34 EEV. G. K. HALL ON 



Vice-President, the Rev. Dr. Bruce, in his " Roman Wall," '■' 

 has also had occasion to mention incidentally the series of simi- 

 lar " entrenchments," as they are sometimes called, which he 

 observed at Wall and High Warden. But these observers con- 

 tented themselves -with a simple reference to these singular works. 

 The locale of the terrace-lines (which I now venture to describe 

 more at large, before proceeding to mention some of the best- 

 ascertained theories respecting their origin, and my own con- 

 clusions on that intricate question) may, for convenience, be 

 separated into two groups, centring around the villages of Birt- 

 ley and Wall respectively. Both groups lie in the southern 

 portion of the vale of North Tyne, below the junction of the 

 River Rede, and with a single exception are found on the left or 

 eastern bank of the North Tyne, at some little elevation on the 

 sunny slope of the river basin. 



BIRTLEY GROUP. 



In a lateral opening from the vale of the Rede to the south, 

 through which runs the Steel Burn, are numerous terraces, the 

 longest lines being nearly four hundred yards, narrowing as they 

 ascend towards the Watling Street, in conformity to the irregu- 

 lar triangular shape of the escarpment. The site is now covered 

 with heather, and strewn with boulders and ancient slag-heaps 

 from early iron-workings under the limestone higher up the hUl. 

 The excavations of Sir W. Armstrong for iron ore and limestone 

 on the same declivity have recently encroached on these terrace- 

 lines, as well as on a more distinctly-marked series at a greater 

 elevation, and more to the south, where ten different ledges can 

 be counted from a distance, about one hundred and fifty yards 

 in length. Both of these terraced slopes face the west, with a 

 point to the south. Across the adjoining Buteland ridge, about 

 a mile-and-a-half distant, is a second series of at least seven or 

 eight distinct terraces, several yards broad, and from five to 

 seven feet high. Their aspect is due south towards Low Shields 

 Green. 



* p. 166, 3rd Edition. 



