LIFE 



OF 



GEORGE STEPHENSON, &c 



CHAPTEK 



NEWCASTLE AND THE GREAT NORTHERN COAL-FIELD. 



IN no quarter of England have greater changes been 

 wrought by the successive advances made in the prac- 

 tical science of engineering than in the extensive colliery 

 districts of the North, of which Newcastle-upon-Tyne 

 is the centre and the capital. 



In ancient times the Eomans planted a colony at 

 Newcastle, bridging the Tyne by the Pons ^Elii near 

 the site of the present low-level bridge shown in the 

 prefixed engraving, and erecting a strong fortification 

 above it on the high ground now occupied by the 

 Central Eailway Station. North and north-west lay a 

 wild and barren country, abounding in moors, moun- 

 tains, and morasses, but occupied to a certain extent 

 by fierce and barbarous tribes of Picts and Caledonians. 

 To defend the young colony against the ravages of 

 these dangerous neighbours, a strong wall was built 

 by the Eomans, extending from Wallsend on the north 

 bank of the Tyne, a few miles below Newcastle, across 

 the country to Burgh-upon-Sands on the shores of the 

 Solway Frith. The remains of the wall are still to be 

 traced in the less populous hill-districts of Northumber- 

 land. In the neighbourhood of Newcastle they have 

 been gradually effaced by the works of succeeding 



VOL. III. B 



