REPORT OF MEETINGS FOR 1908 261 



camp of considerable dimensions, which is situated on a 

 rising ground above Powburn. Through the garden of the 

 Plough Inn there a branch of Watling Street is believed to 

 have extended, crossing the river in the vicinity, and it is 

 possible that this strong military station above it was designed 

 to guard its passage, as well as to dominate the surrounding 

 country. From the ford till beyond Ingram, for a distance of 

 nearly two miles, flat meadow-land bounds the stream, whose 

 winter ravages were discernible in the formation of side 

 channels through which its augmented volume forces itself to 

 the no small inconvenience and detriment of the scattered 

 population. To the North of the road rose Heddon Law, 

 whose grassy slopes bore evidence of early terrace-cultivation, 

 and to the South, at a sharp bend of the river, where 

 the valley suddenly contracts, towered Brough Law, strongly 

 fortified by a British camp with two well-defined ramparts, 

 and many hut-circles within the enclosure. Proceeding 



along the left bank, the party sighted the small 

 Ingram. village of Ingram, drawn out in an attenuated 



row of cottages, but rendered conspicuous by 

 the parish church of St. Michael and its handsome Eectory 

 adjoining. The village, to judge by the numerous founda- 

 tions of ruined houses both on the roadside and in the 

 neighbouring fields, had at one time been more populous, 

 the existing base of a market-cross affording proof of its 

 local commercial importance. It is situated on the South 

 side of the river and at the foot of Fawdon Hill, an ancient 

 possession of the Percy family. At its Eastern end stands 

 the Church, which bears traces of frequent alterations and 

 improvements to which Rev. A. C. C. Vaughan made reference 

 in his account of its history and structure. A Norman building 

 seemed to have occupied the present site, as numerous existing 

 mouldings of that order went to prove. In the course of 

 recent repairs on the tower it was ascertained that it had 

 been built up with a straight joint against the West gable, 

 which being pointed and showing no banding was presumably 

 an outside wall. Its lower section had been constructed 

 chiefly of boulder stones gathered from the hillsides or river 

 bed, which had been roughly hammered into shape and 

 cemented with imperfect mortar. The date of its erection may 



