REPORT OF MEETINGS FOR 1901 19 



journey took them, at varying levels and gradients, past farms 

 and stone walls and spreading trees, until, some little way 

 before reaching the hamlet of Wall, they entered what promises 

 one day to be a fine avenue of lime trees, which are planted 

 on both sides of the road for nearly a mile ; and it was 

 noted that amongst the woodlands generally the oak was 

 slightly in advance, with its early foliage, of the ash. A sm^ll 

 foretaste of the Roman Wall was visible on the right hand 

 or east side of the road, before reaching Chollerford, at the 

 lower end of a plantation dividing two fields which abut 

 upon the road. 



On arriving at Chesters, at noon, the united party was 

 exhorted by Colonel Milne Home to follow the guidance of 

 Mr J. P. Gibson of Hexham, with the proviso that they 

 should all emerge finally at the gateway of Chesters, at a 

 quarter past two, in order to continue their journey westwards 

 along the line of the Roman Wall. 



After a walk of a few hundred yards over the turf of 

 the park, Mr Gibson, in undertaking to show the extent 

 and character of the Ancient Camp of Cilurnum, for the 

 following account of which the Club are indebted to him, first 

 called their attention to one of its six gateways. Of these 

 gateways he explained that the Camp, a permanent Military 

 Station, possessed one on its north and one on its south wall, 

 and two each upon its eastern aud western walls ; and that 

 which was now shown was the northern of the latter pair. 

 He pointed out that this gateway opened on the northern 

 side of the Roman Wall, which runs east and west, and 

 not south of the Wall as represented in Warburton's plau, 

 reproduced in Bruce's " Roman Wall," 1851, p. 44. 



He mentioned Julius Ctesar's account of a Spanish Cavalry 

 ala, which, in the Gallic War, issued from the sides of 

 the camp and surprised and defeated the enemy by attacking 

 them in Jlank ; such a manoeavre would, at Cilurnum, have 

 been impracticable if the Roman Wall were north of the side 

 gateways. As the garrisou of Cilurnum was an early raised 

 contingent of auxiliary Spanish cavalry, the second ala of 

 Asturians, it seemed only fair to conclude that they carried 

 out at Cilurnum lessons learnt under the command of Caesar 

 himself during his campaigns in Gaul. Indications were 



