to twenty feet, forms only a portion of the picture which the mind has to frame of the work in its original state."
source data:-	goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1851 part 2 p.384 "The ground chosen by the Romans to separate Britain from the barbarian tribes of the north is a tract of high land, often mountainous and precipitous, intercepted by ravines or gaps, as they are now called, rivers, and marshes. With consummate engineering skill the vast natural difficulties of the rugged district have been conquered; no crag or hill turns aside the progress of the great mural defence; upon the steepest heights the stones are as nicely squared and cemented as upon the lower level ground, and the labour of the workmen has in no instance been spared by the use of materials close at hand, for the stones were quarried at a considerable distance from the wall, and brought up hills and precipices by manual force to preserve a unity of construction. The vallum, a deep ditch, runs alongside, and is only interrupted where steep cliffs render it needless. In one place this vallum is formed out of a solid rock, and the huge masses of stone lie upon its banks as if some superhuman agency had ploughed through the rock and shivered it into pieces, as the plough in the hands of the ploughman turns up a furrow in a field. We are as yet only upon the threshold of contemplation. Military stations (castra), mile-castles (castella), and watch-towers, flank the wall throughout its course. They are the stationes linei valli, the stations of the line of the wall, of the Notitia. in them were quartered bodies of auxiliary troops, chiefly foreigners, who in numerous inscriptions have left traces of their abode over a long period of time. In the castella were placed smaller bodies of troops; while the watch-towers, of more circumscribed dimensions, were guarded as outposts by detachments renewed daily from the adjoining stations. A scheme so grand and extensive was the conception of a master mind; its accomplishment and maintenance through two centuries, in the face of hostile and warlike people, and in a climate which must have proved even more destructive to soldiers from the south than the weapons of the enemy, impress us with admiration of the discipline, the fortitude, and the enthusiasm which held together for so long a period so extensive an empire. The scenes of blood and violence which are suggested by conquest are softened by the reflection that in the wake of the sword followed the benign influence of order, laws, arts, and civilization." "A survey of the great wall and its military appendages is absolutely necessary before we can obtain a clear insight into the state of Britain during the Roman occupation. Everything which remains, throughout this northern tract, is more or less of a military character. From the Tyne to the Solway the constructions bespeak the purposes for which they were erected, and the inscriptions are usually more or less relating to soldiers and military matters. The castra and the subsidiary forts are guarded by strong walls void of decoration or ornament. The domestic villas, spacious and well constructed for counteracting the rigours of long winters, present none of the refinements of luxury to be noticed in those of the middle and southern parts of Britain. The beautiful tessellated pavements which adorned the towns and villas of the peaceful and undisturbed parts of Britain are no where to be met with; but in their stead the floors are composed of large slabs of smoothed stone laid in cement upon square columns of stone masonry of the most substantial kind. ..."
source data:-	goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1851 part 2 p.385 "..." "... From Wallsend to Newcastle every stone has been removed for cottages and houses; but the foundation of the wall still obstructs the plough, and by means of its accompanying vallum its course can still be traced almost up to Newcastle. Westward, therefore, from this great and populous town the antiquary will probably commence his tour of the wall. ..."
source data:-	goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1851 part 2 p.386 "... 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. ..." "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,"
source data:-	goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1851 part 2 p.387 "and the eighth cohort of the Britons. ..." "It is after leaving this station [Hunnum] for some distance, that the traveller for the first time forms a clear notion of all the parts of the great fortification. The land now opens on each side, and he perceives before him all the world stretching out and converging towards the horizon in bold and clear outline. Straight before him is the road with the two rows of facing-stones of the wall; on the northern side is the deep ditch, and the vallum or mound with its wide trench. As he advances he will descry the mile-castles, and at longer intervals the great stations. "I climbed over a stone wall," says Hutton, "to examine the wonder; measured the whole in every direction; surveyed them with surprise, with delight; was fascinated and unable to proceed; forgot I was upon a wild common, a stranger, and the evening approaching. Even hunger and fatigue were lost in the grandeur before me. If a man writes a book upon a turnpike road, he cannot be expected to move quick; but, lost in astonishment, I was not able to move at all." Advancing, we find at Plane-tree field a fragment of the wall nearly forty yards in length, with five courses of the facing stones, and a little below, at Brunton, is another fragment seven feet high, with nine courses of facing stones; against it rests an altar, the sides of which have been sculptured with foliage and other ornaments, but the inscription has perished, and no wonder, for the altar in former times served for a gate post. The turn-pike road here leaves the wall and crosses the North Tyne at Chollerford, a little above Chesters (Cilurnum), which in the time of the Romans was reached by a bridge in the strait course of the wall. It is here the antiquary commences the most delightful part of his journey. Interested more and more as he has gradually seen the great fortification developing itself in all its parts and accessories, he has hitherto drawn on his imagination for the fillings-in of the picture. ..."
source data:-	goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1851 part 2 p.388 "..." "... The scenery now increases in breadth and wildness, and the pedestrian, if the weather should should be stormy, and he be not throughly imbued with the true sentiment of antiquarianism, may at times feel lonely and apprehensive of his destiny at night. But the difficulties of the tour, and some there will be under the most favourable circumstances, contribute towards a proper and complete conception of the Roman wall in all its stages, such as can only be attained by walking. The most timid adventurer, however, need not fear such dangers as in times past made this district almost impassable, and deterred Camden and Sir Robert Cotton from advancing eastward beyond Carvoran. Camden only speaks of the castra from hearsay; he durst not venture to inspect them for fear of "the rank robbers thereabouts." Busy-gap, near Sewing-shields, was a noted place of resort for thieves and marauders. Mr. Bruce tells us that "the offence of calling a fellow-freeman 'a Busy-gap rogue,' was sufficiently serious to attract the attention of a guild; a case of this kind being recorded in the books of the Bakers and brewers Company of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1645." The Newcastle Merchants' Company, in 1564, enacted that no apprentice should be taken from these parts, on pain of a fine of 20l. becaue "the parties there brought up are known, either by education or nature, not to be of honest conversation; they commit frequent thefts and other felonies, proceeding from such lewde and wicked progenitors."" "I must now suspend my rambling notes on an inxhausted subject, fearing I have exceeded all reasonable bounds; but convinced of the importance of our national monuments and feeling how little they are regarded in comparison with those of remote countries, I could not refrain from seeking, through the medium of your pages, to draw public attention to the researches of Mr. Bruce and simultaneously to the Great Wall itself, certainly the most stupendous and interesting of our historical antiquities."

evidence:-	old text:- Gents Mag item:- inns; collections, private; roman inscription; inscription, roman
source data:-	Magazine, The Gentleman's Magazine or Monthly Intelligencer or Historical Chronicle, published by Edward Cave under the pseudonym Sylvanus Urban, and by other publishers, London, monthly from 1731 to 1922. "(Concluded from p.388.)" goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1851 part 2 p.504 "..." "As inns are but seldom to be met with in the wall district, it is important for the traveller to know that one called the "Twice Brewed," about two miles from Chester-Holme, on the roadside, affords good though homely accommodation. He will derive additional gratification in knowing that here Hutton took shelter in company with fifteen carriers, and gathered some laughable incidents for his amusing if not very antiquarian History of the Roman Wall. "A more dreary country," writes the octogenarian pedestrian as he approached the "Twice Brewed," "than this in which I now am, can scarcely be conceived. I do not wonder it shocked Camden. The country itself would frighten him, without the troopers." Dreary the country doubtless is, but it is not the dreariness of monotony, or of richer tracts of land without historical associations. The wall now exhibits a succession of"
source data:-	goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1851 part 2 p.505 "changing and interesting views, and we returned eastward from the "Twice Brewed," a considerable distance, in order to secure an examination of the portion we had divaricated from in visiting Vindolanda. Crag after crag, rough and precipitous, acclivities steep and apparently insurmountable, are all traversed equally. In no stage of difficulty or danger did the Roman soldiers turn aside from their task, and up steep hills, which we had some difficulty to climb, the wall is as carefully and firmly built as upon level ground; the materials nowhere differ; the whin rock, or stone of the hills, is used only for the body of the work, the facing stones are as neatly cut as usual, and brought as usual from distant quarries. Passing Milking-gap, a mile-castle called Castle-nick, Peel-crag, Winshields-crag (the highest spot between the two seas), and Bloody-gap, we rested at a small farm-house at Shield-on-the-wall. On the south, near the modern military road, are two large stones, probably the remains of a circle, called "the mare and foal." At Bogle-hole, the vallum is seen inclining towards the wall to assist in defending the pass. This is one of the many similar adaptations noticed by Mr. Bruce, in support of his opinion as to the unity and contemporaneous origin of the fortifications. The wall has its traditions, and spirits are still supposed to haunt the neighbourhood of Bogle-hole. In our walk we were told of the hunter's dogs turning back from the pursuit of animals which were something more than what they seemed to be, and of a man who attempted to fly from a high crag and was killed. Our informant did not attribute his fall to any defect in the provision he had made for his flight, but solely from his having neglected to make an offering of barley-cake to the rocks. Surely there lingers in this story a vestige of the old belief which assigned to every mountain its guardian divinity, and to rivers, woods, and fields, their gods and goddesses." "The mile-castle (castellum) near Caw-fields is the best preserved along the line of the wall, and has been cleared of the accumulated earth by order of its owner, Mr. Clayton. It is situated on a gentle slope, the great wall forming its northern boundary. It has two entrances, of great strength, and with double doors, opposite to each other on the north and south, without any postern gate. The walls are from nine to upwards of ten feet thick, and are rounded off on the south. Previous to the excavation of this mile-castle it was doubtful whether there were openings from them through the wall. On this point much has yet to be determined. In this castellum was found a fragmentary inscription referring to Hadrian and the second legion, and, I believe, the sepulchral stone of the Pannonian soldier, of a much later date, previously mentioned as preserved at Chesters. Near it an altar dedicated to Apollo was discovered in the summer of last year." "..." "Beyond AEsica a second mountain ridge is entered upon. The defiles, gaps, and crags, are as remarkable as those before alluded to, and the Nine Nicks of Thirlwall are perhaps even more precipitous, broken, and wildly picturesque. The wall too is here seen in larger and more continuous masses, and the external facing stones are preserved in many places to the extent of ten and twelve courses." "..."
source data:-	goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1851 part 2 p.506 "..." "... It is not creditable to private individuals to abstract solely for their own gratification that which by right and reason belongs to the public. But unfortunately there are hundreds of Roman monuments found along the line of the wall which have been carried away from the places where they were discovered and rendered totally inaccessible to the artsit and to the antiquary. It is also to be noticed that that persons who for a mere selfish object carry off antiquities are the last to communicate notices to the proper quarters where records would be made of the discoveries for the use of those whose tastes and acquirements qualify them to appreciate the true value of works of antient art. The remains at Birdoswald are, comparatively, well preserved, and the arrangement of the camp, together with the position of the streets and buildings, can yet be well understood, encumbered as they are with earth and their own ruins. For some distance westward of Birdoswald the wall is in excellent condition, but as Carlisle and the western extremity are approached it becomes more and more indistinct, and is in many places entirely destroyed. The antiquary, however, will never find a dearth of materials. The great barrier itself has been pillaged by everybody, from the Government down to the humble tenant of a few acres, and its substance is now in high roads, churches, farm-houses, and cottages. But an extraordinary number of valuable monuments have escaped the hands of the plunderers, and are to be found in private collections along the site of the wall and its appendages. Some I have mentioned. The chief of those which belong to the western extremity of the wall are at Lanercost Priory and at Mr. Senhouse's near Maryport. Besides the great stations, to which, in this brief notice, I have referred, there are others both north and south of the wall not less interesting, and abounding in sculptures and inscriptions. ..."
source data:-	goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1851 part 2 p.507 "..." "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."

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