president's ADDHJiSS. 131 



burn Meeting, not more than a dozen members left the Central 

 Station. They were met at Scots Gap by one of the secretaries. 

 As no one was inclined for an extended walk by Sweethope Lake 

 and "Wanny Crags, it was decided to proceed on by rail to Wood- 

 burn. After making arrangements for an early tea, a start was 

 made for the Roman Camp at Risingham, or Hahitancum, one of 

 the two important stations between Corbridge and Chew Green, 

 the Ad Fines Camp of the Romans. Placed in a deep valley at 

 the lower end of Chesterhope (the Hope of the Camp), and sur- 

 rounded, as it no doubt was, in Roman times, by impassable 

 marshes, and exposed to inundations of the river and encom- 

 passed with natural woods, the site of this camp must have been 

 most unhealthy. Strongly fortified, and raised above the sur- 

 rounding swamp by massive stone walls above the general level 

 of the valley, it was one of the most important stations between 

 the Tyne and the Forth, and, if not destroyed by man for the 

 sake of building material, would, probably, have presented its 

 original features conspicuously until the present day. 



Considerable time was spent in the Camp. The interior is 

 very irregular, from excavations that have been made from time 

 to time in search of relics or for building material. Many of the 

 walls of the adjoining farm houses and the stone fences have 

 been built from dressed stones obtained from the Camp, and it 

 was not difficult to find traces of ornamental work and Roman 

 dressed stones in some of the gateways and stone fences close by. 

 From this camp southward the old line of the Watling Street 

 led straight across Chesterhope moor, from Habitancum to the 

 Dun Cow Inn, where there is still visible the remains of the 

 walls of a small legionary camp by the side of the old Watling 

 Street. Traces of this road are still visible on Broomhope com- 

 mon, flanked by deep fosses on each side. 



From the Camp we ascended to the site of an old tumulus 

 overlooking the station, from which an extensive view of the 

 Redewater was obtained, and, passing by the picturesquely 

 situated farm house at the Crag, walked by way of the old, dis- 

 used Ironstone Quarries, extending more than a mile to the Steel 

 Burn, where a short time was spent in search of fossils and exam- 



