The oldest church in the town is St. Andrew's, supposed to have been built by King David of Scotland at the time when that monarch was Lord of Tynedale, in the reign of King Stephen. It suffered greatly in the struggle with the Scots, whose cannon, planted on the Leazes, did it great damage, and some of the fiercest fighting, at the final capture of the town, took place close by, where a breach was made in the walls. In such a battered condition was it left that the parish Registers tell us that no baptism nor "sarmon" took place within its walls for a year (1645). But a marriage took place, the persons wedded being Scots, who, we learn from the same authority, "would pay nothing to the Church."

In the church is buried Sir Adam de Athol, Lord of Jesmond, and Mary, his wife. It is supposed that this Sir Adam gave the Town Moor to the people of Newcastle, though this has been disputed. A fine picture of the "Last Supper," by Giordano, presented by Major Anderson in 1804, hangs in the church.

St. John's Church ranks next to St. Andrew's in point of age; there are fragments of Norman work in the building, and it is known to have been standing in 1297. To-day the venerable pile, with its age worn stones, stands out in sharper contrast to its environment than does any other building in the town, surrounded as it is by modern shops and offices. The memories it evokes, and the past for which it stands, are such as the citizens of Newcastle will not willingly let die; and when, a few years ago, a proposal was made for its removal, the proposition aroused such a storm of popular feeling against it that it was incontinently abandoned.

All Saints' Church was built in 1789, on the site of an older building which was in existence in 1296, and which became very unsafe. Here is kept one of the most interesting monuments in the city—the monumental brass which once covered the tomb of Roger Thornton, a wealthy merchant of Newcastle, and a great benefactor to all the churches. He died in 1429. He gave to St. Nicholas' Church its great east window; but, on its needing repair in 1860, it was removed entirely, and the present one, in memory of Dr. Ions, inserted; and the only fragment left of Thornton's window is a small circular piece inset in a plain glass window in the Cathedral. He gave much money to Hexham Abbey also.

Besides the famous men already mentioned in connection with the town, Newcastle possesses other well-known names not a few. In the Middle Ages, Duns Scotus, the man whose skill in argument earned for him the title of "Doctor Subtilis," owned Northumberland as his home, and received his education in the monastery of the Grey Friars, which stood near the head of the present Grey Street. He returned to this monastery after some years of study at Oxford; in 1304 he was teaching divinity in Paris.

Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London in the reign of Edward VI., whose Northumbrian birthplace at Willimoteswick has already been noted, received his early education at the Grammar School in Newcastle, and on going to Cambridge was a student at Pembroke. We are told he was the ablest man among the Reformers for piety, learning and judgment. As is well known, he died at the stake in 1555.

William and Elizabeth Elstob, who lived in Newcastle at the end of the seventeenth century, were learned Saxon scholars, but were so greatly in advance of the education of their times that they met with little encouragement or sympathy in their labours.

Charles Avison, the musician and composer, was organist of St. John's in 1736, and afterwards of St. Nicholas'.

It was he to whom Browning referred in the lines—

"On the list Of worthies, who by help of pipe or wire, Expressed in sound rough rage or soft desire, Thou, whilom of Newcastle, organist."

These lines have been carved on his tombstone in St. Andrew's churchyard. He is best known as the composer of the anthem "Sound the loud timbrel."

Mark Akenside, the poet, was born in Butcher Bank, now called after him Akenside Hill. His chief work "The Pleasures of Imagination," is not often read now, but it enjoyed a considerable reputation in an age when a stilted and formal style was looked upon as a true excellence in poetry.

Charles Hutton, the mathematician, was born in Newcastle in 1737. He began life as a pitman; but, receiving an injury to his arm, he turned his attention to books, and taught in his native town for some years, becoming later Professor of Mathematics in the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich.

John Brand, the antiquary and historian of Newcastle, was born at Washington, County Durham, but came to Newcastle as a child. After attending the Grammar School, he went to Oxford, by the aid of his master, the Rev. Hugh Moises. He was afterwards curate at the church of St. Andrew.

Robert Morrison, the celebrated Chinese scholar, was born near Morpeth, but his parents came to Newcastle when the boy was three years of age. He died in China in 1834.

Thomas Miles Richardson, the well-known artist, was born in Newcastle in 1784, and was at first a cabinetmaker, then master of St. Andrew's Free School, but finally gave up all other work to devote himself to his art.

Robert Stephenson went to school at Percy Street Academy, which for long has ceased to exist. There he was taught by Mr. Bruce, and had for one of his fellow-pupils the master's son, John Collingwood Bruce, who afterwards became so famous a teacher and antiquary.

Newcastle is not, as most southerners imagine, a dark and gloomy town of unrelieved bricks and mortar, for, besides possessing many wide and handsome streets, it has also several pretty parks, the most noteworthy being the beautiful Jesmond Dene, one of the late Lord Armstrong's magnificent gifts to his native town. The Dene, together with the Armstrong Park near it, lies on the course of the Ouseburn, which is here a bright and sparkling stream, very different from the appearance it presents by the time it empties its murky waters into the Tyne. Besides these there are Heaton Park, the Leazes Park, with its lakes and boats, Brandling Park, and others smaller than these; and last, but most important of all, the Town Moor, a fine breezy space to the north of the town, of more than 900 acres in extent.

Of statues and monuments Newcastle possesses some half-dozen, the finest being "Grey's Monument"—a household word in the town and familiarly known as "The Monument." It was erected at the junction of Grey Street and Grainger Street in memory of Earl Grey of Howick, who was Prime Minister at the passing of the Reform Bill. The figure of the Earl, by Bailey, stands at the top of a lofty column, the height being 135 feet to the top of the figure. There is a stairway within the column, by which it can be ascended, and a magnificent view enjoyed from the top.

In an open space near the Central Station, between the Chronicle Office and the Lit. and Phil., there is a fine statue of George Stephenson, by the Northumbrian sculptor, Lough. It is a full length representation of the great engineer, in bronze, with the figures of four workmen, representing the chief industries of Tyneside, around the pedestal—a miner, a smith, a navvy, and an engineer. At the head of Northumberland Street, on the open space of the Haymarket, stands a beautiful winged Victory on a tall column, crowning "Northumbria" typified as a female figure at the foot of the column. This graceful and striking memorial is the work of T. Eyre Macklin, and is in memory of the officers and men of the North who fell in the Boer War of 1899-1902. Two other noteworthy statues in the town are those of Lord Armstrong, near the entrance to the Natural History Museum at Barras Bridge, and of Joseph Cowen, in Westgate Road.

THE KEEL ROW

As I came thro' Sandgate, Thro' Sandgate, thro' Sandgate, As I came thro' Sandgate, I heard a lassie sing "O weel may the keel row, The keel row, the keel row, Weel may the keel row That my laddie's in

"O who is like my Johnnie, Sae leish,[5] sae blithe, sae bonnie; He's foremost 'mang the mony Keel lads o' coaly Tyne He'll set and row sae tightly, And in the dance sae sprightly He'll cut and shuffle lightly, 'Tis true, were he not mine! [Footnote 5: Leish = lithe, nimble.]

"He has nae mair o' learnin' Than tells his weekly earnin', Yet, right frae wrang discernin', Tho' brave, nae bruiser he! Tho' he no worth a plack[6] is, His ain coat on his back is; And nane can say that black is The white o' Johnnie's e'e [Footnote 6: Plack = a small copper coin, worth about one-third of a penny.]

He wears a blue bonnet, Blue bonnet, blue bonnet, He wears a blue bonnet, And a dimple in his chin O weel may the keel row, The keel row, the keel row, Weel may the keel row That my laddie's in."



CHAPTER V.

ELSWICK AND ITS FOUNDER.

Sailed from the North of old The strong sons of Odin; Sailed in the Serpent ships, "By hammer and hand" Skilfully builded.

* * * * *

Still in the North-country Men keep their sea-cunning; Still true the legend, "By hammer and hand" Elswick builds war-ships.

—(Northumbriensis).

For a mile and a quarter, along the north bank of the Tyne, stretch the world-famed Elswick Works, which have grown to their present gigantic proportions from the small beginnings of five and a half acres in 1847. In that year two fields were purchased as a site for the new works about to be started to make the hydraulic machinery which had been invented by Mr. Armstrong.

In this undertaking he was backed by the wealth of several prominent Newcastle citizens, who believed in the future of the new inventions—Messrs. Addison Potter, George Cruddas, Armourer Donkin, and Richard Lambert. At that time Elswick was a pretty country village some distance outside of Newcastle, and the walk along the riverside between the two places was a favourite one with the people of the town. In midstream there was an island, where stood a little inn called the "Countess of Coventry"; and on the island various sports were often held, including horse-racing.

The price of the land for the new shops, which were soon built on the green slopes above the Tyne, was paid to Mr. Hodgson Hind and Mr. Richard Grainger; the latter of whom had intended, could he have carried out his plans for the rebuilding of Newcastle, not to stop until he made Elswick Hall the centre of the town.

Until the new shops were ready to begin work, some of Mr. Armstrong's hydraulic cranes were made by Mr. Watson at his works in the High Bridge.

All the summer of 1847, the building went briskly on; and in the autumn work was started. At first Mr. Armstrong had an office in Hood Street, as he was superintending his machinery construction in High Bridge, as well as the building operations at Elswick. On some of the early notepaper of the firm there is, as the heading, a picture of Elswick as it was then, showing the first shops, the little square building in which were the offices, the green banks sloping down to the waterside, and the island in the middle of the shallow stream, while the chimneys and smoke of Newcastle are indicated in the remote background. Along the riverside was the public footpath.

The first work done in the new shops was the making of Crane No. 6; and amongst other early orders was one from the Newcastle Chronicle, for hydraulic machinery to drive the printing press. The new machinery rapidly grew in favour; and orders from mines, docks and railways poured in to the Elswick firm, which soon extended its works.

In 1854, when the Crimean War broke out, Mr. Armstrong was requested to devise some submarine mines which would clear the harbour of Sebastopol of the Russian war-ships which had been sent there. He did so, but the machinery was never used.

At the same time, in his leisure moments, he turned his attention to the question of artillery. The guns in use at that time were very little better than those which had been used during the Napoleonic wars; and Mr. Armstrong devised a new one, which was made at his workshops. It was a 3-pounder, complete with gun-carriage and mountings, and is still to be seen at Elswick.

With the usual reluctance of Government departments to consider anything new, the War Office of the day was slow to believe in the superiority of the new field-piece; but when every fresh trial proved that superiority to be beyond doubt, the gun was adopted. And then Mr. Armstrong showed the large-minded generosity which was so marked a feature of his character. Holding in his hand—as every man must, who possesses the secret of a new and superior engine of destruction—the fate of nations, to be decided at his will, and with the knowledge that other powers were willing and eager to buy with any sum the skill of such an inventor, Mr. Armstrong presented to the British Government, as a free gift, the patents of his artillery; and he entered the Government service for a time, as Engineer to the War Department, in order to give them the benefit of his skill and special knowledge.

A knighthood was bestowed upon him, and he took up his new duties as Sir William Armstrong. An Ordnance department was opened at Elswick, and the Government promised a continuance of orders above those that the Arsenal at Woolwich was able to fulfil. All went well for a time, but after some years the connection between the Government and Elswick ceased; the Ordnance and Engineering works were then amalgamated into one concern, and Mr. George Rendel and Captain Noble—now Sir Andrew Noble, and one of the greatest living authorities on explosives—were placed in charge of the former.

Released from the agreement to make no guns except for the British Government, Elswick was open to receive other orders, which now began to roll in from all the world. Elswick prospered greatly, until suddenly there came a check, in the shape of a strike for a nine hours day, in 1871. After the strike had lasted for four and a half months, work was resumed; but the old genial relationship between masters and men had received a rude strain, and was never the same as before.

Shipbuilding had been taken up a year or two before this, but the earliest vessels were built to their order in Mr. Mitchell's yard at Walker. The first one was a small gunboat, the "Staunch," built for the Admiralty. In later years the Walker ship-yard was united to the Elswick enterprises, and a ship-yard at the latter place was also opened.

Meantime, Captain Noble had been experimenting further in artillery, and in 1877 another and better type of gun was produced. It was adopted by the Government, and all guns since then have been modifications, more or less, of this type. In 1876 the famous hundred-ton gun for Italy was made, and was taken on board the "Europa" to be carried to her destination; this vessel being the first to pass the newly-finished Swing Bridge, another outcome of the inventive genius of the head of the Elswick firm. The gun, which was the largest in the world at that time, was lowered into the "Europa" by the largest pair of "sheer-legs" in existence, and was lifted out again at Spezzia by the largest hydraulic crane of that day, and all these were the work of the Elswick firm.

Soon after this the firm became Sir W.G. Armstrong, Mitchell, and Co.; and in consequence of the continued increase of business, it became necessary to open Steel Works also. This is one of the most notable features of the Elswick works; the wonders of ancient magicians pale into insignificance before the marvels of this department, and no Eastern Genius could accomplish such seemingly impossible feats with greater ease than do the workmen of Elswick.

The works continued to grow still further, and soon Elswick was building cruisers for China, for Italy (where works at Pozzuoli—the ancient Puteoli—were opened), for Russia, Chili, and Japan. Tynesiders took a special interest in the progress of the Japanese wars, for so many of that country's battleships had their birth on the banks of the river at Elswick, and Japanese sailors became a familiar sight in Newcastle streets. Groups of strange faces from alien lands are periodically seen in our midst, and met with again and again for some time; then one day there is a launch at Elswick, and shortly afterwards all the strange faces disappear. They have gathered together from their various quarters in the town, and manning their new cruiser, have sailed away to their own land, and Newcastle streets know them no more; but, later, Tynesiders read in their newspapers of the deeds done on the vessels which they have sent forth to the world.

The ice-breaker "Ermack" is one of the firm's most notable achievements, the vessel having been built and designed in their Walker yard, to the order of the Czar of Russia, in 1898, for the purpose of breaking up ice-floes in the northern seas, and more especially for keeping open a route across the great lakes of Siberia.

The Elswick firm became Armstrong, Whitworth and Co., Ltd., in 1897, which was also the year of another great strike; and two years later, a disastrous fire burned down three of their shops, throwing two thousand men temporarily out of employment. Still the works continued to grow, and business to increase, until, instead of the five and a half acres originally purchased, the Company's works, in 1900, covered two hundred and thirty acres, and the number of men on the pay-roll was over 25,000—that is, sufficient with their families to people a town three times the size of Hexham. And the scope and extent of these works are extending, and yet extending; and now Elswick and Scotswood form an uninterrupted line of closely-packed dwellings, which stretch without a break from Newcastle, and make a background for the immense works on the river shore; and one would look in vain for any signs of the pretty country lanes and village of sixty years ago.

The founder of this great enterprise, in the early days of the Company, built for his workpeople schools, library, and reading rooms, as well as dwellings, and met them personally at their social gatherings and entertainments—generally provided by himself; but the increasing size of the concern, the excellence and capability, amounting to genius, of the various heads of departments chosen by him, and his own increasing years and failing health, led to his gradual withdrawal from personal attendance at Elswick. The last time he appeared there officially was when the King of Siam visited the works in 1897.

One who knew him well has written of him, "His mind was at the same time original and strictly practical; he noticed with a penetrating observation, and drew conclusions with intuitive genius. Abstract speculation had no charm for him; he never cherished wild dreams or extravagant ideas. But if his conception was thus wisely restricted, his execution of an idea was unrivalled in its thoroughness. Whether he was founding an industrial establishment, or building a house, or making a road, the hand of the man is quite unmistakable. There is the same solid basis, the same enduring superstructure. Every stone that is laid at Cragside or Bamburgh seems to be stamped as it were with the impression of his great personality, and the thoroughness of his work." All his life long, the thoroughness with which he was able to concentrate his mind on the one subject which occupied it at the time, was a marked feature of Lord Armstrong's character.

In the early period of his career, while he was still in a solicitor's office, and when the study of hydraulics was absorbing all his leisure hours, he was quizzically said to have "water on the brain." Electrical problems also engaged his attention, and in 1844 he lectured at the Lit. and Phil. rooms on his hydro-electric machine, on which occasion the lecture room was so tightly packed that he had to get in through the window. In the following year he explained to the same society his hydraulic experiments and achievements; in 1846 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society; and the next summer, 1847, saw the Elswick Works begun.

It is difficult to realize the fact, brought home to us on looking at dates like these, that Lord Armstrong and Robert Stephenson were contemporaries, and that both great engineers were engaged at the same time on the works which were to bring them lasting fame. The life and work of Robert Stephenson seem so remote, so much a part of bygone history, that it strikes the mind with an unexpected shock to realise that here is a life which began about the same time, yet has lasted until quite recent years; for Lord Armstrong's long and successful career only closed with the closing days of the nineteenth century.

In the later years of his life he was greatly interested in repairing and partly re-building the historic castle of Bamburgh, which Mr. Freeman calls "the cradle of our race," and which Lord Armstrong purchased from Lord Crewe's Trustees. Of his personal character, the writer above quoted says, "Apart from his intellectual gifts, Lord Armstrong's character was that of a great man. His unaffected modesty was as attractive as his broad-minded charity. In business transactions, he was the soul of integrity and honour, while in private life his mind was far too large to regard accumulated wealth with any excessive affection. He both spent his money freely and gave it away freely. His benefactions to Newcastle were princely, and his public munificence was fit to rank with that of any philanthropist of his time."

Princely, indeed, were his gifts to his native town, as the list of them will show; they embraced either large contributions to, or the entire gift of, Jesmond Dene, the Armstrong Park, the Lecture Theatre of the Literary and Philosophical Society, St. Cuthbert's Church, the Cathedral, St. Stephen's Church, the Infirmary, the Deaf and Dumb Institution, the Children's Hospital, the Elswick Schools, Elswick Mechanics' Institute, the Convalescent Home at Whitley Bay, the Hancock Museum—to which he and Lady Armstrong contributed a valuable collection of shells, and L11,500 in money—the Armstrong Bridge, the Armstrong College, and the Bishopric Endowment Fund.



CHAPTER VI.

THE CHEVIOTS.

From the crowded, bustling scenes of Tyneside to the solitude of the Cheviot Hills is a "far cry," even farther mentally than in actual tale of miles. Yet the two are linked by the same stream, which begins life as a brawling Cheviot burn, having for its fellows the head waters of the Rede, the Coquet, and the Till, with the scores of little dancing rills that feed them.

Nowhere in this land of swelling hills and grassy fields can one get out of either sight or sound of running water. Every little dip in the hills has its watercourse, every vale its broader stream, and the pleasant sound of their murmurings and sweet babbling fills in the background of every remembrance of days spent upon the green slopes of the Cheviots. You may hear in their tones, if you listen, the shrill chatter and laughter of children, soft cooing voices, and the deeper notes of manhood, and might fancy, did not your sight contradict the fact, that you were close to a goodly company, whose words met your ear, but whose magic language you could not understand.

One little burn of my acquaintance, which runs through field and dell to join the Till, I have hearkened to again and again for hours, unable to break away from the spell of its ever-varying, yet constant music—a sort of wilder, sweeter version of Mendelssohn's Duetto, with the voices of Knight and Lady alternating and intermingling amidst a rippling current of clear bell-like undertones.

Down from Cheviot itself, the lovely little Colledge Water splashes its way, issuing from the wild ravine called the Henhole, where the cliffs on each side of the rocky gorge rise in some places to a height of more than two hundred feet. Concerning this ravine, there is a legend that a party of hunters, long ages ago, were deer-stalking in Cheviot Forest, when on reaching the Henhole their ears were greeted by the most ravishing music they had ever heard. Allured by the enchanting sounds, they followed the music into the ravine, where they disappeared, and were never again seen.

The range of the Cheviot Hills stretches for about twenty-two miles along the north-west border of Northumberland; and as the width of the range is, roughly speaking, twenty-one miles, we have a tract of over three hundred square miles of rolling, grassy, and heath-clad hills, of which about one-third is over the Scottish border in Roxburghshire. The giants of the range, The Cheviot (2,676 feet high), Cairn Hill (2,545 feet), and the striking cone of Hedgehope (2,348 feet), are all near to each other on Northumbrian soil, a few miles south-west of Wooler, which is a most convenient starting place for a visit to any part of the Cheviots, as the Alnwick and Cornhill Railway brings within easy reach the heights which lie still farther north.

The quiet little market town lies pleasantly among green meadows almost at the foot of the Cheviots; its low substantial stone houses, with few gardens in front, give the place a somewhat monotonous appearance, but the newer streets try to make amends by blossoming out into brilliant flower-plots in summer-time. Still, one would not quarrel with the older buildings; solid and unpretentious, they must look much the same as in the days of Border turmoil, when the first requisite in house or town was strength, not beauty.

Near to Wooler are many interesting places; within the limits of quite a short stroll one may visit the Pin Well, a wishing well of which there are so many examples to be found wherever one may travel; the King's Chair, a porphyry crag on the hill above the Pin Well; Maiden Castle, or, less euphoniously, Kettles Camp, an ancient British encampment on the same hill, the Kettles being pot-like cavities in the ravines surrounding it; and the Cup and Saucer Camp, just half a mile distant from Wooler. The Golf Course is now laid out on these same heights.

To reach the Cheviots from Wooler, the most usual way is by the beautiful glen in which lies Langleeford. The bright streamlet known as the Wooler Water runs through it from Cheviot on its way to the town from which it has taken its present name; formerly it was known as Caldgate Burn. It was at Langleeford that Sir Walter Scott stayed, as a youth, in 1791, with his uncle, after they had vainly attempted to find accommodation in Wooler. Here they rode, fished, shot, walked, and drank the goat's whey for which the district was famous in those days and for long afterwards.

Cheviot itself, or "The Muckle Cheviot," is a huge cumbrous-looking mass, with rounded sides and flat top, boggy and treacherous, where, nevertheless, many wild berries brighten the marshy flats in their season. The name "Cheviot" is said to mean "Snowy Ridge" and well does this highest summit of the range merit the name, for on its marshy top and in the rocky chasms of Henhole and Bazzle, the winter's snow often lies until far into the summer. Down through the weird and fairy-haunted cleft of Henhole, as we have seen, the little brown stream of Colledge Water splashes its way, breaking into golden foam between mossy banks as it reaches the outlet, and turns northward to join the Till.

This little burn is one of the prettiest of mountain streams; and in the district surrounding it are perhaps more points of interest than any other stream of such inconsiderable dimensions can show, saving only its neighbour, the Till. The whole of the surrounding country, wild, lonely, and romantic, teems with memories and reminders of the past. Sir Walter Scott, while on the visit already referred to, found an additional pleasure in the presence of so many relics of ancient days in the neighbourhood. "Each hill," he wrote to a friend, "is crowned with a tower, or camp, or cairn, and in no situation can you be near more fields of battle."

Indeed, the whole district of the Cheviots, and the lower lines of swelling hills into which the land subsides as it nears the sea, is crowded with the memorials of an earlier race; from every hill-top and rocky height they speak with tantalising half-revelations of that race which the Romans found here when their galleys brought them to the land which was to them Ultima Thule. No convincing explanation has yet been found of the concentric circular markings, with radiating grooves from the cup-shaped hollow in the middle, which are scored on the rocks wherever traces of an ancient camp are found; and the numbers of these traces are proof that this district was once a very thickly populated part of Britain.

And when Angle and Saxon were driving the early inhabitants before them, westward and southward, these hills and valleys still sheltered a considerable population; and Bede tells us of a royal residence not far away, at the foot of the well known Yeavering Bell, one of the more important hills of the range. It rises to a height of more than 1,100 feet, and then abruptly ends in a wide, almost level top, grass-grown and boulder-strewn, and crowned near the centre with a roughly-piled cairn. The ancient name of Yeavering Bell, as given by Bede in his account of the labours of St. Paulinus, was Ad-gefrin.

To recall the days when King Edwin and his queen, Ethelburga, came here from the royal city of Bamburgh, we must go back to a time nearly forty years after the Bernician chieftain, Ida, established himself in that rocky fortress, from whence he ruled a district roughly corresponding to the present counties of Durham and Northumberland, and known as Bernicia. One of Ida's successors, Ethelric, overcame the tribe of Angles then established in the neighbouring district of Deira—the Yorkshire of to-day. His successor, Ethelfrith, ruled over the united district, and married the daughter of Ella, the vanquished chieftain. Her brother, Edwin, he drove into exile, and the young prince found refuge at the court of Redwald of East Anglia, where he remained for some years.

Redwald's friendship, however, does not seem to have been above suspicion, for we find that Ethelfrith's bribe had on one occasion nearly induced him to give up his guest, whose life, however, was saved by Redwald's wife who turned her husband from his purpose. In his exile the thoughts of the young prince often turned towards his own land; and, once, as he sat brooding over his misfortunes, he saw in a vision one who came and spoke comforting words to him, saying that he should yet be king and that his reign should be long and glorious. "And if one should come to thee and repeat this sign," said the stranger, laying his right hand on Edwin's head "wouldst thou hearken to his rede?" Edwin gave his word, and the vision fled. Some little time after this, Ethelfrith of Northumbria, as the united districts were now called, fell in battle against Redwald, and Edwin, returning northward, became ruler of Northumbria, the sons of Ethelfrith fleeing in their turn before the new king. Edwin wedded, as his second wife, Ethelburga, daughter of that king of Kent in whose days Augustine came to England; and being a Christian princess, she brought with her a priest to her new home in the north. The priest's name was Paulinus; and one day he went to the King and, placing his right hand on Edwin's head, asked if he knew that sign. Edwin remembered, and redeemed his promise. He hearkened to the teaching of the earnest monk, with the result that before long he and his court were baptised by Paulinus, Edwin's little daughter, it is said, being the first to receive the sacred rite.

This was at York; and when the king and queen went to the royal city of Bamburgh, or to their country dwelling at the foot of the Cheviots, Paulinus accompanied them; and wherever he went, he laboured to teach the North-country Angles and Saxons the gospel of Christ. This country dwelling, to which came Paulinus and his royal friends, was Ad-gefrin, or Yeavering; and though it is extremely unlikely that any traces of it could remain until our day, yet tradition points out a fragment of an old building still standing there, as a remnant of the royal residence.

In the region of Kirknewton, a pretty little village to the north-west of Yeavering, where Colledge Water joins the Glen, which gives its name to the romantic district of Glendale, Paulinus baptised many hundreds of Edwin's people; and the name of Pallinsburn—which is now confined to a house at some little distance from the burn—enshrines the memory of yet another scene of the labours of the indefatigable monk.

If we stand on the wind-swept top of Yeavering Bell, we are surrounded by the evidences of still more remote days, for the whole of the summit was once a fortified camp of the ancient Britons. A roughly-piled, but massive wall, now almost all broken down, surrounded it, and within its grass-grown oval are two additional walls, at the east and the west ends of the enclosure, and many hut-circles, evidences of the rude dwellings of our remote ancestors. Excavations here many years ago brought to light a jasper ball, some fragments of a coarse kind of pottery, and some oaken armlets. Evidently the enclosure on the summit was intended to be a last resort in time of danger, for traces of many huts are to be found outside its encircling wall, which is surrounded by a ditch and a low rampart of earth. At the east end, where the porphyry crag juts out from the hilltop to a height of about twenty feet, full advantage has been taken of this naturally strong position.

Now, instead of advancing foes, the spreading heather climbs steadily up the sloping sides of this ancient stronghold, and invades the central enclosure at its will; a few hardy sheep that have wandered up here from the richer pastures below, and now and again a stray tourist, anxious to make acquaintance at first hand with one of the more famous of the Cheviot heights, and more than satisfied with the glorious view spread out before him, are all that disturb the brooding peace of its grassy solitudes. Up here the wind blows keenly around us with an exhilarating freshness in its breath, and we think regretfully of coats left behind at the shepherd's hospitable dwelling, which, with the rest of the cottages clustering round the old farm house, lies sunning itself in the warm glow of the September afternoon, in the green fields at the foot of the sheltering hills.

Looking southward now, up the stream, there is stretching away to the left the long ridge of Newton Tor, and away behind it Great Hetha and Little Hetha; while half-way down the vale the Colledge Water tumbles over the rocks at Hethpoole Linn (or Heathpool, as the modern rendering has it), breaking into amber spray deep down beneath overhanging trees and boulders and golden bracken.

This brings our thoughts to days comparatively modern, for when Admiral Collingwood was raised to the peerage of Great Britain, it was by the title of "Baron Collingwood of Caldburn and Hethpoole, in the county of Northumberland." The brave Admiral was fond of planting an oak tree whenever he found an opportunity, to secure the continuance of those wooden walls which in his hands, and in those of his life-long friend, Nelson, had proved such a sure defence to his country. In a letter dated March, 1806, he wrote to his wife, "I wish some parts of Hethpoole could be selected for plantations of larch, oak, and beech, where the ground could best be spared. Even the sides of a bleak hill would grow larch and fir." In another letter some months later he told her what "agreeable news" it was to hear that she was taking care of his oaks, and planting some at Hethpoole; and saying that if he ever returned he would plant a good deal there; adding, however, that he feared before that could take place both he and Lady Collingwood might themselves be planted in the churchyard beneath some old yew tree.

Hethpoole presents us with a link not only with history, but with romance as well. An ivied ruin near at hand, with walls of enormous strength, is said to be the remains of the castle where the final tragedy in "The Hermit of Warkworth" took place. Here, it is said, the distracted lover came upon his lady and his brother, who had at that moment effected her escape, and not recognising the youth, rushed upon the pair with drawn sword, only to discover too late his terrible mistake, and lose both brother and bride—for the lady received a mortal wound in trying to save her rescuer.

Turning our eyes now northward across the Glen from Yeavering Bell, we are looking towards Coupland Castle, and the fact that it was built so late as the reign of James I. bears eloquent testimony to the insecurity of life and property on the Borders even at that period. The barony either gave its name to, or took its name from, a well-known Northumbrian family, of which one of the most prominent members was that Sir John de Coupland who succeeded in capturing David of Scotland at the battle of Neville's Cross—not, however, before he had lost some of his teeth by a blow from the mailed fist of that doughty monarch!

Beyond Coupland Castle we look across Milfield Plain lying in the angle formed by the meeting of the Glen with the deep and sullen Till, whose slow windings can be traced as it gleams at intervals between the undulations of the lower hills through which it flows northwestward to the Tweed. Though a brisk and sparkling stream in certain parts of its course, the general characteristics of the Till are well borne out by the lines—

Tweed says to Till "What gars ye rin sae still?" Till says to Tweed "Though ye rin wi' speed And I rin slaw; Where ye droon ae man I droon twa."

There is yet more of historical and traditional interest to note in this view from the top of Yeavering Bell, which, as I saw it last, lay warm in the glow of a September afternoon. Nennius is our authority for stating that on Milfield Plain took place one of the great conflicts in which King Arthur

"Fought, and in twelve great battles overcame The heathen hordes, and made a realm, and reigned"

And, as we gazed, the level spaces seemed peopled once more with charging knights, flashing sword and swinging battle-axe, and the intervening centuries dropped away, and Arthur's call to battle for "our fair father Christ," seemed curiously befitting that romantic scene. But, as the shadows lengthened, and the streams took on a golden glow in the rays of the September sun, then slowly setting, "the tumult and the shouting of the captains" died away, and the figure of an earnest monk seemed to stand by the riverside, with prince and serf, peasant and warrior for his audience, and the cold bright waters of the Glen dripping from his hand, as he enrolled one after another into the ranks of an army mightier than the hosts of Arthur or Edwin.

Milfield again emerges into notice out of the obscurity of those dark ages, in the days of the Bernician kings who succeeded Edwin; for Bede tells us that "This town (Ad-gefrin) under the following kings, was abandoned, and another was built instead of it at a place called Melmin," now Milfield. Nothing, however, remains here of the buildings which once sheltered the royal Saxons and their court. In later days, Milfield has a melancholy interest attaching to it from its connection with the battle of Flodden; for, on the heights above, King James fixed his camp, in the hope that Surrey would lead his troops across the plain below. Of the other considerable heights of the Cheviot range, Carter Fell and Peel Fell are the best known; they both lie right on the border line of England and Scotland, between the North Tyne and the Rede Water. As we have already seen, the men of Tynedale and Redesdale bore a reputation for lawlessness in the time of the Border "Moss-trooping" days, and until nearly the end of the eighteenth century the tradesmen and guilds of Newcastle would take no apprentice who hailed from either of these dales. The tracks and passes between the hills, once alive with frequent foray and wild pursuit, are now silent and solitary but for the occasional passing of a shepherd or farmer, and the flocks of sheep grazing as they move slowly up the hillsides. A quaint survival of the remembrances of those days was unexpectedly brought before me one day. A child presented me with a bunch of cotton-grass, gathered on the moors not far from the Roman-Wall. I asked if she knew what they were that she had brought. "Moss-troopers," she replied.

Many of the Cheviot heights bear most suggestive and interesting names, such as Cushat [7] Law, Kelpie [8] Strand, Earl's Seat, Stot [9] Crags, Deer Play, Wether Lair, Bloodybushedge, Monkside, etc., etc.

[Footnote 7: Cushat = a wood-pigeon.] [Footnote 8: Kelpie = a water-witch.] [Footnote 9: Stot = a bullock.]

In these lonely wilds, which occupy all the northwest of the county, one may travel all day and meet with no living thing save the birds of the air, and a few shy, wild creatures of the moorlands; curve after curve, the rounded hills stretch away into the distance, grass-grown or heatherclad, with occasional peat-mosses; above is the "grey gleaming sky," and, all around, a stillness as of vast untrodden wastes, and a sense of solitude out of all proportion to the actual extent of this lonely region. The fascination of it, however, admits of no denial, even on the part of those newly making its acquaintance; while those who in childhood or youth roam over its wild fells, and feel the spell of its brooding mystery, retain in their hearts for all time an unfading remembrance of its magic charm.

COLLEDGE WATER.

My sire is the stooping Cheviot mist, My mother the heath in her purple train; And every flower on her gown I've kissed Over and over and over again.

The secret ways of the hills are mine, I know where the wandering moor-fowl nest; And up where the wet grey glidders[10] shine I know where the roving foxes rest. [Footnote 10: Glidders = Patches of loose stones on the hillside.]

I know what the wind is wailing for As it searches hollow and hag and peak; And, riding restless on Newton Tor, I know what the questing shadows seek.

I know the tale that the brown bees tell, And they tell it to me with a raider's pride, As, drunk with the cups of Yeavering Bell, They stagger home from the English side.

I know the secrets of haugh and hill; But sacred and safe they rest with me, Till I hide them deep in the heart of Till, To be taken to Tweed and the open sea.

—Will. H. Ogilvie.

BY PERMISSION OF MESSRS. W. AND R. CHAMBERS



CHAPTER VII.

THE ROMAN WALL.

"Take these flowers, which, purple waving, On the ruined rampart grew, Where, the sons of Freedom braving, Rome's imperial standard flew. Warriors from the breach of danger Pluck no longer laurels there; They but yield the passing stranger Wild-flower wreaths for Beauty's hair." —Sir Walter Scott. (Lines written for a young lady's album.)



Of all the abundance of treasure which Northumberland possesses, from a historical point of view—of all its wealth of interesting relics of bygone days—ancient abbey, grim fortress, menhir and monolith, camp and tumulus—none grips the imagination as does the sight of that unswerving line which pursues its way over hill and hollow, from the eastern to the western shores of the north-land, visible emblem, after more than a thousand years, of the far-flung arm of Imperial Rome.

From Wallsend on the Tyne to Bowness on the Solway Firth it strode triumphantly across the land; even now in its decay it remains a splendid monument to that mighty nation's genius for having and holding the uttermost parts of the earth that came within their ken. As was inevitable, after the lapse of nearly eighteen centuries the great work is everywhere in a ruinous condition, and in many places, especially at its eastern end, has disappeared altogether; but not only can its course be traced by various evidences, but it was actually standing within comparatively recent years. As lately as the year 1800—lately, that is, compared with the date of its building—its existence at Byker was referred to in a magazine of the period. Now nothing is to be seen of it excepting a few stones here and there, for many miles from Wallsend; but the highroad westward from Newcastle, by Westgate Road, as is well known, follows the course of the Wall for nearly twenty miles. But farther west we may walk along the uneven, broken surface of the mighty rampart, or climb down into the broad and deep fosse which lies closely against it along its northern side, without troubling ourselves with the arguments and uncertainties of antiquaries, who have by no means decided on what was the original function of the Wall, who was its real builder, why and when the earthen walls and fosse which accompany it on the south were wrought, and many other smaller controversial points, which afford endless matter for speculation and discussion.

Early references to the Wall show that our forefathers knew it as the Picts' Wall; it is now generally referred to as the Wall of Hadrian, the general concensus of opinion yielding to that indefatigable ruler the credit of having wrought the mighty work. Whether built originally as a frontier line of defence or not, opinions are not agreed; but it is very certain that the Wall afforded the only secure foothold in the North to the Romans for well-nigh two centuries of hostility from the restless Brigantes to the southward, and the Picts and Scots to the north; and for another century or so after their southern neighbours had become friendly and peaceful, it still remained a substantial bulwark against the northern barbarians.

Throughout the whole of its length it steadily holds the line of the highest ridges in its course, climbing up slopes and dipping down into the intervening hollows with the least possible deviation from its onward course. The most interesting, because most complete, portion of the Wall, is that in the neighbourhood of the three loughs—Broomlee, Greenlee, and Crag Loughs, which, with Grindon Lough to the south of the Wall, boast the name of the Northumberland Lakes. On this portion of the wall is situated the large Roman station of Borcovicus, from which we have gained a great deal of our information as to what the life of the garrisons on this lonely outpost of Empire was like.

The station is situated on hilly ground, which slopes gently to the south, and is nearly five acres in extent. On entering the eastern gateway one cannot but experience a sudden thrill on seeing the deep grooves worn in the stone by the passing and repassing of Roman cart and chariot wheels. That mute witness of the daily traffic of the soldiery in those long-past centuries speaks with a most intimate note to us who eighteen hundred years afterwards come to look upon the place of their habitation. The station itself is of the usual shape of the Roman towns on the course of the Wall—oblong, with rounded corners. The greatest length lies east and west, in a line with the Wall; and two broad streets crossing each other at right angles lead from the north to the south, and from the east to the western gateways. Each of the four was originally a double gateway; but in every case one half of it has been closed up, no doubt when the garrison was declining in numbers, and the attacks of the enemy were increasing in severity.



Considerable portions of the guard-chambers, one at each side of each gateway, still remain; and near one of them was found a huge stone trough, its edges deeply worn by, apparently, the frequent sharpening of knives upon it. Its use has not been determined; Dr. Bruce tells us that one of the men engaged in the work of excavation gave it as his firm opinion that the Romans used it to wash their Scotch prisoners in! The buildings of the little town—a row of houses against the western wall, two large buildings near the centre of the camp, with smaller chambers to the east of them—in which the garrison lived, worked, and stored their supplies, are still quite plainly to be traced, although the walls are only three or four courses high in most places, and of the pillars the broken bases are almost all that remain.

A considerable number of people dwelt outside the walls of this, as of all the stations, sheltering under its walls, and relying on the protection of its garrison; the slope to the southward of Borcovicus shows many traces of buildings scattered all over it. On the northern side, the steep hill, massive masonry, and deep fosse would seem to have offered well-nigh insuperable difficulties to an attacking force such as then could be brought against the camp; yet not only here, but in all the stations whose remains yet survive, there is unmistakable evidence that more than once has the garrison been driven out by a victorious foe, to re-enter and occupy it again at a later period. And when we consider that the Wall and its forts were garrisoned by the Romans for a period extending over nearly three centuries, a period corresponding to the time from the reign of James I. to the present day, it becomes a matter of wonder, not that such was the case, but that such occurrences were not more frequent than the evidences seem to declare.

In spite of all the hard fighting, however, the recreations of lighter hours would seem not to have been forgotten; on the north of the wall is a circular hollow in the ground, evidently a little amphitheatre, in which doubtless many a captive Briton and Pict played his part. On a little rise to the southward, called Chapel Hill, stood the temple where the garrison paid its vows to the various deities of its worship. Many remarkably fine altars found on this and other sites have been preserved, either at the fine museum at The Chesters, or at the Black Gate in Newcastle. One of the most striking is the altar to Mithras, the Persian sun-god, found in a cave near the camp, evidently constructed for the celebration of the rites connected with the worship of Mithras. The altar shows the god coming out of an egg, and surrounded by an oval on which are carved the signs of the Zodiac.

The Teutonic element in the garrison is represented by the altars to Mars Thingsus, the discovery of which caused great interest in Germany, and by the altars to the Deae Matres—the mother-goddesses, whose carved figures are shown seated, fully draped, and holding baskets of fruits on their knees. They are generally found in sets of three; but unfortunately they have been much mutilated, and all the examples remaining are headless. The Deae Matres would seem to correspond in some degree to the Roman Ceres and the Greek Demeter, the bountiful givers of the fruits of the earth. The majority of the altars found are, as was to be expected, dedicated to the deities of Rome; chiefly, as shown by the constantly recurring I.O.M.—Jovi optimo maximo—to "Jupiter, the best and greatest." The varying inscriptions which follow as reasons for their erection as votive offerings give us glimpses of the life in these communities clearer than those afforded by anything else. And as most, if not all, of our knowledge concerning the details of the Roman occupation of the north-country has to be obtained from the inscriptions which the garrisons left behind them, the inscribed stones as well as the altars are of the greatest possible interest and value. One such stone, found at the Borcovicus mile-castle, states that "the Second Legion, the August (erected this at the command of) Aulus Platorius Nepos, Legate and Propraetor, in honour of the Emperor Caesar Trajanus Hadrianus Augustus."

At "Cuddy's" (Cuthbert's) Crag near Borcovicus is one of the most picturesque bits of scenery to be found on the whole course of the Wall. My first acquaintance with it was made on a day of grey mist and drizzling rain, which completely hid any view of the surrounding country, and of necessity confined our attention to the stones (and wet grass!) immediately beneath our feet. But another visit was on a day of wind and sunshine, and in the company of a group of light-hearted students. We explored the ruins of Borcovicus, walked along the broad and broken top of the Wall, and climbed up hill and down dale with it under the pleasantest conditions, if a trifle breezy on the heights. June was at her traditional best, which she does not often vouchsafe to show us; flowers waved all around, amongst the grass and in the crannies between the stones, and more than once the lines at the head of this chapter were quoted by one to another. Again and again our progress was stayed while we admired the glorious view spread out all around, but especially was this the case at Cuddy's Crag. We looked westward over Crag Lough, its usually dark waters flashing in the afternoon sun; the three Loughs were all within view; away to the southward, beyond Barcombe Hill, and the site of Vindolana, Langley Castle could be seen, "standing four-square to all the winds that blew"; and further away again, beyond the valley of the South Tyne, to the southwest the faint outlines of Crossfell and Skiddaw. Northward it was quite easy to imagine oneself looking out over the Picts' country still, so far do the moorlands stretch, and so few are the signs of habitation. Rolling ridges stretch northward, wave upon wave, clothed with grass and heather, amongst which Parnesius and Pertinax went hunting with little Allo the Pict; to the northeast the heights of Simonside showed; and far beyond them, though more to the westward, the rounded summits of the Cheviots lay on the horizon.

A short distance westward from the Crag is Hot Bank farmhouse, a place which most visitors to the Wall remember with grateful feelings; for what is more refreshing, after a long tramp, than a farmhouse cup of tea accompanied by that most appetising of Northumbrian dainties, hot girdle cakes! The Visitors' Book at Hot Bank is a "civil list" of all the most learned and noted names in Great Britain, and many outside its shores, together with legions of humbler folk. In this it resembles the one at Cilurnum, which is the only other considerable station along the line of the Wall in Northumberland.

This station of Cilurnum, or Chesters, is a little over five acres in extent, and is quite near to Chollerford station on the North British Railway. To describe Cilurnum in detail, and the interesting museum connected with it, filled with a wonderful collection of objects found on the line of the Wall, would require a book to deal with that alone. The general plan is the same as that which we have already seen at Borcovicus, with the same rounded corners, and double gateway with guard-chambers at each side; the western and eastern walls at Chesters, however, have each an additional single gateway to the south of the larger portals. We must content ourselves with a short survey of the camp, with its two wide streets at right angles to each other as at Borcovicus, and the rest of them very narrow—indeed, little more than two feet in width; the remains of its Forum and market, its barracks and houses, its open shops and colonnades, the bases of the pillars yet in position; its baths, with pipes, cistern, and flues; and a vaulted chamber which was thought, on its being first excavated, to lead to underground stables, for a local tradition held that such were in existence, and would be found, with a troop of five hundred horses. The vault, however, did not lead further, so that the tradition remained unproven. Notwithstanding this, there was a grain of fact in it; for Chesters was a cavalry station, and five hundred was the full complement of the ala, or troop (ala being a "wing," and cavalry forming the "wing" of an army in position).

Outside the walls of Cilurnum are traces of the usual suburban dwellings; and here, near the river, stood the villa of the officer in command of the station. The excavation of all these buildings and many others took place in the forties and fifties of last century, and were due to the energy of Mr. John Clayton, the learned and zealous antiquary, in the possession of whose family the estate still remains. To Mr. N.G. Clayton we owe the Museum at the Lodge gate, which he built for the reception of the notable collection it contains of antiquities gathered from all the various stations in Northumberland. A very fine altar brought from Vindolana at once strikes the eye, and may be taken as a type of many others, though not many are so perfect. The gravestone of a standard-bearer, from the neighbouring station of Procolitia, shows a full-length carving of the dead warrior. Other inscribed stones are of great interest, though unfortunately most of them are but fragments; still these fragments not infrequently contain a few words which enable students of them to confirm a date or a fact concerning the garrisons, which must otherwise have been a matter of pure conjecture. For instance, it might seem very improbable that the same regiments should have been quartered in certain stations for over two hundred years; yet one of the inscribed stones proves that such was the case at Cilurnum. The inscription states that the second ala of the Asturians repaired the temple during the consulate of certain persons, which is found to be about the year 221. In the Notitia, which was not compiled until the beginning of the fifth century, the second ala of the Asturians is given as the garrison of Cilurnum.

Another thing which strikes the imagination is the sight, after the lapse of so many centuries, of the erasures on various inscribed stones—erasures of some emperor's or Caesar's name after his death by the chisel of a soldier in one of his legions on this far-away post of his empire. It is one thing to read one's Gibbon, and learn of the murder of Geta, son of Severus, by order of his brother Caracalla, and another to see the youth's name roughly scratched out on a stone in Hexham Abbey crypt; and to read of the assassination of Elagabalus does not move us one whit, but to see his name erased from a stone in Chesters museum brings the tumultuous happenings in ancient Rome very closely home to us.

Here are also several Roman milestones, with their lengthy and sonorous inscriptions, from various points on the Wall; and a miscellaneous and deeply interesting collection of smaller articles, such as ornaments of bronze, jet, or gold, fibulae (brooches or clasps), coins of many reigns, Samian-ware, terra-cotta and glass, parts of harness, etc., etc.

Of carven figures there are several besides the standard bearer already mentioned. The best is a figure of Cybele, with elaborate draperies, but unfortunately headless; another, of Victory, holds a palm branch in the left hand, but the right arm is missing. A soldier is shown with spear, shield, and ornate head-piece; and a representation of a river-god, the genius of the Tyne, is worthy of notice. He is a bearded figure, after the style of the figures of Nilus, or the representations in old prints of Father Thames. From Procolitia comes an altar to the goddess Coventina, a name not met with elsewhere, the presiding genius of the well in that station. She is shown reclining on a water-lily leaf, holding in one hand a water-plant, and in the other a goblet from which a stream of water runs. An elaborate carving of three water nymphs, most probably meant to be in attendance on the goddess, is one of the few pieces of sculpture that are not greatly mutilated.

Centurial stones are numerous, having been put up at all parts of the Wall to record the building of such and such parts by various centurions and their companies. The mark >, which Dr. Hodgkin supposes to be a representation of the vine rod, a centurion's symbol of authority, and the sign C or Q, are used to signify a century. Thus a stone inscribed Q VAL. MAXI. states that the century of Valerius Maximus built that part of the Wall. Two or three small altars are inscribed DIBVS VETERIBVS—"To the Old Gods"; and Mars Thingsus is well represented.

A very important relic of Roman times found at Cilurnum was a bronze tablet of citizenship, giving this coveted privilege to a number of soldiers who had served in twenty-five campaigns and received honourable discharge. There have been only three specimens of this diploma found in Britain, and all are preserved in the British Museum. There are many memorial tablets erected by wives to their husbands, and husbands to their wives, which leads to much speculation as to how these ladies, high-born Roman, native Briton, or freed-woman, liked their sojourn in a small garrison town on the breezy heights of a Northumbrian moorland. Those ladies who dwelt at Cilurnum, however, had not so much cause to complain, for such natural advantages as were to be had were certainly theirs, in that sheltered spot. The scenery round about Cilurnum is quiet, peaceful and pastoral, altogether different from the wild beauty of Cuddy's Crag, Limestone Corner, or Whinshields.

Having now noticed the two chief stations on the line of the Wall, it will be interesting to follow the course of the rampart itself throughout its journey across Northumberland, though to do so in detail is impossible within the limits of so small a volume as the present one. Neither would it be necessary, or desirable, for the last word in detailed description has been said long ago in the two wonderfully exhaustive treatises on the subject by Dr. Bruce.

A list of Roman officials, civil and military, throughout the empire has come down to us; in this list—Notitia Dignitatem et Administratem, tam civilium quam militarium in partibus orientis et occidentis—the portion which relates to the Wall is headed, Item per lineam Valli—"Also along the line of the Wall." The following is a copy of this portion, as given by Dr. Bruce in his Handbook to the Roman Wall.

The Tribune of the fourth cohort of the Lingones at Segedunum.

The Tribune of the first cohort of Cornovii at Pons Aelii.

The Prefect of the first ala of the Asturians at Condercum. The Tribune of the first cohort of the Frixagi (Frisii) at Vindobala.

The Prefect of the Savinian ala at Hunnum.

The Prefect of the second ala of the Asturians at Cilurnum.

The Tribune of the first cohort of the Batavians at Procolitia.

The Tribune of the first cohort of the Tungrians at Borcovicus.

The Tribune of the fourth cohort of the Gauls at Vindolana.

The Tribune of the first cohort of Asturians at Aesica.

The Tribune of the second cohort of Dalmatians at Magna.

The Tribune of the first cohort of Dacians, styled Aelia, at Amboglanna.

The Prefect of the ala called "Petriana," at Petriana.

The Prefect of a detachment of Moors, styled Aureliani, at Aballaba.

The Tribune of the second cohort of the Lingones at Congavata.

The Tribune of the first cohort of Spaniards at Axelodunum.

The Tribune of the second cohort of the Thracians at Gabrosentum.

The Tribune of the first marine cohort, styled Aelia, at Tunnocelum.

The Tribune of the first cohort of the Morini at Glannibanta.

The Tribune of the third cohort of the Nervians at Alionis.

The Cuneus of men in armour at Bremetenracum.

The Prefect of the first ala, styled Herculean, at Olenacum.

The Tribune of the sixth cohort of the Nervians at Virosidum.

Of these stations, with their officers and troops, only those as far as Magna are in Northumberland; the rest continue the chain of defences across Cumberland to the Solway Firth. Besides these stations, there were castella at the distance of every Roman mile (seven furlongs) along the Wall, from which circumstance they are known as "mile-castles." They provided accommodation for the troops necessary between the stations, which were at some distance from each other; and between each two castella there were also erected two turrets, so that communication from one end of the Wall to the other was speedy and certain.

All traces of the station of Segedunum (Wallsend) have long since disappeared; the Wall from there, beginning actually in the bed of the river, ran almost parallel with the N.E.R. Tynemouth Branch, a little to the south of it, and climbing the hill to Byker, went down the slope to the Ouseburn parallel with Shields Road, crossing the burn just a little to the south of Byker Bridge. From there its course has been traced to Red Barns, where St. Dominic's now stands, to the Sallyport Gate, and over the Wall Knoll to Pilgrim Street; thence to the west door of the Cathedral, and on past St. John's Church, up Westgate Road.

The station at Pons Aelii, it is generally agreed, occupied the ground between the Cathedral church of St. Nicholas and the premises of the Lit. and Phil. Society. Following the Wall up Westgate Road, we are now out upon the highway from Newcastle to Carlisle, which, as we have seen, is upon the very line of the Wall for nearly a score of miles. At Condercum (Benwell) the next station, garrisoned by a cavalry corps of Asturians from Spain, a small temple was uncovered in the course of excavating, and two altars found still standing in their original position. Both of these were to a deity unknown elsewhere, given as Antenociticus on one, and as Anociticus on the other. The former was erected by a centurion of the Twentieth Legion, the Valerian and Victorious, whose crest, the running boar, we shall meet with more than once in our journey.

Westward from here, near West Denton Lodge, faint indications of the turf wall (generally called the Vallum, to distinguish it from the Murus, or stone wall), come into sight, and traces of a mile-castle to the left of the road. After this the Vallum and Murus accompany each other for the rest of their journey, with but little intermission. The next mile-castle was at Walbottle, from which point a delightful view of the Tyne valley and the surrounding country can be obtained. Passing Throckley and Heddon-on-the-Wall, where the fosse on the northern side of the Wall is well seen, and also the Vallum and its fosse, Vindolana (Rutchester) is reached; but there is little evidence here that it is the site of a once busy and bustling garrison station. Indeed, up to this point and for a considerable distance further, a few courses of stones here and there are all that is to be seen of the Roman Wall, its material having for the most part been swallowed up in the construction of the turnpike road on which we are travelling. This road was made in 1745 because there was no road by which General Wade could convey his troops from Newcastle to Carlisle, when "Bonnie Prince Charlie" marched so gaily to that city on his way southward, and so sadly, in a month, returned again.

The Wall now makes for the ridge of Harlow Hill, while the Vallum goes on in a perfectly straight line past the picturesque Whittle Dene and the waterworks, until the Wall joins it again near Welton, where the old pele-tower is entirely built of Roman stones. After Matfen Piers, where a road to the northward leads to the beautiful little village of Matfen, and one to the southward to Corbridge, the Wall passes Wall Houses and Halton Shields, where the various lines of the Wall, road, and earthworks, as well as the fosse of each, can be distinctly seen. Passing Carr Hill, the Wall leads up to the station of Hunnum (Halton Chesters), where Parnesius was stationed when Maximus gave him his commission on the Wall. It is not easy to recognise the site now, but as we follow the road we may comfort ourselves with the reflection that at least we have walked right across it from the eastern gate to the western.

A short distance further on is Stagshawbank, famed for its fairs, the glory of which, however, has greatly departed since the days when Dandie Dinmont had such adventures on returning from "Staneshiebank." It stands just where the Wall crosses the Watling Street, which enters Northumberland at Ebchester, and crossing the moors to Whittonstall, leads down the long descent to Riding Mill; there turning westward to Corbridge, it comes straight on to Stagshawbank, leading thence northwestward past the Wall through Redesdale to the Borders, which it reaches at Ad Fines Camp, or Chew Green, where the solitudes of the Cheviots and the silence of the deserted camp are soon to be startled by the rifle-shots of Territorials at practice. West of Stagshawbank the earthen ramparts are to be seen in great perfection.

As the Wall nears Chollerford, one may see, a little to the northward, the little chapel of St. Oswald, which, as we have seen in a former chapter, marks the site of the battle of Heavenfield. Just before reaching this point, there is a quarry to the south of the Wall from which the Romans obtained much building-stone, and one of them has left his name carved on one of the stones left lying there, thus—(P)ETRA FLAVI(I) CARANTINI—The stone of Flavius Carantinus.

At Plane Trees Field and at Brunton there are larger pieces of the Wall standing than we have yet seen. The Wall now parts company with the highroad, which swerves a little to the north in order to cross the Tyne by Chollerford Bridge, while the course of the Wall is straight ahead, for the present bridge is not the one built and used by the Romans. That is in a line with the Wall, and therefore south of the present one; and as we have already noticed, its piers can be seen near the river banks when the river is low. A diagram of its position is given in Dr. Bruce's Handbook.

The Wall now leads up to the gateway of Cilurnum, which we have already visited; and after leaving the park, it goes on up the hill to Walwick. Here it is rejoined by the road, which now for some little distance proceeds actually on the line of the Wall, the stones of which can sometimes be seen in the roadway. The tower a little further on, on the hill called Tower Tye, or Taye, was not built by the Romans, although Roman stones were used in its erection; it is only about two hundred years old.

At Black Carts farm, which the Wall now passes, the first turret discovered on the line of the Wall after the excavations had begun, and interest in the subject was revived, was here laid bare by Mr. Clayton in 1873. At Limestone Bank, not much further on, the fosse north of the Wall, and also that of the Vallum, show a skill in engineering such as we are apt to fancy belongs only to these days of powerful machinery, and explosives for rending a way through the hardest rock. The ditches have both been cut through the solid basalt, and great boulders of it are strewn around; one huge mass, weighing many tons, has been hoisted out—by what means, we are left to wonder; and another, still in the ditch, has the holes, intended for the wedges still discernible.

A mile or so further on is Procolitia (Carrawburgh), where is the famous well presided over by the goddess Coventina, whose acquaintance we have already made at Cilurnum. The remains of the station at Procolitia are by no means to be compared with those at Borcovicus or Cilurnum; very few of its stones are yet remaining. The well was the most interesting find at Procolitia. It was known to be there, for Horsley had mentioned it; but the waters which supplied it were diverted in consequence of some lead-mining operations. Then the stream formed by its overflow dried up, grass grew over its course and over the well, and it was lost sight of entirely. But the same thing which had led to its disappearance was the means of finding it again. Some lead miners, prospecting for another vein of ore in the neighbourhood, happened to dig in this very spot, and soon struck the stones round the mouth of the well. Mr. Clayton had it properly excavated, and was rewarded by coming not only upon the well, but a rich find of Roman relics of all kinds, which had either been thrown pell-mell into it for concealment in a moment of danger, or, what is more likely, been thrown in during the course of ages as votive offerings to the presiding goddess of the well. There were thousands of coins, mostly silver and copper, with four gold pieces among them; and a large collection of miscellaneous objects, including vases, shoes, pearls, ornaments, altars and inscribed stones, all of which were taken to Chesters. The next point of interest on the Wall is the farmhouse of Carraw, which the Priors of Hexham Abbey once used as a summer retreat. A little further on, at Shield-on-the-Wall, Wade's road crosses to the south of the earthen lines, and parts company with the Wall for a little while, for the latter bends northward to take the high ridge, as usual, while the road and Vallum continue in a straight line. The fragments of a mile-castle are standing just at the point where the Wall swerves northward; indeed, we have been passing the sites of these castella, with fragments more or less in evidence all along the route, but those which we shall now encounter are much more distinctly to be seen than their fellows on the eastern part of the journey, many of which have disappeared altogether.

The high crags which here shoulder the Wall are part of the Great Whin Sill, an intrusive dyke of dolerite which stretches from Greenhead northeastward across the county nearly to Berwick. The military road here leaves the Wall, with which it does not again come into close contact until both are near Carlisle, though in several places the Roman road will be encountered near the Wall in a well-preserved condition. The Wall now climbs another ascent to the farmhouse of Sewingshields, which name is variously explained as "Seven Shields," and as "The shiels (shielings, or little huts) by the seugh" or hollow—the hollow being the fosse. Sewingshields Castle, long since disappeared, is the scene of the knight's adventures in Sir Walter Scott's "Harold the Dauntless." And tradition asserts that King Arthur, with Queen Guinevere and all the court, lies in an enchanted sleep beneath the castle, or at least its site. Not only is there no castle, but the Wall also has been despoiled to supply the material for building the farmhouse and other buildings in the neighbourhood. The Wall climbs unfalteringly over the crags, one after the other, until the wide opening of Busy Gap is reached. This being such a convenient pass from north to south, it was naturally used constantly by raiders and thieves; and such an unenviable notoriety did it possess, that to call a person a "Busy Gap rogue" was sufficient to lay oneself open to an action for libel. Climbing the next slope we look down on Broomlee Lough and reach the portion of the Wall we have already noted—Borcovicus (Housesteads), Cuddy's Crag, Hot Bank farmhouse, and Crag; Lough.

The course of the Wall continues, past Milking Gap, along the rugged heights of Steel Rig, Cat's Stairs, and Peel Crag, till on reaching Winshields we are at the highest point on the line, 1,230 feet above the sea-level. Dipping down to Green Slack, the Wall crosses the valley called Lodham Slack, and begins to ascend once more. The local names of gaps and heights in this neighbourhood are highly descriptive, and sometimes weirdly suggestive; we have had Cat's Stairs, and now we come to Bogle Hole, Bloody Gap, and Thorny Doors. A little further west from here the very considerable remains of a mile-castle may be seen, in which a tombstone was found doing duty as a hearth-stone. The inscription recorded that it had been erected by Pusinna to the memory of her husband Dagvaldus, a soldier of Pannonia.

Westward from this mile-castle the Wall climbs Burnhead Crag, on which the foundations of a building, similar to the turrets, were exposed a few years ago; then it dips down again to Haltwhistle Burn, which comes from Greenlee Lough, and is called, until it reaches the Wall, the Caw Burn. From the burn a winding watercourse supplied the Roman station of AEsica (Great Chesters) with water. Just here the Wall is in a very ruinous condition; and of the station of AEsica but little masonry remains, though the outlines of it can he clearly traced. Beyond AEsica, however, is a splendid portion of the Wall, standing some seven or eight courses high. Here it climbs again to the top of the crags which once more appear, bold and rugged, to culminate in the "Nine Nicks of Thirlwall," so called from the number of separate heights into which the crags divide, and over which the Wall takes its way.

At Walltown, on this part of its course, is to be seen an old well, in which Paulinus is said to have baptised King Edwin; but the local name for it is King Arthur's Well. Now the Wall descends to a level and pastoral country, leaving behind it the wild moorland and craggy heights across which it has travelled so long; but unfortunately much of it has been destroyed by the quarrying operations at Greenhead. Of the station of Magna (Caervoran) little can be seen at the present day. This station and Aesica are nearer to each other than are any other two stations on the Wall, and a line of camps, five in number, stand south of the Wall and Vallum, from Magna to Amboglanna, showing that a third line of defence was deemed necessary where the natural defences of moorland ridge, lough or crag were absent.

The Roman way called the Stanegate comes from the eastward almost up to the station of Magna, which stands a little to the south of both Wall and Vallum, between them and Wade's road, which here approaches nearer to the Wall than it has done for many miles.

Another Roman road, the Maiden Way, comes from the South closely up to the Vallum, quite near to Thirlwall castle. The name "Thirlwall" was supposed to commemorate the "thirling" (drilling or piercing) of the Wall at this point by the barbarians, but this is extremely doubtful; though the difficulty of defending the wall on this level tract lends an air of likelihood to this supposition. Near here the little river Tipalt flows across the line of the Wall on its way southward to join the North Tyne.

Passing Wallend, Gap, and Rose Hill, where Gilsland railway station now stands, we follow the Wall to the deep dene of the Poltross Burn, which forms the boundary between Northumberland and Cumberland. The railway just beyond the burn crosses the line of the Wall; and, further on, an interesting portion, several courses high, takes its way through the Vicarage garden. Here we will leave it to continue its way through Cumberland, and turn our attention to the chief Roman ways which cross Northumberland, with other stations standing upon them.

The Watling Street or Dere Street, we have already noticed; and the chief station on it, which has also proved to be the largest in Northumberland, is Corstopitum, near Corbridge. The recent excavations since 1906 have resulted in the finding of many interesting relics, including some hundreds of coins, amongst which were forty-eight gold pieces, of later Roman date, ranging from those of Valentinian I. to those of Magnus Maximus. Pottery in large quantities has also been found, most of it, of course, in a fragmentary condition, but some pieces, notably bowls of Samian ware, almost perfect, and dating from the first century. Several interesting pieces of sculpture have been unearthed; one a finely sculptured lion standing over an animal which it has evidently just killed; this was, no doubt, used as an outlet for water at the fountain, judging by the projection of the lion's lower lip. Another piece of sculpture represents a sun-god, the rays surrounding his face; and several altars and many inscribed stones are also amongst the treasures lately revealed. A clay mould of a human figure was also found, which is supposed to represent some Keltic deity; but as the figure wears a short tunic not unlike a kilt, and carries a crooked club, the workmen promptly christened it Harry Lauder! The buildings in this town, for it is much more than a military station, have been large and imposing, as is shown by each successive revelation made by the excavators' spades. The portion of the Watling Street leading from Corstopitum to the river has also been laid bare.

The Roman road called the Stanegate runs westward from the North Tyne at Cilurnum, a little to the north of Fourstones railway station, through Newbrough, on past Grindon Hill, Grindon Lough, which it passes on the south, and Grindon Dykes, to Vindolana (Chesterholm) another Roman town, which lies a mile due south from Hot Bank farmhouse on the Wall. Vindolana stood on a most favourable site, a high platform protected on three sides, and it covered three and a half acres of ground. Here no excavations have yet been made, and the site is grass grown and desolate although the outlines of the station may be distinctly traced. A ruinous building to the west of this station was popularly called the Fairies' Kitchen, a name given to it on account of the marks of fire and soot on the pillars. From the station several inscribed stones and altars have been taken to the museum at Chesters. One of them is dedicated to the Genius of the Camp by Pituanius Secundus, the Prefect of the fourth Cohort of the Gauls, which cohort, as we have already seen by the Votitia, was stationed here. In the valley below Vindolana a little cottage is standing. It is built entirely of Roman stones, and was erected by an enthusiastic antiquary, Mr. Anthony Hedley, for himself. Many of the stones used in its construction have inscriptions on them; and in the covered passage, leading from the cottage down to the burn, we come upon one of them inscribed with the name of our old friend the XXth Legion, and its crest, the running boar. The most interesting relic of all in the neighbourhood is a Roman mile-stone, standing in its original position on the Stanegate.

Leaving Vindolana, this road goes on westward to Magna, where it joins the Maiden Way, another important Roman road, which runs from north to south. Coming from the neighbourhood of Bewcastle Fells, it enters Northumberland at Gilsland, and leading eastward as far as Magna, then turns directly southward past Greenhead.

In concluding this chapter on the Roman remains in our county, apropos of the wholesale destruction of the Wall and larger stations which has taken place in the last century or two, I will quote the words of two historians on that subject. Dr. Thomas Hodgkin says: "In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Camden, the enthusiastic antiquary, dared not traverse the line of the wall by reason of the gangs of brigands by whom it was infested. The union of the two countries brought peace, and peace brought prosperity; prosperity, alas! more fatal to the Wall than centuries of Border warfare. For now the prosperous farmers of Northumberland and Cumberland awoke to the building facilities which lurked in these square green enclosures on their farms, treated them as their best quarries, and robbed them unmercifully of their fine well-hewn stones. Happily that work of demolition is now in great measure stayed, and at this day we visit the camps for a nobler purpose, to learn all they can teach us as to the past history of our country."

None, I think, will disagree with these words of the learned Doctor, whether or not they may go as far as Cadwallader J. Bates, who, in concluding his chapter on the Roman Wall, gave it as his opinion that "unless the island is conquered by some civilized nation, there will soon be no traces of the Wall left. Nay, even the splendid whinstone crags on which it stands will be all quarried away to mend the roads of our urban and rural authorities."



CHAPTER VIII.

SOME NORTHUMBRIAN STREAMS.

"Come, don't abuse our climate, and revile The crowning county of England—yes, the best.

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Have you and I, then, raced across its moors. Till horse and boy were well-nigh mad with glee, So often, summer and winter, home from school, And not found that out? Take the streams away, The country would be sweeter than the South Anywhere; give the South our streams, would it Be fit to match our Borders? Flower and crag, Burnside and boulder, heather and whin,—you don't Dream you can match them south of this? And then, If all the unwatered country were as flat As the Eton playing-fields, give it back our burns, And set them singing through a sad South world, And try to make them dismal as its fens— They won't be! Bright and tawny, full of fun And storm and sunlight, taking change and chance With laugh on laugh of triumph—why, you know How they plunge, pause, chafe, chide across the rocks, And chuckle along the rapids, till they breathe And rest and pant and build some bright deep bath For happy boys to dive in, and swim up. And match the water's laughter."

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Northumberland is fortunate in the number of rivers which, owing to the position of the Cheviot Hills, flow right across the county from west to east. These Northumbrian streams have a distinct character of their own, and are of a different breed from those of the southern; counties. They are neither mountain torrents nor placid leisurely rivers, such as are met elsewhere in Britain, but busy, bright, joyous, and sparkling, never sluggish, never silent, even when deep and full, as is the Tyne in its lower reaches. With the Tyne and its tributary streams we have already travelled; but there are others yet awaiting us, claiming our attention sometimes for the romantic scenery through which they run their bright course, sometimes for the historic sites they pass on their way, sometimes for both reasons. Wansbeck, Coquet, Aln, or Till—each has its own interest, as has also the Tweed in that score or so of miles along which it can he spoken of in connection with Northumberland.