626 [Proc. B.N.F.C 



16 Abril. 



Mr. A. M'L CLELAND.— " A RECENT TOUR OF THE 

 ROMAN WALL." 



At the meeting held in the Museum on Tuesday evening 

 1 6th April, the Vice-President in the chair. Mr. A. M'l. 

 Cleland read a paper on U A Recent Tour of the Roman 

 Wall." After a few introductory remarks explaining the 

 raison cPetre of the Wall the lecturer showed ruins of several 

 fine buildings which had been erected from the materials 

 derived from the time of defensive works raised by the Romans 

 from the Solway and the Tyne. Those buildings include the 

 beautiful priory at Lanercost, whose walls have incorporated 

 many Roman memorials, and whose crypt holds several finely- 

 executed Roman altars. 



The manner in which the wall was built was next described, 

 sketches of the inscribed rocks in one of the old quarries being 

 shown as well as sketches of the manner in which the stones 

 were wrought. Then several views were shown of fragments 

 of the wall as at present existing, including one in which the 

 wall appears through the surface of the old military road laid 

 out by the Government towards the latter end of the 18th 

 Century, and which was really a revival of the road made with 

 such wise forethought by the Roman Government in the 2nd 

 Century. 



Passing from this the wall was shown creeping along the 

 edges of the steep crags in the centre of Northumberland, at 

 an altitude exceeding that of Cave Hill, and still maintaining a 

 height of over five feet. The next three views showed the 

 ditches of the Wall and the Vallum, where they had been cut 

 through hard basalt, the broken and excavated blocks lying on 

 the tops of the banks as they were left by the British labourers, 

 impressed by the Romans, seventeen centuries ago. 



After a short description of the castles (erected at every 

 mile), and the turrets, or stone sentry boxes, (placed on the 

 wall at every furlong), the lecturer dealt with the remarkable 



