Report of Meetings for 1880, by James Hardy. 273 



preservation, tlie southern rampart especially, wMcli shows eight 

 courses of facing-stones. The walls are five feet thick. From 

 the fact that the wall adapts itself to the north rampart of the 

 fort, the station is entirely independent of the wall, and must 

 have been built before it. The north gateway exists no longer, 

 but its nature may be judged by the south gateway, which is a 

 double one, and a beautiful specimen of Eoman masonry. Each 

 portal is eleven feet wide and has been spanned by an arch. 

 The pivot holes still remain. As usual, this gateway has two 

 guard-chambers, the western one only being excavated. Both 

 of the gateways on the eastern side have been excavated, but one 

 is much twisted and broken by the yielding of its foundations. 

 The other is in excellent preservation. The whole interior of the 

 camp is marked with the lines of streets and the ruins of build- 

 ings. Near the lower gateway in the east wall three chambers, 

 of nine or ten feet square each, have been laid bare. Here was 

 found a figure (now in the neighbouring farm-house) of the kind 

 usually called Dese Matres, or the good mothers, whose name it 

 was not lucky to mention. . Dr Bruce next called attention to the 

 wall at the foot of the farm-house garden, which formerly formed 

 part of a Eoman building of large dimensions. This wall, 

 although not excavated to the bottom, has been proved to be up- 

 wards of eight feet in height, and is supported by eight buttresses. 

 It extends 92 feet from east to west, and is 3^ feet thick. In the 

 middle of each space between each buttress is a long slit or loop- 

 hole, which Dr Bruce supposes to have been connected with the 

 flues used in warming the building. Immediately in front of 

 this wall is another of similar thickness, whilst to the north, and 

 in the garden, three other walls in addition are to be found. 

 Arranged at the west gable of Birdoswald farm-house an interest- 

 ing collection of Eoman altars and stones was next inspected. 

 Attention was directed to an altar dedicated to Jupiter, the Best 

 and Greatest, by the first cohort of Dacians, which at this time, 

 besides the epithet of iElian, derived from Hadrian, seems to 

 have had that of Tetrician, derived from the Emperor Tetricus. 

 There is also the head of another altar, dedicated to Jupiter, 

 having a series of crosses, one of them being of that peculiar 

 form called gammadion, on the capital, whilst beneath appear the 

 dedicatory letters I. 0. M. — Jovi Optimo Maximo. Another 

 stone has the inscription — Leg. vi. vio. fidelis, intimating that 



