NORTHERN COLONISTS. 



CHAP. I. 





MAP OF NEWCASTLE DISTRICT. 



generations, though the " Wallsend " coal consumed in 

 our household fires still serves to remind us of the great 

 Roman work. 



A long period of obscurity followed the withdrawal 

 of these colonists, during which Northumbria became 

 planted by an entirely new race, principally Saxons 

 from North Germany and Norsemen from Scandinavia, 

 whose Eorls or Earls made Newcastle their principal 

 seat. Then came the Normans, from whose New Castle, 

 built some eight hundred years since, the town derived 

 its present name. The keep of this venerable structure, 

 black with age and smoke, still stands entire at the 

 northern end of the noble high-level bridge the 

 utilitarian work of modern times thus confronting the 

 warlike relic of the older civilisation. 



The nearness of Newcastle to the Scotch Border was 

 a great hindrance to its security and progress in the 

 middle ages of English history. Indeed, the district 

 between it and Berwick continued to be ravaged by 

 mosstroopers long after the union of the Crowns. The 

 gentry lived in their strong Peel castles ; even the 

 larger farm-houses were fortified ; and bloodhounds 

 were trained for the purpose of tracking the cattle- 

 reivers to their retreats in the hills. The Judges of 

 Assize rode from Carlisle to Newcastle guarded bv an 



