president's addeess. 241 



shown by Mr. Taylor ; who, in reply, said lie would be very 

 glad to entertain bis fellow-members of the Tyneside Club, when- 

 ever they visited his locality. 



A brief delusive interval of fair weather enabled the party 

 next to attempt to carry out their programme by proceeding to 

 Wark, once the important metropolis, so to speak, of the royal 

 franchise of Tynedale, and still the chief place of the ancient 

 Barony of the same name. In spite of pitiless showers which 

 again assailed us a goodly company of members, and a few ladies 

 also, assembled on the historic Mote Hill, when its story, the 

 surrounding antiquities, and objects of interest, were briefly de- 

 scribed by the President. The town is said to have once been a 

 " city," as the field above Battle-steads, called the " city-deals," 

 (from the Saxon doel, a part or share, and dcelan, to divide or 

 portion out, cognate with the German theilen, Sanskrit dala, and 

 dal, to split ; referring to the ancient division of common lands), 

 still appears to witness. Tradition tells that the streets and 

 buildings extended as far as Huxty Burn, and that the ancient 

 church of " St. Michael of Werk," of which the ruined arches 

 of an aisle still remained on the " Kirk-field" within memory, 

 stood in its midst. Our late lamented colleague, Dr. Charlton, 

 ten years before read, on the summit of this great earth-work, 

 as some of us well remember, a very graphic account of the 

 Assize-Courts held upon it by the Judges Itinerant of the 

 Scottish king Alexander III., and of the English King Ed- 

 ward I., in the thirteenth century.* Local legend asserts 

 that this Mote-Hill, or Hill of Assembly, is in its present form 

 partly artificial ; that even women and children were compelled 

 to contribute their quota of labour and carry "lap fuls" of soil 

 to the top. The early British vale-dwellers would find it a 

 strong place of defence, guarding the chief ford across the river. 

 The Romans occupied it, as a lloman altar now in the Old Castle 

 of Newcastle-upon-Tyne found here, testifies. Traces are yet 

 visible, on both sides of the North Tyne, of one of their cross- 

 roads between the great towns on the Wall and "Watling Street, 

 which is supposed to pass through this ford. The name of the 



* "On the Sessions of the Liberty of Tynedale," Vol. L, Mow Series. p. 1G8. 



