[136] 



IDENTIFIED STATIONS ON THE SOUTHERN 

 ROMAN BARRIER IN BRITAIN. 



BT THE BEV. JOHN McCAUL, LL.D., 



PBBBIDENT OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, TOBONTO. 



Id this article I propose giving an analysis of the epigraphic evidence 

 collected in Horsley's Britannia Romana^ Bruce's " Roman Wall" — 

 3rd edition, and especially the Lapidarium Septentrionale^ (published 

 by " the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne)," for the 

 identification of the first twelve stations named in the JVotiiia as the 

 quarters of the troops that were posted per lineam valli. Previously to 

 entering on particulars, it may be convenient to introduce a brief state- 

 ment of the difibrent answers that have been given to the question — 

 " Who built the wall V As to the upper barrier between the Forth and 

 the Clyde there can be no doubt that it was constructed by order of 

 Antoninus Pius, who is named on many stones that have been found 

 along the line, whilst LoUiiis Urbicus was his legate, about A.D. 140; 

 but the evidence regarding the origin of the Southern Wall — between 

 theTyne and the Solway — -is much less satisfactory. The authority of 

 ancientf authors has been regarded as divided between Hadrian and 



* This work will be completed in three parts, of which the first two have 

 been published. They will form a remarkably handsome folio volume, distin- 

 guished by the number, accuracy and finish of its illustrations, whilst its intrinsic 

 merits are such that no collection of books on British Archasology can be com- 

 plete without it. The Lapidarium Seplentrionale is cited in this paper as L. S. 



•}■ There is no ancient author but Spartian (a writer at the close of the third 

 century) who states that Hadrian was the builder of the wall ; and he is incon- 

 sistent in his statements, for in another passage he distinctly ascribes the con-^ 

 struction to Severus. The words t£T%oc and SiareixKyfict, used by Dio Cassius, do 

 not necessarily imply a stone wall. The first term refers more probably to the 

 northern barrier, which was certainly not of stone ; and even if the latter be 

 regarded as meaning a stone wall, the inference might be that this structure 

 was erected by the order of Severus before he came to the island in 208, an 

 inference, which is consistent with the date, 20V, on the quarry near the Gelt. 

 In an inscription found at Kirkandrews, " about a mile south of the wall," the 

 southern barrier is called Vall\im. Mr. Thomas Hodgson (cited by Dr. Bruce, 

 Roman Wall, 3rd edition, p. 298), says of the altar bearing this inscription:-— 

 " If any inscription can from the shape of the letters, and the simple character 

 of it, be claimed as one of an early date, it is this one. It, to my mind, has 



