Hadrian's Wall

“ As I followed the Wall, this was the refrain which repeated itself over and over again in my {3} ears, and echoed in the streets of the deserted forts: these words of Tacitus which form part of the tribute paid by a distinguished son to his distinguished father:
"Only the fashion of the soul remains."
Yes, the Wall is a ruin; the "defenced cities" have become "heaps"; and the might and glory of Rome have long been laid in the dust; but the great and good qualities of men like Agricola and Hadrian shine down the ages, and remain a source of inspiration and of strength for ever. ”

“ I love the Wall because I can picture it, manned by the soldiers of the cohorts, as a living thing, all eyes and ears; a link from sea to sea; a chain of forts and turrets threaded on a single string!
And I love it because of its plain straightforward purpose. No one ever doubts what it was meant to be or to do; whereas the object of the Vallum is still to some extent a matter of conjecture, over which wordy battles may be fought. ”

“ I love the Wall for the way in which it overcomes obstacles, never swerving from its determination to keep to the highest at all costs, while the Vallum allows itself to be turned aside to the south by even such a little obstacle as Down Hill.
And I love the Wall for the sense of strength which it gives, even in its present battered condition, a sense of strength and solidity which no number of ditches and earth mounds could ever give. Earth mounds (of a sort) can be made by earth-worms; for stone walls it takes men! ”

“ The supposition that Hadrian built the Wall is consistent with the accounts which historians give 391us of his attachment to architectural undertakings. One writer, of great research, says of him—
HADRIAN A GREAT BUILDER. No prince, perhaps, ever raised so many public and private edifices as Hadrian. In every city of note, throughout the empire, some erection perpetuated his memory: bridges, aqueducts, temples, and palaces, rose on every hand. Many cities, likewise, were either wholly built or repaired by him. Building seems, indeed, to have been a main feature in his system of government. ”

“ The advancing enemy would be subject to a flank attack from the Roman defenders hidden in the safe shelter of the Wall.
The Wall then turns slightly northward, in order to gain the top of Winshields. It is in excellent condition on the low ground to the north of this gap, about 6 feet wide and nine courses high, and makes a good "road" to walk upon. The Wallditch recurs here, as always, whenever the Wall leaves the heights, if only for a few yards.
The road which runs north and south through the gap will take us down to "Twice Brewed," the Inn on Wade's Road, if we are wanting tea. ”

“ The ditch of the Vallum and its triple mounds are very clearly marked on the right of Wade's Road, and the Wall-ditch is very plainly visible on the left. The low rays of the sun cast shadows which emphasize the form, and all round the eye can follow wave upon wave of undulating ground, right into the dim blue distance. ”

“ The new wall was found to be accompanied by a road about 14 feet wide, which was carried up to an abutment of large masonry blocks—re-used material, apparently taken from the breastwork of the earlier abutment. The road has a gravel surface and a foundation of cobbles.
III. A tower, larger than the one at Chesters, was built on the top of the aforesaid road-abutment. Of its two floor-levels, the earlier, of clay, was Hadrianic or Antonine, later than the Wall, and earlier than the late Antonine rising. ”

“ The effect when I saw it was heightened (if such a thing were possible) by the marvellous clothing of gorse, glorious clusters of gold, as if Nature herself desired to do honour to this great achievement.
From the top of the next hill the Vallum can be seen to perfection, running up the slope of the hill facing us; nowhere is it better. Soon after this, the distant hills come into view, over the tops of which we are to follow the Wall.
Just before reaching the eighteenth milestone, another mile-castle can be very distinctly traced. ”

“ As is well known, archæologists do not now aim at finding objects, but rather at learning history and fixing dates. Especially do they aim at dating the various levels of occupation by means of the pottery fragments found there—a method unheard-of when excavations were first begun on the Wall. Much still remains to be done in this direction.
The evidence in favour of Hadrian's having been the builder of the Wall is now so strong as to be irrefutable. ”

“ Speaking of the works in the neighbourhood of Carvoran, he says—
STUKELEY’S TESTIMONY. I suppose this Wall built by Severus is generally set upon the same track as Hadrian’s Wall or Vallum of earth was; for, no doubt, they there chose the most proper ground; but there is a Vallum and ditch all the way accompanying the Wall, and on the south side of it; and likewise studiously choosing the southern declivity of the rising ground. I observe, too, the Vallum (Wall?) is always to the north. It is surprising that people should fancy this to be Hadrian’s Vallum ”

“ We rode chiefly on the new western road, which lies on the old Roman Wall. Some part of this is still to be seen, as are the remains of most of the towers, which were built a mile distant from each other, quite from sea to sea. But where are the men of renown who built them, and who once made all the land tremble? Crumbled into dust! Gone hence, to be no more seen, till the earth shall give up her dead!"
The next fort on the line of the Wall is VINDOBALA, and the farm-house of Rudchester stands close to its site. ”

“ The path leads through a wicket-gate right into and along the ditch, and brings us to the Wall. It is a magnificent piece of Wall! It is 7 feet high, with nine courses of facing-stones in place on both sides, and it must be 60 feet long at least. Yew-trees, hawthorns, oaks and nut-stubs are growing on the top. Two altars lean against the north face. I climbed the Wall, with religious care not to disturb a stone, and found myself standing above the first turret we have come to, and perhaps the finest there is to see. ”

“ At the twenty-fourth-mile stone, I still have Severus's trench, and what remains of the Wall, on my right, and Hadrian's works on my left, with the military way on which I tread, only twelve yards wide, between, which fills up the space. Thus am I hemmed in by dignity, upon the best of roads, upon elevated ground, with extensive prospects, in a country thinly inhabited, surrounded with commons, or with inclosures of fifty or a hundred acres each, but without trees or hedges, and where the face of the earth seems shaved to the quick. ”

“ It bore that of Agricola, which is now lost. The Picts Wall but this seems inconsistent, for they had no concern with the Wall, except to pull it down; and I think it should rather bear the name of the man who built it up. Sometimes Hadrian's Wall; but I cannot see why a bank of earth should bear the name of a Wall. Our idea of a wall comprehends an erection of brick or stone. ”

“ By degrees continuous traffic would of itself sink a path across the mounds; and what would be easier than to make deliberate gaps and fill up the ditch with the soil?
The Romans were a methodical people, and in undertaking an enormous work like the Wall they would certainly have points, at regular distances apart, to which building materials had to be brought. ”

“ The fact that the Wall is the mightiest antiquity of Britain is not of itself sufficient to account for the glamour it sheds. We must seek a more subtle reason; and the true {2} source of its attraction is that it stands for a great ideal.
As we follow it in its unfaltering course from sea to sea, and mark how bravely it has withstood the ravages of time and the hand of the destroyer, it dawns upon us that it stands for something permanent, something eternal, something in the very nature of man which can never die. ”

“ It is set for the most part in very beautiful surroundings, sometimes in the peaceful and fertile lowlands, sometimes on the lonely barren hills, with wide vistas stretching out to north and south. The highest hill it climbs is Winshields, 1230 feet high.
Unlike the Great Wall of China, it has suffered much at the hands of the destroyer, and for miles together scarcely a trace is to be seen. In the more or less populated districts it has been used as a quarry, and farm-houses, churches, and pele-towers have been built with its stones. ”

“ The north-east angle tower has been moved when the Wall was built, in order to be in a better position for commanding the line of the Wall, showing that the Wall was not thought of when the fort was built.
The slopes to the south outside the south gateway were covered with buildings so closely that there was no room for a man to pass between the walls of the houses; and to the west there are signs of terraced gardens, such as are common now in Italy. ”

“ The explanation suggested is that nearly all the stone and building-materials needed for building the Wall and repairing the forts had to be brought from beyond the Vallum; that thousands of men, employed in bringing materials, would be constantly passing over the mounds and ditch of the Vallum. Hence the need for causeways and gaps.
We can imagine the men would get impatient {37} at having to climb a mound, descend into a ditch, and then climb another mound at each journey north or south. And if rough carts were used, a causeway would be a necessity. ”

“ And now we come to Winshields, the highest point to which the Wall rises, 1230 feet above the sea. Below, on the left, is a farm-house known as "The Bog," and south of that, very near to Wade's Road, runs the Vallum.
It is impossible to miss the line of the Wall in the high regions, for it is always on the ridge. I cycled out one day through Caw Gap to the hamlet of Edges Green, along one of the little-used roads that run north into the lonely wastes, in order to make a sketch of Winshields from "out-by," {137} that is to say, from the country to the north of the Wall. ”

“ The house at Sewingshields is now used as a shooting-box by Mr. Charles Straker of High Warden, near Hexham. It is built entirely of Roman stones, so it is not surprising that there is very little Wall left in its neighbourhood. The centurial stone, which Dr. Bruce mentions, has been taken out, and is preserved inside the house, where it was shown to me.
The fir-plantation which now shelters the house from the north winds is only of comparatively recent planting. It must have been bleak indeed up there without this protection. ”

“ Here the Vallum is clearly visible in a field on the left. The foundations of the Wall could long be seen in the road on the rise of the hill towards Walwick, but I doubt if they can often be seen now. "A good surface for cars" is made so that it does not easily wash off, even in thunder-showers!
I did not see them myself; but I have since been told that, though the north face is very seldom seen, the south facing-stones can be made out just at the south edge of the road, unless too much covered by the wayside grass. ”

“ As I travelled south in the train, I remembered what Hutton has said: that the Wall "would exhibit its proud head many thousand years"; but that the mounds of the Vallum, "being native earth, would continue to the last trump." ”

“ Many old writers have made reference both to the stone Wall and the Vallum.
Camden, the antiquary, writing in 1587, says:
"Through the high part of Cumberland shooteth that most famous Wall (in no case to be passed over in silence) the limit of the Roman Province, the Barbarian Rampier, the Forefence and Enclosure, for so the ancients termed it, being called * * * by Antonine, Cassiodore, and others, Vallum, that is, the Rampier; by Bede, Murus, that is, the Wall; by the Britons, Gual-Sever, Gal-Sever, Bal, Val, and Mur-Sever; by the Scottish, Scottish-waith ”

“ I. A very interesting feature, and one likely to give rise to much discussion, is the discovery of a 10-foot thick wall, of earlier date than the Great Wall, and ending in an abutment which is also 10 feet thick. The bridge starting from this abutment could only have been wide enough to carry the rampart-walk. Farther inland this wall has been found to a height of one or two courses of stone above the foundations. ”

“ Plunder is the order of the day. I wished to see Severus's works in a superior style, but am an age too late. They have suffered more during the last century, than in the fifteen before it.
THE BUILDING.
SOME authors say, "Hadrian's Wall" as they term it, "is built of earth and stone:" but, I believe there was no more stone than was promiscuously thrown out, with the soil of the neighbouring ditch, of which it is composed.
Again: "that Severus's Wall is faced with casing-stones on the outside, and the internal part filled up with stones placed in an oblique direction." ”

“ Early in the nineteenth century the heavy oak door of the strong room, studded with nails, was still in place, but it perished when exposed to the air. A slab of stone has been thrown (probably by invaders) across the flight of steps, so that in descending them one has to stoop very low.
The arched roof of the strong room is formed by a series of large stones "stepping over" each other; and its back wall is also "stepped over," so as to make it incline towards the roof. ”

“ An old man appeared, with a pot of green paint in one hand and a paint-brush in the other.
"You have come to the right man," said he.
Then, with a dramatic wave of the paint-brush, "The Roman Wall passed by this very doorstep." He gave me full instructions as to how to find it farther on:
"Follow along the road to Bo'ness till you come to a gooter across the road, then turn to the left up a grassing-field, and go on till you come to an elbow. Turn to the right, and you come to a high lift; over that lift you'll find the Wall." ”